Arts & Entertainment

Kirk Douglas Gives $1 Million Challenge Grant to Boost Local Theater

The actor and wife Anne award the money to the Center Theatre Group, which operates the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City and other area venues.

The Kirk Douglas Theatre recently got a welcome boost from its namesake, as Kirk Douglas and wife Anne gave a $1 million challenge grant to the Center Theatre Group, which operates the venue as well as the Ahmanson Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum. These new funds, in conjunction with an earlier $1 million donation from the couple, will assist in producing new works for the group of Los Angeles theaters.

According to Peter Douglas, president of the Douglas Foundation, this challenge grant has a 10-year lifespan, and will match the funds that the Center Theatre Group raises. For every $2 that CTG raises, the foundation will add another $1, Peter Douglas said in a press release.

Although the funds will be going to the theater group at large, the Culver City venue has a special place in Kirk Douglas’ heart: “Anne and I hope this additional gift will enable the Kirk Douglas Theatre to further its mandate of supporting new talent. We challenge others to join us in meeting that goal,” he said in a press release.

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The 317-seat theater on Washington Boulevard has been open since 2002 and has featured many innovative shows. The Douglases donated $2.5 million to support the opening of the new theatre. Currently, the is showing , a one-man show that tells the true story of baseball players Juan Marichal and John Roseboro, and the 1965 day when Marichal hit Roseboro in the head with his bat.


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