By BWW News Desk | Oct. 16, 2019 6:54 am

The Actors’ Gang Artistic Director Tim Robbins to join the cast of The Actors’ Gang Theater’s new production of 1984, written by George Orwell and adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan. In addition to Robbins portraying the show’s antagonist “O’Brien,” he will be serving as director, as previously announced. This marks Robbins’ first time on stage since The Guys in 2005. 1984 began previews Thursday, October 10th and runs through Saturday, December 7th, with an official press opening on Saturday, October 19th.

The cast includes Hannah Chodos ( Party Member No. 4 / Mrs. Parsons / Syme), Lee Margaret Hanson – (“Party Member No. 2 / Julia), Will Thomas McFadden (Winston), Tom Szymanski (Party Member No. 1 / Goldstein), Bob Turton (Party Member No. 3 / Parsons /Mr. Charrington).

In Orwell’s classic 1984, Winston Smith hates his job. He works in the Ministry of Information rewriting history to serve the interests of the powerful. Winston’s soul is stirring with rebellion and his heart alive with love. Welcome to a world of no privacy, where electronic screens create paranoia, divisiveness and hatred for the ‘other’, where the state manufactures consent for perpetual war, and where truth is manipulated and love itself is an act of rebellion. Seventy-one years ago, in writing his visionary novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell eerily predicted the world we are currently living in.

Tim Robbins said, “After directing myself in the Bob Roberts, I promised I’d never work with that actor again. But considering that the actor has watched the play hundreds of times and has absorbed the excellent work of the talented company members who have played the role of O’Brien over the years, I decided to give the actor another chance.”

Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of – if not the classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. Many terms used in the novel entered common usage, including Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Room 101, telescreen, 2+2=5 and memory hole. Nineteen Eighty-Four also popularized the adjective Orwellian connoting things such as official deception, secret surveillance, brazenly misleading terminology, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian state. Time Magazine included it on its 100 Hundred Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It was placed on the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels reaching No. 13 on the editors’ list and No. 6 on the readers’ list. In 2003, the novel was No. 8 on the BBC’s The Big Read survey.

The Actors’ Gang Theater first presented Orwell’s 1984 in 2006 – an acclaimed, wildly successful production that has now been seen in over 40 US states and throughout the world, from Greece, Italy, Spain to Australia, China, Mexico.

Tickets for 1984 are available by calling 310-838-4264 or online at www.TheActorsGang.com. Tickets range from $25 – $50 (ticket prices are subject to change). The Actors’ Gang Theater is located at The Ivy Substation at 9070 Venice Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232.