PRESS

Click on the links below to read speeches, articles, honors and interviews:

• "An Actors' Theatre - To Be or Not To Be"
  Show Magazine, early 1970s - date unknown
   
• "Audience Need Prodding, Says Stern"
  Variety, 1976 - exact date unknown
   
• "TV, Stage Producer Joe Stern Contends the Best Actors Don't Get Exposure"
  Drama-Logue, July 27 - Aug. 2, 1979
   
• Theater Lights
  Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Jan. 15, 1980
  (Newspaper clipping about Actors For Themselves moving into the Matrix Theatre.)
   
• "A Stern Grip on Success"
  Drama-Logue, June 18-24, 1981
   
• "Waiver Wars"
  Los Angeles Daily News, October 3, 1982
   
• "'Betrayal' Stays Put at Small Equity Waiver Theater"
  L.A. Times, October 14, 1982
   
• The 1984 Olympic Arts Festival Negotiations
  L.A. Times, Los Angeles Herald Examiner & Variety, Summer 1983
   
• Julie Harris: A Premiere 'Bell' Enthralls AFT/Matrix Benefit
  Drama-Logue, Nov. 17-23, 1983
   
• excerpt from "Publisher's/Critics' Awards to Susan Dietz and Joseph Stern"
  Drama-Logue, Jan. 5-11, 1984
   
• "Stirring the Waiver Waters"
  Drama-Logue, Aug. 16-22, 1984
   
• "Don't Go to the Movies"
  L.A. Times, May 26, 1985 (advertisement)
   
• Personal letter to Joseph Stern from playwright Charles Gordone
  July 29, 1987 (during the production of Gordone's "No Place To Be Somebody")
   
• "The Pugnacious Conscience of L.A. Theater"
  L.A. Times Calendar, Sept. 3, 1989
   
• "A Theater Where the Actor Comes First"
  L.A. Times Calendar, Sept. 3, 1989
   
• "Producer combines conscience, creativity"
  Ventura County (Calif.) Star-Free Press, Nov. 22, 1989
   
• excerpt from "1993: It's a Wrap"
  Los Angeles Reader, Dec. 31, 1993
   
• "Hometown Boy Makes Waves"
  L.A. Times Calendar, Jan. 9, 1994
   
• Theatre Notes: "Outspoken Men Win an Ovation"
  L.A. Times, Sunday, October 6, 1996
   
• Ovation Awards Brochure
  Ovation Awards, 1996
  At the 1996 Ovation Awards, Joseph Stern was honored alongside legendary playwright August Wilson.
   
• Theatre Notes: "Overheard at the Ovations"
  L.A. Times, 1996
   
• "The Flexibility of Matrix"
  Brntwd Magazine, Winter 1997
  (Newspaper clipping about Actors For Themselves moving into the Matrix Theatre.)
   
• "Honour Producer Joe Stern"
  L.A. Stage Magazine, July/August 2005
   
• "Joe Stern Launches New Multicultural Season"
  L.A. Stage Blog, April 6, 2009
   
• "Reconstructionist Judaism guides TV producer"
  San Diego Jewish World, July 26-27, 2009
   
• "Matrix Producer Joe Stern Tests the Comfort Zone in New Play, 'Neighbors'"
  Palisadian-Post, September 9, 2010
   
• "Joseph Stern & Tim Dang discuss multicultural casting in LA theatre"
  APAFT (Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre), October 30, 2012
  (Audio interview with Joseph Stern; moderated by Tim Dang, Producing Artistic Director of East West Players)
  Also: Video Tribute - "Honoring Joseph Stern - APAFT Artist Reception"
   
• Video Tribute: "Honoring Joseph Stern - APAFT Artist Reception"
  APAFT (Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre), October 30, 2012
   
• "Matrix Theatre Company Explores Little Known African Genocide"
  L.A. Stage Times, June 7, 2013
   
• "What Means 'Professional?'"
  Stage Raw, July 5, 2014
   
• "At Palisadian Joseph Stern's Matrix Theatre, Race Takes Center Stage for Black History Month"
  Palisadian-Post, February 4, 2016
   
