“Director Bob Turton keeps the energy level high, generating considerable laughter
in a wacky tale of blue-collar frustration over high prices.” — Don Shirley, Angeles Stage
The Actors’ Gang
Hilarious Satire ‘Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!’
Extended! On Stage Now Through June 11!
Culver City, CA, April 26, 2022 – Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! written by Nobel Laureate Dario Fo and Franca Rame is now extended at The Actors’ Gang Theater in the old Ivy Substation through Saturday, June 11.
This hilarious production of Fo’s high-energy, satirical farce is directed by Bob Turton, who won a Stage Raw Award for his role The Madman in The Actors’ Gang’s 2019 production of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist. This production of Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! opened exactly two years from the day the theater was shuttered and had to suspend due to COVID.
Dana Martin in Stage Raw said, “The Actors’ Gang has balls! They deliver a robust, in-your-face and technically marvelous production. The pressure of inflation, perpetual hunger and impending, widespread layoffs comes to a riotous head at the local supermarket as greedy grocers and their fed-up costumers square off … and comedic chaos and extreme silliness ensues. Director Bob Turton handles expertly, finding many moments of zaniness and comedic flow … moving at an unrelenting, break-neck speed throughout.”
Hungry and fed up by rising prices and stagnant wages, Antonia joins a revolt of women at the local supermarket. Determined to live with dignity and rejecting an austerity diet of dog food and birdseed, the women’s protest escalates, and looting ensues. As police search door to door, Antonia and her friend Margherita frantically try to hide their ‘liberated’ goods from their husbands and the police. ‘Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!’ questions why, in a world of bailed-out banks and overpriced prescription drugs, theft is only a crime when it is committed by those truly in need. The cast includes Kaili Hollister as Antonia, Lynde Houck as Margherita, Jeremie Loncka as Giovanni, Luis Quintana as Luigi, Steven M. Porter as multiple characters (Agent, Old Man, Sergeant, Undertaker), and Stephanie G. Galindo as multiple characters (Officer, Agent, Nurse, Assistant.
Audiences are enjoying the opportunity to gather again at The Actors’ Gang Theater, which boasts a new state-of-the-art air purification system and upgraded HVAC. As The Actors’ Gang celebrates its return to live performances, its reopening lineup is characterized by all the richness and vitality that audiences have come to expect from The Gang.
For more information, please visit The Actors’ Gang’s website (www.TheActorsGang.com). Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! performances are scheduled as follows:
Thursday, April 28th at 8pm
Friday, April 29th at 8pm
Saturday, April 30th at 8pm
No performances May 1-11
Thursday, May 12th at 8 pm
Friday, May 13th at 8 pm
Thursday, May 19th at 8 pm
Friday, May 20th at 8 pm
Thursday, May 26th at 8 pm
Friday, May 27th at 8 pm
Thursday, June 2nd at 8 pm
Friday, May 3rd at 8 pm
Thursday, June 9th at 8 pm
Friday, June 10th at 8 pm
Saturday, June 11th at 8pm
General admission tickets are available for purchase starting at $35. Seniors and students will enjoy a $10 discount on general admission tickets. For any questions regarding ticketing, please contact The Actors’ Gang Box Office by email at [email protected], phone at 310-838-4264 ext. 1, or website at www.TheActorsGang.com.
The Actors’ Gang was founded in 1981 by a group of punk rock theater artists looking to create a new style of relevant, entertaining theater in Los Angeles. The Actors’ Gang mission is to present new, unconventional, and uncompromising plays and dynamic reinterpretations of the classics, to restore the ancient sense of the stage as a shared sacred space, to introduce theater to children, and help them find their own creative voices, to bring the freedom of self-expression to the incarcerated.
Over the past 40 years, The Actors’ Gang has performed for audiences in Los Angeles and worldwide, on five continents and in 40 U.S. States. Our groundbreaking Prison Project is currently in thirteen California prisons, serving incarcerated women, men, and children with rehabilitation programs that significantly reduce recidivism. Each year, thousands of children in Los Angeles public schools discover confidence and creativity with our Education Department through in-school immersion and after-school programs and by participating in classes that encourage acceptance, respect, and team building in fun and impactful ways.
