Actors Gang Inc

The actors' gang education department (tag-ed) continued to provide three programs in schools across los angeles county: ensemble in the classroom, integrated arts, and an after school program. The ensemble in the classroom program was conducted with three schools within the los angeles unified school district (lausd): castle heights elementary, whitney young continuation high school, and hamilton high school. It was also offered to george washington elementary school within compton unified school district (cusd) and the argo navis school. The integrated arts program was offered to two lausd schools--highland park continuation high school and boyle heights stem academy--as well as in multiple classes at culver city middle school within the culver city unified school district (ccusd). During the summer months, tag-ed partnered with cusd to offer arts enrichment for over 200 elementary school students. Tag-ed also continues its free after school program offered to students of ccusd and conducted on-site at tag's theater. Three sessions were offered - two for elementary school students and one for middle school students.tag-ed also presented the shakespeare-in-schools touring production of 'much ado about pooh' for students in elementary schools throughout los angeles. The production toured to washington elementary (cusd), el marino elementary (ccusd), mckinley elementary (santa monica-malibu unified school district), basset street elementary (lausd), and the ucla lab school. Students from the argo navis school came to tag's theater for an exclusive matinee performance.

The actors' gang's (tag's) 2023-2024 season opened with the 16th production in the annual, free shakespeare-in-the-park (sitp) series for multi-generational audiences. Each year this production combines a shakespearean play with modern and iconic cultural characters. This year's production, 'much ado about pooh,' was an original adaptation of 'much ado about nothing' featuring characters from a.a. Milne's classic 'winnie the pooh' series. More than 2500 people attended the production over the course of eight performances during the month of august. Attendees under the age of 18 constituted an estimated 65% of the audience. In september, this production became the first show the in "shakespeare-in-schools" series as part of tag's new educational touring program. The inaugural performance was received enthusiastically by 300 children at george washington elementary school in compton unified school district. The season continued with a production of 'methusalem,' directed by tag founding member brent hinkley. 'methusalem' continues tag's celebration of theatrical classics that are a part of tag history. 'methusalem,' an early 20th-century play by ivan goll, was first produced by tag in 1985. Mr. Hinkley appeared in the original cast and returned to tag to direct this production after many years acting at the oregon shakespeare festival. In addition to celebrating tag's history of presenting rarely produced theatrical classics, tag also found the themes of the play remain relevant today--themes of worker exploitation, wealth concentration, and social class as related to economic status.in january of 2024, tag remounted '(im)migrants of the state'the first tag production to feature an entire cast of formerly-incarcerated artists who are alumni of the actors' gang prison project (tagpp). Tag is committed to offering development opportunities for original work created by the artistic ensemble, and '(im)migrants of the state' underwent changes and refinement in rehearsal before being presented for a limited run.during march, tag presented 'ybor city,' a new play written by company member mariana da silva. In addition to being da silva's playwriting debut, ybor city was tag's first fully bilingual play performed in english and spanish with supertitles in both languages. Ybor city is based on the true events of a workers' strike at a cigar factory in tampa, florida, during the early 20th century. This historical context provided da silva inspiration for a story that explored immigration, community, and the struggles of the latino community and their intersection with labor in the united states. Following 'ybor city,' tag produced the latest original work from artistic director tim robbins. This play, 'topsy turvy,' was one of the earliest theatrical responses to the covid-19 pandemic. 'topsy turvy' is set in an unspecified time and place where a chorus of people experience sudden turmoil when a disease begins to spread throughout the land. They are forced into isolation and seek help from a cast of historical gods and other supernatural figures including dionysus, aphrodite, and coatlique. Robbins also wrote seven original songs that are performed by live musicians and the chorus of actors. During its run at tag's theater, most performances played to sold out audiences and robbins conducted multiple talkbacks following the show to further engage the audience in its themes. After this successful run, 'topsy turvy' toured to romania, poland, and hungary.