Paul Turbiak

I played Lee in Sam Shepard’s play about two brothers and their double nature.

At Center for the Arts at Kayenta, Utah.

With my onstage brother Austin (David Rosenblatt).

At Center for the Arts at Kayenta, Utah.

I played Ariel (opposite David Melville’s Prospero) in the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival.

With Independent Shakespeare Co August 7th - September 5th.

Combiring live feed video, archival footage, and original music, AIRLOCK-24 blurs the boundaries between live performance, film noir, and psychedelic rock.

A sci-fi noir about outer space, psychedelic espionage, and the salvation of planet Earth, it begins outside the International Space Station when an astronaut (yours truly) refuses to return from a space walk.

With Padua Playwrights and live-streamed via HowlRound June 2020.

Reimagining a classic musical for today, this cast and creative team were filled with talent, grace, and joy.

At Pasadena Playhouse September 17-October 20, 2019.

Five puppeteers (myself included) brought this unassuming out-of-this-world plant to glorious life.

At Pasadena Playhouse September 17-October 20, 2019.

Photo by Bryce Darlington

EVIE, a short film directed by Mike Peebler, made the festival rounds and is currently available to watch online.

I play Gabe, a rural community leader harboring a dark secret.

With Scott Peat, Lauren Stamile, and Caitlin Durkin.

I played Cassius in Shakespeare’s tale of assassination, brotherhood, and political intrigue.

At Independent Shakespeare Company March 15-May 11, 2019.

Photo by Grettel Cortes

“The fault, dear Brutus (Faqir Hassan), is not in our stars, But in ourselves...”

At Independent Shakespeare Company March 15-May 11, 2019.

Photo by Grettel Cortes

A behind-the-scenes shot of this imagined conversation between C.S. Lewis (yours truly) and SIgmund Freud (Paul Edwards). Diametrically opposed world views clash over love, sex, death, the meaning of life, and the question of God.

At Gordon College September 26-30, 2018.

Photo by Peter Morse

“When I heard the sirens, I was back there…’The war to end all wars.’ There’ll never be such a thing.”

At Gordon College September 26-30, 2018.

Photo by Peter Morse

A backstage comical farce filled with romantic entanglements, political intrigue, and me!

At North Coast Repertory Theater July 12-August 13.

Photo by Aaron Rumley

My first of three characters in Tony Kushner's “The Illusion”. Michael Polack is my perpetual rival.

At North Coast Repertory Theater February 22-March 19.

Photo by Aaron Rumley

Tony Kushner's play conjures three illusions, each with new characters and fates. This one has a sword-ed love triangle.

With Michael Polack at North Coast Repertory Theatre February 22-March 19.

Photo by Aaron Rumley

Playing Lafcadio Hearn, real-life teller of Japanese ghost stories, in a developmental workshop with Rogue Artists Ensemble/East West Players.

At the Japanese Garden, Van Nuys.

Casting shadow magic for a new multi-disciplinary project about soccer and its political/economic/social/personal significance. 

Workshops in Atlanta, MCA Chicago, and San Francisco.

The project is led by award-winning poet-performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph and directed by Michael John Garcés.

Workshops in Atlanta, MCA Chicago, and San Francisco.

Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble's take on graphic novels, superheroes, and the unknown. I opened the show as a friendly neighborhood demon. "Relax. Nothing's really changed. Except the course of your life.”

At Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.

My graphic novel alter-ego self. Artwork by Caitlin McLaughlin.

With Not Man Apart at Highways in Santa Monica.

I appeared as the Fire Eater in Rogue Artist Ensemble's macabre take on the Pinocchio tale.

At the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.

Me as the Fisherman in the opening number. The show featured masks, highly expressive physical performance, interactive sets, multiple puppetry traditions, projected media, and illusions.

At the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.

I played Pangloss and a host of other characters in the world premiere Jon Jory adaptation. As clearly expressed by Scott Golden (Candide) in this shot, I was astonishing.

At Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles.

I booked my first commercial this year. A fun shoot for NBC/Seeso in downtown LA!

Look for me on the TV!

"While [Sir Laurence] Olivier, in the film, played Mr. Darcy as a romantic figure, Turbiak gives us a forbidding man imprisoned in his own rectitude, whose romantic side is revealed only gradually as love shatters his compsure." --Arts in LA

I've been performing/collaborating on the new play DIRTY TALK, a three person docudrama drawing from real-life interviews and accounts of sexual assault/intrusion.

A timely and important conversation, we've toured colleges throughout Los Angeles this past year and beyond.

I played Julian (Juliet) in a gender-reversed adaptation of Shakespeare's star-crossed tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”. 

Presented by Mine is Yours at Theatre of Note.

They meet.

At Theatre of Note.

I played Armin, Shakespeare's fool, as well as a dozen different characters. As the LA Times put it, "I could have sworn there was more than one Paul Turbiak."

At the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

As the "villainous" Father Henry Garnet. 

At the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

“The Lion in Winter” - a classic James Goldman take on royal rivalries. I played the conniving Geoffrey to mother Eleanor (Mariette Hartley) and brother Richard (Brendan Ford).

At the Colony Theatre, Burbank

With Mariette Hartley. "What family doesn't have its ups and downs?"

At the Colony Theatre, Burbank

Our first real look at my Mr. Hyde in Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation, directed by Mary Jo Duprey.

At Actors Co-op in Hollywood.

In this adaptation, Hyde begins a relationship with a woman (played by Greyson Chadwick), allowing us to experience the growing humanity in the monster. 

At Actors Co-op in Hollywood.

I played Polonius in a Halloween immersive experience of HAMLET, directed by Alexis Macnab.

Notice that I always manage to find my light.

I played Dr. Ken Starr, a man in pursuit of Science (with a capital "S"), in this choose-your-own adventure comedy. At certain points throughout the show, the audience got to decide what happened next. Hilarity, love, and death ensued.

At Son of Semele in Los Angeles.

The full cast in pursuit of the unknown. I'm about to make a very bad pun.

At Son of Semele.

Acclaimed author Mark Z. Danielewski wrote and directed this dramatic telling of his latest work. Christine Marie and Ensemble created large-scale, cinematic shadows to help tell the tale.

At REDCAT.

I played an mysterious storyteller. Using mirror pieces, we stretched light across the screen, casting and changing shadows.

At REDCAT.

A look behind the screen. We create stories, characters and worlds using hand-held lights, objects, bodies, and a little magic.

At REDCAT.

I played Lysander in Shakespeare's classic tale of love and leg pulling.

At the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

I played Provost (and also took on Angelo and the Duke) at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Director Ellen Geer set the play in 1968, giving the audience political and social context for this Shakespeare "problem play".

At the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

My first Equity role, playing Doctor Caius, the French physician battling rivals in pursuit of his love. My accent was so thick--Shakespeare wrote it into the text--that I never received a line note.

With Max Lawrence, Franc Ross, and (sparring partner) Gerald Rivers.

At the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

Students who come to the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum get to take workshops, see the show, and have a Q and A with the cast. They also experience a 'living history' with Queen Elizabeth and William Shakespeare. One of my favorite things to do as an actor/teaching artist.

I played an enigmatic painter in the Lynn Notage play, directed by Nataki Garrett. The mustache is very real.

At California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

I've done a number of film projects, on both sides of the camera.

Fellow actor Kevin Sizemore snuck this shot when I wasn't looking.

I played Wilhelm in the Ernst Toller play directed by Maureen Huskey. After seeing the costume sketches, I started doing a lot of pushups, crunches, and laps in the pool.

At California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

I played Andrew in the Pulitzer Prize winning Eugene O'Neill play, directed Chi-wang Yang. It was quite simply one of the best artistic experiences of my life.

At California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

Brothers reunited after a rocky falling out.

With Christopher Young.

At California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).