SAN FRANCISCO’S PREMIER NONPROFIT THEATER COMPANY JOHN

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EAP full-page template.indd 1 9/6/16 11:24 AM February 2017 PRESENTS Volume 15, No. 5 THEATER TOURS FOR 2017 IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THEATER AT THE PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

COSTA MESA’S Paul Heppner Publisher PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS Susan Peterson Design & Production Director

FESTIVAL Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst APRIL 21–24 Production Artists and Graphic Design

Mike Hathaway EXPERIENCE THE EXCITEMENT OF HAMILTON ON BROADWAY Sales Director Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed, Rob Scott THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Brieanna Bright, BROADWAY IN Joey Chapman, Ann Manning Seattle Area Account Executives NEW YORK CITY Jonathan Shipley Ad Services Coordinator

JULY 11–17 Carol Yip Sales Coordinator EXPLORE ASHLAND AND THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL THE CHARMING OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Paul Heppner JULY 19–24 President Mike Hathaway Vice President RELISH THE LEGACY OF EUROPEAN DRAMA IN DUBLIN AND LONDON Genay Genereux NEW COMBO TOUR Accounting & Office Manager Sara Keats THE BEST OF BRITISH Marketing Manager Ryan Devlin AND IRISH THEATER Business Development Manager OCTOBER 3–12 Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 ALL THEATER TOURS ARE LED BY A.C.T. ARTISTIC STAFF AND INCLUDE: [email protected] • Tickets to world-class productions 800.308.2898 x105 www.encoremediagroup.com • Luxury accommodations • Discussions with guest artists led by A.C.T. staff • Welcome and farewell dinners • Lunches and cocktail hours • Complimentary breakfast each morning in our hotel • Sightseeing excursions and/or walking tours • Travel companions who love theater Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media For more information visit act-sf.org/theatertours Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget or contact Helen Rigby at 415.439.2469 or [email protected] Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2017 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited.

4 ACT-SF.ORG SAN FRANCISCO'S THEATER COMPANY

American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco’s Tony Award– A.C.T.’s 50-year-old Conservatory, led by Melissa Smith, is at winning nonprofit theater, nurtures the art of live theater the center of our work. Our three-year, fully accredited Master through dynamic productions, intensive actor training, of Fine Arts Program is at the forefront of America’s actor and ongoing engagement with our community. Under the training programs. Meanwhile, our intensive Summer Training leadership of Artistic Director Carey Perloff, we embrace Congress attracts students from around the world, and the San our responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent our rich Francisco Semester offers a unique study-abroad opportunity theatrical traditions and literatures, while exploring new for undergraduates. Other programs include the world-famous artistic forms and new communities. Founded by William Ball, Young Conservatory for students ages 8 to 19, led by 28-year a pioneer of the regional theater movement, A.C.T. opened its veteran Craig Slaight; Studio A.C.T., our expansive course of first San Francisco season in 1967. We have since performed theater study for adults; and the Professional Development more than 350 productions to a combined audience of more Training Program, which offers actor training for companies than seven million people. Every year we reach more than seeking to elevate their employees’ business performance skills. 250,000 people through our productions and programs. Our alumni often grace our mainstage and perform around the Bay Area, as well as on stages and screens across the country. Rising from the wreckage of the earthquake and fire of 1906 and hailed as the “perfect playhouse,” the beautiful, historic A.C.T. also brings the benefits of theater-based arts education Geary Theater has been our home since the beginning. When to more than 12,000 Bay Area students and educators each the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake ripped the roof apart, San year. Central to our ACTsmart education programs, run by Franciscans rallied together to raise a record-breaking $30 Director of Education & Community Programs Elizabeth million to rebuild the theater. The Geary reopened in 1996 with Brodersen, is the longstanding Student Matinee (SMAT) a production of The Tempest directed by Perloff, who took over program, which has brought hundreds of thousands of young in 1992 after the retirement of A.C.T.’s second artistic director, people to A.C.T. performances since 1968. We also provide gentleman artist Ed Hastings. touring Will on Wheels Shakespeare productions, teaching- artist residencies, in-school workshops, and study materials to Perloff’s 24-season tenure has been marked by groundbreaking Bay Area schools and community-based organizations. productions of classical works and new translations creatively colliding with exceptional contemporary theater; cross- With our increased presence in the Central Market neighborhood disciplinary performances and international collaborations; marked by the renovation of The Strand Theater and the and theater made by, for, and about the Bay Area. Her fierce opening of The Costume Shop Theater, A.C.T. plays a leadership commitment to audience engagement ushered in a new era role in securing the future of theater for San Francisco and of InterACT events and dramaturgical publications, inviting the nation. everyone to explore what goes on behind the scenes.

