Two West Coast-based production companies, Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF) and Protozoa Pictures, have launched the new LAMF/Protozoa Theater Fund. The joint venture is dedicated to live theater and will commission and produce new work as well as co-produce larger productions.
Brendan Naylor of Protozoa and Luke Rodgers of LAMF will supervise daily operations.
Three writers have been commissioned by LAMF/Protozoa Theater Fund: Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames, Pulitzer Prize finalist Sylvia Khoury and Sarah Einspanier. Ijames’ work includes the Tony Award-nominated play “Fat Ham” (which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington,” “White” and “Welcome Table.” Khoury’s plays comprise “Power Strip,” “Against the Hillside” and “Selling Kabul,” the latter for which she was recognized as a finalist of the Pulitzer for Drama. Einspanier is best known for “Lunch Bunch” and “House Plant.”
LAMF/Protozoa Theater Fund previously served as a co-producer on the 2023 Tony-nominated revival of “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window.”
Founded by Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky, Protozoa Pictures creates work for film and television. Recently, the company adapted Samuel D. Hunter’s play, “The Whale,” into a film. Protozoa Pictures is also the producer behind Pulitzer finalist playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ FX series “Kindred.”
LAMF co-produced the Off-Broadway, Broadway, national tour, Young Vic and West End productions of the 2019 Tony-winning revival of “Oklahoma!” More recently, LAMF served as a co-producer on the 2023 Tony-nominated revival of “A Doll’s House.” LAMF is currently on the producing team of the North American tour of “Magic Mike Live” and the West End mounting of “Crazy for You.” LAMF also produces feature films, documentaries and television projects. CEO Jeffrey Soros and COO Morgan Earnest established the organization together.
“I have been thrilled, surprised and inspired countless times by New York’s stages,” Aronofsky said in a statement. “Many of my favorite screenwriters honed their craft in the theater, so it’s very exciting to be partnering with some of today’s most daring playwrights.”
“At this moment, as theater surges back, I am truly inspired by the ambition and excellence of the current generation of voices working in theater as exemplified by James, Sylvia and Sarah,” Soros added. “Based on our fruitful experiences with Protozoa in other media, I can’t think of a better partner in this endeavor.”
