The work described in this paper aims at experimenting with PDEVS modelling and simulation of complex and variable structure systems. The approach is centred on the use of actors (agents), i.e. lightweight reactive objects which communicate to one another by asynchronous message-passing. Actors can migrate from a computing node to another. More specifically, this paper proposes a mapping of Actor DEVS, a lean control-based framework supporting PDEVS in Java, over HLA using an adaptation of the Theatre actor-based software architecture, which provides location-transparent naming and efficient network communications. The combination Actor DEVS/Theatre makes it possible to customize the PDEVS simulation control engine. The paper shows a parallel simulation engine with a time management compliant with HLA, which embodies a tie-breaking mechanism for simultaneous events. The practical use of the resultant approach is demonstrated through an example.