SAN FRANCISCO’S PREMIER NONPROFIT THEATER COMPANY SEPTEMBER 2019
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Untitled-3 1 4/30/19 12:16 PM September 2019 | Volume 18, No. 1
A living masterpiece
WHERE EVEN YOUR CAR has an elevator to call its own.
PAUL HEPPNER President MIKE HATHAWAY Senior Vice President KAJSA PUCKETT Vice President, Sales & Marketing GENAY GENEREUX Accounting & Office Manager Production SUSAN PETERSON Vice President, Production JENNIFER SUGDEN Assistant Production Manager ANA ALVIRA, STEVIE VANBRONKHORST Production Artists and Graphic Designers Sales MARILYN KALLINS, TERRI REED No detail overlooked. No luxury too extravagant. From the ground San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives up, we have thought of everything. Here in the most coveted location BRIEANNA HANSEN, AMELIA HEPPNER, ANN MANNING Seattle Area in San Francisco, we’ve fashioned a lifestyle of high expectations Account Executives and an even higher standard of service. Welcome to an elevated CAROL YIP Sales Coordinator Four Seasons residential experience like no other. Marketing SHAUN SWICK Senior Designer & Digital Lead CIARA CAYA Marketing Coordinator We invite you to call 415.534.6750 to schedule Encore Media Group a private appointment at our Atelier. 425 North 85th Street • Seattle, WA 98103 800.308.2898 • 206.443.0445 [email protected] encoremediagroup.com
Encore Arts Programs and Encore Stages are published monthly by Encore Media Group to serve performing arts events in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Seattle Proud Sponsor of the A.C.T. Gala Area. All rights reserved. ©2019 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. 706SF.com
4 ACT-SF.ORG SAN FRANCISCO'S THEATER COMPANY
American Conservatory Theater is a Tony Award–winning and performing on our mainstage and around the Bay Area, as theater and educational institution dedicated to cultivating well as on stages and screens nationwide. the art of live theater through our dynamic productions, A key part of A.C.T.'s dedication to lifelong learning, our intensive actor training in our Conservatory, and an ongoing Education & Community Programs include our Young engagement with our community. Under the leadership Conservatory (students ages 8–19), our Fellowship Program of Tony and Obie award–winning Artistic Director Pam for emerging theater professionals, and our ACTsmart school MacKinnon and Executive Director Jennifer Bielstein, we and community programs, featuring the Student Matinee embrace our responsibility to refresh, renew, and reinvent (SMAT) program, our touring Will on Wheels Shakespeare the rich theatrical traditions and literatures that are our productions, teaching-artist residences, and workshops at collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and schools and community-based organizations. Every year, communities. Since opening our first San Francisco season these programs provide nearly 20,000 young people and in 1967, A.C.T. has presented more than 400 productions to a educators from around the Bay Area with opportunities combined audience of more than seven million people. Today, to experience the transformative potential of dramatic A.C.T.’s performance, education, and outreach programs storytelling; develop creativity, critical thinking, and reach almost 250,000 people in the Bay Area each year. collaborative spirit; and foster the artists and audiences of A.C.T.’s Conservatory, led by Melissa Smith, is a three-year, the future. fully accredited Master of Fine Arts Program consistently Now in their second season at the helm, Pam MacKinnon rated as one of America’s top actor-training programs. Our and Jennifer Bielstein continue their commitment to the Summer Training Congress attracts students from around development of new work and new artists and the creation the world, the San Francisco Semester offers a unique, of an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for our immersive training opportunity for undergraduates, and employees, students, audiences, and artists. Through this Studio A.C.T. helps adults get in touch with their inner artist commitment, we aim to impact lives, build community, and through part-time, professional-caliber classes. Our alumni train artists who will secure and change the future of theater are working theater-makers, writing, directing, producing, for San Francisco and the world.
American Conservatory Theater Board of Trustees (As of September 2019) The Board of Directors of the MFA Program David Riemer Jennifer Bielstein Lori Halverson Schryer Chair Ralph A. Clark Patrick S. Thompson Patrick S. Thompson Kay Yun Lesley Ann Clement Joaquin Torres Chair President Jerome L. Dodson Jeffrey W. Ubben Olympia Dukakis Jay Yamada Kirke M. Hasson Norman Abramson Jesse Lee Eller Nola Yee Immediate Past Chair Sara Barnes Rod Ferguson Carlotta Dathe Nancy Livingston Frannie Fleishhacker Emeritus Advisory Board Frannie Fleishhacker Chair Emerita Ken Fulk Barbara Bass Bakar Dianne Hoge Celeste Ford Patti Hart Rena Bransten Christopher Hollenbeck Vice Chair Dianne Hoge Jack Cortis Luba Kipnis Priscilla Geeslin Jo S. Hurley Joan Danforth Linda Kurtz Vice Chair David L. Jones Dagmar Dolby Jennifer Lindsay William Draper III Robina Riccitiello Jascha Kaykas-Wolff Toni Ratner Miller John Goldman Vice Chair James H. Levy Mary Ann Munro Heather Stallings Little Kaatri Grigg Steven L. Swig Joseph Ratner Pam MacKinnon James Haire Vice Chair Toni Rembe Rodman Marymor Kent Harvey Lori Halverson Schryer Linda Jo Fitz Katherine McGee Sue Yung Li Anne Shonk Treasurer Jeffrey S. Minick Christine Mattison Melissa Smith Adriana López Vermut Marcy S. Nathan Joan McGrath Secretary Gerine Ongkeko Deedee McMurtry Toni Rembe Mary S. Metz Michael Richter Cherie Sorokin Rusty Rueff Barry Lawson Williams Abby Sadin Schnair Carlie Wilmans
American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 by William Ball. Edward Hastings, Artistic Director 1986–92. Carey Perloff,Artistic Director 1992–2018. @ACTSanFrancisco 5 JOIN OR BUY TICKETS AT ACT-SF.ORG @ACTSanFrancisco AMA DRINKS DR FRIDAYS THE RECIPE FOR A PERFECT FRIDAY NIGHT AFTER WORK IN SAN FRANCISCO
DRINKS + DRAMA + SMALL BITES + MUSIC + COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE
Come for a drink, stay for the drama—an evening of specialty cocktails, pop-up food, and low-priced tickets to world-class theater.
The Drinks & Drama Fridays schedule:
Testmatch, a world premiere about the rules of play on and off the field (Friday, October 25)
Wakey, Wakey, starring two-time Emmy Award winner Tony Hale (Friday, January 24)
Gloria, a scalpel-sharp dark comedy from MacArthur “Genius” winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Friday, February 14)
Toni Stone, the unforgettable true story of a trail-blazing Bay Area athlete (Friday, March 6)
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, reimagined by Tony Award–nominated director-choreographer Sam Pinkleton (Friday, April 24)
Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone Part 2, the next chapter in playwright Qui Nguyen’s rollicking Vietgone trilogy (Friday, June 5)
$15 ADVANCE / $20 AT THE DOOR Price includes first drink and the show! in partnership with (no purchase required to join us for happy hour)
For all InterACT events or to buy tickets, visit act-sf.org/interact. THIS IS YOUR THEATER! PHOTO BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN BY PHOTO
WHAT’S INSIDE The cast of A.C.T.’s 2019 production of Top Girls.
ONSTAGE NOW A.C.T. TODAY
11 LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC 25 WELCOMING TO ALL EDITOR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS An Interview with A.C.T. Board SIMON HODGSON President Kay Yun ASSOCIATE EDITOR 14 DEFINING YOUR SELF By A.C.T. Board Vice Chair ELSPETH SWEATMAN Catching Up with Top Girls Director Robina Riccitiello Tamilla Woodard CONTRIBUTORS JENNIFER BIELSTEIN By Elspeth Sweatman 26 PUTTING THE “C” IN A.C.T. PAM MACKINNON Conservatory Teacher, Mainstage Coach ROBINA RICCITIELLO 16 BREAKING THROUGH By Elspeth Sweatman CLAIRE L. WONG Top Girls and Glass Ceilings By Elspeth Sweatman 28 WHAT ART CAN BE A Glimpse of A.C.T.’s VOLUNTEER! San Francisco Semester A.C.T. volunteers provide an invaluable service By Simon Hodgson with their time, enthusiasm, and love of theater. Opportunities include helping out in our performing arts library and ushering in our theaters.
act-sf.org/volunteer
TAKE A CLASS WITH A.C.T.’S CONSERVATORY PROGRAMS
LEARNLearn MORE more AT at ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY act-sf.org/conservatory.
@ACTSanFrancisco 9 Two exciting shows directed by Tony Award winner and A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon
Tickets on sale now at ACT-SF.ORG. FROM THE ARTISTIC + EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
the a.c.t. 19/20 season explores the theme of my, does time fly! Just moments ago we were “rules of play,” the struggle to transcend embedded systems. welcoming actors and artists into our Summer Training When thinking about Top Girls, I am reminded of my Congress, Studio A.C.T., and Young Conservatory programs grandfather’s funeral. Not because of the story but because for the summer. Now we’re thrilled to welcome you, our of the stickiness of “rules of play” in families. audience, as we kick off our season! My aunt and uncle assumed that my mother, their sister, We’re excited to open the season with Top Girls, a fierce would not want to speak at the memorial. My mother was look at feminism in 1980s Britain, what it means to be a the sibling who left home for college and only returned to woman in a man’s world, and what our responsibilities are visit; it was presumed that meant something larger than to each other. Top Girls is written by Caryl Churchill, one of independence. It was assumed that she no longer had equal our most important living playwrights. You may remember emotional or ceremonial status. her work from A.C.T.’s production of Love and Information I remember the scene in my aunt’s living room. My aunt in 2015. Top Girls has much provocative material, which and uncle gave eulogies and then suggested we return to will definitely make for interesting conversation on the ride our conversations. My mother stood and focused the room home, over postshow drinks with friends, or with colleagues toward her. She pitched herself as the one who went away at the watercooler. because her parents emboldened her to do so. The world At the same time, the second show of our season, stretched beyond the Okanagan Valley and British Columbia. Testmatch, is in rehearsals at the Strand Theater. We Her father made sure she knew that. Her move from the nest welcome playwright Kate Attwell into our midst to work on was not a slight but a consequence. She was passionate this lively, time-traveling piece that uses the sport of cricket and eloquent. to explore colonialism, gender, and power. I hope you’ll join A few years later when my grandmother died, my aunt us for this world premiere. and uncle spread their parents’ ashes off Salt Spring Island, If you’re interested in seeing what our up-and-coming BC. Again they neglected to include my mother in this ritual. actors are working on, check out the MFA Program “She was the one who went away. Why would she care?” was production of Ti Jean and His Brothers, featuring our third- their attitude, a thought sprung not from hate but from year MFA actors. This poetic, musical fable—about three family legacy, those silent “rules of play” made between brothers who go out into the world to try and outwit the them when they were teenagers. devil—will be playing the Strand September 26–28. Then in Caryl Churchill's masterpiece shows us that these family October, these MFA actors will present a cabaret of lyrical legacies and compromises always surface, even in fantasy. hip-hop at the Costume Shop Theater. Deep in the mind of Marlene, in a dreamlike celebration of Also in October, our Young Conservatory is hosting our success, is a silent waitress who becomes Marlene's sister, first Student One-Minute Play Festival, featuring plays Joyce. The playwright is of course setting up the rules of conceived and written by teens across the Bay Area. Under play at every turn. Top Girls explores feminism against the the artistic direction of Dominic D’Andrea, founder of the patriarchy, ambition and talent against classism, sister national movement #1MPF, students will explore the issues against sister, and young Angie against the world. I hope it that matter to them. Learn more about this project and the stirs up memories; makes you laugh and wince. rest of our MFA and YC performances on our website. Fill your fall schedule with A.C.T. and invite your friends to do the same! I hope to see you here.
Pam MacKinnon, Tony Award winner and Artistic Director Jennifer Bielstein, Executive Director
JENNIFER BIELSTEIN AND PAM MACKINNON
@ACTSanFrancisco 11 SHIVER WITH FALL
GALAANTICI…PATION! A celebration of A.C.T.’s 2019–20 Season A ROCKY HORROR GOOD TIME 11.02.19 | The Hibernia | 1 Jones Street | San Francisco
Event Co-Chairs Priscilla Geeslin and Catherine Geeslin
LEAD SPONSOR
For more information, contact Jody Price at [email protected] or 415.439.2470. ACT-SF.ORG/GALA PAM JENNIFER MACKINNON BIELSTEIN Artistic Director Executive Director
CAST (in alphabetical order)
PRESENTS MONIQUE HAFEN ADAMS* MICHELLE BECK* SUMMER BROWN** Patient Griselda/Mrs. Kidd Marlene Dull Gret/Nell TOP GIRLS ROSIE HALLETT* LILY D. HARRIS** MONICA LIN** by CARYL CHURCHILL Pope Joan/Win Kit/Shona Lady Nijo/Jeanine
Directed by TAMILLA WOODARD JULIA MCNEAL* GABRIELLA MOMAH* NAFEESA MONROE* Isabella Bird/Louise Angie Joyce/Waitress
UNDERSTUDIES
SUMMER BROWN** VELINA BROWN* LILY D. HARRIS** Angie Marlene, Joyce/Waitress Louise
THIS PRODUCTION MADE POSSIBLE BY MELANIE ARII MAH* JASMINE OSBORNE* Lady Nijo/Jeanine, Kit/Shona, Pope Joan/Win, Executive Producer Dull Gret/Nell Patient Griselda/Mrs. Kidd, Isabella Bird Donald J. and Toni Ratner Miller
Associate Producer Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara STAGE MANAGEMENT
DICK DALEY* CHRISTINA HOGAN* HANNAH ROSE- Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager JING STOFFER Stage Management Fellow
CREATIVE TEAM
NINA BALL SARITA FELLOWS Scenic Designer Costume Designer OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNER BARBARA SAMUELS JAKE RODRIGUEZ Lighting Designer Sound Designer
CHRISTINE ADAIRE ALLIE MOSS JANET FOSTER, CSA Voice and Dialect Coach Dramaturg Casting Director
A.C.T. PRODUCING TEAM
ANDY CHAN DONALD LOUISA BALCH MARTIN BARRON Associate Artistic Director General Manager Director of Production
Original New York production by the New York Shakespeare Festival *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States Produced by Joseph Papp **Member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts class of 2020 Top Girls is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., 13 a Concord Theatricals Company. ONSTAGE NOW PHOTO BY CLAIRE L. WONG
DEFINING YOUR SELF TOP GIRLS DIRECTOR TAMILLA WOODARD CATCHING UP WITH BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN Each of us can remember the moment where we discovered an artist who forever changed the way we see the world. For director Tamilla Woodard, that artist was Caryl Churchill. “She’s one of the most exquisite writers of the contemporary theater,” says Woodard. “She understands theatricality.”
