ART LIVES HERE

Geffen Playhouse celebrates the diversity in our audiences and our productions, and it is our mission to create, foster, and nourish an environment that is open and welcoming for all. We are a home for the arts, and we believe our physical space should also reflect and be representative of our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do and the communities we support.

Next season, we welcome Terrell Tilford (Band of Vices) as Creative Director of Art Lives Here. For more information, visit geffenplayhouse.org/artliveshere.

FEATURED WORK #8

The Storyteller

ARTIST

Zachary Bones

ON DISPLAY

June 6 – July 30, 2023

Theatre is in my blood. By the time I was 5 years old, I knew that I wanted to be a performer. I was a child of adoption and it wasn’t until

I was 17 and already well on my way to theatre school that I discovered that not only were both of my biological parents actors, but that they had actually met while performing. Thinking about my own origins often makes me think about the origins of theatre itself... not the Greeks, but the earliest theatre. The cave paintings of theatre. My painting seeks to imagine the FIRST theatre and pay tribute to these early actors. In a time when human life was little more than survival, these storytellers gave meaning to our lives, and a name for our fears. Theatre is innately and uniquely human—it is our birth right passed down from these first storytellers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Zachary Bones is an LA based visual artist, performer, activist, and arts educator who believes that art and storytelling have the power to grow our capacity for understanding and empathy in the world. Zach is passionate about social justice and holds the conviction that the creation of art is vital to the progress of anti-racist work, the social evolution of our country, and even the survival of our species. Zach has worked on a variety of artistic projects over the years including: working as a storyboard artist for film and television, live speed painter, and a comissioned portrait and memorial artist. Zach has worked as a muralist, designer, scenic painter, and master carpenter with: Theatre of Note, Finite Films, Illyrian Players, Escape Room LA, Encore Entertainers, and more. You can learn more and see some of Zach’s work on his website at www.zachbart.com, or follow him on Instagram

@art_on_my_sleeve.