American Conservatory Theater Board of Trustees (As of October 2016) The Board of Directors of the M.F.A. Program Nancy Livingston Ray Apple Carey Perloff Dagmar Dolby CHAIR Lesley Ann Clement Robina Riccitiello William Draper III Abby Sadin Schnair Kirke M. Hasson Richard T. Davis-Lowell Dan Rosenbaum John Goldman CHAIR PRESIDENT Jerome L. Dodson Sally Rosenblatt Kaatri Grigg Michael G. Dovey Abby Sadin Schnair James Haire Sara Barnes Celeste Ford VICE CHAIR Olympia Dukakis Jeff Spears Kent Harvey Carlotta Dathe Sarah M. Earley Robert Tandler Sue Yung Li Frannie Fleishhacker Priscilla Geeslin Frannie Fleishhacker Patrick S. Thompson Christine Mattison Arnie Glassberg VICE CHAIR Ken Fulk Joaquin Torres Joan McGrath Christopher Hollenbeck David Riemer Dianne Hoge Jeff Ubben Deedee McMurtry Luba Kipnis VICE CHAIR Jo S. Hurley Adriana Lopez Vermut Mary S. Metz Linda Kurtz Steven L. Swig Jeri Lynn Johnson Nola Yee Toni Rembe Jennifer Lindsay VICE CHAIR Alan Jones Kay Yun Rusty Rueff Toni Miller Linda Jo Fitz James H. Levy Joan Sadler Toni Rembe TREASURER Heather Stallings Little EMERITUS Cherie Sorokin Sally Rosenblatt Janet V. Lustgarten ADVISORY BOARD Alan L. Stein Anne Shonk Daniel E. Cohn SECRETARY Jeffrey S. Minick Barbara Bass Bakar Barry Lawson Williams Melissa Smith Michael P. Nguyen Rena Bransten Carlie Wilmans Alan L. Stein Alan L. Stein Martim Oliveira Jack Cortis Patrick S. Thompson CHAIR EMERITUS Peter Pastreich Joan Danforth

American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 by William Ball. Edward Hastings, Artistic Director 1986–92

415.749.2228 5 “SUPER-VISIONARY”—THE NEW YORK TIMES “A MASTERPIECE”—TORONTO STAR NEEDLES NEEDLES AND OPIUM . WELLESLEY ROBERTSON III IN WELLESLEY ROBERTSON EX MACHINA. COURTESY PHOTO IN THIS INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION FROM FRENCH Canadian director Robert Lepage, three worlds collide inside a vast cube suspended over the Geary stage. Jazz legend Miles Davis travels to Europe in 1949 to discover the pleasures of Paris, unlock his creativity, and find his heroine in Juliette Gréco. At the same time, French filmmaker Jean Cocteau returns from his own opium-fueled journey to New York. Forty years later, a Québécois actor wanders the streets of Paris, seeking solace from a lost love in the words of Cocteau and the cool jazz of Davis.

Individually, the stories are thrilling and heartbreaking, but what elevates this production is Lepage’s extraordinary storytelling. One of Canada’s most revered film and stage directors, Lepage has directed everything from ballet and opera to puppetry and circus shows. He has helmed productions of Wagner at the Metropolitan Opera, Kà and Totem for Cirque du Soleil, and a Kabuki-inspired Stravinsky at the Canadian Opera Company.

NEEDLES AND OPIUM He has also directed five feature films and is the artistic WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY director of his own multidisciplinary production company, Ex Machina, the producer of this piece. Developing an ROBERT LEPAGE aesthetic all his own, Lepage combines words, movement, music, installation art, and contemporary circus techniques PRODUCED BY to create a unique theatrical experience. EX MACHINA In Needles and Opium, Lepage uses video projection, acrobatics, and jazz to take us on a breathtaking dive through Paris’s nightclubs and bistros to examine the enigmas of creativity, exile, and addiction. Can art as intoxicating as Davis’s trumpet-playing and Cocteau’s films be created without the intensity of addiction, in the unfamiliar heart of a foreign city? The result is an experience not to be missed.

