The Actors’ Gang presents 

The Comedy of Arrs

Eight Performances Only!

Media Park, Downtown Culver City

Saturdays & Sundays August 3 – 25 at 11am

Admission is free, reservations highly suggested at theactorsgang.com

The Actors’ Gang’s annual gift to area families are free performances of a new Shakespeare production adapted for children of all ages. This season’s production is The Comedy of Arrs, and will perform every Saturday and Sunday from August 3 – 25 at 11:00am. The Comedy of Arrs combines a beloved Shakespeare comedy with swashbuckling pirates, parrots and mermaids.

The production takes place in downtown Culver City at Media Park, is 45 minutes in length without intermission, and admission is free. Media Park is at 9070 W. Venice Blvd., Culver City 90232 and is adjacent to The Actors’ Gang Theater.  For reservations, which are highly suggested, please visit www.theactorsgang.com.

Since 2006, The Actors’ Gang has connected new and younger audiences to Shakespeare by pairing those stories with contemporary pop culture characters that are easily identifiable and relatable – including Much Ado About Pooh, Harry Potter Hamlet and Toy Story Tempest. The upcoming The Comedy of Arrs is the 17th production of this series, and continues the tradition by telling the tale of The Comedy of Errors through lovable sea creatures, landlubbers and scallywags.

In The Comedy of Arrs, a sea trading merchant and his wife are separated by a shipwreck soon after the birth of their twin sons and adopted twin parrots. The merchant is rescued from the wreck with one twin and one parrot and settles in ARRlington. His wife, who is badly injured in the wreck, is rescued along with the other twin and twin parrot and they are whisked away to the City of Culver. For years the merchant searches for his wife and sons but soon loses hope and gives up. When the twins of ARRlington grow up, they scorn their father for stopping his search and decide to go on a quest to find their long lost mother and brothers. The merchant decides to follow his son and adopted parrot but fails to catch up with them before getting captured by the pirate Captain Duke Solinus of the City of Culver. Now, the merchant must come up with 1000 gold coins to buy his freedom or find someone to post his bail. Little does he know he’s landed in the same shanty town where his wife, twin sons and twin adopted parrots are currently shivering their timbers. A handful of incidents of mistaken identity will lead this estranged family back to one another after learning some valuable lessons about patience, communication and not judging a parrot by its feathers.

The Comedy of Arrs was written by Rynn Vogel, directed by Adam J. Jefferis, and is presented by The Actors’ Gang ensemble.  Director Adam J. Jefferis said, “We’re thrilled to be setting sail this summer, presenting the beloved Bard’s poetry with our own twist of tomfoolery for families from all over Los Angeles. All aboard, it’s gonna be ARRsome!!” 

This performance is made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Culver City Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the SNAP Foundation.

About The Actors’ Gang

The Actors’ Gang was founded in 1981 by a group of punk rock theater artists looking to create a new style of relevant, entertaining theater in Los Angeles. The Actors’ Gang 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, to bring the freedom of self-expression to the incarcerated. 

Over the past 40 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 fourteen 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.