Actors of the World (also known as Actores del Mundo) is a London based theater company. It was founded in 2001 by Marco Aponte and Lance Lattig in New York City. For seven years the Company was part of the New York off-off Broadway theater scene before relocating to London in the summer of 2008.
Actors of the World is committed to producing plays of high artistic quality that reflect different realities from around the world. The Company's first production was El Día que me Quieras (The Day You'll Love Me) by Venezuelan playwright José Ignacio Cabrujas. The play was performed in English at the Pulse Theatre in New York City during the Fall of 2001. The translation was done by Cuban American playwright Eduardo Machado [1].
Other plays produced by Actors of the World include Winter Under the Table, Manhatitlán, Cloudtectonics, Las Pinzas, Una Cordial Discrepancia and Huis Clos (A Puerta Cerrada). In addition to producing their own plays, the Company participated two times in the New York International Fringe Festival, once in 2002 (with the US premiere of Winter Under the Table, a play based on L'Hiver Sous La Table by Roland Topor), and a second time in 2003 (with the US. premiere of Manhatitlán, based on Simonne Schwartz-Bart's play Ton Beau Capitaine)[2].
In 2005, Actors of the World was nominated for two New York Latin ACE Awards for their production of Huis Clos (A Puerta Cerrada) in New York City. Marco Aponte was nominated for his interpretation of Garcin, and Francisco Bustamante was awarded the ACE for his direction of the play[3].
In 2007, the company started a pilot program based on teaching Spanish through drama. The program took place at Regent's College and resulted in three short films made by students of Spanish. The program was replicated at Aston University in 2009 and 2010 [4].
In the summer of 2008 Actors of the World announced the beginning of its 2008-09 season in London, England. The company organized a playwrighting contest won by Venezuelan playwright Johnny Gavlovski with the play The Final Session. In the 2009-10 season, the Venezuelan playwright Gennys Pérez won the Actors of the World playwrighting contest [5].
In the summer of 2009 Actors of the World produced Gavlovski's Final Session in London as part of the Camden Fringe Festival. Also, in the summer of 2010, the company presented the play The Ghost of Hiroshima by Gennys Pérez at the Camden Fringe Festival in London [6].