RTC Tracks ‘Two Trains,’ Three Plays, in Two Weeks

The Santa Barbara Symphony isn’t the only local arts organization to try something new at the start of 2025. Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre is serving as launch partner for this season’s national tour by The Acting Company, the veteran ensemble co-founded in 1972 by John Houseman with the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School. The Company, which has served as a springboard for the careers of some 400 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Rainn Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright, among many others, will be taking up residence at RTC to finalize its anchor production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, the seventh in the author’s ten-part series, The Pittsburgh Century Cycle, which include The Piano Lesson and Fences. 

The Tony-nominated Two Trains is set in a bustling diner at the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when the owner is deciding who to sell the business to, creating the backdrop for the diverse characters grappling with societal changes in a journey of hope, resilience, and the enduring human spirit. On the opposite site of the genre spectrum, the same cast will also offer three performances of a modern translation of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, a reimagined version of the hilarious misadventures of two sets of identical twins separated at birth in a wild ride full of mistaken identities, madcap escapades and the usual Shakespearean mirth. RTC will also produce a single showing of How I Learned What I Learned, starring Lance E. Nichols (RTC’s Driving Miss Daisy) in Wilson’s autobiographical play. 

We caught up with Devin Brain, Producing Artistic Director of The Acting Company and director of Comedy of Errors. 

Q. This kind of repertory residency is rather new for Rubicon. How did it come about? 

A. Our shows are designed to really move very, very fast around the country, and for the productions to be strong enough to withstand and sustain across that type of rigor – it’s really great to have a place where they can get their feet under themselves a little bit. Rubicon is our launch partner this time around while we build the show. 

How do Two Trains and Errors fit together?

We really like creating work that inspires communication between different periods. So doing a classical text with the same actors that are also bringing to life our contemporary text can enliven both shows. August Wilson is one of the great American playwrights, who is brilliant at finding the epic and the eternal through the specific. There has never been a national tour of Two Trains Running, which is a beautiful play in which the characters discuss how a community evolves, how money and identity develop. With Errors, we were excited about the concept of comedy and something joyous in a moment like this. In a way, it’s also a story about sort of finding your place in the world, even though it’s a ridiculous and quite dumb plot. It’s about finding a home that’s defined by the people they love, which seems like a thing I would like to put more of out into the world. It is a real treat to watch these actors perform in both shows, and really highlights exactly how brilliant they are. 

Speaking of that, are there any future superstars in the company these days?

I think this ensemble is truly remarkable right now. There are definitely a couple of these actors that I would expect to see in lights and on marquees before too long.

Two Trains Running performs January 15-February 2. The Comedy of Errors runs January 19, 21 & 28, and How I Learned plays January 27. Visit www.rubicontheatre.org.