private arena, outside of the L.A. circle of producers, casting
            directors and agents, where the focus would not be on getting
            the job, but rather simply on acting. With a nod to the
            auspicious beginnings to "The Group Theatre," we called a few talented friends and decided to make our own auspicious beginning by working on Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing. We sat around a dining room table and started reading and listening to each other. We worked so intently - switching parts, discussing actions and choices and re-reading - that we left the experience feeling we "knew" that play and playwright in the way one usually does by being in an actual staged production.

We quickly came up with a list of playwrights whose work interested us. Some familiar, some not, some American, some not, some long passed, some still with us. The through-line: they all had to be great storytellers and their texts proven. We wanted material which would test us; not the other way around. Over the years, we've made our way through works by Williams, Feydeau, Wilson, Miller, Wilde, Chekhov, and others. Various members of the group have come and gone (and often returned) as their acting schedules have dictated, each bringing his or her unique perspective to our work.

Thankfully, our lists of playwrights and members continue to grow, as does our enthusiasm for the work.

                                                            - Lee Eskey & Rick Wasserman

In the summer of 2002, we each found ourselves making Los Angeles our home after having worked regionally in theatre, film, and television and having met at the Denver Center Theatre Company a few years earlier. We'd both gone to grad schools for acting and received theatrically-oriented, "classical" educations and now we were living in Hollywood, the film and television capital of the world. It wasn't long before we each discovered what we already suspected: that in L.A., those skills we'd studied and honed in school and on the stage were not really being used. Film and television work generally doesn't place the same emphasis on rehearsal, text analysis and playing actions; preparations that the theatre requires. So, we agreed to find a way to keep our skills sharp.

We believe that theatre is the actor's medium. Theatre is the place where actors have nearly all of the responsibility in telling the story. It is where he must fully learn to explore and embrace a sense of dexterity. An actor must know his instrument. He must love language. We felt that by engaging in the tablework of a great play by a great playwright that we could continue to develop our craft. We felt that being an actor meant being an artist; and an artist needs to practice.

We wanted to create a place where our fellow actors could focus on finding actions in the text and playing them for each other. A safe and