 From 1936 to 1941, Banks also acted in many roles with the Theatre of Action, a left-wing drama company, which produced several others who would go on to fame, including Wayne and Shuster, Lou Applebaum, Lou Jacobi, Ben Lennick, Sydney Newman and Lorne Green.Banks directed the Theatre of Action's final production, of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, in Toronto in 1940.He was also a co-founder (with Al Mulock) of the Red Barn Theatre on Lake Simcoe.