Groups of actors, say, unclothed, went cycling, bless 'em (9)

'groups of actors' is the definition.
'ensembles' can be an answer for 'groups' (ensemble is a kind of group). I'm unsure of the 'of actors' bit.

'unclothed went cycling bless 'em' is the wordplay.
'unclothed' means to look at the middle letters.
'cycling' indicates an anagram.
The middle of 'went' is 'en'.
'bless'+'em'='blessem'
'blessem' with letters rearranged gives 'sembles'.
'en'+'sembles'='ENSEMBLES'

'say' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?