L.A.'s 'Actors' Gang' Turns 25 November 09, 2006 By Les Spindle The Los Angeles theatre community has something in common with the late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield: It keeps fighting hard to get some respect. Despite the number of superb companies and the abundance of quality productions on the boards here, our film-capital metropolis is still frequently dismissed as a poor man's theatre town. Thankfully, our strongest companies plunge ahead steadfastly against the odds, continuing to do amazing work, slowly but surely moving our city closer to dispelling the myth. No local group has established as strong a national profile as The Actors' Gang, which was founded in 1981 by then-unknown actor Tim Robbins and his colleagues from the UCLA theatre department. A quarter of a century later, with the invigorated company at an artistic high point and the multitasking Oscar winner Robbins back at the helm as artistic director, the stalwart Gangsters continue their tradition of presenting bold, adventurous work. It all began when the Gang — not yet organized into an official company — performed Ubu the King at the Pilot Theatre in Hollywood in 1981. Robbins, who directed the production and performed in it, recalls the pivotal event: "The L.A. Times, the [extinct] Herald-Examiner, the [extinct] LA Reader, the [extinct] Drama-Logue, and the LA Weekly all came to review us, even though we were only performing at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights; that's really what got us going. We were just runts at the time, and we sent out a rudimentary press release. If they had ignored us, we wouldn't have been encouraged to form a company. Thanks to the support, we were able to drum up audiences. Things ebb and flow with critics, of course. But I will always be grateful for that initial push, which recognized our effort as legitimate." Actor-director Brent Hinkley, a founding member who is still with the group, says, "It was a great show and we were young kids full of rebelliousness, and it was all fantastic." Hinkley elaborates on the early years: "Tim had just graduated, and I was still in school. Off the success of that production, we reunited every summer to do productions at various locations, as The Actors' Gang. It was several years before we did a full season in 1992 at the Second Stage Theatre on Santa Monica. We moved to the El Centro space [in Hollywood] in 1994, after taking the previous year off to renovate it." The company stayed at that location until 2005, when it was forced out due to a rent increase. Its subsequent move to Culver City's Ivy Substation, bolstered by support from the local government, has been highly successful, financially and artistically. In the early 1990s, Robbins drifted away from the company for many years while concentrating on his burgeoning film career. He returned in 2001 to reclaim the leadership. Behind-the-scenes controversies were reported in the media, including bitter power struggles and the departure of some of the company's most acclaimed and accomplished artists, such as director-actor Tracy Young and actor Chris Wells. The company differs from other local groups in that its artists are not officially members. According to Robbins, those who work there are there "because they want to be there." Aside from Robbins' position, a board of directors, and a couple of staff positions, the organizational structure is not rigid or hierarchical. "We were trying to find a direction," Hinkley says of the transition that occurred when Robbins returned. "There were too many voices running the company, and it sort of lost a cohesiveness. There was not one person to oversee it and make it jell." Another veteran member, Cynthia Ettinger, agrees. "I have seen a lot of growing pains in companies. When the changes happened here, I don't know if it seemed to the world as natural change," she observes. "It was strange to have our dirty laundry out there for the world to see, since it all got out in the press. It was sad and painful. I had left the company for a few years early on, but I went back. There is a great loyalty in the company. Regardless of who is here at the time, there is a tremendous energy. The last production, Love's Labor's Lost, was very inspiring. As an old-time member, I felt the energy we had in the beginning was back." Ettinger adds that she finds great rewards in the strong ensemble paradigm of the company; she believes the working atmosphere is something unique and special and that it leads to extraordinary work. The group's canon has been so eclectic — experimental workshop projects, fresh looks at classics, explosive politically themed pieces — that defining its artistic mission is difficult. Robbins is hesitant to pinpoint it, though he emphasizes the commitment to entertain audiences above all and acknowledges that this often comes in the form of thought-provoking or challenging fare. He notes that the company frequently adheres to an artistic discipline that has come to be called "the style," which incorporates principles used in commedia and mask work and Asian theatre, driven by an intense effort to get at the truth of a character. Robbins and his colleagues learned this technique from French director Georges Bizot, of Paris' Théâtre du Soleil. Among Bizot's collaborations with the group was a 2001 staging of Chekhov's The Seagull. "He really gave us a direction," Robbins says. "We had the passion, we had the raucousness, we had the energy. What we didn't have was the discipline, the technique. What he gave us has informed our choices. There is no point in doing a piece unless you are dealing with intense stakes and strong states of emotion." It is likewise difficult to cite the Gang's greatest accomplishments among so many victories, though high points certainly include its world premiere work Bat Boy: The Musical, which went on to an Off-Broadway run; the ingenious Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, produced in conjunction with Cornerstone Theater Company; a fastidious re-creation of 1930s musical theatre styles in Broadway; and Four Roses, bringing four heroines from Tennessee Williams works into an imaginative theatre piece. Looking ahead, Robbins wants to increase the company's touring projects because they allow the actors to earn good salaries and also raise the national profile of the Gang and L.A. theatre in general. He is strongly committed to the group's ambitious teaching programs for children in grade school, middle school, and high school; Culver City lends strong support. The efforts of the Gang members to make this program flourish and grow epitomize the group's spirit. Robbins adds, "This works because of the members' commitment — not out of monetary reward. It comes out of understanding the necessity of working with the community, sharing our space and talents to provide the children with a glimpse of what it takes to be a theatre. It's the smartest thing we've ever done. We are building a theatre community for the future." With new Gangsters in the making, the hope is that there will be umpteen more Actors' Gang anniversaries in the future. The new Actors' Gang season kicks off with Bertolt Brecht's "Drums in the Night" at the Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. (Sun. 7 p.m. only Dec. 3-17. Dark Dec. 21-31.) Nov. 11-Jan. 27. (310) 838-4264.