WTF?!

Tenacious D is playing at the Actors’ Gang’s 99-seat space on Oct. 17th?  WTF!? The next week I can see George Carlin’s “Jammin’ in NY” at the same theatre and a reading of Carlin’s memoir by his daughter?  WTF?! So, there are nine weeks of back-to-back award-winning documentaries, celebrity Q &A sessions, incredible musicians, comedy shows & one acts, vaudeville circus performers, and a costume party? WTF is this and how have I lived so long without it?!

It’s the WTF!? Festival at The Actors’ Gang, running Oct. 13th-Dec 12th.

“The name of this festival came to me after a recent board meeting where I was told…that we can no longer afford to produce theatre.” explains Actors’ Gang Artistic Director Tim Robbins.  “I was told it would be less expensive to do nothing”.   The WTF?! Festival was Robbins’ answer to the board. “We’re not very good at doing nothing…So in the spirit of rebellion and our history of survival we are offering a wide variety of events that will fire up new audiences, help them discover The Gang, and support our community outreach.”

All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards The Gang’s outreach programs which include theatre classes in public schools, free Summer-in-the Park family theatre series, free holiday shows for families, a theatre in prisons program focused on rehabilitation through the arts, and pay-what-you-can nights for Actors’ Gang productions on the main stage.

Each of the nine weeks will include an Acoustic Music Series featuring musicians such as Jackson Browne and Dan Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie; a Theatre and Dance series featuring performances by Mental Head Circus w/ the Hoopdawgz, clown Daiske Tsuji of Cirque Du Soleil and former Air Force intelligence analyst April Fitzsimmons’s solo piece, “The Need to Know,” a free Documentary Film Series, and a Spoken Word Poetry Night starring the HBO featured teen poetry group: “Get Lit, Words Ignite”.

The Halloween Night Costume Bash will feature 7th Art’s documentary “Hell House”, a behind the scenes look at an annual Halloween haunted house that serves as an over-the top sermon preaching fire and brimstone for sinners. The film shares an intimate portrait of the people who haunt this peculiar culture.

In addition, WTF?! Saturday Music Nights will feature “The After Gang,” an outdoor lounge offering audiences a unique opportunity to hang out before and after the show, have a drink, and meet and mingle with the artists and musicians who’ve made this whole spectacle possible.

- By Stephanie Carrie

Check out the full calendar of events at WTF?! Festival or for more information, please call (310) 838-4264.