ARK Theatre Company
repertory theatre ensemble in Los Angeles, California

ARK Theatre Company is an actor-driven repertory theatre ensemble in North Hollywood, California.
The original location of the ARK Theatre Company was at the Hayworth Theatre at 2511 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.
Years later the theatre moved to 5708 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, California.
General
Ark Theatre Company is an ensemble of theatre professionals specializing in classical theatre, with an eye to contemporary plays that reflect the depth and interplay of language in classical works. The company was founded in 2000 by artistic director Paul Wagar, a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Honorary Advisory Board of Directors once consisted of Marshall Borden, Kitty Felde, Doug Jocelyn, Patricia Johnson, Lee Meriwether, Karen Morrow, Lisa Rosen, Michael Rosen, Jennifer Rowland, Martin Sheen, Mindy Steinman, and Gore Vidal.
Ark Theatre Company was cited by LA Weekly and wrote that it "performs classics with a rock & roll sloppiness; equal parts aggravating and scintillating, always worth watching."
Production history
Ark Theatre Company has, since its inception, produced a wide variety of material, from Edward II by Christopher Marlowe to Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep. The Ugly Man by Brad Frazier, The Maids by Jean Genet, and F*cking Hollywood, adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde by Paul Wagar, are all testament to the company's intrinsic eclecticism.
Ark Theatre's controversial 2003 production of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, directed by Brad Mays, was nominated for three LA Weekly Theatre Awards, for Best Direction, Best Revival Production (of a 20th-century work), and Best Actress. Vanessa Claire Smith won Best Actress for her gender-bending portrayal of Alex, the story's music-loving teenaged sociopath.
The public source identifies “ARK Theatre Company” as repertory theatre ensemble in Los Angeles, California. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Theatre, Company and repertory.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4653798. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000 and 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “ARK Theatre Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.