The same can be said for Woodard, in Skriker that I realized, “In all of her world? How do you do that when all whose directing credits include plays, people are encountering either you’ve got is the patriarchy playbook participatory carnivals (3/Fifths), their nightmare or their dream.” And as instructions on how to lead? game shows (American Dreams), mostly, it’s their nightmare. That’s the and sports (Yellow Card Red Card). lens through which I’ve viewed her The patriarchy is almost a character in Top Girls. Now a year after bringing the rip- work ever since. Looking at it that way roaring adventure Men on Boats to made the first scene of Top Girls come Man-ness is ever present. Masculinity the Strand and hot off the success of into focus for me. It’s a fever dream. is present. Patriarchy is present. associate-directing this year’s Tony In my mind, Marlene goes to sleep These women are under the weight Award–winning musical Hadestown, after a night of maybe one too many of that, even if they can’t see it. this inventive theater-maker is back glasses of Frascati. She’s just gotten They’re reacting to it, shackled to at A.C.T. with Churchill’s Top Girls. the news of her promotion and she it, and, in some instances, affirming dreams that all these rocking women it. Each is not as free an agent as Is this your first Churchill play? show up at a dinner party to celebrate she imagines herself to be. Directing, yes, but I have acted in three: with her. These are women who have We’re talking about supremacy a The Skriker, Serious Money, and smashed their own proverbial glass lot in my circles. When the value or Mad Forest: A Play from Romania. I love ceilings. But this dream turns into a worth of something is defined by Caryl Churchill. I was in my first year nightmare. They get drunk and then its proximity to the more accepted at Carnegie Mellon when Mark Wing- tell it like it really is. All the things that thing, that’s supremacy. Davey’s production of Mad Forest toured Marlene is most afraid of begin to be to Pittsburgh. Imagine a giant black box, revealed—loneliness, abandonment, Supremacy takes on a whole different and just a few chairs and the audience regret. It’s intense, but funny too. meaning in this production, too. seating. The world was conjured As Americans, we have a hard time entirely and profoundly within and Churchill plays with nightmares throughout Top Girls: the struggle seeing class, and we often conflate it with the actors’ bodies. That production of balancing career and family, and with race. Having the central family was the most mind-blowing thing. of living with the consequences of of Marlene, Joyce, and Angie be The play did things I didn’t know plays playing the system to your advantage. working-class people of color clarifies could do. It was intense theatricality These are women in a “man’s world,” the different supremacies at work. It’s without grand-scale spectacle. It outsmarting and outperforming the also super important in the world of broke all the rules of the perfect play men around them. Taking up the mantle the office, where we see how (white) that I’d been learning about. I fell in of “individual responsibility and self- supremacy pervades the feminist love with Churchill in that moment. sufficiency,” a motto of Thatcherism movement as well. When women no (to which the play is a direct response). longer need to define themselves in What is it about Churchill that makes The play asks, “Can a woman occupy reference to maleness—not as “the her writing so juicy for an actor? a space of authority and status opposite sex” or “a guy would never do Ooof. Churchill calls for a level of without perpetuating the oppressive it like this” or “man up”—when we can intensity that tips past naturalism, structures of the patriarchy?” Does think outside of systems of supremacy, yet it has to be supremely grounded in she have to be a woman in a man’s then we can imagine a new world. truth. It was only when I was acting world? Can we imagine a different We have to be fearless about bringing forward a new way of doing. n
@ACTSanFrancisco 15 ONSTAGE NOW HOW MUCH DOES THE PAY GAP REALLY BREAKING THROUGH COST US? (THE NEW YORK TIMES) TOP GIRLS AND GLASS CEILINGS $403,440 per woman per lifetime
BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN
THE GLASS CEILING: WOMEN AT S&P 500 COMPANIES (PARITY.ORG) ENTRY AND MID-LEVEL MANAGERS: 36.9% BOARD MEMBERS: 21.2% THE PAY GAP CEOS: 4.8% (PEW RESEARCH CENTER 2016) CEOS OF COLOR: 2 PEOPLE WHITE MAN: $1 WHITE WOMAN: 80¢ BLACK WOMAN: 64¢ LATINX WOMAN: 54¢ INDIGENOUS WOMAN: 57¢ HAD A BABY? (2014 REPORT BY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS –AMHERST PROFESSOR MICHELLE BUDIG) MAN’S SALARY: INCREASES 6% FOR EACH CHILD WOMAN’S SALARY: DECREASES 4%
CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED AT WORK? (FORBES) MORE COMPANIES BLACK WOMEN: 40% ARE RUN BY MEN ALL WOMEN: 36% NAMED JOHN THAN ARE RUN BY WOMEN. ALL MEN: 27% (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
16 “We’ve all come a long way,” says Marlene in Top and especially not for women of color. Not only Girls, raising her glass. “To our courage and the do women of color get paid less than white men way we changed our lives and our extraordinary and women in the same positions, but their work HOW MUCH DOES achievements.” In Marlene’s mind, progress is also more frequently criticized and they are THE PAY GAP REALLY has been achieved. She—a woman—has been more frequently passed over for promotions. If promoted to a management position with the they do get promoted, they are often viewed as a COST US? Top Girls Employment Agency, over a male “diversity hire” and it is assumed that they have (THE NEW YORK TIMES) colleague. She played the game and won. Yet been given the position for reasons other than looking from where we stand in 2019, Marlene’s their qualifications and experience. Also, many $403,440 per woman per lifetime words ring a little hollow. How much has really women of color find themselves burdened with changed for women in the workplace? the expectation of speaking for their entire race, class, and gender while enduring countless On the surface, things have changed in the 37 other microaggressions. years since Top Girls premiered. Women make up the majority (58 percent) of the US workforce. In her seminal 1989 paper, African American Women earn more degrees at every level of feminist and lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw higher education. More and more women describes the experience of being a woman of are pursuing a career and a family. Yet men color as the sensation of standing in the middle continue to dominate positions of power in most of an intersection, with traffic flowing around professions and be paid more for completing the you from every direction. Discrimination, same tasks. Men do not encounter the same kind Crenshaw writes, “may flow in one direction, of discrimination for being a parent, for being and it may flow in another. If an accident THE PAY GAP dressed “provocatively,” or for being too assertive happens in an intersection, it can be caused by (PEW RESEARCH CENTER 2016) or not assertive enough. The glass ceiling that cars traveling from any number of directions Marlene, Joyce, and the women in the Top and, sometimes, from all of them.” She coined Girls Employment Agency butt up against this concept intersectionality. throughout Top Girls is still very much in place. Intersectionality looks at how discrimination Marlene believes that “anyone can do it if is experienced differently by people of different they’ve got what it takes.” If an individual has races, classes, and genders; how oppression is the smarts, the grit, the determination, they embedded in our systems of justice, education, will succeed. This same belief is still touted and healthcare; and how the media treats today. With her Lean In method, Facebook Chief and represents people of color and other Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg provides marginalized groups. Looking at Top Girls women with the confidence-building tips and through this lens shines a different light practical skills to advance within the status quo. on Marlene’s feminism built on individual It is up to each individual to learn and use the achievement and the world of the Top Girls techniques available to their advantage. “Until Employment Agency. It asks us again, how much the day comes where we can break our deepest has really changed for women in the workplace? gender stereotypes,” says an instructor in a Lean and encourages us to ask another question, what In video tutorial, “we’re giving you practical tips can we do to make a difference for women of all CREDIBILITY so that you can get the job done.” races, classes, and gender-expressions? For “I am not free,” says feminist and poet Audre Lorde, QUESTIONED While Sandberg’s training tips may help women “while any woman is unfree, even when her shatter their individual glass ceiling, they don’t shackles are very different from my own.” n AT WORK? work to dismantle the glass ceiling for all women, AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER 19/20 SEASON VOL. XXVI, NO. 1 (FORBES) TOP GIRLS BLACK WOMEN: 40% ALL WOMEN: 36% Want to know more about Top Girls? Words on Plays is full of interviews and original articles that give you a behind-the-scenes ALL MEN: 27% look. Proceeds from sales of Words on Plays benefit A.C.T.’s education programs. Available at the box office and lobby, at the bars, and online at act-sf.org/wordsonplays.
@ACTSanFrancisco 17 PHOTOS BY MARK KITAOKA AND TRACY MARTIN AND TRACY MARK KITAOKA BY PHOTOS REAL THEATER CLASSES FOR REAL PEOPLE
Register today for our next sessions! 1-WEEK INTENSIVE: Dec 9–13 WINTER SESSION: Jan 6–Mar 1 ACT-SF.ORG/STUDIO WHO'S WHO IN TOP GIRLS
MONIQUE Ensemble); Uncle Vanya (The Pearl Hall in Men on Boats, also directed by HAFEN ADAMS* Theatre Company); and As You Like It Tamilla Woodard. Her regional (Patient and The Tempest (The Bridge Project credits include Red Speedo (Center Griselda, at Brooklyn Academy of Music and REPertory Company); peerless, Native Mrs. Kidd) is The Old Vic). Regional performances Son, and The Way West (Marin delighted to return include The Wanderers (The Old Theatre Company); The Country to A.C.T.! She was Globe); Twelfth Night (Chicago House (TheatreWorks); and numerous last seen on the Shakespeare Theater); Hamlet productions and tours to France with Geary stage as Rhoda in the world (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Word for Word Performing Arts premiere musical A Walk on the Moon. Tartuffe (McCarter Theatre Center, Company, where she is an associate Other Bay Area credits include Yale Repertory Theatre); and The artist. She has participated in new TheatreWorks (New Works Festival Winter’s Tale (Oregon Shakespeare work development at A.C.T., Berkeley 2017 and 2018), San Francisco Festival). Television credits include Repertory Theatre, Classic Stage Playhouse (Harper Regan, My Fair Luke Cage, Manifest, Claws, Homeland, Company, TheatreWorks, and Ojai Lady, Company, City of Angels, She and Madam Secretary. She is an alum Playwrights Conference, among Loves Me, Noises Off, and Camelot), of the State University of New York at others. Hallett earned degrees in Center REPertory Company (The Purchase Acting Conservatory. drama and English from Stanford Diary of Anne Frank, The Liar, and thisismichellebeck.com University. (she/her) rosiehallett.com The Storytelling Ability of a Boy), San Jose Stage Company (Sweeney Todd: SUMMER LILY D. The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The BROWN** HARRIS** Threepenny Opera, and Avenue Q), (Dull Gret, Nell) (Kit, Shona) and San Jose Repertory Theatre makes her Geary is currently a (Spring Awakening), among others. stage debut as a third-year MFA She is a humble recipient of several third-year actor in student at A.C.T. Bay Area Critics Circle Awards as well A.C.T.’s Master of and is thrilled as a Theatre Bay Area Award. Fine Arts Program. to be making her
(she/ her) Most recently in the Bay Area, Brown debut on the Geary stage as part of performed as Emilia in Othello at this inspiring cast. Her recent MFA MICHELLE Livermore Shakespeare Festival. Her Program credits include Sense and BECK* A.C.T. Conservatory credits include Sensibility, A Midsummer Night’s (Marlene) returns A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Medea, Dream, and The School for Scandal. to the Bay Area, The School for Scandal, The Royale, Other favorite roles include a one- where her credits Their Eyes Were Watching God, and woman production of Sarah Kane’s include King The Bacchae of Euripides. She also 4.48 Psychosis and Mark Antony in Charles III provides audio narrations for Julius Caesar (both at Reed College). (A.C.T.) and Proof Craftsmanship Quarterly, a local Harris would like to send out a special (TheatreWorks; San Francisco Bay online magazine that explores thank you to all the incredible women Area Theatre Critics Circle Award artisans and innovators from all in her life. nomination). Her Broadway credits over the world. Brown holds a BA in MONICA LIN** include the Tony Award–winning theater from University of Maryland, (Lady Nijo, revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Off- College Park. (she/her) Broadway performances include Jeanine) is elated Hurricane Diane (New York Theater ROSIE to make her Geary Workshop); A Kid Like Jake (Lincoln HALLETT* debut with Top Center Theater); Richard III and (Pope Joan, Girls. She is a Bay Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Public Win) is delighted Area actor and has Theater); Much Ado about Nothing to be returning to worked with (Theatre for a New Audience); A.C.T., where she California Shakespeare Theater, San Measure for Measure (Epic Theatre was last seen as Francisco Playhouse, San Francisco
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States **Member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts class of 2020
@ACTSanFrancisco 19 Shakespeare Festival, Custom Made GABRIELLA Theatre Co., Marin Shakespeare MOMAH* Company, Ferocious Lotus Theatre (Angie) is thrilled ALL A.C.T. Company, and FaultLine Theater. She to make their is the winner of the 2016 San American Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Conservatory SHOWS ARE Award for Best Actress for her work in Theater debut with Custom Made Theatre’s In Love and Top Girls. They are Warcraft. Lin is a graduate of Foothill an actor, activist, and teaching artist BARTABLE College Theatre Conservatory and UC based in Oakland. Regional theater Berkeley, and is currently entering her credits include Watch Me (The final year of graduate school where she Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory will earn an MFA from American Theatre); Vicious Cycle: The Musical, Conservatory Theater. Pyler Terry, Stage Fright, and Barb (Killing My Lobster); Cardboard Piano JULIA MCNEAL* (New Conservatory Theater Center); (Isabella Bird, Sprint (National Queer Arts Festival); Louise) is thrilled A Letter to My Ex, The Musical to be making her (Spectrum Queer Media); Inside Out & A.C.T. debut with Back Again and She Persisted, the Top Girls. In Musical (Bay Area Children’s addition to Theatre); They/Them (Those Women numerous Productions); Token (Crowded Fire productions in New York and Los Theater’s Matchbox Reading Series); Angeles, her Bay Area credits include FLEX (Bay Area Playwrights The Eva Trilogy, Fred’s Diner, A Lie of Festival); Can I Hold You, The Color the Mind, and Visible from Four States Purple, and The Bluest Eye (Stanford THE GEARY (Magic Theatre); The Events (Shotgun TAPS); and more. Momah holds a BA Powell Street Players); and Gidion’s Knot (Aurora in reproductive justice from Stanford Theatre Company). She has appeared University and has trained with the at San Francisco Playhouse, Marin San Francisco Mime Troupe, Theatre Company, Porchlight Music Waterfront Conservatory, and The Theatre, TheatreFirst, Center Actors Space. They dedicate this REPertory Company, Pacific Alliance performance in honor of their mother, Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Arinola Omorinsola Lawson. (they/ San Francisco, First Person Singular, them) @gabriellamomah and PlayGround (where she is a company member). She was a NAFEESA founding member of the Obie Award– MONROE* winning New York–based Cucaracha (Joyce, Theatre. Her film and TV credits Waitress) is include The Unbelievable Truth; Flesh delighted to make and Bone; Law & Order; and Law & her A.C.T. debut Order: Special Victims Unit. A guest in Top Girls. artist at Tamalpais Union High Monroe currently THE STRAND School’s internationally acclaimed resides on the East Coast, but grew up Conservatory Theatre Ensemble in the Bay Area and is excited to be Civic Center program, McNeal also teaches home! Her theater credits include the “Playing Multiple Characters” at The off-off-Broadway productions of Proof Marsh Berkeley Arts Center and (directed by Johanna Day) and Hello elsewhere. juliamcnealarts.com Herman (directed by Thomas Kail). Regionally, her credits include
