The Actors’ Gang in Culver City opens its upcoming 2026-2027 season with The Women of Lockerbieby Deborah Brevoort and directed by Christina Harris from September 10-27, 2026, produced in association with the Sonder Theatre of the San Gabriel Valley. The production features the entire Sonder Theatre production cast from May 2026 (in alphabetical order) Libby Baker, Lacy Blake-Vetter, Christina Harris, Scott Harris, Michael Klug, Vanessa Mizzone, Luca Nicoletti, Donna Jo Thorndale, and Suzanne Voss. The playwon the silver medal in the 2001 Onassis International Playwriting Competition and the 2005 Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award and was first presented by The Actors’ Gang in 2007 to great acclaim.
The Women of Lockerbie is loosely inspired by a true story, a mother from New Jersey roams the hills of Lockerbie, Scotland, looking for her son’s remains seven years after he was lost in the crash of Pan Am 103. She meets the women of Lockerbie, who are fighting the United States government to obtain the clothing of the victims found in the plane’s wreckage. They want to wash the clothes of the dead and return them to the victims’ families. Written in the structure of a Greek tragedy, this is a poetic drama about the triumph of love over hatred.
The season also includes Put You on Blast! – October 8 to 24, Children of the Winter Kingdom -November 19 to December 19, The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice – January 21 to March 13, Further Fractured Fables – April 17 to May 29, and The Exonerated – May 6 to June 19, which had its first staged production at The Actors’ Gang in April 2022 where it was nominated for five Ovation Awards and won Best World Premiere play. It also received three NAACP nominations.
From September 2026 through June 2027, The Actors’ Gang presents Late Night Fridays at 9pm, curated from Slick Slack Griff Graff, Put You on Blast!, Commedia Palooza, Commedia Humbug and more!
Season passholders to The Actors’ Gang save 30 percent and theatregoers can see every production for as little as $25 per show. More show information, tickets and season passes are available at theactorsgang.com or by phone at 310-838-4264. Senior and student passes are also available. The Actors’ Gang Theater is at 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City 90232, where all announced performances take place.
The American West is a tale of myth, history, storytelling, and everything in between, brought into focus during MUSE/IQUE’s Looking West concert which I attended at Skirball Cultural Center on August 30. It was an exciting exploration into how art shaped our perspective of the American Frontier, giving birth to the “Wild West” Cowboy myth which exploded through radio broadcasts, short serials screened in early movie theaters, Hollywood feature films, Italian spaghetti westerns, and television shows broadcast into homes around the world about the rugged individuals who chose to face nature in its wildest forms as they lived their lives in the wilderness on their own terms. =
From FDR’s favorite song “Home on the Range,”to the score of Sergio Leone’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”which featured Clint Eastwood as its silent Cowboy star, to Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” which was performed as a salute to the recently departed Country Western star Dolly Parton (who recorded her own hit version of the song), MUSE/IQUE, with Rachel Worby at the helm, provided an invigorating discovery of the music behind the Western Frontier and the myth of the American Cowboy.
Just ask your parents and/or grandparents about Gene Autry, the King of the Singing Cowboys, whose rendition of “Back in the Saddle Again” was a highlight during many of his 93 films. I bet they still remember the song! And it’s easy for long-time Angelenos to picture the 70-foot rugged American Cowboy dreamboat featured on the Marlboro billboard which loomed over the Sunset Strip next to the infamous Château Marmont Hotel for 17 years from 1982 to 1999
Along with the talented orchestra, Looking West featured Emmy Award-winning actor Glynn Turman who performed readings honoring the worlds of Black and indigenous people who chose to live on the range, with vocals by Tony and Grammy nominee Damon Daunno and indigenous singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza whose rendition of Linda Ronstadt’s “Desperado” was a highlight of the concert for me, along with talented musicians Ross Garren on harmonica and Mike Witcher’s sliding on the dobro.
Photos featuring the stars who recorded the songs as well as the type of character each song portrayed were shared throughout the concert; and a fascinating digital and on-site pop-up exhibit called The Galloping Myth of the Cowboyin the lobby offered another appropriate title for the concert along with details about the varieties of Western music to be shared.
It’s interesting how many modern songs highlight the world of cowboys, including James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” whose first verse recounts, “There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range. His horse and his cattle are his only companions. He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons. Waiting for summer, his pastures to change.” And from there, he sings about his solitary life around the fire at night, “waiting for the doggies to retire” as “he sings out a song which is soft but it’s clear, as if maybe someone could hear.” And it is that lifestyle and the universal human right to enjoy live music that fuels Worby’s brilliance as the creator, conductor, and narrator behind Looking West and every MUSE/IQUE concert.
Next up for MUSE/IQUE is American Sound Takes Flight, from Aaron Copland to Paul Simon – Our Musical Pursuit of Happiness, which takes place October 23, 24, and 25 at the Wallis in Beverly Hills. Through composer Aaron Copland’s deviation from European classical music and his ability to fold in new genres, Copland uncovered a new American sound, one that celebrated the people. This movement gave birth to trailblazing artists – everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Paul Simon to Rhiannon Giddens, and beyond!
On October 28 at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, MUSE/IQUE’s Annual Open House will offer a giant thank you to their audience when they throw open the doors, encouraging members to share their love for MUSE/IQUE with their families, friends, neighbors and more. It’s FREE to the public with RSVP required and first come, first served. More information and tickets for the concert and Open House are available at https://www.muse-ique.com/events-and-rsvp/american-sound ?