As of December, Topanga Actors Company (TAC) has officially contracted with the Los Angeles County Library system to produce four plays within 12 months at Topanga Library, four plays being the agreed upon minimum with an option for more with the library’s permission. The agreement has opened up performances at other libraries in LA County starting with the Malibu Library, for a showing of Heroes on February 4-5. “Many thanks go to Topanga Library Manager Ashley Abrams for shepherding us through a months’-long process,� says TAC producer Judith Hendra. “The agreement gives us privileges including enhanced publicity covering the entire county library system and the use of the Topanga Library community room without having to post insurance, a wonderful thing for an organization that offers performances free of charge.� Hendra reminds us that the new agreement “covered the lovely afternoon we spent on December 18 watching Dylan Booth and Jeanette Vigne bring Truman Capote’s words to life in A Christmas Memory. Abrams’ colorful online announcement brought in audiences from outside the Topanga community. “The announcement for our staged-reading of Heroes is even more colorful, featuring a photograph of the cast with an uncredited character, the Stone Dog, whose role is one of the features of the play, which audiences will have to see for themselves,� Hendra says. “We’re looking at a season of as many as four plays, including two comedies and two dramas where 2023 will have an international flavor with works (in English) by Irish, Hungarian, British and American playwrights.� Hendra says that the contract with the LA County Library is unique to TAC. “I’ve been told informally that we are the only theater group that the Topanga Library staff has heard of that is based in any county library.� “It’s quite an honor,� she says. About TAC. As a company, one of TAC’s distinguishing features includes the choice of plays with a focus on contemporary or near-contemporary theater works and an eye to relative unknowns. “For instance, when we produced Tennessee Williams’ A House Not Meant to Stand (March 2020), we quite deliberately chose a play that literally had a mere handful of productions,� Hendra says. “Our staged readings are unusually fluid and actors are ‘blocked’ to move in a small space around the audience members who say that although they realize our actors are holding scripts they are barely aware of it.� The core company has been together since 2019 and hung in during the pandemic when the library was closed. TAC moved to Zoom, starting in April 2020 with fifteen-minute original staged readings and moved swiftly to full-length plays. Topanga actors predominate, but not exclusively.