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States **Member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts class of 2020
20 ACT-SF.ORG Sweat (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Wedding Gift (Contemporary American Theater Festival), Disgraced (Pittsburgh Public Theater), Julius Caesar (Folger Theatre), and Mother Courage and Her Children (with Olympia Dukakis at Shakespeare & Company). Her screen credits include The Punisher, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, and I’m Through With White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks). As a poet, Monroe opened for Jewel and appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry and alongside bestselling author Neale Donald Walsch. Monroe has a BA from Wesleyan University, an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting, and is a graduate of the Sanford Meisner School of Acting. Monroe is founder and artistic director of Classics in Color: An INclusive Theatre Company The location that (classicsincolor.com). connects you to the VELINA BROWN* (Understudy) is best of San Francisco. pleased to return to A.C.T., where she San Francisco is known for its rich intellectual appeared in A and creative culture, progressive spirit, and Funny Thing global outlook — and that’s just what you’ll find Happened on the at San Francisco Towers, a sophisticated Life Plan Way to the Forum, Insurrection Community in the heart of the city. Holding History, A Streetcar Named Desire, Machinal, and several seasons Everything you love is within walking distance, of A Christmas Carol. Her long-time artistic home is the Tony and Obie making it easy to stay connected to the culture and award–winning San Francisco Mime diversity San Francisco is known for plus convenient Troupe, with which she has toured the services, wonderful comforts, and security for the Bay Area, nationwide, and future. internationally. Brown has toured France with Word for Word, Spain Join the waiting list! For information, or to schedule and Portugal with Brooklyn-based ensemble Barbez (in support of the a visit, call 415.447.5526. album For Those Who Came After: Songs of the Spanish Civil War), and was last seen locally in Black Odyssey at California Shakespeare Theatre. Additional credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, covia.org/san-francisco-towers Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 1661 Pine St, San Francisco, CA 94109 TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players, Central Works Theater Company, A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia. License No. CenterREPertory Company, San 380540292 COA# 325
@ACTSanFrancisco 21 Francisco Playhouse, New and What Would You Do? (ABC). Award for An Entomologist’s Conservatory Theatre Center, and Osborne holds a BFA in acting from Love Story (SF Playhouse); and a Denver Theatre for the Performing the University of North Carolina Shelley Award for Tenderly: The Arts, as well as appearances in film, School of the Arts, where she was Rosemary Clooney Musical (Center television, and commercials. She has awarded the Sarah Graham Kenan REP), among many others. She is a also voiced video games, training Scholarship of Excellence. She is company member of both Shotgun films, and documentaries. grateful to her family, her 15-year-old Players and TheatreFirst. In velinabrown.com. cat Lulu, and her partner Jeff for their addition to theater, Ball also works love and support. as a production designer in film and MELANIE television. Her current and upcoming ARII MAH* TAMILLA WOODARD (Director) projects include Hairspray (OSF), (Understudy) is is the associate artistic director of Testmatch (A.C.T.), Vinegar Tom a native San WP Theater. She is the co-founder (Shotgun), and Bull in a China Shop Franciscan and of PopUP Theatrics, and currently (Aurora). (she/her) ninaball.com honored to be the associate director of Hadestown making her A.C.T. on Broadway. She directed Jaclyn SARITA FELLOWS (Costume debut in Top Girls. Backhaus’s Men on Boats at A.C.T. last Designer) is happy to be back at Her other theatrical credits include season. Other recent work includes A.C.T. Her New York credits include 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center Theater American Dreams, by Leila Buck Native Son (The Acting Company); (u/s Amanda) and Valley of the Heart (The Cleveland Public Theatre); the Original Sound (Cherry Lane (Thelma “Teruko” Yamaguchi) at critically acclaimed immersive 3/ Theatre); Hatef**k (WP Theater); Center Theatre Group, El Teatro Fifths, by James Scruggs (3-Legged Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, and Campesino, and San Jose Stage Dog); and PolkaDots: The Cool Kids Measure for Measure (New York Company. She graduated magna cum Musical (Atlantic Theatre Company; Classical Theatre); A Chronicle of laude with a BFA from Boston Off Broadway Alliance Award). the Death of Two Worlds (New York University School of Theatre. She Her work has also been seen at Theatre Workshop); Mud, Prospect, wants to thank the outstanding cast Classical Theatre of Harlem, Working and Fabuloso! (Boundless Theatre and crew for this wonderful Theater, Salt Lake Acting Company, Company); and The Forbidden experience and the Bay Area theater Actors Theatre of Louisville, and City, A Bright Room Called Day, community for its encouragement. at many festivals and theaters and Hoodoo Love (The Juilliard She dedicates this performance to her internationally. She is a graduate of School). Regionally, she has designed late parents, Melvin and Mary Mah. Yale School of Drama and a recipient Her Portmanteau (A.C.T.); We Are (she/her) @meliemahster of the Josephine Abady Award Among Us (City Theatre Company); from the League of Professional Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Signature JASMINE Theatre Women. (she/her) Theatre); Alvin and the Chipmunks OSBORNE* Live (2SBN); The Haunted Life (Understudy) is NINA BALL (Scenic Designer) (Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Two grateful to be back has designed here at A.C.T. (The Trains Running (Weston Playhouse at A.C.T. after Birthday Party, Men on Boats, Theatre Company); and Having working on Vanity Monstress, Chester Bailey, and Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Fair last season! Underneath the Lintel), as well as 100 Years (Philadelphia Theatre Some Bay Area at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Company). Fellows also designs credits include The Jungle Book California Shakespeare Theater, for film, dance, and opera, and is a (Marin Theatre Company), The Shotgun Players, San Francisco lecturer at Princeton University and Wolves (Capital Stage Company), and Playhouse, San Jose Repertory New York University’s Tisch School Kano + Abe: A Daly City Bible Story Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, of the Arts, where she earned her (PlayGround at Potrero Stage). Before Center REPertory Company, Z Space, MFA. (she/her) saritafellows.com relocating to California, she lived and and Santa Cruz Shakespeare, among worked in New York City, where she many others. Recent honors include BARBARA SAMUELS (Lighting was in Kris Kringle (Manhattan a Theatre Bay Area Award for Designer) is a New York–based Theatre Club). You can see her on Blasted (Shotgun) and The Nether lighting designer. Select designs screen in the feature filmHow to Be a (SF Playhouse); a San Francisco include In the Green (Lincoln Center Man (Fox Digital Studio), as well as in Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Theater), Hurricane Diane (New York One Life to Live (The Online Network)
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
22 ACT-SF.ORG Theatre Workshop, WP Theater), Rags CHRISTINE ADAIRE (Voice and Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future Dialect Coach) is head of voice at (Ars Nova, Lucille Lortel and Drama A.C.T. She is a Designated Master Desk award nominations), Dance Linklater Voice Teacher, trained by Proud to Nation (Playwrights Horizons; Henry the world-renowned voice teacher Hewes Design Award nominations), Kristin Linklater. She has worked Support Acquanetta (Beth Morrison Projects, as an actor, voice coach, and director Bard SummerScape), Caught (The in many American regional theaters, A.C.T. Play Company), and Kate Benson’s including The Old Globe, Milwaukee Obie Award–winning A Beautiful Repertory Theater, the Guthrie Day in November on the Banks of the Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Greatest of the Great Lakes (New Theater, Goodman Theatre, Lyric Georges/WP Theater). Samuels has Opera of Chicago, the Oregon Personal attention designed regionally at Long Wharf Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf thoughtful litigation Theatre, Alley Theatre, PlayMakers Theatre Company, Court Theatre, final resolution Repertory Company, L.A. Dance American Players Theatre, Theatre Project, Cincinnati Playhouse in for a New Audience, Santa Cruz Our goal is to preserve our LAW FAMILY the Park, and Trinity Repertory Shakespeare, La Jolla Playhouse, and client’s dignity and humanity. Company. Samuels served as the Shakespeare & Company. Adaire has general manager of Obie Award– taught at DePaul University, National winning 13 Playwrights, Inc. She has Theatre School of Canada, University FA M I LYLAW G R OUP, P. C . a BA from Fordham University and of Massachusetts–Amherst, an MFA from New York University. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, 575 Market Street, Suite 4000 She is a proud member of USA Local and Roosevelt University. She’s taught San Francisco, CA 94105 829. (she/her) barbarasamuels.com workshops in Shanghai, Barcelona, 415.834.1120 www.sflg.com London, Australia, and New Zealand. JAKE RODRIGUEZ (Sound Her current area of research and Designer) is a sound designer writing is transgender voice. She and composer based in the San works with transgender/gender- Francisco Bay Area. His recent diverse individuals so they can modify credits include Wink (Marin Theatre their voice to more fully express Company); Oedipus el Rey (Magic their gender identity. (she/her) Get a taste of Theatre); Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); ALLIE MOSS (Dramaturg) The Great Leap, Her Portmanteau, is a Bay Area–based director and Sweat, and Vietgone (A.C.T.); Women dramaturg. Previous dramaturgy Laughing Alone with Salad and The credits include The Realistic Joneses with a Events (Shotgun Players); Everybody (American Conservatory Theater), Pimm’s Cup (California Shakespeare Theater); The Birds of Empathy (Bay Area Angels in America and An Octoroon Playwrights Festival), and You’ll Pimm’s No. 1, (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); we, Not Feel the Drowning (The Custom the invisibles (Actors Theatre of Made Theatre Co.) Upcoming ginger ale, Louisville); A Thousand Splendid projects include directing Cloud orange, Suns (A.C.T., Theatre Calgary, Nine at Custom Made Theatre and Grand Theater, The Old Globe); The Ways to Leave a Body at Cutting Ball lemon, Christians (Playwrights Horizons, the Theater. Moss has also worked at and mint leaves. Mark Taper Forum); Girlfriend (Kirk San Francisco Playhouse, FaultLine Douglas Theatre); and Mr. Burns, a Theater, Playwrights Foundation, $14 post-electric play (A.C.T., the Guthrie Breadbox Theatre, and Left Coast Theater). Rodriguez is the recipient Theatre Company. Her favorite of a 2004 Princess Grace Award. directing credits include Hookman Order your drink from (A.C.T. Young Conservatory), The the bar at intermission. Vagina Monologues (A.C.T. V-Day
@ACTSanFrancisco 23 Project), Bull in a China Shop (A.C.T.’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, Waiting entrepreneur, and Toni, a jewelry Sky Festival), American Hero for Godot, and the world premieres artist, support A.C.T. and many other (Custom Made Theatre), and The of A Christmas Carol and After the arts-related organizations in the Bay Foreigner and A Streetcar Named War. Other regional credits include Area. They are especially interested Desire (Columbus Civic Theater). Dr. Faustus, written and directed in organizations that have major Moss is the Literary Manager/ by David Mamet, and The Opposite education and outreach programs Artistic Associate at American of Sex (Magic Theatre); River’s End, for young people. The Millers feel the Conservatory Theater, where she co- Bus Stop, Communicating Doors, and best part of their involvement with produces A.C.T.’s annual New Strands The Last Schwartz (Marin Theatre A.C.T. and the MFA Program is their Festival. She holds a BA in theater Company); Macbeth and Henry relationship with the students, three from Goucher College. (she/her) V (Commonwealth Shakespeare of whom are in the Top Girls cast. Company); Twelfth Night (Los Angeles JANET FOSTER, CSA (Casting Women’s Shakespeare Company); ADDITIONAL CREDITS Director) has cast for A.C.T. for King Lear and Henry V (The Company seven seasons, including The Great Karina Fox, Assistant Director of Women); The Resistible Rise of Masami Saisu, KIMONO by Kamino Leap, Her Portmanteau, Edward Arturo Ui; Ain’t Misbehavin’; and The Albee’s Seascape, Men on Boats, Sweat, Hiroko Sato, Sato Kimono Class San Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me. Before Francisco Hamlet, A Thousand Splendid Suns, moving to San Francisco, Daley was The Hard Problem, King Charles III, Dave Maier, Fight Director the production manager at Emerson Scenic Construction, F&D Scene John, Arcadia, Stuck Elevator, The College in Boston for seven years and Orphan of Zhao, Napoli!, and Endgame Changes oversaw the BFA production/stage Brandon Gage, Production Flyrail and Play. On Broadway, she cast The management program. (he/him) Light in the Piazza (Artios Award Operator nomination), Lennon, Ma Rainey’s CHRISTINA HOGAN* (Assistant Elliott Ehrlich, Production Carpenter Black Bottom, and Taking Sides (co- Stage Manager) returns to A.C.T. Thomas Bowersox, Lighting cast). Off-Broadway credits include after working on Edward Albee’s Associate True Love, Floyd Collins, A Cheever Seascape, Men on Boats, Father Comes JoAnna Ben-Yisrael, Production Evening, The Monogamist, and Later Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & Electrician Life. Regionally, she has worked at 3), Hamlet, Monstress, and Love and Corey Schaffer, Lighting Programmer Intiman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Information. Her other theater credits Danishta Rivero, Vocal Chords Theatre, California Shakespeare include In Old Age, The Baltimore Jake Rodriguez, Patch Chords Theater, Berkeley Repertory Waltz, runboyrun, And I and Silence, Jason Stamberger, Power Chords Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Se Llama Cristina, and Any Given Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Day (Magic Theatre); Ripped and Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Selkie (Z Space); It Can’t Happen PHOTOGRAPHS AND and American Repertory Theater. Here (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); RECORDINGS
Film, television, and radio credits Skeleton Crew and The Wolves Audience members may take photos include Cosby, Tracey Takes On (Marin Theatre Company); and A in the theater before and after the performance and during intermission. New York, The Deal, Advice from a Raisin in the Sun, Blithe Spirit, and If you post photos on social media or elsewhere, you must credit the Caterpillar, The Day That Lehman The Pastures of Heaven (California production’s designers by including Died (Peabody, SONY, and Wincott Shakespeare Theater). Hogan has a the following names: awards), and “T” Is for Tom (Tom BA in theater arts from Saint Mary’s Nina Ball (Scenic Designer), ninaball.com Stoppard radio plays, WNYC and College of California. (she/her) Sarita Fellows (Costume Designer), WQXR). She also cast LifeAfter, a GE saritafellows.com DONALD J. AND TONI RATNER Theater podcast, and Passenger List, Barbara Samuels (Lighting Designer), MILLER (Executive Producer) barbarasamuels.com featuring Patti LuPone. (she/her) have been actively involved with Jake Rodriguez (Sound Designer), @sounjaerk DICK DALEY* (Stage Manager) A.C.T. for eight years, and Toni Please note: Photos are strictly has stage-managed many shows Ratner Miller has been on the MFA prohibited during the performance. Board of Directors for six. They Video recording is not permitted in the at A.C.T., including Satchmo at the theater at any time. Waldorf, Between Riverside and have produced some wonderful @ACTSanFrancisco #ACTTopGIrls
Crazy, A Little Night Music, Indian plays, including Indian Ink, Venus Ink, The Orphan of Zhao, 1776, Gem in Fur, The Realistic Joneses, and of the Ocean, Happy End, Travesties, Her Portmanteau. Donald, a retired
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. 24 ACT-SF.ORG A.C.T. You’re a partner at a leading private equity firm and a mom and a TODAY daughter. What made you take on the challenge of A.C.T.’s board? My daughter loved being part of the Young Conservatory so when A.C.T. asked me to join the board, I said “yes” immediately. I’ve enjoyed serving A.C.T. and getting to know more about theater.
