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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 Mother Play, Purlie Victorious, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Between Riverside and Crazy, Fat Ham, Life of Pi, Leopoldstadt, Funny Girl, The Piano Lesson, A Beautiful Noise, A Strange Loop,  Slave Play, 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 member June Ballinger is in Touch, an intergenerational comedy written by Lori Goodman and directed by Janice L Goldberg at The Tank. Now in Florida, Betty, a widow, is having a difficult time adjusting to life without her husband. She’s driving her son crazy as she dips her toe into online dating. Bob, a widower, also a Florida transplant, gets a call from his recently divorced daughter: she’s coming to visit. They are too much alike to help each other. With poignancy, pathos, and humor, a cast of seven travel the vicissitudes of navigating life after loss, reaching across the generational divide, getting older, and just being human. Performances run February 20 through March 16.

Company member Adinah Alexander is in the short film Deathless from director by Stacey Maltin and written by M. Rowan Meyer. Ten years after people have stopped dying, Florian, a self destructive porn star, tries desperately to understand the point of life after his twin sister announces her pregnancy. Deathless will have its New York premiere on February 20 and 22 at Look Cinemas as part of the 13th Winter Film Festival in New York City.

Company member Caitlin Nasema Cassidy was interviewed in December about We Hear You—A Climate Archive, a global performance project launched in 2022 exploring youth perspectives on the climate emergency. We Hear You, which Caitlin co-created, is at its core, a storytelling series. It is also one of today’s most comprehensive attempts to record and amplify the ways young people today are experiencing climate change “These days, I want people to walk away with awe,” says Caitlin. “Questions, never answers. And a keen sense of the ways that everything is interconnected.” Read the interview.

Company member Wayne Duvall, who starred in last fall’s Broadway production of Swept Away, now appears on the recently released cast album. Featuring songs by folk-rock group The Avett Brothers and inspired by their 2004 album MignonetteSwept Away finished its run at the Longacre Theatre December 29. The musical, which features a book by John Logan and choreography by David Newmann, was directed by Michael Mayer, with a cast including John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, and Adrian Blake Enscoe.

Joanne Kelly appears on S.W.A.T. in Season 8, Episode 11, “AMBER” on CBS/Paramount+

 

Andrea Syglowski appears on Will Trent in Season 3, Episode 5, “Breathe with Me” on ABC/Hulu

 

Nicole Shalhoub appears on FBI in Season 7, Episode 11, “Shelter” on CBS/Paramount+

 

Joshua David Robinson appears on Law & Order: SVU in Season 26, Episode 12, “Calculated” on NBC/Peacock

Company member Ellen Adair is in Womb, a horror film directed by Bridget Smith and written by Mike Walsh, now available to stream on multiple platforms including Amazon and Apple TV. 22-year-old Hailey, beautiful, pregnant, and recovering from addiction, embarks on a peaceful weekend at a remote cabin to bond with her soon-to-be sister-in-law. But tranquility turns into a nightmare when she becomes the target of a deranged hunter fixated on abducting her unborn child. Watch the Trailer.

Company member Irene Sofia Lucio is in Liberation, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Whitney White, presented by Roundabout Theatre Company. It’s 1970 in Ohio. Lizzie gathers a small group of women to talk. But talking quickly becomes a necessary and bracingly funny attempt to change their own lives and the world. Fifty years later, her daughter is shocked to find herself asking the very same questions her mother did, and goes on a search through the past for answers. A play about what really goes on when women meet behind closed doors, performances run through March 30 at the Laura Pels Theatre.

Company member Patrice Johnson Chevannes is in Mfoniso Udofia’s The Grove, directed by Awoye Timpo at The Huntington in Boston. The Grove tells the story of a family homecoming, asking how we draw on the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors when the bonds of family are stretched to the limit. Abasiama’s eldest daughter Adiaha believes that becoming a writer can make her family proud, but at her graduation party, she has to choose whether to fulfill her parents’ desires or stay true to her own dreams. The production is the second in Boston’s city-wide Ufot Family Cycle—an unprecedented two-year collaboration among the city’s arts organizations to produce Mfoniso Udofia’s cycle of nine plays. The production runs through March 9.