• "Small theaters look into the future"
  Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2017
   
• "Teleplays to Plays: Palisadean Joseph Stern Fights for 'Scraps'"
  Palisadean Post, July 1, 2019
   
• "How Joe Stern Made Hollywood's Matrix Theatre dramatically diverse"
  Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2019

Articles about the Matrix's revolutionary Double-Casting Policy:

• "Seeing Double"
  L.A. Times Calendar, Oct. 24, 1993
   
• "The Matrix Experiment"
  Los Angeles Daily News, March 7, 1994
   
• "Double Casting Coups: The Matrix Theater Company"
  TheaterWeek, July 8, 1996
   
• Video: Double Casting at the Matrix - "Dangerous Corner," 1997
  CNN, 1997
   
• "Lynnda Ferguson & Susan Sullivan"
  BackStage West, 1997
   
• "A Matrix of Creativity"
  L.A. Times Calendar, April 19, 1998
   
• "Not Nothing"
  BackStage West, Feb. 17, 2000

Articles written by Joseph Stern, founder of the Matrix Theatre Company:

• "Legit Pay Raise Was Reckless"
  Variety 43rd Anniversary Issue, December 1976
   
• "Equity Waiver: For Fun or Profit?"
  Letters to the Editor, L.A. Times Calendar, May 2, 1982
   
• "How Will the Actors in our History Shape our Destiny?"
  Theatre L.A., Volume 1 Issue 4, June/July 1983
   
• Ovation Awards Speech: "Fail Better"
  As reprinted in Theatre L.A. News, Volume 9 Issue 7, December 1996

Feature Articles about Associates of the Matrix Theater:

• "Sam Weisman: Opera's Loss is Theatre's Gain"
  Drama-Logue, May 14-20, 1981 (Article about director Sam Weisman of "Table Settings")
   
• "'Discovered' Again with 'Disraeli'"
  L.A. Times, Aug. 25, 1982 (Interview with Ian McShane during the run of "Betrayal")
   
• Three interviews with the Ensemble of Skirmishes
  Various publications, 1983 (Interviews with Carolyn Seymour, Tyne Daly & Sylvia Meredith of "Skirmishes")
   
• "Veronica Cartwright's Career is in Orbit"
  Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, May 14-20, 1984 (Article about actress Veronica Cartwright)
   
• "From Wesleyan to L.A., Via the Alaskan Route"
  L.A. Times, June 22, 1984 (Article about "Homesteaders" playwright Nina Shengold)
   
• Three Interviews with Ian McShane
  Various publications, 1985 (Interviews with Ian McShane during the run of "Inadmissible Evidence")
   
• "Gordone's Win, 'Place' and Shows" and "His 'Place to Be Somebody'"
  L.A. Times, July 17, 1987 and Drama-Logue, July 16-22, 1987
  (Articles about Pulitzer-winning "No Place to Be Somebody" playwright Charles Gordone)
   
• "A Director's Attachment to a Play Set in Czechoslovakia"
  L.A. Times, July 28, 1989 (Article about director Lee Shallat and her direction of "Wenceslas Square")
   
• "He Knows How to Handle Evil"
  L.A. Times, 1995 (Article about actor/director Andrew J. Robinson)
   
• "No Greyhound, She's Finally Broken Away From the Pack"
  L.A. Times, April 8, 1995 (Article about actress Claudette Sutherland)
   
• "Andrew J. Robinson Navigates Dangerous Corner"
  Drama-Logue, May 22-28, 1997 (Interview with director Andrew J. Robinson)
   
• "Pam Dawber Enters a New Stage With The Water Children at the Matrix"
  Drama-Logue, April 30, 1998 (Article about actress Pam Dawber)
   
• "Playing the Naked City"
  L.A. Times Calendar, May 31, 1998 (Article about director Lisa James)
   
• "He's Playing the Director"
  L.A. Times Calendar, May 13, 2001 (Article about actor/director Andrew J. Robinson)
   
• "Creating a Set That's in Character"
  L.A. Times Calendar, Sept. 23, 2001 (Article about set designer Victoria Profitt)