“When I go to productions here, I’m
PHOTO COURTESY KAY YUN proud of our work. It’s a diverse set of themes, characters, and actors. We are very mindful that everyone feels included and can see themselves represented onstage.”
How have you been able to shape A.C.T.? Creating an environment that’s welcoming to all is important to me, and I relate to the challenges of diversity— not only in terms of women in organizations, but also minorities. When I was a young banker at Goldman Sachs, the guys had a leg up because they golfed or played tennis and at social outings they got information about deals. Even if women knew how to play golf or were good at tennis, WELCOMING they weren’t invited. I believe strongly in being a mentor, particularly to other women, and I spend time with women TO ALL throughout A.C.T., so they know they can reach out. AN INTERVIEW WITH What are your own hopes for A.C.T.? Together with the board and staff, we are working to build a A.C.T. BOARD PRESIDENT KAY YUN business model that is sustainable and supports our aspirations to do more. There are a lot of San Franciscans who are not BY A.C.T. BOARD VICE CHAIR ROBINA RICCITIELLO aware of what we really do at A.C.T.—we need to educate our community better. When I go to productions here, I’m proud of our work. It’s a diverse set of themes, characters, and actors. As Top Girls opens A.C.T.’s season of kickass women, we We are very mindful that everyone feels included and can see profile President of A.C.T.’s Board of Trustees Kay Yun, who themselves represented onstage. n has been breaking glass ceilings for decades. Born in South Korea, she started her career at Hewlett Packard before switching gears, going to business school, and rising up the If you’re interested in learning more about financial services ranks of Goldman Sachs in New York. leadership roles and supporting A.C.T., please Now a partner at Health Evolution Partners, an investment contact Caitlin A. Quinn at [email protected] firm focused on the healthcare industry, she’s bringing that or 415.439.2436. financial acumen to A.C.T. 25 A.C.T. TODAY PHOTO BY RYAN MONTGOMERY RYAN BY PHOTO PHOTO BY ALESSANDRA MELLO
PUTTING THE On A.C.T.’s Geary stage in front of you are three Master of Fine Arts actors, learning their craft every day and honing “C” IN A.C.T. it alongside professional actors each evening. And behind the scenes are another three members of our Conservatory who are pulling double duty: voice, dialect, and movement coaches Christine Adaire, Lisa Anne Porter, and Danyon CONSERVATORY TEACHER, MAINSTAGE COACH Davis. Each season, these three theater artists lead the BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN faculty in our MFA Program and coach actors performing in our eight mainstage productions. In the last season alone, they brought the beautiful Ibibio language to life in Mfoniso Udofia’sHer Portmanteau, captured the distinctive gait of lizards for Edward Albee’s Seascape, and built up the vocal strength needed to tackle the heightened emotions of MFA spring show, Medea.
This symbiosis between the Conservatory and the mainstage has been at the heart of A.C.T. from the beginning. “A.C.T. was founded with the Conservatory as part of its mission,” says Head of Text and Dialects Lisa Anne Porter, who is also an MFA Program alum. “We do and teach. This makes A.C.T. a dynamic place to study and practice the craft. Mainstage artists always remark on how refreshing it is to have the Conservatory students bustling around them. It recharges and revitalizes them.”
26 ACT-SF.ORG As they move among the studios at 30 Grant from “This relationship between the Conservatory and the classroom to rehearsal room, Adaire, Porter, and Davis use the mainstage is unique to A.C.T.,” says Associate Artistic challenges and opportunities that teaching provides to inform Director Andy Chan Donald, “and makes it one of the their work on the mainstage, and vice versa. “I share with coolest destinations for artists and teachers alike.” Our my students the vocal challenges that professional actors Conservatory teaching artists feature as actors, voice and encounter in rehearsal and the problem-solving strategies we dialect coaches, movement directors, and designers for use to overcome them,” says Head of Voice Christine Adaire. our mainstage shows and for productions throughout the “In Heisenberg, some of the scenes were very emotional and Bay Area. Ideas, tips, and tricks are constantly passed down the actors were experiencing vocal stress and throat and from artist to artist, preserving our theatrical traditions and neck pain because our tongues tense when we’re emotional. keeping our studios and stages abuzz with new ideas. In class, we happened to be exploring exercises to stretch and release the tongue. It was great to have a very practical “The theater is like a campground,” says Davis. “Its survival example to illustrate this problem to my students.” requires that successive generations learn to be good custodians. You have to stay committed to taking care of Sometimes, the lessons are not so much about the technical it and to making sure that certain values, such as respect aspects of a dialect or a piece of movement but about what for craft, are modeled for those that follow.” Adaire agrees. it’s like to be a professional theater-maker. “A big part of “We’re like a teaching hospital. Both our professional actors our pedagogy is preparing students to value process and to and our very talented young actors inspire me and challenge contribute in a professional rehearsal room,” says Head of me to continue developing my craft. The interplay between Movement Danyon Davis. “Last year, I took our first-year the roles of teacher and coach feeds me as an artist.” n MFA Program actors to the first technical rehearsal forMen on Boats. We were there for a little over an hour and the cast and crew didn’t get through more than one minute of the For more information about our actor-training play. It was great to see the students’ faces lighting up as they programs—including the Master of Fine Arts absorbed the values of patience, listening, cooperation, and Program, the San Francisco Semester, and the attention to detail.” Summer Training Congress—and the extraordinary faculty members who teach here, visit act-sf.org/conservatory. PHOTO BY BERYL BAKER
OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT Head of Voice Christine Adaire. OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT Head of Text and Dialects Lisa Anne Porter. RIGHT Head of Movement Danyon Davis.
@ACTSanFrancisco 27 A.C.T. TODAY
WHAT ART CAN BE A GLIMPSE OF A.C.T.’S SAN FRANCISCO SEMESTER
BY SIMON HODGSON
When actor Justin Genna looked at the theater training of Smith. “The sense of collaboration, of learning how to be the San Francisco Semester (SFS), he saw a trial run. As a comfortable with not knowing, and of falling in love with the former dancer with Milwaukee Ballet, Genna hankered for process—that’s the essence of acting.” a different type of performing, but he wasn’t certain about committing to three years of MFA classes. “My mother The second spark for actors’ creativity is the Cultural always said, ‘Take it for a test drive before you buy it.’ If you’re Landscapes class, in which SFS students experience interested in professional-level MFA acting training, the SFS other extraordinary art forms around the Bay Area. This is that test drive. Afterward I bought the car!” Genna was so fall, the current class will interact with dancers from the convinced by the 15-week semester at A.C.T. that he followed Smuin Ballet, conjurers at the Marrakech Magic Theater, up by completing an MFA here. One year after leaving A.C.T., and musicians from SF Jazz at their performance in the Genna is appearing at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in Gothic nave of Grace Cathedral. “We want to excite their New York in the premiere of Novenas for a Lost Hospital. imaginations when they create a role,” says Director of Academic Affairs Jack Sharrar, who teaches this class. SFS students come from all over the country and beyond “These performances open them up to the possibility of (including France, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, what art can be, and how this art could apply to their training and Argentina) to learn the fundamental technical aspects as actors.” of being onstage. Those classes—encompassing voice, dialect, text work, acting, and physical theater—become the For Associate Conservatory Director Peter J. Kuo, who foundation for two additional layers of imaginative training. directs the study-away program, the SFS enables aspiring The first is a class on devising work together. “When I sit performers to answer one big question: Is acting something down with the students at the end of the semester, that’s the to which they truly want to make a commitment? “The SFS is class they rave about,” says Conservatory Director Melissa like a gift of time,” says Kuo. “When you’re an undergraduate, 28 ACT-SF.ORG you’re always taking other classes outside your major. In the SFS, however, you’re solely dedicated to your craft as an artist, but with a whole semester, student actors have time to learn and time to process.”
“The San Francisco
Semester gave me the tools I needed to take my career to the next level.” —SFS alum Taylor Iman Jones
That deep dive was what brought actor Afua Busia to A.C.T. in 2015. As a theater-loving environmental science major from American University in Washington, DC, Busia harbored dreams of acting professionally. “I minored in theater and I’d grown to love performing,” she says, “but I wasn’t sure if a career as an actor was what I wanted. The SFS was like a theater sampler that left me wanting more. Being able to study a range of theater styles in SFS and learn from such wonderful teachers is what took my love for performance forward and made me eager to learn more.” Busia graduated from our MFA Program in May and is currently auditioning and preparing for a move to New York.
While several young actors have graduated from the SFS to A.C.T.’s MFA Program, Taylor Iman Jones made the jump to the professional stage almost immediately. A year after completing her SFS training, Jones was cast in A.C.T.’s 2016 hit production of The Unfortunates. Three years on, she is currently starring in Scotland, PA, a new musical at New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company. “The San Francisco Semester gave me the tools I needed to take my career to the next level,” she says, “and it will always be a large part of my foundation and of the performer I am today.” n
To discover more about the San Francisco Semester, its curriculum, classes, and faculty coaches, visit act-sf.org/sfs.
OPPOSITE PAGE San Francisco Semester students working on their theatrical techniques. Photo by Alessandra Mello. THIS PAGE, FROM TOP SFS and MFA Program alum Justin Genna (class of 2018) in the 2015 Creative Movement Project. Photo by Alessandra Mello; Associate Conservatory Director Peter J. Kuo working with SFS students. Photo by Beryl Baker; Actors James Carpenter, Catherine Castellanos, MFA Program actor Adam Donovan (class of 2019), and SFS and MFA Program graduate Afua Busia (class of 2019) in A.C.T.’s production of A Christmas Carol (2018). Photo by Kevin Berne.
@ACTSanFrancisco 29 FRANNIE FLEISHHACKER, CO-CHAIR • ROBINA RICCITIELLO, CO-CHAIR
We are privileged to recognize Producers Circle members’ generosity during the August 1, 2018, to August 1, 2019, period. For information about Producers Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].
