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The Actors Center provides actors with extraordinary creative opportunities designed to advance their artistic development, spark innovation, and cultivate transcendent works of art on stage, on screen, and in communities throughout the United States.

Through our creative residency programs, artist development workshops, advanced training opportunities, and mentorship, we are a leading advocate for the highest levels of excellence in the craft of acting and the theatre, film, and television industries.

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Meet our Resident Company of 300 Actors
Leaders Who Work Throughout Theater, Film, and Television

Our National Reach Over The Past 5 Years

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New York Theater Companies
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Broadway Shows
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Television Series
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Major Feature Films
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Universities and Schools
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States Across the U.S.

Working with almost every major non-profit theatre in NYC, including the Public Theater, Roundabout, Vineyard, Signature, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Company, Classic Stage Company.

Including Between Riverside and Crazy, Fat Ham, Life of Pi, Leopoldstadt, Funny Girl, The Piano Lesson, A Beautiful Noise, A Strange Loop,  Slave Play, Tina, To Kill a Mockingbird, and many more.

Including top shows from every network, such as Abbott Elementary, Succession, Ozark, Black Bird, Atlanta, Dear Edward, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Handmaid’s Tale, Billions, and The Walking Dead.

Including Dune, The Irishman, The Report, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Big Sick, The Greatest Showman, Black Panther, Boston Strangler, working with directors Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Spike Lee, Ava Duvernay, and Denzel Washington.

Teaching at training programs across the country including Juilliard, Yale, NYU, Brown, Columbia, USC, A.C.T., Purchase, among others, as well as independent studios and public school programs.

Working at regional theaters and national tours in 40 of 50 states including at the Guthrie, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Arena Stage, Yale Rep, Trinity Rep, Seattle Rep, La Jolla, Cincinnati Playhouse.

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Recent News & Company Projects

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Company members Sanjit De Silva, Sepideh Moafi, and Benjamin Thys are in the new play Corruption at Lincoln Center Theater. Written by J.T. Rogers and directed by Barlett Sher, the play tells the story behind the story of the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, stunning the world and upending British politics. When Parliament member Tom Watson is maliciously smeared in the newspaper, he decides to fight back. But what he uncovers is far more insidious than he ever imagined. Epic in scope and often startlingly funny, this new play tells a true-life David and Goliath story of ordinary men and women trying to find a way to save their democracy before it’s too late. Company member Patrick Mulryan is the voice and dialect coach for the production. Now in previews, the play opens March 11 and runs through April 14.

Company members Jeb Brown and Ken Marks are in the new musical Dead Outlaw, now running Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre. With music and lyrics by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, book by Itamar Moses, and directed by David Cromer, the world premiere production is presented by Audible Theater. How did the preserved body of an Old West train robber from Oklahoma wind up hanging in a Southern California amusement park ride in 1976? Dead Outlaw tells the unbelievable true story of Elmer McCurdy, a man who had twice as many adventures in death as in life, and whose long, strange odyssey spanned a continent and a century. Now in previews Dead Outlaw opens March 10 and runs through April 7.

Company member Judy Kuhn performs Soul Picnic: The Songs and Legacy of Laura Nyro, March 2-4 at the 92NY Center for Culture and Arts. A celebration of Nyro’s extraordinary musical contributions, and unique blend of poetic, confessional lyrics, social consciousness, and irresistible pop melodies, Judy also serves as artistic director, co-conceiver, co-writer of the evening. Judy earned an Obie Award for her role in Diane Paulus’ Laura Nyro musical Eli’s Comin’ and later recorded an album of Nyro’s music, The New York Times writing that Kuhn “comes as close to channeling Ms. Nyro’s essence as any performer I’ve heard.” The evening is directed, co-conceived, and co-written by Trip Cullman and Kevin Carillo, with musical direction by Dan Lipton. The show is part of 92NY’s Lyrics & Lyricists series and celebrates a pioneering contributor to the American Songbook.

Company members Eva Kaminsky and Lena Kaminsky’s short film Little Mouse is now released and available to stream online on Omeleto, a Youtube channel showcasing award-winning short films. Written and directed by Lena and starring Eva, Little Mouse follows Betsy, who suddenly finds herself alone, packing up a houseful of memories. In order to move on, she must untangle her feelings of loss as she navigates a complicated and unexpected relationship with a mouse in her house.

Company members Paco Tolson and Tatiana Wechsler are in Fiasco Theater’s Pericles at Classic Stage Company. Directed by Ben Steinfeld, the play takes the Prince of Tyre on a Mediterranean adventure full of riddles, betrayals and pirates. From confident leader to yearning lover to seeker of meaning, our hero in this Shakespearean tragicomedy is brought to life on the stage by the inventive Fiasco Theater, which brings music, poetry, and a completely new way of seeing one of the Bard’s most complex characters. Company member Liz Hayes serves as vocal coach. The production runs through March 24.

Tonya Pinkins plays Ms. Marie Willis in Sistas in Season 7, Episode 8 “Pens and Needles” on BET.

 

Neal Lerner appears in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans in Season 2, Episode 6 “Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals” on FX/Hulu

 

Rebecca Harris appears on FBI: Most Wanted in Season 5, Episode 2 “Footsteps” on CBS.

