The Actors’ Gang has announced its full 2025-26 lineup, which features seven original plays, two 20th century theatrical classics, and Late Night Fridays that will present improvised commedia dell’ arte, live music and film screenings. Starting as early as next week, the shows promote the organization’s mission of presenting new and unconventional plays and reinterpretations of the classics.
Season passes for all seven shows in the season are on sale at theactorsgang.com or by phone at 310-838-4264. Pass holders save 30% per show, or all shows for as little as $25 each. There are also senior and student passes available.
The shows and run dates are:
• “Topsy Turvy”
— Sept. 18 to Sept. 27
• “Arrest the Clowns”
— Oct. 30 to Nov. 15
• “Holiday Show”
— Dec. 4 to Dec. 20
• “More Miracles”
— Jan. 22 to Feb. 21, 2026
• “The Adding Machine”
— March 5 to April 18, 2026
• “Fractured Fables”
— April 25 to May 30, 2026
• “The Physicists”
— May 7 to June 20, 2026
“Topsy Turvy.”
The season begins with the return of The Actors’ Gang’s most recent hit, “Topsy Turvy (A Musical Greek Vaudeville).” Written and directed by Tim Robbins, the show will run from Sept. 18 to Sept. 27 prior to going out on tour in the U.S.
“Topsy Turvy” is one of the largest hits of recent Actors’ Gang history. Robbins wrote the play in response to the last six years.
Set in a comedic hybrid world of classical Greek theater and a vaudeville show, everyone — Gods and mortals alike — gets to have their say before the evening is over. The story follows a Greek Chorus after its members are shattered by a mysterious illness. It desperately invokes the Gods, seeking divine intervention to help mend their divisiveness.
In response, there are visits from a Vegas inspired Bacchus and Cupid, the Aztec goddess Coatlique, the biblical character Onan, and Dionysus and Aphrodite. “Topsy Turvy” includes six original songs written by Robbins, brought to life by a small orchestra of musicians and the choral harmonies of fifteen actors.
The second show, “Arrest the Clowns — Insolent until proven guilty” will run from Oct. 30 to Nov. 30, and is directed by Chas Harvey. In the show, intelligence sources from the Federal Investigation Network to Control Thought and Egalitarian RiffRaff report that an underground criminal organization of anarchist clowns has conspired to lay siege to a theatre in Culver City.
A newly developed family “Holiday Show” continues the ongoing The Actors’ Gang spirit. Directed by Adam Dugas, and written by Mary Eileen O’Donnell and Dugas, the holiday show will conjure up a magical wintery world with an original tale that features music, puppetry and theatrical wonderment. It runs from Dec. 4 to Dec. 20.
Three original one acts written and directed by Actors’ Gang members are presented in “More Miracles,” from Jan. 22 to Feb. 21, 2026. The plays were developed by The Actors’ Gang during the 2025 10-minute play festival, “Night Miracles: Nun Fight” written and directed by Willa Fossum; “Sixteen Summers,” written by Ayinde Howell and directed by Gloria Briseno; and “In Recovery,” written by Mary Eileen O’Donnell and directed by VJ Foster.
The Actors’ Gang then presents a new production of Elmer Rice’s 1923 “The Adding Machine,” running March 5 to April 18, 2026. The play, directed by Cihan Sahin, is a classic that warns of and satirizes the future we find ourselves currently living in. The central character, Mr. Zero, an oppressed and abused ‘wage slave,’ has been fired after a quarter century of loyal service as a bookkeeper. He has been replaced by an adding machine. Zero snaps and murders his boss; then tried, found guilty and executed. Act two finds him in the stand-in for heaven.
Cihan Sahin in “Arrest the Clowns.”
“Fractured Fables,” the next performance, runs from April 25 to May 30, 2026. It is a new theatrical adaptation of fairy tales from Aesop to Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen. Directed by Adam J. Jefferis, this original piece draws inspiration from story theater, popular culture and rock and roll and promises to be fun for the entire family.
“The Physicists,” a darkly comic morality play about science by Frederich Dürrenmatt and directed by Brent Hinkley, is the final show of the season. Running from May 7 to June 20, the play is influenced by Bertolt Brecht.
The Actors’ Gang was founded in 1981. The Actors’ Gang has reached and continues to reach thousands of children with their Education Department, operating in Los Angeles, Culver City and Compton School Districts. Ranging from elementary to continuation high schools, the free after-school programs for youth and teens include weekend classes and camps. Their Prison Project currently operates in two juvenile detention centers, two in-community facilities, one re-entry facility, and 15 prisons on 18 yards in the state of California.
“In 1981, we started this journey in garages, art galleries, and street corners, and performed midnight shows in small venues and on dark Hollywood streets,” the Actors’ Gang said in a news release. “We wanted to tell stories that meant something about the world around us, stories that stood boldly in front of power and mercilessly exposed hypocrisy. We wanted to tell stories about love and heroism and the nobility and dignity of the poor.”
For more information about the Actors’ Gang, visit theactorsgang.com.
