{"id":5075,"date":"2014-06-12T07:45:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T07:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/?p=5075\/"},"modified":"2017-08-29T01:53:24","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T01:53:24","slug":"the-shakespeare-redemption-oscar-winner-tim-robbins-directs-a-midsummer-nights-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/the-shakespeare-redemption-oscar-winner-tim-robbins-directs-a-midsummer-nights-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shakespeare Redemption: Oscar Winner Tim Robbins directs ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Check out the full That’s Shanghai article at this link.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

As his career enters its fourth decade, Tim Robbins has pretty much done it all. He won an Academy Award for his stirring performance in Mystic River<\/em>, released a solo album four years ago and is about to star alongside Jack Black in the upcoming HBO comedy series The Brink<\/em>. However, the Oscar-nominated director will be indulging his first love when his Actors\u2019 Gang brings a workshop production of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> to the Daguan Theatre from June 19-21.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream wasn\u2019t movies,\u201d he says of the theater group he co-founded in 1981. \u201cWe were a combination of actors that loved European theater and punk rock. We stayed away from American realism and tended towards more exciting material that had a larger canvas. I\u2019m proud to say we\u2019ve never done a play with a couch before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midsummer<\/em> is one of Shakespeare\u2019s more fantastical creations, an endearing comedic romance involving young couples and manipulative fairies in an enchanted forest setting. Past adaptations have played up the wonder but Robbins has gone for a minimalist approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big believer of less on stage. When I see these kinds of productions with big sets and lavish scenery, I feel like I\u2019m watching a theme park,\u201d he says. \u201cTo me, theater is about the connection between the actors and the audience. The more bells and whistles you have, the less attention you pay to the heart of what the author is talking about and what the actors are trying to portray.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Shanghai shows features the same cast that performed it last year in California, and Robbins explains he first directed it in 1984, when he also starred as Oberon.<\/p>\n

Pieces constantly evolve,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s based on certain European companies that really take their time to develop a piece. Unfortunately, they\u2019re state funded and we\u2019re not so we have to be more economical. Usually we do a workshop production and if we\u2019re interested in developing it, we\u2019ll let it germinate for seven months and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Actors\u2019 Gang has always been close to Robbins\u2019 heart. He reportedly funded their inaugural 1982 production of Alfred Jarry\u2019s Ubu the King<\/em> through his salary as a waiter and early television work. It was a smart investment. The LA Weekly <\/em>described the show as \u201ca shot heard around the city,\u201d with Robbins shining in the lead role as the madcap king.<\/p>\n

Guest work on TV shows like St. Elsewhere<\/em>, The Love Boat<\/em> and Moonlighting<\/em> increased Robbins\u2019 visibility, leading to his breakthrough role in 1988\u2019s Bull Durham<\/em>. His turn in Robert Altman\u2019s 1992 comeback film The Player<\/em> elevated him to leading-man status, which was cemented by his stirring portrayal as Andy Dufresne, a man \u201cwho crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side\u201d in 1994\u2019s The Shawshank Redemption<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A member of the Hollywood A-list, Robbins is equally comfortable in big-budget blockbusters (War of the Worlds<\/em>), passion projects by respected foreign auteurs (Feng Xiaogang\u2019s Back to 1942<\/em>) and comedy (his classic cameo representing PBS in Anchorman\u2019s<\/em> epic news-team street fight). With celebrated films like Dead Man Walking<\/em>, he\u2019s exercised his celebrity juice directing politically-tinged passion projects.<\/p>\n

Despite the jam-packed schedule, the Actors\u2019 Gang very much remains core to him. As Founding Artistic Director, he\u2019s overseen the production of over 100 plays in Los Angeles and the troupe has counted stars like Jack Black, John Cusack, John C. Reilly, Helen Hunt and Jeremy Piven as past members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have is rare,\u201d he admits. \u201cIt\u2019s a company of actors that have been together for over 30 years that still has original members in it. We operate as an ensemble and have a real sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

That civic-mindedness is evident in their education programs in working with inner-city youth and prison inmates. Robbins says their educational responsibilities have expanded over the past decade, an attempt to fill the void left by Californian budget cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat art involves receiving everything around you and processing it in a way that\u2019s productive,\u201d he explains of the program\u2019s impact. \u201cHaving empathy for people with less than you helps you be able to portray emotions of other characters and that makes you grow as a sentient being. I see it happen over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, philanthropy isn\u2019t possible without a busy schedule and the Actors\u2019 Gang will also take A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> to Beijing as part of the NCPA Shakespeare Festival and to Italy\u2019s distinguished Spoleto Festival. The director is optimistic that China will become a regular stop on their international circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the offers are there and timing is right, we want to go,\u201d he says. \u201cThe theory is that we want to be able to pack up one trunk and go anywhere in the world to do a show.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out the full That’s Shanghai article a [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-cn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/TAG2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6329,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions\/6329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingpongarts.org\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}