Don't Wanna Be An...

The Center Theatre Group is breaking exciting ground this fall with a new production of Green Day's rock opera musical American Idiot. Working in collaboration with the Tony Award winners Deaf West Theatre, the play will star Deaf and hearing actors performing in both English and American Sign Language simultaneously. The show, based on Green Day's multi-platinum Grammy award-winning 2004 album, first premiered in Berkeley in 2009 and became the theater's best-selling show of all time, and after it moved across the States and the global stage. Now the monumental show is returning to its home state of California for an unforgettable and unique performance that has to be witnessed!

American Idiot, Green Day's seventh album was released in 2004 and marked a drastic departure from their previous work. Inspired by concept rock opera albums such as The Who's Quadrophenia and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and band set out to create an album detailing the trials that the modern youth were going through during the era, alongside the political world troubles that were occurring at the time. Armstrong came together with director Michael Mayer to create the show, which went on to win two Tony awards and a Grammy. 

What's it about?

Jingletown, USA, in the early 2000s. A group of friends grows ever frustrated with the world around them and their stagnant lives in their lackluster hometown. They attempt to escape with varying degrees of success, but life comes tumbling back down on each of them as they battle their demons and fight through wars to try to come out the other side.