Lead Gala supporter as of September 4 *Leadership Circle Member †Spring Fling! supporters **Deceased
Season Presenters ($100,000+)
JEROME L. AND KENNETH AND ROBINA RICCITIELLO † JEFF AND LAURIE UBBEN THAO N. DODSON† GISELE MILLER Robina is communications director for Jeff is a founder of ValueAct Capital Jerry is president of Parnassus the Million Person Project, a company and a director of 21st Century Fox Inc. Investments and serves on the boards TONI REMBE AND that helps people identify their core and Willis Towers Watson PLC. He of San Francisco Opera and A.C.T. Thao ARTHUR ROCK† values to tell their personal story. She serves on the boards of Duke University, and Jerry have established scholarships Past chair of A.C.T.’s Board of is involved with the UCLA Depression Northwestern University, and the E. O. for music education at the San Francisco Trustees, Toni is a retired partner at Grand Challenge, an effort to cure Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. Laurie Symphony, undergraduate education at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. depression by the end of this century, founded San Francisco’s Bird School UC Berkeley, and high school education Arthur was one of America’s first and with NARAL Pro-Choice America. of Music. for 125 girls in Vietnam. venture capitalists. Along with other community endeavors, they are MARY AND STEVEN SWIG † KAY YUN AND ANDRE PRISCILLA AND cofounders of the Arthur and Toni Steven has served on A.C.T.’s board NEUMANN-LORECK † KEITH GEESLIN † Rembe Rock Center for Corporate since 1986 and is cofounder of Presidio President of A.C.T.’s Board of Trustees, Priscilla is a vice chair of A.C.T.’s Governance at Stanford Law School. Graduate School. Mary is on the Kay is a partner at private equity fund Board of Trustees and Development Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard Health Evolution Partners. She is a Committee chair. She is vice president University’s John F. Kennedy School of trustee of Parnassus Funds and a board of the SF Symphony, Grace Cathedral, Government. They serve on the boards member of San Francisco University and past chair of NARAL Pro-Choice of the Solar Electric Light Fund and the High School. Andre, the founder of On America’s Foundation Board. Americans for Cures Foundation. Tap Consulting, has held executive roles A principal of Francisco Partners, in startups and Fortune 500 companies. Keith is president of SF Opera’s board of trustees and a board member of Episcopal Community Services.
Company Sponsors Executive Producers Producers ($50,000–$99,999) ($25,000–$49,999) ($15,000–$24,999) Barbara Bass Bakar Bill Draper Donald J. and Toni Ratner Miller Ɨ Paul Asente and Ron Jenks Lesley Ann Clement and Jesse Lee Eller Marcy and Paul NathanƗ The New Ark Fund Karl Lukaszewicz Mr. Rodney Ferguson and Gerine OngkekoƗ Concepción and Irwin Federman Ray and Dagmar Dolby Fund Ms. Kathleen EganƗ Barbara Ravizza and John S. Osterweis Don and Judy McCubbin Frannie Fleishhacker Ɨ Linda Jo Fitz Ɨ Norman and Janet Pease Mr. and Mrs. J. A. McQuown Kevin and Celeste FordƗ Mr. and Mrs. Gordon P. Getty Sara Eisner Richter and Michael RichterƗ Mary and Gene Metz Kirke and Nancy Sawyer Hasson Ɨ The Milledge and Patti Hart FamilyƗ Sally and Toby RosenblattƗ Clay Foundation - West James C. Hormel and Dianne and Ron Hoge Ɨ Abby and Gene Schnair Ɨ Rich Rava and Elisa Neipp Michael P. Nguyen-Hormel Jo S. Hurley Ɨ Lori Halverson Schryer Ɨ Elsa and Neil Pering Jeri Lynn and Jeffrey W. Johnson Christopher and Leslie Johnson Matthew and Lisa Sonsini Merrill Randol Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, John Little and Heather Stallings LittleƗ Barbara and Stephan Vermut Anne and Michelle ShonkƗ The Shenson Foundation Ɨ Janet V. Lustgarten Jay Yamada Cherie Sorokin Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGrath The Marymor Family Fund Ɨ Nola YeeƗ Burt** and Deedee McMurtry Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman David and Carla Riemer Ɨ Patti and Rusty RueffƗ Aaron Vermut and Adriana López VermutƗ
Associate Producers ($10,000–$14,999) Norman Abramson in honor of Daniel E. Cohn and Lynn BrintonƗ Betty Hoener Marmor Foundation/Drs Michael and David V. BeeryƗ Harold Cranston Sy Kaufman and Kerstin Edgerton Jane Marmor Anonymous Carlotta and Robert DatheƗ Jascha and Rebecca Kaykas-Wolff Ɨ Mr. and Mrs. Tom Perkins Ɨ Paul Angelo James and Julia Davidson Luba Kipnis and David RusselƗ Barbara Phillips Sara and Wm. Anderson Barnes Fund Scott Delman Linda KurtzƗ Joseph E. and Julie RatnerƗ Dr. Barbara L. Bessey Mr. David Gaba and Ms. Deanna Mann Ken Lamb Emmett and Marion Stanton Linda K. Brewer Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara* Pamela D. Lee Dr. Martin and Elizabeth Terplan Linda Joanne Brown Marcia and John Goldman Mr. and Mrs. John P. Levin Mrs. Katherine G. Wallin and Janet Cluff, in memory of Lloyd Cluff Stephen and Diane Heiman Marcia and Jim LevyƗ Mr. Homer Wallin Beverly and Loring Wyllie
30 ACT-SF.ORG DIANNE HOGE, CO-CHAIR • NOLA YEE, CO-CHAIR
We are privileged to recognize these members’ generosity during the August 1, 2018, to August 1, 2019, period. For information about Directors Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].
Lead Gala supporter as of September 4 *Leadership Circle Member †Spring Fling! supporters ** Deceased Benefactors Mr. Daniel Murphy Nancy and Jerry Falk Mr. Byron R. Meyer ($7,500–$9,999) Paula and John Murphy Mr. Alexander L. Fetter and Ms. Nancy Michel Don and Sally O’Neal Ms. Lynn Bunim Jeffrey and Elizabeth MinickƗ Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. William Pitcher Mr. Robert Feyer and Ms. Marsha Cohen Milton Mosk and Thomas Foutch Gayle and Steve Brugler John Riccitiello Mr. and Mrs. Patrick F. Flannery Nancy and Joachim Bechtle Philip and Judy Erdberg Rick and Anne Riley Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler Ms. Mary D. Niemiller Tom Frankel Susan Roos Mrs. Susan Fuller Barbara O’Connor Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Gallagher Scott and Janis Sachtjen John L. Garfinkle Mrs. Margaret O’Drain Christine and Stan MattisonƗ Rick and Cindy Simons William Garland and Michael Mooney Ms. Mary Jo O’Drain Terry and Jan Opdendyk George and Camilla Smith Mr. Michael R. Genesereth Emilie and Douglas Ogden Dr. James Robinson and The Somekh Family Foundation Susan and Dennis Gilardi Margo and Roy Ogus Ms. Kathy Kohrman Diana L. Starcher Dr. A. Goldschlager Janet and Clyde Ostler Matt and Yvonne Rogers Vera and Harold Stein Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb Peter Pastreich and Jamie Whittington Mr. Laurence L. Spitters Mr. M. H. Suelzle Marcia and Geoffrey Green Gordon Radley Patrick S. ThompsonƗ Mrs. Helena Troy Wasp Mr. Bill Gregory* Jeff and Karen Richardson Kenneth and Sharon Wilson Jack and Susy WadsworthƗ Ms. Ann M. Griffiths Gary and Joyce Rifkind Mr. and Mrs. James Wagstaffe Raymond and Gale L. Grinsell Mr. Orrin W. Robinson, III Playwrights Ms. Allie Weissman Naren and Vinita Gupta Mrs. Marianne B. Robison ($5,000–$7,499) Katherine Welch James Haire and Timothy Cole Gary Rubenstein and Nancy Matthews Anonymous Barbara and Chris Westover Mr. and Mrs. Richard Halliday Ms. Dace Rutland Mr. Eugene Barcone Mr. and Mrs. Bruce White Ms. Kendra Hartnett and Robert Santilli Betty and Jack Schafer The Tournesol Project Lenore Heffernan Kent and Nancy Clancy Roger and Helen Bohl Directors ($2,500–$4,999) Mrs. Deirdre Henderson Mr. and Mrs. John Shankel Christopher and Debora Booth Anonymous Adrienne Hirt and Jeffrey Rodman Mr. Richard Spaete Ed Brakeman Mr. Howard J. Adams Ms. Marcia Hooper Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Spears Susan and Ralph G. Coan, Jr. Martha and Michael Adler Rob Hulteng Vibeke Strand, MD and Jack Loftis, PhD Madeline and Myrkle Deaton Bruce and Betty Alberts Robert Humphrey & Diane Amend Richard and Michele Stratton Richard DeNatale and Craig Latker Lynn Altshuler and Stanley D. Herzstein Robert and Riki Intner Mr. Jay Streets William H. Donner Foundation Sharon L. Anderson Harold and Lyn Isbell Susan Terris Anne and Gerald Down Ray and Jackie Apple Franklin Jackson & Maloos Anvarian Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr Sue and Ed Fish Ms. Kay Auciello*Ɨ Anne Jamieson Ian and Olga Thomson Jules Fisher Donna L. Beres and Terry Dahl Ms. Carolyn Jayne Susan A. Van Wagner Vicki and David Fleishhacker David and Rosalind Bloom Phil and Edina Jennison Arnie and Gail Wagner Sameer Gandhi and Monica Lopez Mr. Mitchell Bolen and Stephanie and Owen Jensen Joy and Ellis Wallenberg, Marilee K. Gardner Mr. John Christner David Jones and Joe D’Alessandro Milton Meyer Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Geist Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto Ms. Pamela L. Kershner Ms. Margaret Warton and Glasser Family Fund Susan Breyer Ms. Nancy L. Kittle Mr. Steve Benting Kaatri and Doug Grigg Mrs. Libi Cape Mr. R. Samuel Klatchko Ms. Carol Watts Kenneth Hitz Steven and Karin Chase Harold L. Wyman Foundation Ms. Patricia Tomlinson and Chris and Holly HollenbeckƗ Teresa Clark and Martin Lay Sue Kubly Mr. Bennet Weintraub Alan and Cricket JonesƗ Mr. and Mrs. David Crane Thomas and Barbara Lasinski Ms. Beth Weissman Mr. Joel Krauska and Ms. Patricia Fox Joan T. Dea and Lionel F. Conacher Dr. Lois Levine Mundie Irv Weissman and Family Paola and Richard Kulp Ira and Jerry Dearing Ms. Helen S. Lewis Marie and Daniel Welch Sue Yung Li and Dale K. Ikeda Robert and Judith DeFranco Ron and Mary Loar Andrew and Billie Wiesenthal Melanie and Peter Maier - Ingrid M. Deiwiks Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Logan Mr. and Mrs. Roy B. Woolsey John Brockway Huntington Ms. Roberta Denning Ms. Gayla Lorthridge Mr. and Mrs. Roger Wu Foundation Mrs. Julie D. Dickson Dr. Steven Lovejoy and James D. Marver Bonnie and Rick Dlott Dr. Thane Kreiner Mr. and Mrs. Roger Miles Ms. Kathleen Dumas Richard N. Hill and Nancy Lundeen Tim Mott Barb and Gary Erickson Elisabeth and Daniel McKinnon Mary Ann MunroƗ
at Artists PL AY DID YOU KNOW? • Ticket sales cover only 40% of the costs to bring bold theatrical productions of artistic excellence to the Bay Area. • A.C.T. is one of the largest providers of arts education in the region, reaching over 20,000 young people each year. • Many Bay Area students experience their first live performance through A.C.T.’s diverse community outreach e orts.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today! Give online at act-sf.org/support or call 415.438.2353 to donate over the phone. We are privileged to recognize Friends of A.C.T. members’ generosity during the August 1, 2018, to August 1, 2019, period. Space limitations prevent us from listing all those who have generously supported the Annual Fund. For information about Friends of A.C.T. membership, please contact Hillary Bray at 415.439.2353 or [email protected].
