Robbins Directs 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

 

LA Performances Dates From Thursday, July 24 – Saturday, August 30

Actors’ Gang Set To Debut Production in Nashville and Brazil

 

JULY 22, 2014 – For a month this summer, The Actors’ Gang, the renowned Los Angeles based ensemble theatre company, will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Actors’ Gang Theater in Culver City. Tickets for performances can be purchased anytime at www.theactorsgang.com, by calling the box office: (310) 838-4264 or by visiting The Actors’ Gang theatre in Culver City (9070 Venice Boulevard). The box office is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Actors’ Gang is returning from a three-week-long international tour in China and Italy. Under the direction of Academy Award^® winner Tim Robbins, the troupe attracted thousands of attendees to its sold-out performances, drawing 8,000 people to performances in China and 1,800 to those in Italy.  Following its mid-summer run in Los Angeles, The Actors’ Gang will move the production to Nashville (September 12 & 13) and then Brazil (September 19 - 21).

"I'm so proud of the work this company has done and the joy it has spread with this production overseas. The laughter we experienced from the crowds in Italy and China is a testament to the timelessness of Shakespeare's text and the talent of the performers in the company. We are very excited to bring this new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream home to Los Angeles and then on to Nashville and Brazil."

In one of The Actors’ Gangs initial workshop performances in Los Angeles, The Huffington Post said, “The trust that the actors displayed for Tim Robbins' intense vision, the commitment that they made to their roles, and the love and respect that they showed for each other, the language, the play, Shakespeare, the theater in general and their theater in particular, were magical, riveting, and inspiring."

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a surreal world of fairies, spells, incantations, magic, and disorder made right by the mischief of the night. Fourteen actors from The Actors’ Gang working with director Tim Robbins and the company’s Co-Artistic Director, Cynthia Ettinger, illuminate Shakespeare’s forest with original music, kinesthetic movement, and a fervent approach to the surreality and magic of the beloved and classic play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be presented with minimal costumes, props, and scenery, relying mainly on Shakespeare's extraordinary text and the creative imagination of its players to realize this magical world.

The Actors’ Gang is one of the only true theatrical ensembles in the United States that tours internationally. Ensemble members train together regularly and develop pieces through a rigorous workshop process. The actors in the company, in addition to their training and performance schedule, are also educators in the LAUSD school system and dedicated participants in The Actors’ Gang Prison Project.

For over 33 years, Robbins has served as the Artistic Director of The Actors’ Gang. In addition to over a hundred and fifty productions produced at The Actors’ Gang’s Los Angeles base of operations, the award-winning company has toured extensively throughout the United States and to five continents throughout the world with productions such as Embedded, George Orwells’ 1984, The Exonerated, The Guys, Tartuffe, Carnage, and The Trial of Catonsville Nine. The Actors’ Gang has toured in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong and Melbourne as well as throughout the United States and Mexico.