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staging the imagined truth with speed & violence
I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working towards a common goal.
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Christian Victor Levatino is the artistic director of the gangbusters theatre, an outfit he formed in the autumn of 2001 in Los Angeles, California. He has produced, directed, acted and or written 30 productions with the company, garnering more than 60 Los Angeles Theatre Award nominations for theatrical goodness. Mr. Levatino is a graduate of the University of Connecticut where he received a BFA from the School of Fine Arts. He is a proud member of the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writer's Guild of America West (WGAW). Sunny Afternoon, King Dick and ...meantime at HoJo's are the first three plays in The Black Bag Pentalogy. Hotel Del Charro is next.
the gangbusters theatre company
HALL OF BLOOD & THUNDER
2001 - Present
JJ Pyle is co-founder of the gangbusters theatre company and played with them in two productions of Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Cuckoo's Nest and Balm in Gilead. She went on to produce and act in In the Boom Boom Room and Scab with TILT (Tell It Like This) Productions which she founded. She originated the role of Matchgirl in Paul Hoan Zeidler's Time, Scream and Hurry on both coasts, at the Elephant Lab in LA And The Cherry Lane in NYC. She works with Elsinore County theatre company in NY, having done four productions with them. And is a new member of InViolet Theatre Company! She has co-founded a group called Solo Heroes, a vehicle to build community and workshop solo theatre. She is currently writing and workshopping a show called How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer. She has appeared on Criminal Minds and Boardwalk Empire and was the $10,000 winner on the Food Networks 24 Hour Restaurant Battle with her restaurant concept, & Jelly. She is recurring in a new show, Life, Coached. I am ever grateful to Christian Levatino for teaching me how to make theatre. Gangbusters was a life-changing endeavor. She currently resides in NYC and studies Strasberg with David Gideon.
James Coyne is a screenwriter plying his trade is a screenwriter plying his trade in Sunny Los Angeles. His first collaboration with the gangbusters goes back to Cukoo’s Nest, which he production designed. James went on to Production Design Streamers (where he also played Ritchie) and Hamlet. James also acted in Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead which is also an apt metaphor for his career as a screenwriter. A friend of Christian Levatino’s since 1995, James was there in the audience for Sexual Perversity in Chicago and just about every other play since. He's honored to be included in the Hall of Blood & Thunder, and looks forward to another two decades of Speed & Violence.
Darrett Sanders has been doing theatre in LA since 1995. Some of these productions include: gangbusters theatre company (Cryo-Man, King Dick, On A Sunny Afternoon) Echo Theater Company (A Small Fire, General Sherman’s Hollow Body), Theatre of NOTE (The Whiskey Maiden, Rio Hondo, Have You Seen Alice, Burrhead, Wreck Of The Unfathomable). Darrett has been nominated for multiple Ovation Awards and Stage Raw Awards. He is a filmmaker and directed / edited / produced the feature length film noir comedy Kill Me, Deadly in which he won best director at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. Darrett was also the director of photography, editor and producer for the feature length 1960’s eurospy parody Scream Of The Bikini. Find out more at www.Darretts.com
Andy Hirsch is proud of his work with Christian and the gangbusters, playing Lee Harvey Oswald in the World Premiere of Sunny Afternoon and originating the roles of Bud Krogh in King Dick and Alfred Balwin in ...meantime at HoJo's. Other favorite theatre: world premiere of The Speed of Darkness with Stephen Lang (Goodman Theatre, Chicago); Bobby Kennedy in Apollo (Portland Center Stage); Abbie Hoffman in The Chicago Conspiracy Trial (Odyssey Theatre); Moonchildren (Edinburgh Festival); MilkMilkLemonade (Rogue Machine) and Judgment at Nuremberg with Katharine Ross. Andy stars with Eric Stoltz in the award-winning W.W.II film Fort McCoy and with Gary Cole in The Chicago 8 and favorite TV includes playing Eddie Fisher in the biopic Liz & Dick, series regular on The Fanelli Boys with Christopher Meloni, recurring on 90210 and G-Spot, the Emmy-nominated mini-series In a Child's Name, Thanksgiving Day as Mary Tyler Moore’s son, Big Love and most recently Curb Your Enthusiasm. V.O. includes playing Justin Timberlake in Celebrity Deathmatch, Snap for Rice Krispies and currently narrating Grave Mysteries.
JAMES THOMAS GILBERT is an actor, writer and director who’s proud to have been working with the gangbusters theatre company since their 2005 production of Balm in Gilead. Other productions with Gangbuster’s include Tracers (2008), Hamlet (2008), Julius Caesar (NY Fringe-2010), Julius Caesar (LA Fringe-2011) and A Del Amo World Record in Compton (2011). Other favorite productions include playing Jerry in A Zoo Story and Vladimir in Waiting For Godot both of which with Risk Theatre Initiative in Dallas, Texas, Playing John Merrick in The Elephant Man with Theatre Wesleyan and making his Company of Angeles debut playing Jake in Their Eyes Saw Rain in downtown LA. James has been seen in numerous independent films and such TV Shows as Ray Donovan, Documentary Now!, Perception and in an upcoming episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. Aside from acting, James is an avid writer, working on many screenplays as well as novels. James graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a BFA in theatre with an emphasis on acting. It gives James great pleasure to call Christian one of his close friends upon moving to LA in 2005. He has learned a lot from Christian in his crazy SPEED AND VIOLENCE world of theatre together and looks forward to many more years of fun. More info at www.jamesthomasgilbert.com
Patrick Flanagan has been playing with the gangbusters since the World Premiere of Sunny Afternoon. He also originated the roles of Dwight Chapin in King Dick and Macho in ...meantime at Hojo's. Some recent credits include: Three, Love By Drowning, The Grey, Headshot, ICarly, and The Young and The Restless. He’s also a founding member of Rogue Machine Theater Company.
Spencer Cantrell is a native of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He studied theatre at the University of North Alabama before moving to Los Angeles in 2015, where he has spent his time on stage with multiple theatre companies. In 2017 Spencer was nominated for a Valley Theatre Award for outstanding performance as George in Of Mice and Men. Spencer first appeared with the gangbusters theatre company in 2018 as Bill Alexander in Sunny Afternoon during The Big Event. In the fall of 2020 Spencer received recognition for his work on stage as he was nominated for “Performer of the Decade” by Broadway World. Does that mean anything? Not really, but it makes his mom happy.
PATRICK HUME
Patrick Hume Audio Bio - Mr. Hume
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Sissy Strut - The Meters
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