Android: стиль ActionMode в AppCompat-v7 с панелью инструментов

Я не очень понимаю ваши вещи, это выглядит странно. Тема предназначена для Activity или Application в манифесте. Для виджета вы должны использовать стиль. Глядя на ваш вопрос, я думаю, вы просто не знаете, как использовать тему и для чего нужны темы. Итак, ваша тема должна выглядеть примерно так:

    <resources>
      <style name="AppBlankTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
          <!-- Main theme colors -->
          <!--   your app branding color for the app bar -->
          <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
          <!--   darker variant for the status bar and contextual app bars -->
          <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
          <!--   theme UI controls like checkboxes and text fields -->
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
    </style>
    <!--Both themes below are those accepted to make the ToolBar works-->
    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBlankTheme">
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
        <!-- Base application theme. -->
            <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
            <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
    </style>
    <style name="MyAppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar"/>
<!--The Theme for the Actvity that have actionMode-->
    <style name="ActionModeAppTheme" parent="AppTheme">
        <item name="windowActionModeOverlay">true</item>
        <item name="actionModeBackground">@color/primary_dark</item>
        <item name="actionBarPopupTheme">@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Тогда ваш манифест выглядит примерно так:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.android2ee.formation.lollipop.toolbar" >

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".sample.ActivityWithItems"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_activity_with_items"
            android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.android2ee.formation.lollipop.toolbar.MainActivity" />

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="com.android2ee.formation.lollipop.toolbar.EXAMPLE" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".sample.ActionModeActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_actionmode"
            android:theme="@style/ActionModeAppTheme"
            android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.android2ee.formation.lollipop.toolbar.MainActivity" />

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="com.android2ee.formation.lollipop.toolbar.EXAMPLE" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

И ваша активность выглядит примерно так:

public class ActionModeActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    ActionMode mMode;
    /**
     * The action Bar
     */
    private ActionBar actionBar;
    private Toolbar toolbar;
    Callback actionModeCallBack;
    private boolean postICS,postLollipop;
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {        
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
         //You could also hide the action Bar
//         getSupportActionBar().hide();
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_action_mode);

        toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        toolbar.setNavigationIcon(R.drawable.ic_action_custom_up);
        postICS =getResources().getBoolean(R.bool.postICS);
        postLollipop =getResources().getBoolean(R.bool.postLollipop);
        if(postLollipop){
            toolbar.setElevation(15);
        }

        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
        actionBar=getSupportActionBar();
        actionBar.setDisplayUseLogoEnabled(false);
        actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        // Show the Up button in the action bar.
        findViewById(R.id.start_actionmode).setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                enableActionMode();
            }
        });
        findViewById(R.id.stop_actionmode).setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                if (mMode != null) {
                    //To quit the ActionMode
                    mMode.finish();
                }
            }
        });


        actionModeCallBack=new  Callback() {
            @Override
            public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
                getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.action_mode, menu);
                return true;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
                Toast.makeText(ActionModeActivity.this, "Got click: " + item, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                mode.finish();
                return true;
            }
        };
    }

    private void enableActionMode() {
        mMode = startSupportActionMode(actionModeCallBack);

    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_activity_with_items, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case android.R.id.home:
            // This ID represents the Home or Up button. In the case of this
            // activity, the Up button is shown. Use NavUtils to allow users
            // to navigate up one level in the application structure. For
            // more details, see the Navigation pattern on Android Design:
            //
            // http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/navigation.html#up-vs-back
            //
            NavUtils.navigateUpFromSameTask(this);
            return true;
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

}