Lead Gala supporter as of September 4 *Leadership Circle Member †Spring Fling! supporters ** Deceased
Patrons ($1,200–$2,499) Ms. Diane Raile M. Daniel and Carla Flamm Robert Tufts Mrs. Maria Elena Ratinoff Frederick and Leslie Gaylord Leon Van Steen Anonymous Ms. Joyce RatnerƗ Kathleen Goldman Mr. and Mrs. Ron Vitt Mr. and Mrs. Harold P. Anderson Ms. Danielle Rebischung David B. Goldstein and Julia Vetromile Ms. Meredith J. Watts Ms. Patricia Wilde Anderson Mr. and Mrs. John A. Reitan Dr. Floyd Gonella and Mr. Richard West Mr. Paul Anderson Albert and Roxanne Richards Fund Ms. Margaret Taylor* Mr. Steven Winkel Mr. Larry Bardoff and Ms. Lilli Alberga Barbara and Saul Rockman Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel Gregoratos Susan Wojcicki Allen and Lynn Barr Marguerite Romanello Bill and Nancy Grove Ms. Mary Wolfe Jeanne and William Barulich Ms. Mary Ellen Rossi Joan W. Sadler Trust Jacqueline L. YoungƗ Mr. Michael Bassi and Ms. Christy Styer Michele and John Ruskin Ms. Margaret Handelman Dr. Fowler A. Biggs Ms. Karen Scussel and Mr. Curt Riffle Ms. Rebecca Helme Peter Blume Leadership Circle Andrew and Marva Seidl Susana Hernandez John Boland and James Carroll Donors Under $750 Mr. James Shay and Mr. Steven Correll Ms. Sandra Hess Ben and Noel Bouck Rachel Black Dr. Elliot and Mrs. Kathy Shubin Judy Hoeschler Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Butcher Gail Block Mr. Earl G. Singer David ibnAle and Mollie Ricker Jaime Caban and Rob Mitchell Ms. Denise Brosseau Mr. Mark Small Allan and Rebecca Jergesen Denis Carrade and Jeanne Fadelli Mr. Thomas R. Chambers Richard and Jerry Smallwood Ed and Peggy Kavounas Rebecca Coleman Ceil Cirillo Candrah Smith Bree Klotter Mr. Edward Conger Loni and Robert Dantzler Jacqueline Smith Harriet Lawrie Jean and Mike Couch Linda Fraley Steven and Chris Spencer Mrs. Judith T. Leahy Ms. Karen T. Crommie The Freiberg Family Dr. Gary Stein and Jana Stein Barry and Ellen Levine Peggy Dennis Ms. Margaret Fuson Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Harold and Diane Lunde William Dewey Kathy Hart Steven and Jacqueline Tulsky Robert Lurie Ron Dickel Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hassett John R. Upton Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm MacNaughton Maria Donat Dr. Beverly Vaughn Hock Janet Sassoon-Upton Helen M. Marcus, in memory of Ms. Winn Ellis and Mr. David Mahoney Jeffrey and Loretta Kaskey Mr. Douglass J. Warner David WilliamsonƗ Charles and Susan Fadley Mr. Erwin Kelly Mr. Robert Weston Ms. R. Vernie Mast Cary and Helen FitzGerald Nelda Kilguss Mr. David S. Wood and Robert McCleskey Elizabeth and Paul Fraley Ms. Sally Lopez Ms. Kathleen Garrison Trudy and Gary Moore Ms. Susan Free Ms. Brenda Olwin Mr. and Mrs. Philip Zimbardo Jeanne Newman Alan and Susan Fritz* Jillian C. Robinson Mr. and Mrs. Merrill E. Newman Mark and Renee Greenstein Steven and Barbara Segal Melodee and Lee Nobmann Ms. Margaret J. Grover Sustainers ($750–$1,199) Mr. Ronald Steininger Ms. Nancy F. Noe Melanie Schilling Steve Hallock Anonymous Richard Votava Ms. Joanna Officier and Mr. Ralph Tiegel Mr. Kim Harris and Bennet Marks Susan Adamson and George Westfall Ms. Barbara Oleksiw Mr. John F. Heil Ms. Gwynn August Mr. Lester Olmstead-Rose Greg Holland and Tracy Brown Donna and Dan Aykroyd Mrs. Diane Paradiso Michael Kim Mr. David N. Barnard Barbara Paschke and George and Janet King Mr. William Barnard David Volpendesta Harold and Leslie Kruth Ms. Pamela Barnes Caitlin A. Quinn and Peter C. GarenaniƗ Julius Leiman-Carbia Mr. Daniel R. Bedford Sandi and Mark Randall Mrs. Gary Letson Fred and Nancy Bjork Karen and Bruce Rohde Mr. Michael Levy and Mr. Noel Blos Mr. L. Kyle Rowley Mr. Michael Golden Mr. Roland E. Brandel Ms. Monica Salusky and Jennifer S. LindsayƗ Ms. Angela Brunton Mr. John Sutherland Julia Lobel Cecily Cassel and Larry Cassel Elizabeth Salzer Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Long Todd Charles in memory of Louise Adler Sampson Jeff and Susanne Lyons Robert E. Scheid Mr. James J. Scillian Karen and John McGuinn Michael Charlson and Susan Austin* Mr. Jim Sciuto Thomas and Lydia Moran Craig E. Claussen Mr. Jon Shantz Sharon and Jeffrey Morris Drs. James and Linda Clever Kristine Soorian and Bryce Ikeda Mr. Ronald Morrison June and Michael Cohen Jeffrey Stern, M.D. John and Betsy Munz James Cuthbertson Margaret Stewart and Joseph C. Najpaver and Deana Logan Ms. Kathleen Damron Severin Borenstein Jane and Bill Neilson Robert Ellis Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Strickberger Bill Newmeyer, in memory of Ms. Kirsty Ellis Mr. John E. Sweeney and Nancy Newmeyer Marilynne Elverson Ms. Lana Basso Bruce Noble and Diane Elder Mrs. Samuel Engel Jane and Jay Taber* Ms. Lisa Nolan Leif and Sharon Erickson Marvin Tanigawa Ms. Susan O’Brien Mr. Albert M. Everitt The Laney and Pasha Thornton Shelly Osborne Dr. Marcus Feldman and Foundation Janine Paver and Eric Brown Mrs. S. Shirley Feldman
For a full list of member benefits or to make a donation, visit act-sf.org/memberships or contact A.C.T.’s Development Department at 415.439.2353.
32 ACT-SF.ORG For more information about Prospero Society JO S. HURLEY, CHAIR membership, please contact A.C.T. gratefully acknowledges the Prospero Society members listed below, Sasha Habash who have made an investment in the future of A.C.T. by providing for the theater in their estate plans. Associate Director of
**Deceased Individual Giving Providing a Legacy for A.C.T. 415.439.2415 [email protected] Gifts Designated to A.C.T. Mr. and Mrs. Russell Fudge John B. McCallister Herman Victor Anonymous (2) Marilee K. Gardner John G. McGehee Ms. Nadine Walas David V. Beery** and Norman Abramson Michele Garside, PhD Dr. Margaret R. McLean Ms. Marla M. Walcott Mr. Anthony Alfidi Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara Burt** and Deedee McMurtry Mrs. Katherine G. Wallin and Judith and David Anderson Dr. A. Goldschlager Mary and Gene Metz Mr. Homer Wallin Ms. Kay Auciello Ruth Goldstine and David Weber J. Sanford Miller Paul Weintraub and Raymond Szczesny Nancy Axelrod Ms. Carol A. Goodman and Milton Mosk and Thomas Foutch Ms. Beth Weissman Ms. Mary Lou Baird Mr. Anthony Gane Pennie Needham Tim M. Whalen Mr. Eugene Barcone Ms. JeNeal Granieri and James C. Hormel and Barry Williams and Lalita Tademy Teveia Rose Barnes and Alan Sankin Alfred F. McDonnell Michael P. Nguyen-Hormel Kay Yun and Andre Neumann-Loreck Robert H. Beadle Mr. Bill Gregory Mr. Dante Noto Ms. Susan B. Beer James Haire and Timothy Cole Shelly Osborne** Gifts Received by A.C.T. Leo and J. Michael Berry-Lawhorn Mr. and Mrs. Richard Halliday Ms. Patricia Patton The Estate of Barbara Beard Dr. Barbara L. Bessey Ms. Terilyn Hanko Elsa and Neil Pering The Estate of John Bissinger Mr. Arthur Bredenbeck and Richard H. Harding Barbara Phillips The Estate of Ronald Casassa Mr. Michael Kilpatrick Kent Harvey Robert and Marcia Popper The Estate of Rosemary Cozzo Linda K. Brewer Betty Hoener Kellie Raines The Estate of Nancy Croley Ms. Agnes Chen Brown Dr. and Mrs. Richard W. Horrigan Bert and Anne Raphael The Estate of Leonie Darwin Martin and Geri Brownstein Jo S. Hurley Mrs. Maria Elena Ratinoff The Estate of Mary Jane Detwiler Ms. Carol Buchser Alex Ingersoll and Martin Tannenbaum John and Karen Kopac Reis The Estate of Olga Diora Gayle and Steve Brugler Mr. Barry Johnson Toni Rembe and Arthur Rock The Estate of Mortimer Fleishhacker Christine Bunn and William Risseeuw Ms. Robin Johnson and Mary L. Renner The Estate of Mary Gamburg Mr. Bruce Carlton Ms. Dottie Lofstrom Ellen Richard The Estate of Rudolf Glauser Florence Cepeda and Earl Frick Carol and Paul Kameny Jillian C. Robinson The Estate of Phillip E. Goddard Ms. Paula Champagne and Dr. and Mrs. Stewart Karlinsky Susan Roos The Estate of Mrs. Lester G. Hamilton Mr. David Watson Nelda Kilguss Ms. Andrea Rouah The Estate of Sue Hamister Steven and Karin Chase Heather M. Kitchen Dr. David Rovno The Estate of Howard R. Hollinger Lesley Ann Clement and Karl Lukaszewicz Jonathan Kitchen and Nina Hatvany Ms. Pamela Royse The Estate of William S. Howe, Jr. Lloyd and Janet Cluff Catherine Kuss and Danilo Purlia Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sandberg The Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz Mr. James L. Coran and Stephanie Hencir Lamey and Brian Savard and Andrew Smith The Estate of Thomas H. Maryanski Mr. Walter A. Nelson-Rees Patrick Lamey Sonja Schmid The Estate of Michael L. Mellor Patricia Corrigan Mr. Philip C. Lang Mr. Harold E. Segelstad The Estate of Bruce Tyson Mitchell Jack and Susan Cortis Mindy Lechman Dr. F. Stanley Seifried The Estate of Gail Oakley Ms. Joan Danforth Ms. Marcia Leonhardt Ms. Ruth A. Short The Estate of Dennis Edward Parker Richard Davis-Lowell and Bill Lowell Marcia and Jim Levy Dr. Elliot and Mrs. Kathy Shubin The Estate of Rose Penn Mrs. Carl Degler Jennifer S. Lindsay Cherie Sorokin The Estate of Shepard P. Pollack Sharon Dickson Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, Ruth and Alan L.** Stein The Estate of Margaret Purvine Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson The Shenson Foundation Bert and LeAnne Steinberg The Estate of Gerald B. Rosenstein Bill Draper Ms. Paulette Long Jasmine Stirling The Estate of Charles Sassoon Drs. Peter and Ludmila Eggleton Dr. Steven Lovejoy and Dr. Thane Kreiner Mr. John E. Sweeney and Ms. Lana Basso The Estate of Olivia Thebus Linda Jo Fitz Mr. and Mrs. Jim Magill Jane and Jay Taber The Estate of Ayn and Brian Thorne Frannie Fleishhacker Melanie and Peter Maier, John Brockway Marilyn E. Taghon The Estate of Sylvia Coe Tolk Kevin and Celeste Ford Huntington Foundation Marvin Tanigawa The Estate of Elizabeth Wallace Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler Mr. Jeffrey P. Malloy Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr The Estate of Frances Webb Alan and Susan Fritz The Kenneth and Muriel Marks Living Trust Mr. Dayton E. Torrence The Estate of William R. Weir Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Marron Michael E. Tully The Estate of William Zoller
The following members of the A.C.T. community made gifts in memory and in honor of friends, Memorial & Tribute Gifts colleagues, and family members of $100 or more during the August 1, 2018, to August 1, 2019, period.
Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston In Honor of Jennifer Bielstein Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston In Memory of Lloyd Cluff Susan Medak and Gregory S. Murphy In Honor of Jennifer Bielstein Maria Donat In Memory of Peter Donat Edythe Chan In Honor of Andy Chan Donald Mr. David J. Pasta In Memory of Gloria Guth Maris Meyerson In Honor of Linda Jo Fitz Susan L. Kaplan In Memory of Richard M. Kaplan Sandra Bragar and Jerome Rossen In Honor of Linda Jo Fitz Margaret McLean In Memory of Teresa and Phillip McLean Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fischer In Honor of Marilee Gardner Annette Insdorf In Memory of Olga Mylan Anne Jamieson In Honor of Nancy Livingston and Fred Levin Victor La Gamma and June Pieratti In Memory of Olga Mylan Dr. Sandra L. Lillie In Honor of Dakota Lillie Peter Kogan In Memory of Olga Mylan Jaime Caban and Rob Mitchell In Honor of Mark Peters John Lorden In Memory of Olga Mylan Peter Blume In Honor of Hannah Roth-Evans Ronald Mayer In Memory of Olga Mylan Eric and Susan Nitzberg In Honor of Craig Slaight Tracey and Mark Sydel In Memory of Olga Mylan Mr. and Mrs. Sandy Dean In Honor of Adriana López Vermut Richard and Victoria Larson In Memory of Dennis Powers Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston In Memory of Ben and A. Jess Shenson Ms. Jamie Ney In Memory of Anne Adams Richard Gibson and Paul Porcher In Memory of Robert Simpson Anonymous In Memory of Ruth Asawa Sally-Ann and Ervin Epstein, Jr. In Memory of Alan Stein Michael Kim In Memory of Youngmee Baik Ms. Joy Eaton In Memory of Todd Wees Ms. Agnes Chen Brown In Memory of Robert Elliot Brown Helen M. Marcus In Memory of David J. Williamson Carol and Don Hardesty In Memory of Bart Cannon
@ACTSanFrancisco 33 Corporate Membership Program
As the Bay Area’s leading theater, A.C.T. provides unique partnership opportunities to the business sector, including visibility before an affluent and influential audience, entrée to creative and dynamic spaces for client entertaining and business meetings, and exceptional artistic insiders’ experiences like backstage tours, meet-and-greets with artists, and so much more. Member companies support the artistic mission of A.C.T., including A.C.T.’s investment in helping to develop the next generation of the Bay Area’s creative and empathetic workforce through our vibrant artist training and education and community outreach programs serving over 20,000 young people each year. For more information, please contact Caitlin A. Quinn at [email protected] or 415.439.2436.
