TWO GENTLEBOTS OF VERONA to Bring Free Shakespeare in the Park to Culver City
The Actors' Gang will present the one-hour family show at Media Park in downtown Culver City.
The Actors' Gang's annual tradition of Free Shakespeare in the Park for Families returns with a new production -Two Gentlebots of Verona - a one-hour adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Two Gentlemen of Verona, bringing love, laughter, and invaluable life lessons to the stage.
When two best friends, Val and Proteus, travel to Culver City, their bond is put to the test. They both fall for the same robot, Silvia Dot Matrix, prompting betrayal, disguises, and a journey down a road towards forgiveness that leads them back to their friendship. This production has something for everyone ... including pop culture references, fun characters, music, dance, and of course underlying it all throughout, the bedrock of Shakespeare's exquisite poetry. Join us and don't forget to bring a blanket to sit on, sun protection, snacks, and water. Beep Bop, Boop Bop!
Two Gentlebots of Verona plays every Saturday and Sunday from August 1-23 at 11:00 am at Media Park in Downtown Culver City, 9091 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232, adjacent to the Actors' Gang Theater. and August 29-30 at 12:00 pm at the Buena Vista Branch Library at 300 N. Buena Vista Street in Burbank, CA 91505. This is a free event, and early registration is recommended at theactorsgang.com or call 310-838-4264.
You can register when you arrive, but registering early ensures speedy entry into the event. Seating is first-come, first-served, so please arrive at least 15 minutes early to find the best spot. Check-in is located on the west end of Media Park, under the gazebo. Feel free to bring low chairs and blankets for a cozy viewing experience!
Since 2006, The Actors' Gang has connected new and younger audiences to Shakespeare with Free Shakespeare in the Park for Families by pairing those stories with popular characters – including Harry Potter Hamlet, Toy Story Tempest, Much Ado About Pooh, The Comedy of Arrs and last summer's Roswell That Ends Well. The Actors' Gang is headed by Tim Robbins, founding Artistic Director.
One of last year's funders was The Roy Cockrum Foundation. Roy Cockrum said, “The Actors' Gang is exactly the kind of organization that our Foundation was established to support. We are here to help make sure theaters can continue their mission, even when essential support is being taken away.”
Former Actors' Gang board member Philippe Browning greatly believes in The Actors' Gang Shakespeare in the Park for Families and has shown his support with generous funding for the past six years. Formerly of CBS Interactive and Snapchat, Browning said, “These annual summer shows are just fun! And while we are having so much fun, I have supported this program every year because of The Actors' Gang's innovative approach to family entertainment, theater, Shakespeare and the spirit of Tim Robbins' vision. I don't want our community to be without this.”
About Two Gentlebots of Verona
This is the fifth Shakespearean adaptation Rynn Vogel has written for The Actors' Gang.
Through detailed study of the plays chosen for adaptation, she is able to find the essence of what Shakespeare was saying and illustrate it in a way that pays homage to his poetry and plots, while making it relatable to modern, young audiences.
Rynn said, “The rewarding part of Shakespeare in the Park for Families is not just introducing Shakespeare to young audiences but to theater itself. For many, this is the first play they have ever seen – and to have that first experience be a Shakespeare play connects them to 400 years of theatrical history. It's important to make that history relatable to a modern audience so we invest the characters with the dignity, power and vulnerabilities Shakespeare richly embodies in his writing. Our adaptations center around love, friendship, the struggle and strife that misunderstanding brings and the redemptive power of forgiveness inherent in the heart of Shakespeare's storytelling.”
Director Adam J. Jefferis has been an essential artist to the Gang's Free Shakespeare in the Park for Families tradition, performing in 13 of the 18 adaptations, notably as Eeyore/Benedict in Much Ado About Pooh (2023) and Woody/Prospero in Toy Story Tempest (2019), providing set design and directing As Boo Like It, Much Ado About Pooh, The Comedy of Arrs, and Roswell That Ends Well, alongside his wife, Rynn Vogel, who adapted the plays and designed the costumes.
Jefferis said, “Since joining The Actors' Gang in 2008, our Shakespeare in the Park for Families series has been the highlight of my career. I'm reinvigorated each year to work with like-minded people who want to celebrate and reimagine some of Shakespeare's most memorable plays. That we let the public come for free means that everyone can share in this great experience.”
Jefferis continued, “This year we want to continue our message that AI will never replace us. The robots in this play are special because they bring the humans together and their technological advancements allow for the humans to make the world a better place.”
Rynn has also been the Costume Designer for Free Shakespeare in the Park for Families for seven shows.
She said, “Cynthia Ettinger, who wrote and directed the summer shows from 2011-2017, always wanted the costumes to have a homemade vibe. I continued that tradition when I took over the costuming of the shows in 2019. I loved the idea that these costumes could come from things you might find in your own house or at a thrift store. We are proud to give garments a new life, and use some costuming pieces year after year.”
She concluded, “Magic can come from the ordinary --- the magic is in your imagination and not in the actual object. Your imagination can take you to the stars and back!”
About The Actors' Gang
The Actors' Gang was founded in 1981 by a group of punk rock theater artists led by Artistic Director, Tim Robbins, looking to create a new style of relevant, entertaining theater in Los Angeles. The Actors' Gang's mission is to present new, unconventional, and uncompromising plays and dynamic reinterpretations of the classics, to restore the ancient sense of the stage as a shared sacred space, to introduce theater to children and help them find their own creative voices, and to bring freedom of self-expression to the incarcerated.
For 45 years, The Actors' Gang has performed for audiences in Los Angeles and worldwide, on five continents and in 40 U.S. States. Our groundbreaking Prison Project is currently in fifteen California prisons, serving incarcerated women, men, and children with rehabilitation programs that significantly reduce recidivism. Each year, thousands of children in Los Angeles public schools discover confidence and creativity with our Education Department through in-school immersion and after-school programs, and by participating in classes that encourage acceptance, respect, and team building in fun and impactful ways.
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