Elephant Theatre Company

In 1995, the Elephant Theatre Company was created in a loft in downtown Los Angeles. In the beginning, the theatre (which doubled as home to four of its founding members) was 110 degrees, the tech booth was in a bedroom and audiences sat on couches and beanbags.As we geared up for our first production, an evening of early Sam Shepard shorts, the question arose: “What should we call this thing we have created, this group, this space?” Over a few beers and many terrible suggestions, one of our directors came across this quote: “When Sam (Shepard) was first starting to write plays, he was writing little, almost chamber plays. Sam was working on something and we were sitting and talking about some scene he wanted to do, and he said, ‘I don’t think that could be done anyway on the stage. There’s no point to doing it.’ And I said, ‘Look, Sam if you want an Elephant to appear on the stage without walking on from the wings, you should just write it and see what happens from it, and then see if there’s a way to do it, or a way to make it.’” -Jacques LevyThe idea spoke to us. The challenge of “The Elephant.” Hence the name, one that conjures theatrical daring, invention and imagination.In that loft the company’s seed was planted. Now, eleven years later, the Elephant has built four theatres, which include The Lillian Theatre, Elephant Space, Elephant Lab, and Elephant ASYLUM. All of them with air-conditioning and real seats.Our name is a reminder of the company’s origins and captures a sense of doing, not just dreaming – of making it real, keeping it real, and keeping it coming over eleven years, two homes, forty-plus full productions, a fluid roster, and a deep bench.

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