Milestones - The Actors' Gang

1984

Four TAG members take a Commedia dell’Arte workshop with George Bigot, attaching the rigid discipline of Ariane Mnouchkine’s Theatre du Soleil to the company’s anarchic punk rock theater style

1985

Methusalem, The Eternal Bourgeois produced at the Wallenboyd Theater, directed by Tim Robbins, featuring Ron Campbell, Lee Arenberg, Ebbe Roe Smith and Helen Hunt in the cast, with live music composed and performed by John Densmore of the seminal L.A. rock band The Doors 

1986

Production of Violence at The Wallenboyd, written by Tim Robbins and Adam Simon, featuring John Cusack, Fisher Stevens, Ned Bellamy, Jeremy Piven and Lee Arenberg and directed by Robbins

1987

Carnage, A Comedy - The first theater piece produced by MOCA as part of the inaugural series of performance art in theater called Angels Flights Series, in partnership with the Wallenboyd. Written by Adam Simon and Tim Robbins, the play went on to run at the Tiffany Theater in Hollywood and in 1989 was invited as the United States Representative at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Joe Papp of The Public Theater, in New York, invites TAG to perform Carnage, A Comedy as part of their 1989 - 1990 Season 

TAG receives the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for continued excellence in theater

1992

Live Radio Show of Tim Robbins’ play about Christopher Columbus, Mayhem, The Invasion, is performed in a nationwide broadcast on NPR on the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ Landing.

TAG is cited in an article on the “Cultural Elite” by Newsweek Magazine

1994

The company takes residency at The Actors’ Gang Theater, in Hollywood, and begins producing theater all year-round, inaugurating the theater with Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, collaborating with playwrights Ellen McLaughlin and Charles Mee, and directors Oscar Eustus, Brian Kulik and David Schweizer

1995

Hysteria directed by Tracy Young premieres at the Actors’ Gang Theater to rave reviews. Tracy, along with directors Jason Reed and Michael Schlitt spearhead a productive time over the next five years with productions of Cool Cops, Kick Ass Militia, Mein Kampf, Klüb, and Euphoria

1996

First Outreach Initiative - Shadow Clan, a youth after school program -  

Collaborations with Namaste, Culture Clash, Ben Guillory, Roger Guenveur Smith, Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theater Company amongst others

TAG members Kyle Gass and Jack Black form Tenacious D

1997

Bat Boy The Musical, written by Gang member Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe premieres at The Actors’ Gang Theater. The musical would go on to tour throughout the world and win awards in New York for best Off-Broadway Musical, including the Lucille Lortel Award, two Richard Rogers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Outer Critics Circle Award

2000

With the support of Eric Garcetti, TAG begins afterschool programs with local public schools in Hollywood

2001

George Bigot returns for a summer long intensive training program, going on to direct The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

2002

Production of Anne Nelson’s The Guys, with Tim Robbins and Helen Hunt and directed by Robert Egan. Subsequent casts include William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, David Hyde Pierce, and Phillip Baker Hall. TAG tours the play with P Adam Walsh, Adele Robbins, Brent Hinkley, Kate Mulligan, Cynthia Ettinger, Patti Tippo, V.J. Foster, and Cameron Dye

2003

The Guys is invited to the Abbey Theater in Dublin and The Edinburgh Festival, featuring Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon

Embedded, Robbins’ uncompromising satire about the Iraq War, runs for 4 months to sold out audiences at The Actors’ Gang Theater, in Los Angeles

2004

Embedded opens in New York, at The Public Theater, and runs for 5 months to sold out audiences, followed by a national tour the same year in 20 states.

Embedded plays the Riverside Studios, in London

2005

TAG moves to The Ivy Substation, in Culver City, and starts an Education Program in partnership with Culver City Unified School District

2006

With actor Sabra Williams, TAG starts The Prison Project at the California Institute for Men, and goes on to work with the incarcerated for 5 years with no funding, on a volunteer basis. TAG starts Prison Project.

George Orwell’s 1984 opens at The Actors’ Gang and goes on a national tour (30 states), followed by an international tour to Australia and China

First Free Shakespeare in the Park Show in Media Park, beginning a summer tradition that continues to this day

2008

1984 plays at REDCAT, in Los Angeles, and continues national and international tours that will eventually hit 40 states and 5 continents

2010

WTF Festival - documentaries, performance pieces and live musical performances featuring Jackson Browne, Pink, Jenny Lewis, David Crosby, Ben Gibbard, Sarah Silverman, Tom Morello, Gore Vidal, T.C. Boyle, Serj Tankian, John Doe, Tenacious D and many others

2014

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is performed at The Actors’ Gang and tours to France, Spain, Italy, China, and Brazil

2015

Harlequino On to Freedom opens at TAG and tours to the Spoleto Festival, in Italy, and to Shanghai and Beijing, in China

2019

45 Seconds of Laughter, a film by Tim Robbins, documenting an intensive 7-day setup at Calipatria State Prison, premieres at the Venice Film Festival and the New York Film Festival

Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist directed by Will McFadden performs to sold out audiences and wins Best Male Comedy Stage Raw Award for actor Bob Turton

The New Colossus performs at the Santiago a Mil International Festival, in Chile and Festivales de Buenos Aires, in Argentina

2020

The New Colossus embarks on a national tour of the United States