The Actors' Gang

Last updated

The Actors' Gang
Formation1981
TypeTheatre group
Location
Artistic director(s)
Tim Robbins
Website theactorsgang.com

The Actors' Gang is an experimental theatre and nonprofit group based at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. [1] [2] [3] It was founded in 1981 by a group of actors, including Tim Robbins, [1] now a member of the board and artistic director of the troupe.

Contents

History

The Actors' Gang has produced over 150 plays in Los Angeles, in forty US states, and on five continents. The company was founded in 1981 by a group of young artists. Guided by Founding Artistic Director, Tim Robbins.

The Actors' Gang has presented the work of theater artists including Georges Bigot, Simon Abkarian, Charles L. Mee, David Schweizer, Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theatre Company, Tracy Young, Roger Guenver Smith, Eric Bogosian, Oskar Eustis, Danny Hoch, Beth Milles, Jon Kellam, Brian Kulick, Stefan Haves, Namaste Theater Company, Culture Clash, JR Reed, Michael Schlitt, and Tenacious D.

The Actors' Gang ensemble has included actors such as Jack Black, John Cusack, John C. Reilly, Helen Hunt, Kate Walsh, Fisher Stevens, Jeremy Piven, Ebbe Roe Smith, Jon Favreau, Lauren Lane, Brent Hinkley, Kate Mulligan, Lee Arenberg, Kyle Gass, and Tim Robbins.[ citation needed ]

Guest artists that have appeared on The Actors' Gang stage include: Jackson Browne, Sarah Silverman, Ben Gibbard, John Doe, Tom Morello, Jenny Lewis, Wayne Kramer, Paul Provenza, Zooey Deschanel, Serj Tankian, David Crosby, Felicity Huffman, Jill Sobule, William H. Macy, Phillip Baker Hall, Jeanne Tripplehorn, T.C. Boyle, and Gore Vidal. [4]

Community outreach

The Actors' Gang Education and Outreach Program provides free after-school, in-school, and summer programs for Los Angeles County youth. Company Actors/Teaching Artists work in collaboration with youth to create original ensemble theatre.

The Actors' Gang Prison Project provides 8-week workshops in California prisons in order to unlock human potential in the interest of effective rehabilitation. One of the few remaining arts programs inside California's correctional system. Since the program's inception 8 years ago, the Prison Project maintains a 0% recidivism rate (California's rate exceeds 60%).[ citation needed ]

Other Community Outreach programs include weekly Pay-What-You-Can performances (every Thursday's performance during all production runs) and free Shakespeare-in-the-Park every weekend in August (a 45-minute Shakespeare adaptation for all ages). The Actors' Gang contributes ticket vouchers for group trips and non-profit fundraising activities.[ citation needed ]

Productions

In 2014, the Actors' Gang toured its production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tim Robbins. The tour schedule included:

Other touring productions include George Orwell's 1984, Tartuffe, Embedded , The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, The Guys, and The Exonerated . These productions have toured 41 states in the U.S. and cities across the world from London to Athens, Madrid, Barcelona, Bogota, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Buenos Aires, covering five continents.[ citation needed ]

Training

Actor training courses are held at the theater several times a year in 8-week periods.

The style

The Style is a unique form of acting developed at the Actors' Gang over its many year history. It includes elements of commedia del arte, mask work, viewpoints, and focuses on developing emotional states. Every show at the Actors Gang utilizes the Style in varying degrees of subtlety.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Robbins</span> American actor (born 1958)

Timothy Francis Robbins is an American actor, director, and producer. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994), and Jacob Singer in Jacob's Ladder (1990), as well as winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe award for his role in Mystic River (2003) and another Golden Globe for The Player (1992).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hall (director)</span> English theatre, opera and film director (1930–2017)

Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognising achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.

