Six soldiers killed in battle rise up to tell the world about the dishonesty and brutality of war in Bury the Dead by Irwin Shaw. Matt Huffman directs Shaw's timely and timeless anti-war classic at The Actors' Gang for a five week run, August 16 - September 13. Two low -priced previews take place on August 14 and 15.
Set "in the second year of the war that is to begin tomorrow night, "Bury the Dead is the story of six dead soldiers who doggedly refuse to be buried - thereby creating a national crisis that is at once sad, moving and wickedly funny. Shaw's first play, written in 1935 before he became a world-famous novelist, was labeled by some as "leftist, antiwar propaganda."
"Shaw was writing at the same time as Clifford Odets," notes Huffman. "At its heart, Bury the Dead is all about class struggle. In all wars, it's the lower classes, the people with no resources, who are most affected and displaced. When the industrial military complex, the 'war machine,' turns on and starts to turn a profit, it rolls over all human life unlucky enough to be in the way."
He continues, "Veteran actor
Richard Herd brought the script to me with The Gang in mind, and he's consulting on the production. As soon as I read it, I knew it would be a great match for our ensemble. Ambitious, sure, but we're risk takers and agitators - on either side of our aisles."
Bury the Dead was produced on Broadway in 1936, shortly after the 22-year old Shaw graduated from Brooklyn College. It was an immediate success and New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson proclaimed it an event that "burrows under the skin of argument into the raw flesh of sensation."
Irwin Shaw began his career as a scriptwriter for popular radio programs of the 1930s, and went on to Hollywood to write for the movies. Disillusioned with the film industry, Shaw returned to New York. Bury the Dead was his first piece of serious writing. About this time, Shaw began contributing short stories to such magazines as the New Yorker and Esquire. His first collection of stories, Sailor off the Bremen and Other Stories (1939), earned him an immediate and lasting reputation as a writer of fiction. While continuing to write plays and stories, Shaw turned to the novel and published The Young Lions in 1948, which won high critical praise as one of the most important novels to come out of World War II. The commercial success of the book and the movie adaptation brought Shaw financial independence and allowed him to devote the rest of his career to writing novels, among them The Troubled Air (1951), Lucy Crown (1956), Rich Man, Poor Man (1970) and Acceptable Losses (1982). Shaw's stories are collected in Short Stories: Five Decades (1978). In 1952, as McCarthyism raged, Shaw left the United States to live in Europe and did not return until 1976. He died in 1984 in Davos, Switzerland.
The Actors' Gang, now in its 25th season of rule-breaking, thought-provoking, engaging theater, is one of Los Angeles' most enduring ensembles. Since its founding in 1982, The Gang has consistently won acclaim for its daring interpretations of Shakespeare, Buchner, Brecht, Moliere, Aeschylus, Ibsen and Chekhov, while also developing daring new plays that address today's world through a prism of satire, popular culture, and raucous stagecraft. "Of the theater companies in Los Angeles that doggedly dare to dissect current political conflicts, The Actors' Gang, headed by Oscar-winning actor
Tim Robbins, is the most prominent," wrote The Daily Breeze.
Performances of Bury the Dead take place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm, August 16 through September 13. The performance on Friday, February September 5 will be sign-language interpreted for the hearing impaired. Two preview performances take place on Thursday, August 14 and Friday, August 15 at 8 pm. Reserved seating is $25.00 Thursday through Sunday, except Opening Night (Saturday, August 16) for which tickets are $50.00 and include a catered post-show reception with the cast; $20.00.for students, seniors, members of the military and veterans; and $15.00 for previews. Pay-What-You-Can "rush" tickets are available to all performances at the door, 30 minutes prior to curtain, subject to availability.
The Actors' Gang is located in the Ivy Substation at 9070 Venice Boulevard (near the intersection of Culver and Venice Blvds.) in Culver City. Two hours free parking is available throughout downtown Culver City; the Ince Parking Lot (corner of Culver and Ince) is directly across the street from the theater. In addition, several restaurants (Italian, French, Thai, Japanese, and more) are only a few blocks' walk from The Actors' Gang and offer a variety of dining options before and after the theater. The Ivy Substation is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call The Actors' Gang Box Office at 310-838-GANG (310-838-4264) or go to www.theactorsgang.com.
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