Watts Village Theater Company featured at Metro’s “More Trains More Often” launch

Posted on Nov 8, 2011 in Top Stories by

At the Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, Metro’s “More Trains More Often” Campaign was unveiled, to run trains more frequently in the evenings from 6pm through midnight. The extended service, set to begin November 13, will run every 10 minutes in the evening on the Red, Purple and Blue Lines through June 2012 during this testing phase. The added train service will extend to the 103rd St Station on the Metro Blue Line, the home of the Watts Towers Arts Center and Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC), making Watts a destination hotspot for Metro’s riders. In addition, the service will provide a cheaper, greener and more convenient transportation alternative for WVTC’s artists and audiences who travel in and out of Watts during evening rehearsals and shows.

WVTCs Raul Cardona betwen mascots from Chivas USA (left) and the LA Kings (right) at Metro More Trains More Often Event – Monday November 7 2011 – photo by David Mack-WVTC

WVTC’s Artistic Director Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez, Managing Director David Mack, General Manager Rick Culbertson and Educational Instructor Raul Cardona represented WVTC during the event and assisted Metro in the logistical coordination of the other organizations representing their respective regions along Metro throughout the city. Many of the most popular venues are directly served by MTA rail, so running trains more often at night will make it easier for visitors to save money, beat traffic and have a good time.

WVTC’s partnership with Metro begin with its production of “Meet Me @Metro,” a site-specific extravaganza along Metro’s Red and Blue Lines from Union Station through Watts in collaboration with five theatre companies from LA and New York, in May 2010. During July 2011, “Meet Me @Metro II” took Metro riders on a “carnival” from Watts through Long Beach, exposing them to over a dozen local theatre companies, musical bands, puppeteers and performance artists. And in 2012, WVTC plans to launch “Meet Me @Metro: Uncovering Los Angeles’ Hidden Treasures” along Metro’s Red and Gold Lines, taking passengers on an interactive “archeological dig” in collaboration with performance artists, museums and historical societies in the region. Avilés-Rodríguez stated, “This media event is a powerful metaphor for what can be achieved when Transit and the Arts come together.”

WVTC plans to continue providing its artistic and logistical services to Metro and is committed to supporting Metro as it continues to roll out the “More Trains More Often” campaign and future Rail Line expansions during the next decade and beyond. For WVTC’s part, Mack stated, “Supporting Metro and the City of Los Angeles in this campaign is a wonderful hallmark of our ongoing strategic partnership to bring performing arts to the Metro riding experience, providing current riders, and an entirely new commuting audience, a taste of the cultural richness LA has to offer.”

Watts Village Theater Company
Founded in 1996 by actor and Watts community activist Quentin Drew and actor/playwright Lynn Manning as an outgrowth of Cornerstone Theater Company’s residency in Watts, Watts Village Theater Company is a multicultural urban company that seeks to inspire its community with an appreciation of all cultures through new works about contemporary social issues. WVTC has been a leader in providing acting and theatrical performance workshops for at-risk youth in Watts and South Los Angeles.

WVTC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, is proud to have collaborated with Metro, the Watts Towers Arts Center, LATC,[Inside] the Ford and the Matrix Theatre. WVTC’s 2003 production of Manning’s “Private Battle” won a NAACP Theatre Award. “Up From the Downs” (2005), and “Ochre & Onyx” (2009) received critical acclaim for examining cross-cultural relations between Latinos and African-Americans in Watts.

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