Company member Emma Ramos is in the indie drama, In the Summers, written and directed by Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, now available to stream on Hulu. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Directing award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Company member Johnny Sánchez also served as an acting coach on the film. On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Watch the trailer

Company member Caroline Aaron stars as Maria in Conversations with Mother, a new comedy written by Matthew Lombardo and directed by Noah Himmelstein, now running Off-Broadway. Company member Antoinette LaVecchia is the understudy for Maria. Lombardo’s semi-autobiographical comedy traces the relationship between Italian matriarch Maria Collavechio and her gay son spanning the course of five decades. As they continue to test their lifelong bond, the play depicts the outrageously funny and sometimes completely infuriating dynamic between a conventional mother and her free-spirited son. Performances run through May 11 at Theater 555.

Company members Jeff Hiller and Myra Lucretia Taylor are in the musical Urinetown, directed by Teddy Bergman, with a score by Mark Holmann and lyrics by Holman and Greg Kotis, playing February 5-16 as part of New York City Center’s Encores! series. A young hero leads his community in a fight against oppression. Set in a dystopian world where water is scarce and hope is even scarcer, all citizens must now pay a fee for the privilege to pee at one of the public facilities controlled by a selfish tycoon and monitored by authorities. But the citizens can only hold it in so much longer, and soon the poorest, filthiest of these facilities, run by the formidable Penelope Pennywise, becomes a number one site for major change.

Company member Arturo Luíz Soria has been named a MacDowell Fellow and is spending the next month working on a new play at the residency program’s historic campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The prestigious artist residency previously announced 147 fellowships for artists working in a variety of artistic disciplines from 27 states and 11 countries for the fall and winter season.

Company member Marjan Neshat is a recurring guest star in season 2 of The Night Agent, from creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan. Company member Chris McLinden also appears in the first episode. In the new season, Peter finds himself fully immersed in the mysterious world of Night Action, a top-secret organization rife with lethal threats. The dangers ahead include everything from a possible mole in Night Action to experimental weapons in the wrong hands—and he can’t trust anyone in these dire new circumstances. The new season was released January 23 and all episodes can be streamed on Netflix. Watch the Trailer

Company member Ronald Peet received a Special Citation Obie Award alongside director and playwright Raja Feather Kelly and the ensemble of The Fires, which played last May at Soho Rep. The world premiere time-hopping drama centered on the erotic lives of three Brooklyn men in a South Brooklyn railroad apartment, who write, read, fuck, flirt, eat, and fight at the same time. The recipients of the 68th annual awards, which are off and off-off-Broadway’s highest honor, were announced on February 1st. Jeremy Tiang’s play Salesman之死, which featured company member Jo Mei was awarded Outstanding New Play. See the full list of recipients.

Company members Ellen Adair, Pun Bandhu, Lynette R. Freeman, Eva Kaminsky, and Nicole Lewis have each been nominated for Audie Awards, recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Pun Bandhu was nominated for Audiobook of the Year for his performance, among a cast of narrators, of Richard Powers’ novel Playground. Nicole Lewis was nominated in the Thriller/Suspense category for her narration of The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean. Lynette R. Freeman and Eva Kaminsky were nominated in the Horror category for their contributions to A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. And Ellen Adair was nominated in the Short Stories/Collections category for their contribution to The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck. Winners across 28 categories will be revealed on March 4 in New York in an event hosted by Amy Sedaris.

Company member Lena Kaminsky wrote and directed the short film Last Hope, produced by company member Eva Kaminsky and starring company member Patrick Kerr alongside Marcia DeBonis. The film will make its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 9, 11, and 12 as part an evening of Narrative Shorts. Douglas, a well meaning rule breaker, gets a second shot to return home. Watch the trailer.