Business Leadership Council PRESENTING PRODUCING PARTNERS Nancy Livingston, Co-Chair PARTNERS ($15,000–$24,999) A.C.T. Chair Emerita ($25,000–$49,999) Theatre Forward OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNER Patrick Devlin, Co-Chair Freedom Financial Network
Lesley Clement, Clement & Associates DIRECTING PARTNERS Jerome L. Dodson, Parnassus ($10,000–$14,999) Investments EXECUTIVE PARTNERS ($50,000 +) JP Morgan Chase & Co. Celeste Ford, Stellar Solutions Perkins Coie LLP Kirke M. Hasson, Pillsbury Winthrop Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Shaw Pittman LLP Pittman LLP Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Mozilla Janet V. Lustgarten, Kx Systems, Inc. Jeffrey Minick, Bank of America STAGE PARTNERS David Riemer, UC Berkeley ($5,000–$9,999) Dutta Satadip, Pinterest Steven L. Swig, Presidio World College RBC Wealth Management Schoenberg Family Law Group Patrick S. Thompson, Perkins Coie LLP Jeffrey W. Ubben, ValueAct Capital Kay Yun, Health Evolution Partners MEDIA PARTNER
Foundations and Government Agencies The following foundations and government agencies provide vital support for A.C.T. For more information, please contact Director of Grants and Foundation Relations Nicole Chalas at 415.439.2337 or [email protected].
$100,000 and above $50,000–$99,999 $25,000–$49,999 $10,000–$24,999 $5,000–$9,999 Department of Children, National Endowment for Anonymous Davis/Dauray Family Fund Anonymous Youth & Their Families the Arts California Arts Council The Stanley S. Langendorf The Bill Graham Memorial Doris Duke Charitable The Bernard Osher The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation Foundation Foundation Foundation Foundation Marin Community Foundation Edna M. Reichmuth The William Randolph Hearst The Edgerton Foundation Laird Norton Family Educational Fund of Foundations Walter and Elise Haas Fund Foundation The San Francisco The William and Flora The Kimball Foundation San Francisco Arts Foundation Hewlett Foundation MAP Fund Commission Jewels of Charity, Inc. The Harold & Mimi The Sato Foundation Koret Foundation Steinberg Charitable Trust The Zellerbach Family San Francisco Grants The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation for the Arts Foundation The Shubert Foundation
34 ACT-SF.ORG Theatre Forward Current Funders List as of May 2019
Theatre Forward advances the American theater and its communities by providing funding and other resources to the country’s leading nonprofit theatres. Theatre Forward and its theaters are most grateful to the following funders:
$50,000+ $15,000–$24,999 KLDiscovery Nancy Hancock Griffith* Libshap Realty Corporation Bank of America• American Express Evelyn Mack Truitt* Joyce & Gregory Hurst• Louise Moriarty & Pamela Farr & Buford Alexander• Bloomberg Philanthropies Maurer Family Foundation◆ Mary Kitchen & Jon Orszag* Patrick Stack* BNY Mellon The Estée Lauder Lisa Orberg◆ Anthony & Diane Lembke* Frank & Bonnie Orlowski* Citi• Companies Inc. Presidio Robin and Bob Paulson Robert A. Rosenbaum* The Schloss Family Foundation◆• Bruce R. & Tracey Ewing• Patti & Rusty Rueff Foundation• Charitable Fund Daryl & Steven James S. & Lynne P. Turley*• EY RBC Wealth Management Thomas C. Quick• Roth Foundation ◆ Wells Fargo◆ Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Raja Sengupta Susan Sanderson* David & Amy Schwartz* Pfizer, Inc. S&P Global Donna & Jack Sennott* Stephanie Scott* Jonathan Maurer & $25,000–$49,999 Willkie Farr & Gallagher John Thomopoulos• Elliott Sernel & Larry Falconio* The Augustine Foundation◆ Gretchen Shugart• Isabelle Winkles• Ubiñas Family Charitable Trust George S. Smith, Jr.* Steven & Joy Bunson• Daniel A. Simkowitz & Terrence P. Yanni Ten Chimneys Foundation Cognizant Mari Nakachi• Michael A. Wall* Dorsey & Whitney LLP Southwest Airlines◆† $5,000–$9,999 AudienceView† Vicki & Carl Zeiger* Goldman, Sachs & Co. TD Charitable Foundation◆ $2,500–$4,999 Joe Baio & Anne Griffin* Sheri and Les Biller Foundation MetLife UBS DLR Christopher Campbell Morgan Stanley *National Society Membership $10,000–$14,999 Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Nicole Clay Irwin & Rosalyn Engleman Mary Beth Winslow & Bill Darby* †Includes in-kind support Aetna Alan & Jennifer Freedman*◆ Dewitt Stern Mitchell J. Auslander• ◆ Educating through Theatre Support John Gore Organization Christ Economos* DELL •Advancing Strong Theatre Support Floyd Green Lucy Fato & Matt Detmer* Paula A. Dominick Roe Green* Steven & Donna Gartner* Fischer Jordan LLC For a complete list of funders visit, Richard K. Greene• theatreforward.org.
Gifts in Kind A.C.T. thanks the following donors for their generous contributions of goods and services.
Blue Angel Vodka The Marker Hotel CyberTools for Libraries Piedmont Piano Company Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Premium Port Wines, Inc. Kryolan Professional Make-up
Corporations Matching Annual Fund Gifts As A.C.T. is both a cultural and an educational institution, many employers will match individual employee contributions to the theater. The following corporate matching gift programs honor their employees’ support of A.C.T., multiplying the impact of those contributions.
Acxiom Corporation BlackRock GE Foundation Macy’s, Inc. The Clorox Company Adobe Systems Inc. Charles Schwab Google Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation Apple, Inc. Chevron Hewlett-Packard Foundation, Inc. The James Irvine Foundation Applied Materials Chubb & Son IBM International Foundation Northwestern Mutual The Morrison & Foerster AT&T Foundation Dell Direct Giving Campaign JPMorgan Chase Foundation Foundation Bank of America Dodge & Cox Johnson & Johnson Family Pacific Gas and Electric TPG Capital, L.P. Bank of America Foundation Ericsson, Inc. of Companies Arthur Rock Verizon Bank of New York Mellon Federated Department Stores Levi Strauss Foundation Salesforce Visa International Community Partnership The Gap Lockheed Martin Corporation State Farm Companies John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Foundation
@ACTSanFrancisco 35 A.C.T. STAFF
PAM MACKINNON JENNIFER BIELSTEIN MELISSA SMITH Artistic Director Executive Director Conservatory Director
Artistic Director Emerita Human Resources Susan Allen, Rodney Anderson, Branden Philip Charles MacKenzie, On-Camera Acting Carey Perloff Amanda Williams, Human Resources Director Bowman, Bryan Bowman, Serena Broussard, Heidi Marshall, On-Camera Acting Danica Burt, Jose Camello, Philip Carbery, Amanda Roccuzzo, Hope Mohr, Dance Wendy Chang, Niyjale Cummings, Kathy Producing Director Emeritus Human Resources Generalist Danielle O’Dea, Combat Dere, John Doll, Larry Emms, Mileta Foster, James Haire Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique General Management Christina Ford, Claire Gerndt, Liz Githuka, Carol Grace, Kayla Kaufman, Blue Kesler, Tiffany Redmon, Fundraising ARTISTIC Louisa Balch, General Manager Ryszard Koprowski, Sharon Lee, Sadie Li, Joe Gabriel Romero, Latin Social Dance Andy Chan Donald, Associate Artistic Director Amy Dalba, Associate General Manager MacDonald, Maria Markoff, Kescha Mason, Lindsay Saier, Stage Makeup Janet Foster, Sabra Jaffe, Company Manager Val Mason, Sam Mesinger, Edvida Moore, Virginia Scott, Clowning Director of Casting and Artistic Associate Kathy Napoleone, Mary O’Connell, Brandie Christina M. Sturken, Elyse Shafarman, Alexander Technique Joy Meads, Assistant Company Manager Pilapil, Walter Schoonmaker, Melissa Stern, Lee Strawn, Singing Director of Dramaturgy and New Works Freddie Baldonado, Dale Whitmill, Lorraine Williams, June Yee, Lisa Townsend, Director, Choreographer Allie Moss, General/Company Management Fellow Ushers Literary Manager and Artistic Associate Stephanie Wilborn, Citizen Artistry Ken Savage, Finance The Strand Cafe Associate Producer Studio A.C.T. Gracie Brakeman, Artistic Fellow Rob Fore, Chief Financial Officer Rafael Monge, Cafe Manager Mark Jackson, Director of Studio A.C.T. Andrea van den Boogaard, Producing Fellow Sharon Boyce, Accounting Manager Kenneth Bronson, Barista Sophia Nguyen, Young Conservatory & Studio May Chin, Matt Jones, Ryan Jones, Finance A.C.T. Associate Coaches Associates EDUCATION & COMMUNITY Liz Anderson, On-Camera Acting, Improv Christine Adaire, Lisa Anne Porter, PROGRAMS Voice and Text Information Technology Juan Manzo, Heidi Carlsen, Acting, Voice, Movement Danyon Davis, Movement Thomas Morgan, Director Director of Education & Community Programs Eugenie Chan, Playwriting Dave Maier, Danielle O’Dea, Fights Joone Pajar, Network Administrator Vincent Amelio, School & Community Programs Julie Douglas, Acting, Clown, Improv Daniel Feyer, Music Operations Manager Francie Epsen-Devlin, Musical Theater Operations Stephanie Wilborn, Deb Fink, On-Camera Acting Commissioned Artists Eric Brizee, Operations and Facilities Manager Community Programs Manager Paul Finocchiaro, Acting Jeremy Cohen and Dipika Guha; Eisa Davis; Jeffrey Warren, Assistant Facilities Manager Jarrett Holley, School Programs Associate Margo Hall, Acting Lorena Feijoo, Alfredo Rodriguez, Damaso Leopoldo Benavente, Matt Stewart-Cohn, Elizabeth Halperin, Student Matinees W. D. Keith, Acting, On-Camera Acting Rodriguez, and Caridad Svich; Casey Lee Facilities Crew Members Hannah Clague, ACTsmart Residencies Drew Khalouf, Speech, Shakespeare Hurt; Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses; Susan Coordinator Curtis Carr, Jr., Sol MacIan, Jesse Nightchase, Dave Maier, Stage Combat Soon He Stanton; Mfoniso Udofia Security YOUNG CONSERVATORY Michelle Maxon, Acting, On-Camera Acting Jaime Morales, Geary Cleaning Foreman Carolina Morones, Acting PRODUCTION Jill MacLean, Jamal Alsaidi, Jeaneth Alvarado, Lidia Director of the Young Martin Barron, Director of Production Conservatory Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique Godinez, Geary Cleaning Crew Jack Horton, Production Manager Sophia Nguyen, Young Conservatory & Studio Mark Rafael, Acting Radhika Rao, Marlena Schwartz, Development A.C.T. Associate Improv Rahel Zeleke, Young Conservatory Assistant Katie Rubin, Stand-Up Comedy, Acting Associate Production Manager Caitlin A. Quinn, Director of Development Ariana Johnson, Andy Alabran, Acting, Voice Naomi Sanchez, Musical Theater Tiffany Redmon, Conservatory Production Associate Deputy Director of Development Cristina Anselmo, Acting, On-Camera Caitlyn Tella, Movement Morgan Badillo, Conservatory Design and Nicole Chalas, Director of Grants and Enrico Banson, Musical Theater Laura Wayth, Acting, Musical Theater Production Associate Foundation Relations Denise Blase, Musical Theater Valerie Weak, Acting Miranda Erin Campbell, Conservatory Jody Price, Director of Special Events Kimberly Braun, Musical Theater Beth Wilmurt, Acting, Movement, Voice Production and Stage Management Coordinator Sasha Habash, Nancy Gold, Physical Character, Acting Annie Kao, Production Fellow Associate Director of Individual Giving Dan Griffith, Movement Professional Development Stephanie Swide, Senior Manager of Michael Mohammed, Musical Theater Liz Anderson, Fontana Butterfield, Stage Management Mark Rafael, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Development Operations Andrew Mondello, Musical Theater Elisa Guthertz, Head Stage Manager Radhika Rao Hillary Bray, Thaddeus Pinkston, Dick Daley, Samantha Greene, Elisa Guthertz, Donor Relations and Membership Manager Christina Hogan, Megan McClintock, Leslie M. Accompanist, Musical Arranger Conservatory Accompanists Emily Remsen, Special Events Associate Salim Razawi, Acting Radin, Stage Managers Daniel Feyer, Christopher Hewitt, Louis Sarah Gray, Development and Events Fellow Dani Bae, Dick Daley, Christina Hogan, Corinna Rezzelle, Musical Theater Lagalante, Paul McCurdy, Thaddeus Pinkston, Elena Ruggiero, Musical Theater Deirdre Rose Holland, Cheryle Honerlah, Marketing & Public Relations Naomi Sanchez, Katelyn Tan Chris Waters, Assistant Stage Managers Vivian Sam, Musical Theater, Dance Joan Rosenberg, Director of Marketing and Amanda Marshall, Production Assistant Lauren Spencer, Acting Library Staff Communications Gabby Harper, Mika Rubinfeld, Hannah Rose- Valerie Weak, Acting Joseph Tally, Head Librarian Syche Phillips, Associate Director of Marketing Jing Stoffer, Stage Management Fellows Krista Wigle, Musical Theater, Voice G. David Anderson, Theresa Bell, Laurie Simon Hodgson, Publications Manager Bernstein, Helen Jean Bowie, Bruce Carlton, Prop Shop Kevin Kopjak/Charles Zukow Associates, CONSERVATORY Barbara Cohrssen, William Goldstein, Pat Public Relations Counsel Abo Greenwald, Supervisor Melissa Smith, Conservatory Director Hunter, Connie Ikert, Ashok Katdare, Martha Matt Mullin, Senior Graphic Designer Paul Velasquez, Assistant Peter J. Kuo, Associate Conservatory Director Kessler, Nelda Kilguss, Barbara Kornstein, Dani Karonis, Graphic Designer Gail McGowan, Vineet Mishra, Lynnda Means, Christopher Herold, Beryl Baker, Digital Content Associate Maida Paxton, Connie Pelkey, Christine Costume Shop Director of Summer Training Congress Elspeth Sweatman, Publications Associate Peterson, Dana Rees, Roger Silver, Jane Jessie Amoroso, Costume Director Jack Sharrar, PhD, Director of Academic Affairs Samantha Wong, Taber, Aileen Thong, Susan Torres, Joyce Callie Floor, Rentals Manager Jerry Lopez, Director of Financial Aid Conservatory Marketing Associate Weisman, Jean Wilcox, Marie Wood, Keely Weiman, Build Manager/Draper Charlotte Brockman, Conservatory Manager Miranda Ashland, Marketing Assistant Library Volunteers Jef Valentine, Inventory Manager Koy Smith, Anne Bonino-Britsch, Marketing Fellow Maria Montoya, Head Stitcher Conservatory Associate, Academic Programs Accreditation Claire L. Wong, Publications Fellow Kelly Koehn, Accessories & Crafts Artisan Matt Jones, Bursar/Payroll Administrator A.C.T. is accredited by the Accrediting Chanterelle Grover, First Hand Ticket Services Emily Rose Cooper, Conservatory Fellow Commission for Senior Colleges and Victoria Mortimer, Costume Administrator (Studio A.C.T./YC) Universities of the Western Association Ian Fullmer, Alejandra Maria Rivas, Conservatory Fellow of Schools and Colleges (WASC), 985 Kate Miller, Grace Robertson, Costume Fellows Director of Ticketing and Sales Operations (Academic) Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, Mark C. Peters, Subscriptions Manager Wig Shop CA 94501, 510.748.9001, an institutional David Engelmann, Head Treasurer MFA Program Core Faculty accrediting body recognized by the Council Lindsay Saier, Wig Master Elizabeth Halperin, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Christine Adaire, Head of Voice on Postsecondary Accreditation and the US Sara Leonard, Wig Supervisor Assistant Head Treasurers Department of Education. Danyon Davis, Head of Movement Rayna Weil, Wig Fellow Anthony Miller, Group Sales Peter J. Kuo, Collaboration Building Scott Tignor, Subscriptions Coordinator STAGE STAFF Joy Meads, Character and Text Andy Alabran, Liam Blaney, Richard Claar, Lisa Anne Porter, Head of Text and Dialects Peter Davey, Treasurers The Geary: Jack Sharrar, PhD, Theater History Christopher Kristant, Head Carpenter Front of House Melissa Smith, Head of Acting Suzanna Bailey, Head Sound Megan Murray, Front of House Manager MFA Program Adjunct Faculty Amy Domjan, Head Electrician Kym Hawkins, Assistant Front of House Manager Milissa Carey, Singing, Director Candace Drucelle Shankel, Head of Props Beatrice Lazar, Mary Montijo, Wardrobe Supervisor Associate Front of House Manager Matt Chapman, Clowning Diane Cornelius, Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor David Whitman, House Manager and Volunteer Andy Chan Donald, Arts Leadership Loren Lewis, Joe Nelson, Stage Door Monitors Usher Coordinator Julie Douglas, Beginning Mask Genevieve Pabon, Tuesday Ray, Mark Lauren English, The Business of Acting The Strand: Saladino, Associate House Managers Daniel Feyer, Accompanist Ana Gabriella Hernandez-McKig, Oliver Sutton, Security Janet Foster, Audition Head Electrician Ramsey Abouremeleh, Monica Amitin, NJ Anthony Fusco, Acting Bice, Forrest Choy, Bernadette Fons, Nailah Jasmin Hoo, Citizen Artistry ADMINISTRATION Harper-Malveaux, Anthony Hernandez, Caleb Mark Jackson, Performance Making Coralyn Bond, Lewis, Svetlana Karasyova, Susan Monson, Darryl Jones, Acting, Director Executive Assistant and Board Liaison Scott Phillips, Miki Richmond, Cevie Toure, W. D. Keith, On-Camera Acting Mads Leigh-Faire, Front Desk Associate Bartenders
