The Rogue’s Resident Acting Ensemble

The King’s Men (Shakespeare’s company), The Moscow Art Theatre, The Berliner Ensemble, The Group Theatre, and many more companies have done important work as a result of the ensemble of artists they gathered. A good, creative ensemble is malleable and responsive, bringing each individual’s gifts to the artistic whole. It is a room full of intelligent ideas brought to bear on the problem of the play. We at the Rogue have brought together an ensemble of actors to whom we are committed, ensuring them a substantial amount of work every season, and with whom we train to rise to the difficult task of presenting the best and most challenging works of dramatic literature.

Any group of working people develops its own culture. Such a culture has evolved at the Rogue. That culture is the shorthand we use for putting on a play. We learn one another’s rhythms and ways of working. We admire and emulate one another’s strengths and support one another in our weaknesses. We can anticipate one another and speak to one another in ways that would simply not be possible with mere casual or distant acquaintances. All this, as you can imagine, brings tremendous efficiency to the rehearsal and creative process. We can, in many cases, cut to the chase in our work, as well as sink more deeply and passionately into the drama. You in our audience can expect more nuanced and coherent performances because of this commitment.

One great advantage to the ensemble is that our focused and substantial work keeps the talents of our actors in Tucson. The Tucson theatre scene does not generally provide a professional acting career, and our many devoted Tucson theatre artists must practice the craft they love as an addendum to the task of making a living. The Rogue Theatre, a Small Professional Theatre, is now providing a modest paycheck, and health insurance to many in our ensemble of actors. An actor that might expect a functioning artistic life only in certain larger cities in America might now reasonably opt to remain in Tucson for a theatre career.

We are excited to have our ensemble with us from play to play and season to season to show us the way.