 

Amy Lynn Stewart appears in Law & Order: Organized Crime in Season 4 Episode 5 “Missing Persons” on NBC/Peacock.

Company member Madeline Wise returns for season two of So Help Me Todd on CBS. A wacky hybrid of a legal procedural and a family drama, the show was created by Scott Prendergast and stars Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin. Razor-sharp, meticulous attorney Margaret Wright hires Todd, her talented but aimless son, as her law firm’s in-house investigator. Mother and son working together is a big first step toward mending their fragile, dysfunctional relationship. Madeline plays Todd’s older sister, Allison, who is a doctor and the super achiever of the family. She has done everything that her mother wanted her to do, but has started to crack under pressure. Season two premiered February 15 with new episodes every Thursday.

Company member Heidi Armbruster’s original one-woman play receives a production with Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre. Scarecrow tells the story of a big-city actress, who lands back at her family’s Wisconsin dairy farm to grieve herself back to life. But can she ever make enough meatloaf to feel a sense of purpose again now that her most important person is gone? Following its premiere last summer at Vermont’s Dorset Theatre Festival, Scarecrow now plays on its native soil. A look at loss and survival. Resilience and renewal. And Hallmark movies. The production runs through March 17.

Company member Magaly Colimon-Christopher directs the New York premiere of Searching for Abuelo, written and performed by Gretchen Suárez-Peña at The Tank, March 5-9. A Puerto Rican woman’s TED Talk about finding one’s identity gets hijacked by her ancestors… leading to unexpected results. Winner of the 2023 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival and the 2023 Voices of Women Theatre Festival, Searching for Abuelo is framed in the Puerto Rican musical style of Bomba. Gretchen Suárez-Peña writes that the piece is about her maternal grandfather, and the journey of figuring out who he was and what to do about it.

Company member Ching Valdes-Aran plays Dr. Mendoza in Esspy, written by Nandita Shenoy and directed by Peter J. Kuo at New Jersey Repertory Company. Esspy is a comic-drama about a young medical student embarking on a journey he never expected. Although William is intellectually at the top of his class, he soon discovers that knowledge of science is only one ingredient in caring for a patient. While adept at making clinical diagnoses, intimate human interactions confound and bewilder him until he encounters Anu, a young woman working in the patient simulation program. The play follows their sessions over several years as it moves toward a profound and poignant climax, and poses the question: can empathy and compassion ever be taught? Performances runs through March 17 in Long Branch, NJ.

Company member James Waterston is in the feature film La Cocina, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this month. Written and directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios, and based on the acclaimed stage play by Arnold Wesker, La Cocina is a tragic and comic tribute to the invisible people who prepare our food. The film stars Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara. The story takes place at The Grill in Manhattan, where cash has gone missing from the register. All the undocumented cooks are placed under scrutiny, particularly Pedro, a dreamer and a troublemaker, who is seeking more from life than this job has to offer. The Grill’s owner Rashid has promised to help Pedro with his legal papers, however his world shatters when an unexpected revelation about Julia, an American waitress he’s in love with, comes to light. The film serves a compelling vision of the immigrant experience as a hellish limbo in which even the seeming ballast of community, brotherhood, and love can be illusory.

Company member James Chen plays the role of analyst Ian Lim on the hit television show FBI on CBS. The show is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as they dive head first into counterintelligence, investigating incredulous crimes, and working tirelessly to keep the nation safe. Since appearing in the pilot, James has now appeared in 60 episodes during the show’s six season run. The new season premiered February 13 with episodes airing on Tuesday nights.

Company member Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and LubDub Theatre Company were in residence this month at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan to develop The Magic Bullet. The piece is a transdisciplinary performance about an ensemble of seven contemporary artists trying to tell the story of a French colonial magic show that took place at Algiers’ Bab-Azoun Theatre in 1856. As the ensemble attempts to confront the legacy of this historical performance, an overlapping, intersecting sea of stories unfolds across space and time, defying a global legacy of colonization and reclaiming the liberatory potential of magic. Drawing on archival sources, ritual, original writing, stage magic and documentary filmmaking, The Magic Bullet offers an uncanny confrontation between the power of illusion and the illusion of power. The piece is co-commissioned by Pangea World Theatre in partnership with the Arab American National Museum, Noor Theatre, and National Performance Network.

The Mint Theater’s 2023 production of Becomes a Woman with company members Jeb Brown and Antoinette LaVecchia is now available to stream online through March 17. Written by Betty Smith and directed by Britt Berke, the original production was presented at New York City Center Stage II in March 2023. The play follows 19-year-old Francine, living with her family in Brooklyn. She works at a five and dime store as a singer at the sheet music counter with co-workers who only see a shy woman afraid of the world. When Francie discovers her courage, she surprises everyone, but most of all herself.

Company member Chris Perfetti continues playing Jacob Hill in the third season of the award winning television series Abbott Elementary. The show is a workplace comedy centered around a group of dedicated teachers—and an oblivious principal—in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Created by and starring Quinta Brunson, the show has won many awards including three Golden Globes and four Emmys. Season three began airing February 7 on ABC and Hulu, and the show has already been renewed for a fourth season.