History of IAMA

*Cult of Love (2018) with Tom Amandes,* *Keliher Walsh, Graham Sibley, Christine Woods, John Lavelle, Laila Ayad, Tina Huang, and Melissa Stephens. Photo by Dean Cechvala.*

IAMA Theatre Company was founded in 2007 by a group of young artists eager to create new theater in Los Angeles. Working with a shared commitment to exploration and development, IAMA sought to challenge ourselves and our audience by producing original works, from both emerging and established playwrights, building a collaborative, multidisciplinary ensemble, and delivering exhilarating live performances that truly represent the next generation of theater-makers.

Like Los Angeles, IAMA has always been at the forefront of innovation. Our early work was focused on harnessing the energy of the city and reflecting the new voices and contemporary attitudes that shape our diverse metropolis. Through bold, cutting-edge storytelling, we quickly carved out a niche for ourselves, garnering an enthusiastic and loyal audience throughout the wider L.A. arts community: “In this industry town, where theatre is often the byproduct of actors waiting to be plucked for film and TV, IAMA’s devotion to the stage is fully grounded in its counter-intuitiveness (Metromix LA).”

Over the years, IAMA grew from a fledgling company to “a new creative force on the local theatre scene (L.A. Times).” Fueled by the exciting work of inaugural Artist-in-Residence, Leslye Headland, and her Seven Deadly Play Series, we continued to raise the bar and push the boundaries of professional theater. We also renewed our commitment to inclusion, to amplifying underrepresented voices, and to using the power of theater and community to create social change. In 2016, IAMA became a recipient of the Rhimes Foundation, led by legendary television producer and writer, Shonda Rhimes, and in turn, Rhimes was named IAMA’s inaugural Patron of the Arts.

Since 2007, IAMA has produced over 40 World Premiere, West Coast Premiere, and Los Angeles Premiere productions, and a variety of theatrical events and development opportunities for local actors, playwrights, directors, and designers. In addition to enjoying 18 seasons of producing new plays in Los Angeles, IAMA has also celebrated the larger L.A. arts landscape through regular collaborations with other local theater companies and institutions, such as Center Theatre Group, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston Court Pasadena, The Latino Theater Company, Sacred Fools Theater Company, Celebration Theatre, Greenway Court Theatre, VS. Theatre Company, The Pico, Rogue Machine Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and the Humanitas Play LA Festival of New Works. Collaborations with theaters outside of Los Angeles include Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Queens Theatre, and Savannah Repertory Theatre.

In 2019, in partnership with Ammunition Theatre Company, IAMA co-hosted the fifth annual Stage Raw Theater Awards at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in Downtown L.A., designing an innovative celebration of live theater that honored the local theater community while placing focus on both L.A.’s legacy theaters and its emerging companies. In 2020, our World Premiere production of Canyon was selected for Center Theater Group's 2020 Block Party, and later that year, we partnered with Alternative Theatre Los Angeles and LA STAGE Alliance to bring 34 local theater companies together for the Together LA Festival, showcasing new works created specifically for a digital platform, celebrating the vibrant and diverse intimate theater scene of greater Los Angeles. As an Arts Partner with TeenTix LA, we proudly offer their TeenTix Pass for all mainstage performances, ensuring accessibility and empowering young people to support and participate in a thriving L.A. arts community. IAMA has also partnered for many years with L.A. based nonprofit Young Storytellers, serving as volunteer writing mentors and actors in Los Angeles public schools.

Designated by Playbill in 2018 as “one of 20 regional houses every theatre lover must know,” IAMA's passion for live performance, commitment to quality, and original, groundbreaking material has garnered a host of accolades, nominations, and awards including the 2014 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Award for Best Production of a Play, a 2019 Ovation Award nomination for Best Season, and several 2021 Ovation Award nominations. Our work has been celebrated in the New York Times, L.A. Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, L.A. Weekly, and by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. Recent Broadway productions that first started at IAMA include Leslye Headland’s Cult of Love and Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job. Plays generated at IAMA have also travelled to Off-Broadway, Second Stage Theater, Playwrights Horizons, the Roundabout Underground, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and beyond, helping to secure national and global recognition for our L.A. theater community and placing IAMA at the forefront of contemporary American theater today.