36 ACT-SF.ORG A.C.T. PROFILES
PAM MACKINNON (Artistic Director) Lucille Lortel nominations). Her most recent credits include is celebrating her second season as Bruce Norris’s Downstate (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, A.C.T.’s fourth artistic director. She is a London's National Theatre), Lydia R. Diamond's Toni Stone Tony, Drama Desk, and Obie award– (Roundabout Theatre Company), and Edward Albee's winning director, having directed Seascape (A.C.T.). She is an artistic associate of the upwards of 70 productions around the Roundabout Theatre Company, an advisory board member country, off-Broadway, and on of Clubbed Thumb, and an alumna of the Drama League, Broadway. Her Broadway credits Women’s Project, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors’ include Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman (with Uma Labs. She is also the executive board president of the Stage Thurman), Amelie: A New Musical, David Mamet’s China Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). She grew up in Doll (with Al Pacino), Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Toronto, Canada, and Buffalo, New York, acted through her Chronicles (with Elisabeth Moss), Edward Albee’s A Delicate teens, but majored in economics and political science at the Balance (with Glenn Close and John Lithgow), Edward University of Toronto and briefly pursued a PhD in political Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Tony Award, Drama science at UC San Diego, before returning to her true Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle nomination), and passion: theater. (she/her) Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park (Obie Award, Tony and
JENNIFER BIELSTEIN (Executive Steppenwolf Theatre Company, About Face Theatre, Director) joined A.C.T. in 2018 with Northlight Theatre, and Lincoln Park Zoo, as well as served more than 25 years of theater on the boards of the League of Chicago Theatres, the Arts management experience. She serves and Cultural Attractions Council, and other civic boards. on the board of Theatre Forward, is a She has received the Center for Nonprofit Excellence’s member of the International Women's Pyramid Award of Excellence in Leadership, has been Forum, and is president of the League recognized in Louisville’s Business First’s 40 Under 40, and of Resident Theatres (LORT)—an was named by Twin Cities Business as a Person to Know organization that represents 75 theaters nationwide— and a Real Power 50 member by Minnesota Business having previously served as LORT’s vice president; chair of magazine. Bielstein is a graduate of University of North its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee; secretary; Carolina at Chapel Hill, attended Stanford’s Graduate and on multiple union negotiating teams. Before relocating School of Business Executive Program for Nonprofit to the Bay Area, Bielstein was the managing director of the Leaders in the Arts, and earned an MBA from Bellarmine Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, managing director of University, where she received the MBA Faculty Merit Actors Theatre of Louisville, and executive director of Award and was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the Writers Theatre in Chicago. She has also worked for honor society for business programs. (she/her)
MELISSA SMITH (Conservatory leadership of the Conservatory, Smith was the director of Director, Head of Acting) has served as the Program in Theater and Dance at Princeton University. Conservatory director and head of She has taught acting classes to students of all ages in acting in the Master of Fine Arts various colleges, high schools, and studios around the Program at A.C.T. since 1995. During continental United States, at the Mid-Pacific Institute in that time, she has overseen the Hawaii, New York University’s La Pietra campus in expansion of the M.F.A. Program from Florence, and the Teatro di Pisa in San Miniato, Italy. She is a two- to a three-year course of study featured in Acting Teachers of America: A Vital Tradition. and the further integration of the M.F.A. Program faculty Also a professional actor, she has performed regionally at and student body with A.C.T.’s artistic wing, while also the Hangar Theatre, A.C.T., the California Shakespeare teaching and directing in the M.F.A. Program, Summer Festival, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre; in New York at Training Congress, and Studio A.C.T. In 2013, she launched Primary Stages and Soho Rep.; and in England at the the San Francisco Semester, a semester-long intensive that Barbican Centre in London and Birmingham Repertory deepens students’ acting. In 2016, she was honored by Theatre. Smith holds a BA from Yale College and an MFA in Theatre Bay Area as one of 40 individuals who have acting from Yale School of Drama. (she/her) changed the face of Bay Area theater. Prior to assuming @ACTSanFrancisco 37 F.Y. I .
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES REFRESHMENTS AFFILIATIONS Full bar service, sweets, and savory items are A.C.T.’s administrative and conservatory A.C.T. is a constituent of Theatre available one hour before the performance in offices are located at 30 Grant Avenue, San Communications Group, the national Fred’s Columbia Room on the lower level and Francisco, CA 94108, 415.834.3200. On the organization for the nonprofit professional the Sky Bar on the third level. You can avoid web: act-sf.org. theater. A.C.T. is a member of Theatre Bay the long lines at intermission by preordering Area, the Union Square Association, the San food and beverages in the lower- and third- Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and the level bars. Bar drinks are now permitted in BOX OFFICE INFORMATION San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. the theater. A.C.T. BOX OFFICE Visit us at 405 Geary Street at Mason, next to CELL PHONES A.C.T. operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ the theater, one block west of Union Square; If you carry a pager, beeper, cell phone, or Equity Association, the union of professional or at 1127 Market Street at 7th Street, watch with an alarm, please make sure that actors and stage managers in the United across from the UN Plaza. Walk-up hours it is set to the “off” position while you are States. are Tuesday–Sunday (noon–curtain) on in the theater. Text messaging during the performance days, and Monday–Friday performance is very disruptive and not allowed. The Director is a member of the STAGE (noon–6 p.m.) and Saturday–Sunday DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS (noon–4 p.m.) on nonperformance days. PERFUMES SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union. The chemicals found in perfumes, colognes, (For Strand Box Office walk-up hours, please The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound visit act-sf.org.) Phone hours are Tuesday– and scented aftershave lotions, even in designers in LORT theaters are represented Sunday (10 a.m.–curtain) on performance small amounts, can cause severe physical by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of days, and Monday–Friday (10 a.m.–6 p.m.) reactions in some individuals. As a courtesy to the IATSE. and Saturday–Sunday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.) on fellow patrons, please avoid the use of these nonperformance days. Call 415.749.2228 and products when you attend the theater. The scenic shop, prop shop, and stage crew are represented by Local 16 of the IATSE. use American Express, Visa, or MasterCard; or fax your ticket request with credit card EMERGENCY TELEPHONE A.C.T. is supported in part by an award from information to 415.749.2291. Tickets are also Leave your seat location with those who the National Endowment for the Arts. available 24 hours a day on our website at may need to reach you and have them call 415.439.2317 in an emergency. A.C.T. is supported in part by a grant from act-sf.org. All sales are final, and there are no Grants for the Arts. refunds. Only current ticket subscribers and LATECOMERS those who purchase ticket insurance enjoy Support for Open Captioning is provided in Performances begin promptly, and late ticket exchange privileges. Packages are part by TDF. This project is supported in part seating is at the house manager’s discretion. available by calling 415.749.2250. A.C.T. gift by an award from the National Endowment Latecomers may have to watch the certificates can be purchased in any amount for the Arts. performance on a video monitor in the lobby online, by phone or fax, or in person. until intermission. Latecomers and those who SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION DISCOUNTS leave the theater during the performance may GEARY THEATER EXITS Full-time students, educators, and be seated in alternate seats (especially if they administrators save up to 50% off season were in the first few rows) and can take their subscriptions with valid ID. Visit act-sf.org/ assigned seats at intermission. educate for details. Seniors (65+) save $40 on LISTENING SYSTEMS 8 plays, $35 on 7 plays, $30 on 6 plays, $25 Headsets designed to provide clear, amplified on 5 plays, and $20 on 4 plays. sound anywhere in the auditorium are ORCHESTRA SINGLE TICKET DISCOUNTS available free of charge in the lobby before Beginning two hours before curtain, a limited performances. Please turn off your hearing aid number of discounted tickets are available to when using an A.C.T. headset, as it will react to seniors (65+), educators, administrators, and the sound system and make a disruptive noise. full-time students. For matinee performances, RESTROOMS all seats are just $20 for seniors (65+). Valid Gender diversity is welcome at A.C.T. We ID required—limit one ticket per ID. Not valid invite audiences to use the restroom that for Premiere Orchestra seating. All rush best fits your gender identity or expression. If tickets are subject to availability. preferred, a single-user restroom can be found GROUP DISCOUNTS on the 5th floor. Groups of 15 or more save up to 35%! Wheelchair Seating is located For more information, call Anthony Miller in Fred’s Columbia Room on the MEZZANINE at 415.439.2424. lower lobby level, the Balcony Lobby, and the Garret on the AT THE THEATER uppermost lobby level. A.C.T.’s Geary Theater is located at 415 Geary Street. The lobby opens one hour before A.C.T. is pleased to announce that an Automatic curtain. Bar service and refreshments are External Defibrillator (AED) is now available available one hour before curtain. The theater in the house management closet in the lobby opens 30 minutes before curtain. of The Geary.
ABOUT OUR PLAYS LOST AND FOUND Copies of Words on Plays, A.C.T.’s in-depth If you’ve misplaced an item while you’re performance guide, are on sale in the main still at the theater, please look for it at our lobby, at the theater bars, at the box office, merchandise stand in the lobby. Any items and online at act-sf.org/wordsonplays. found by ushers or other patrons will be taken there. If you’ve already left the theater, please BALCONY call 415.439.2471 and we’ll be happy to check our lost and found for you. Please be prepared with the date you attended the performance and your seat location.
38 ACT-SF.ORG SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES AND SINGLE TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
Dianne Wiest in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS JOIN US FOR
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Untitled-3 1 8/19/19 4:24 PM “A SMASH HIT! BEGINS NOV 29 HOLIDAY TRADITIONS DON’T GEARY THEATER GET ANY BETTER.” 415 Geary Street Stark Insider
by Charles Dickens Adapted by Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh
Music by Karl Lundeberg Choreography by Val Caniparoli
Directed by Peter J. Kuo Based on the original direction by Carey Perloff
The Bay Area’s favorite holiday tradition—filled with sparkling music, gorgeous costumes, and deliciously spooky ghosts—returns to the Geary. Bring your family, bring your friends, and check your “humbugs” at the door!
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ACT-SF.ORG/CAROL THE CAST OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2018). PHOTO BY KEVIN BERNE.