Originally conceived as a venue for working professional actors in the film and television industries to exercise their artistic skills in roles and material far different from what they were called upon to do in front of the camera, Theatre West was founded by Joyce Van Patten, Betty Garrett, Charles Aidman and came together as an informal workshop led by Curt Conway.
[1] Among its early members were Scott Marlowe,[2] Philip Abbott, Barbara Rush, Sandy Kenyon, Robert Elston,[1] Naomi Caryl, Richard Dreyfuss, Jack Nicholson, Lee Meriwether, Martin Landau, Earl Holliman, Harry Dean Stanton, Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Carroll O'Connor, Harold Gould, and Marvin Kaplan.
More recent members include Chazz Palminteri, Ray Bradbury, Jim Beaver, John Cygan, Sherwood Schwartz, Pat Harrington, Cecily Adams, Bridget Hanley, Anne Haney, Leslie Caveny, and William Blinn.
In addition to producing plays, the theatre presents workshops for actors, writers, musical comedy performers, and students of William Shakespeare, and a special two-year free training class for young professionals, the associate membership.
Among Theatre West productions are Mornings at Seven with Betty Garrett, Marvin Kaplan, and Malachi Throne, Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, an original adaptation, Acting - The First Six Lessons starring Beau Bridges and Emily Bridges, James Goldman's The Lion in Winter starring Jim Beaver and Bridget Hanley, Beaver's own play Verdigris, Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight, Charlie Mount's political thriller The Leather Apron Club, and Garry Michael Kluger's A Thorn In The Family Paw, Steve Nevil's comedy The Night Forlorn, or Waitin' on Godsford.