Cornerstone Theater Company is a theater company based in the United States that specializes in community-based collaboration. According to the mission statement published on the company's website,

"Cornerstone Theater Company is a multi-ethnic, ensemble-based theater company. We commission and produce new plays, both original works and contemporary adaptations of classics, which combine the artistry of professional and community collaborators. By making theater with and for people of many ages, cultures and levels of theatrical experience, Cornerstone builds bridges between and within diverse communities in our home city of Los Angeles and nationwide."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnsdall Art Park</span> Park in Los Angeles, California

Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park. The park is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winners are selected by a voting committee of Los Angeles area theater professionals who are selected through an application process every year. The Ovation Awards ceremony has been held at different theatres throughout the Los Angeles area, including the Ahmanson Theatre and the Orpheum Theatre. Hosts for the ceremonies have included Nathan Lane, Lily Tomlin, and Neil Patrick Harris.

Laurence Crawford "Larry" O'Keefe is an American composer and lyricist for Broadway musicals, film and television. He won the 2001 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Musical as composer for Bat Boy: The Musical.

First Folio Theatre was a not-for-profit theater company affiliated with the Actors' Equity Association. Founded in 1996, First Folio, originally named First Folio Shakespeare Festival, was located on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. First Folio utilized the "Folio Method" as developed by Patrick Tucker, who first introduced his approach to American actors, directors and teachers in a series of workshops sponsored by the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City at The Shakespeare Center beginning in 1982, which led to an awakened interest in the First Folio.

Synetic Theater is a non-profit physical theater company located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It performs at the Crystal City Theatre in Arlington Virginia. Since its formation its productions have received numerous awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Shakespeare Theater</span>

California Shakespeare Theater is a regional theater located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Its performance space, the Lt. G. H. Bruns III Memorial Amphitheater, is located in Orinda, while the administrative offices, rehearsal hall, costume and prop shop are located in Berkeley.

Erika Chong Shuch is an American theatrical performer, director, choreographer, and educator based in San Francisco, California. Her work has appeared on stages in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC, and Seoul, South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy Substation</span> Theatre in Culver City, California, United States

Ivy Substation is a 99-seat theatre in Culver City, California which formerly housed power equipment for the nearby electric railways and Ivy station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Blanchard</span> American actor

Justin Blanchard is an American actor who has performed in television, film, theatre and radio. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the Actors' Equity Association.

Paul Ryan Rudd was an American actor, theatre director and professor.

The New Swan Theater is an outdoor, portable theater that is assembled and disassembled each summer as part of New Swan Shakespeare Festival, the annual Shakespeare festival at the University of California, Irvine. It is a reduced-size replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Ovation Awards</span>

The nominees for the 2014 Ovation Awards, aka the 25th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, were announced on September 22, 2014, at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California. The awards were presented for excellence in stage productions in the Los Angeles area from September 2013 to August 2014 based upon evaluations from 250 members of the Los Angeles theater community.

Christine Anne Weatherhead is an American film, theater and television actress, writer, director, and producer.

Laurie Woolery is a Latinx playwright, director, and educator based in New York City. She is the director of Public Works at The Public Theater and founding member of The Sol Project. In 2014 she was awarded a Fuller Road Artist Residency for Women Directors of Color. She is best known for her 2017 musical adaptation of As You Like It.

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) theatre company based in Los Angeles, California, that stages outdoor and indoor Shakespeare plays and produces the Simply Shakespeare series of benefit readings around Los Angeles. The Center also provides arts-based opportunities for veterans and at-risk youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daisuke Tsuji</span> American actor

Daisuke Tsuji is an American actor. Tsuji is best known for his performance as Jin Sakai in the video game Ghost of Tsushima (2020) and as the Crown Prince in the TV series The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019).

References

  1. 1 2 Rojas, Rick (5 June 2013). "Tim Robbins, Actors' Gang help inmates express their emotions". Los Angeles Times .
  2. Ng, David (21 June 2008). "'1984' by the Actors' Gang at REDCAT". Los Angeles Times.
  3. McNulty, Charles (17 August 2013). "Review: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' goes from merry to muddle". Los Angeles Times.
  4. theactorsgang.com. "Ensemble" . Retrieved 7 April 2023.