MISSIONTo produce readings and high-quality productions of plays written by talented new or established playwrights, as well as to provide a rental space for theatre companies and independent producers.
The History of the Zephyr Theatre
The Zephyr Theatre, originally called the Horseshoe Stage, opened on January 5th, 1956 at a time when intimate performance bases were scarce. It has been a working stage ever since, hosting plays, musicals, readings, workshops, live comedy, and performance based classes. For more than 50 years, the Zephyr has been a mainstay of the Los Angeles theater scene and has hosted writers and performers at every level of achievement, from Oscar and Emmy award winners to new playwrights. The Zephyr Theatre is owned by producer and artistic director, Lee Sankowich.
Lee Sankowich (Producing Artistic Director)
After serving sixteen years as Artistic Director of the Marin Theatre Company, Lee resigned in 2006 to return to producing and directing independently. Among the forty five plays he directed there were two Estate sanctioned world premieres of previously unproduced Tennessee Williams' plays. His career began with a jump start with his successful productions of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS' NEST which ran for two and a half years in New York, five and a half years in San Francisco, a year and a half in Boston, and in Israel. In total he did eleven productions of the play. Since then he has worked in Regional Theatres across the country including Baltimore Center Stage, The Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, Florida Stage, Geva, Jewish Repertory Theatre, City Theatre, Theatreworks, Pittsburgh Public Theatre where he was a Resident Director, and was an Associate Professor of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University. Among his several awards, he has been the recipient of four San Francisco Bay Area Drama Critics Awards for Direction. Lee currently owns and operates out of the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles.
Margie Kment (General Manager)
After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in theater arts in 2006, Margie moved to New York and worked for Richard Frankel Productions and Broadway Asia Entertainment as the assistant to the general manager. She was an associate producer with Small Pond Entertainment where she produced acclaimed shows such as THE MEANING OF WIFE at the New York International Fringe Festival and HOLD FOR THE LAUGHS, a monthly live comedy show and fundraiser for indie theatre companies. Margie now lives in Los Angeles and is a standup comedian and actor. She produces the monthly storytelling show THIS ONE TIME at the Zephyr Theatre and the weekly standup show FRENCH TOAST at Taix. She has performed standup at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and has acted in sketches for Comedy Central's IMPORTANT THINGS WITH DEMETRI MARTIN
