History and
Mission
ON THE ROAD AND IN THE SCHOOLS SINCE 1972
The Acting Company develops actors by touring professional theater across America.
Founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley with the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, The Company has launched the careers of some 400 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Mary Lou Rosato, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Lisa Banes, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Roslyn Ruff, Jimonn Cole, Kelley Curran, among many others, while bringing sophisticated theater to hundreds of communities from coast to coast.
Among many accolades, The Acting Company won the 2003 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater, and recently won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son directed by Seret Scott.
The Acting Company has been seen by over 4 million people in 48 States, 10 foreign countries, on and Off-Broadway, and at leading resident theaters including the Guthrie, the Kennedy Center and New York City Center.
New works commissioned by The Acting Company include plays William Finn, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Meg Miroshnik, Ntozake Shange, Maria Irene Fornés, Spalding Gray, Marsha Norman, Charles Smith, Samm-Art Williams, and Wendy Wasserstein among other notable playwrights. The Company's education programs bring professional productions, in-school residencies, and teacher training workshops to thousands of students in underserved schools and disadvantaged communities each year.
The Acting Company builds a discerning audience for the theater by playing exceptional productions in small towns and major cities.
HISTORY OF
ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
2022 - Present
Kent Gash, Artistic Director
Devin Brain, Producing Director
Erik Schroeder, Managing Director
2021 - 2022
Kent Gash, Artistic Director
Erik Schroeder, Managing Director
2016–2021
Ian Belknap, Artistic Director
Elisa Spencer Kaplan, Executive Director
2012–2015
Ian Belknap, Artistic Director
Margot Harley, Producer
1993–2015
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
1990–1993
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
Zelda Fichhandler, Artistic Director
1988–1990
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
Gerry Gutierrez, Artistic Director
1986–1988
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
Michael Kahn, Artistic Director
1984–1986
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
John Houseman, Producing Artistic Director
Michael Kahn, Artistic Director
1978–1984
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
John Houseman, Producing Artistic Director
Alan Schnieder, Co-Artistic Director
Michael Kahn, Co-Artistic Director
1974–1977
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
John Houseman, Producing Artistic Director
Gerald Freedman, Artistic Director
1972–1986
Margot Harley, Producing Artistic Director
John Houseman, Producing Artistic Director
MARGOT HARLEY
Margot Harley founded The Acting Company with the late John Houseman in 1972. From its inception to the present, she has served as the driving force and visionary of the Company, overseeing hundreds of productions that represent the full breadth of dramatic literature. She co-produced the Broadway productions of The Robber Bridegroom and The Curse of an Aching Heart with Faye Dunaway. She produced John Houseman's celebrated revival of Marc Blitzstein's musical play The Cradle Will Rock in New York and at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Off-Broadway, she produced Ten by Tennessee, a two evening retrospective of Tennessee Williams' one-act plays directed by Michael Kahn at The Lucille Lortel Theater, and the New York premiere of Eric Overmyer's On the Verge, directed by Garland Wright at The John Houseman Theater. In addition, she produced Love’s Fire which toured to London and all across the country. She commissioned new plays by Lynn Nottage, Maria Irene Fornes, Samm-Art Willams, John Guare, David Mamet, Spalding Gray, Rebecca Gilman, Wendy Wasserstein, Tony Kushner, Marsha Norman, WIlliam Finn, Eric Bogosian, Ntozake Shange, Beth Henely, Marcus Gardley, and many others. Harley has produced celebrate revivals of major plays from the theatrical cannon including productions by John Houseman, Alan Schneider, Jack O’Brien, Mark Lamos, Robert Falls, Gerry Gutierrez, Seret Scott, Eve Shapiro, Penny Metropulos, Clinton Turner Davis, John Rando, Tazewell Thompson, Bartlett Sher, and many others. She was Administrator of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School for its first twelve years, from 1968 to 1980. Prior to that she appeared in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions as an actress and dancer. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she attended LAMDA on a Fulbright Scholarship.
JOHN HOUSEMAN
John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He was one of the most influential producers of the 20th Century. He was perhaps best known as a producer for his collaboration with Orson Welles at the Mercury Theatre and the WPA Federal Theatre Project. His collaborations in the 1930s and 1940s included work with Virgil Thompson, Alfred Hitchcock, Leslie Howard, Archibald MacLeish, David O. Selznick, Martha Graham and others. His name is also associated with The American Shakespeare Festival (at Stratford, Connecticut) The UCLA Professional Theatre Group, The Juilliard School and finally The Acting Company. He is perhaps best known for his role as Professor Charles W. Kingsfield in the film The Paper Chase (1973), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
