UCI Drama Alumni Chris Renfro ’14 and Justine Rafael ’21 Join Center Theatre Group’s Here Lies Love at the Mark Taper Forum

Center Theatre Group’s Here Lies Love brings an all-Filipino cast to Los Angeles, featuring UC Irvine drama alumni

Two alumni from UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama have been cast in Center Theatre Group’s upcoming production of Here Lies Love at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles: Chris Renfro ’14 and Justine Rafael ’21.

Center Theatre Group will present a bold, reimagined production of the musical, featuring music by the Talking Heads’ David Byrne and composition by DJ Fatboy Slim, running Feb. 11 through March 22, 2026. The production marks the show’s first staging since its celebrated 2023 Broadway run and will feature an all-Filipino cast, led by the Group’s artistic director Snehal Desai.

Designed as an immersive audience experience, the new staging transforms the Mark Taper Forum into an interactive theatrical space energized by disco rhythms and kinetic choreography. Here Lies Love traces the rise and fall of former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos, examining the intersections of celebrity, authoritarian power and collective action.

Renfro is an Asian American actor, writer and comedian whose stage credits include Broadway’s Oh, Mary! and concert performances at Carnegie Hall. Their screen credits include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Reno 911!, The L Word: Generation Q and Good Trouble. Renfro currently serves as artistic director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles.

Rafael is a Filipina American performer based in Los Angeles and a graduate of UC Irvine’s Music Theatre program. Her performance credits include East West Players’ production of Spring Awakening.

Here Lies Love plays Tuesdays through Sundays at the Mark Taper Forum, located at 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale now through Center Theatre Group.

To learn more about Here Lies Love, visit the Center Theatre Group’s website here. To learn more about the Department of Drama, visit drama.arts.uci.edu.