The Actors' Gang to Host Conversation with Peter Brook & Tim Robbins, March 25

The Actors' Gang Theater announces a new Axis Mundi evening as part of its digital season: Axis Mundi - In Conversation with Tim Robbins and theatrical legend and visionary director, Peter Brook. The free event, produced in partnership with Fundación Teatro a Mill, will be translated into French and Spanish and will be streamed Thursday, March 25th at 7 pm PST through Zoom and Facebook Live. The live translation is only available through Zoom.

Brook, the first person to win the International Ibsen Award, has dedicated his life to demonstrating the importance of a living theater, a theater that has a unique and powerful potential to transform audiences and shift a cultural landscape. Throughout his career, Brook has distinguished himself in different genres including theater, opera, and cinema and he has written books that have inspired generations of actors and directors. Between the International Centre for Theatrical Creation and his rich contribution to theatrical history, few directors have done as much as Brook to broaden the boundaries of theater to create a culturally rich, diverse, inclusive and spiritually creative cauldron.

Hosted by The Actors' Gang's Artistic Director, Tim Robbins, Axis Mundi is a bi-monthly series of public forums that introduces the audience to creative minds from all around the world. Previous Axis Mundi evenings featured visionary artists such as Ariane Mnouchkine and Guillermo Caldéron. With each conversation, the theater company is bringing together artists who shape cultures and asking vital questions about the future of theater and the arts and what it means to create in pandemic times.

In pre-pandemic times, The Actors' Gang Axis Mundi series featured many special evenings with guests from music, literature, and journalism and was honored to have Jackson Browne, Bill Moyers, Sister Helen Prejean, Gore Vidal, Juan Gonzales, and many others share their wisdom and talent on its stage. Each one of these public forums strives to help the community bridge the gap between isolation and despair to a sense of community and shared hopefulness.

The Actors' Gang's additional digital programming includes weekly screenings of 45 Seconds of Laughter, a film by Tim Robbins (every Wednesday, at 12 pm and 7 pm PST), Beginning, Middle, and Workshop with The Actors' Gang Prison Project Alumni (every other Thursday at 12 pm and 7 pm PST), Bobbo Supreme Radio Play (every Friday at 12 pm and 7 pm PST), and Embedded Live Screenings (every Saturday at 12 pm and 7 pm PST). All digital programming is Pay-What-You-Can except for Axis Mundi and Beginning, Middle, and Workshop evenings, which are free.

Peter Brook (Director, Writer)

Throughout his career, Brook has distinguished himself in different genres including theater, opera, cinema, and has written books that have inspired generations of actors and directors.

He began his career at the Royal Shakespeare Company, directing actors such as Paul Scofield, Glenda Jackson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ben Kingsley in ground-breaking productions of Love Labour's Lost (1946), Measure for Measure(1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), Marat/Sade (1964), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) and Antony and Cleopatra (1978). Shakespeare's plays inspired Brook to pursue his search for universal theater - a theater of no particular country but of all countries, cultures, languages and traditions. From Shakespeare's King Lear to A Midsummer Night's Dream, his productions had a profound influence on the development of theater and continue to serve as a reference point for our interpretation of Shakespeare.

In 1971, Peter Brook founded the International Centre for Theatrical Research (CIRT) in Paris, which, with the opening of the Bouffes du Nord became the International Centre for Theatrical Creation (CICT). Between the Center and his rich contribution to theatrical history, few directors have done as much as Brook to broaden the boundaries of theater to create a culturally rich, diverse, inclusive and spiritually creative cauldron.

Tim Robbins (Artistic Director, The Actors' Gang)

For the past 40 years, Tim Robbins has served as the Artistic Director for The Actors' Gang, a theater company he co-founded in 1981 that has over 150 productions and more than 100 awards to its credit. Robbins and The Actors' Gang's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Orwell's 1984, Harlequino: On to Freedom, Embedded, and The New Colossus have toured in forty US states and throughout the world. In addition, Robbins' stage adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walkinghas been performed in over 150 universities in the U.S. and abroad. Past productions with The Actors' Gang include: As Playwright/Director: Harlequino: On to Freedom (2017), Break the Whip (2010-11), Embedded (2003-4), Mayhem, the Invasion (1992), Carnage, A Comedy (1988-89), Violence, The Misadventures of Spike Spangle Farmer (1987), and Alagazam(1986). As Director: Johnny Got His Gun (2018), A Midsummer Night's Dream (2012-16), George Orwell's 1984 (2006-19), Mephisto (2001), The Good Woman of Setzuan (1991), Methusalem, The Eternal Bourgeois (1985), and Ubu the King (1982).

Co-founded by Robbins in 2006, The Actors' Gang's nationally recognized Prison Project now provides rehabilitative programming for incarcerated men and women on 15 yards in 13 California prisons, in 3 juvenile detention camps and 2 reentry facilities in the Los Angeles area. Robbins' advocacy has recently been instrumental in reinstating 8 million dollars into the California State budget for Arts in Corrections. In addition, with Robbins' support, The Actors' Gang provides free in school and after school programs for thousands of public-school students in the Los Angeles area. Over the years, The Actors' Gang has received awards and commendations from the California Legislature, the Governor's office, the US Department of Justice, and the White House.

As an actor, credits include Dark Waters, Marjorie Prime, The Secret Life of Words, Mystic River, The Shawshank Redemption, Code 46, Catch a Fire, The Player, Bull Durham, Jacob's Ladder, and The Brink. As a Producer/Writer/Director, credits includeDead Man Walking, Cradle Will Rock, and Bob Roberts. His most recent film, 45 Seconds of Laughter recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Robbins has won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG Award, Humanitas Award, National Board of Review, the Prix d'Interprétation Masculine at the Cannes Film Festival and French Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

To attend the Pay-What-You-Can or free digital events and to receive email updates, please visit TheActorsGang.com.

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