A.C.T.’S GEARY THEATER MAR 30–APR 23 415 GEARY STREET act-sf.org/needles 415.749.2228 SPEND A SUMMER AT A.C.T.!

Classes for adults of all A theater-training program Intensive actor training levels—from acting, voice, for young actors between for ages 19+ and improv to dialect and the ages of 8 and 19 movement workshops 5-Week Intensive Spring Session June 12–July 14 Spring Session March 21–May 13 April 4–May 28 2-Week Summer Session Shakespeare Intensive Summer Session June 12–July 7 July 17–28 June 5–August 6

Visit act-sf.org/conservatory to learn more and sign up! PHOTO CREDITS LEFT TO RIGHT: RYAN MONTGOMERY, KEVIN BERNE, RYAN MONTGOMERY KEVIN BERNE, RYAN MONTGOMERY, RYAN RIGHT: LEFT TO CREDITS PHOTO

8 ACT-SF.ORG DON’T JUST SIT THERE . . .

At A.C.T.’s free InterACT events, you can mingle with cast members, join interactive workshops with theater

PHOTO BY SHANNON STOCKWELL artists, and meet fellow theatergoers at hosted celebrations in our lounges. SPEND A Join us for our upcoming production of Needles and Opium and InterACT with us! SUMMER AT A.C.T.! NEEDLES AND OPIUM AT THE GEARY THEATER

BIKE TO THE THEATER NIGHT MAR 30, 7 PM Ride your bike to A.C.T. and take advantage of secure bike parking and low-priced tickets at our preshow mixer, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

PROLOGUE APR 4, 5:30 PM Actors Stacey Yen (Jenny) Go deeper with a fascinating preshow and Joe Paulik (Elias) discussion with a member of the Needles and Opium artistic team.

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE* APR 9 & 19, 2 PM; APR 11, 7 PM Join us for an exciting Q&A with the cast following the show.

OUT WITH A.C.T.* WHAT’S INSIDE APR 12, 8 PM Mix and mingle at this ABOUT THE PLAY INSIDE A.C.T. hosted postshow LGBT party.

11 LETTER FROM THE 23 LOVE AND HAIGHT THEATER ON THE COUCH* ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Looking ahead to APR 14, 8 PM Take part in a lively conversation in our By Carey Perloff A Night with Janis Joplin lower-level lounge with Dr. Mason Turner, By Simon Hodgson 14 MADNESS AND INTIMACY chief of psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center. An Interview with Playwright Annie Baker 24 FIFTY YEARS OF DISCOVERY By Michael Paller A History of New Work at A.C.T. SYMPOSIUM By Shannon Stockwell APR 15, 2 PM 16 A HIDDEN WELL An expert on the themes of the play joins An Interview with Director 26 EPIC SIMPLICITY a member of the Needles and Opium Classes for adults of all A theater-training program Intensive actor training artistic team for a fascinating postshow Ken Rus Schmoll A Sneak Peek at Peter Brook’s Battlefield conversation. levels—from acting, voice, for young actors between for ages 19+ By Elspeth Sweatman By Elspeth Sweatman WENTE VINEYARDS WINE SERIES and improv to dialect and the ages of 8 and 19 28 CITIZEN DRAMATURGS APR 18, 7 PM movement workshops 5-Week Intensive How A.C.T.’s New Strands Festival Is Meet fellow theatergoers at EDITOR this hosted wine-tasting event. Changing San Francisco June 12–July 14 SIMON HODGSON Spring Session By Simon Hodgson To learn more and order tickets Spring Session March 21–May 13 ASSOCIATE EDITOR for InterACT events, SHANNON STOCKWELL visit act-sf.org/interact.

April 4–May 28 2-Week CONTRIBUTORS *Events take place immediately MICHAEL PALLER Summer Session Shakespeare Intensive CAREY PERLOFF following the performance ELSPETH SWEATMAN Summer Session June 12–July 7 July 17–28 June 5–August 6 CONNECT! VOLUNTEER! LISTEN!

A.C.T. volunteers provide an invaluable service Check out A.C.T.’s new podcast, Theaterology, with their time, enthusiasm, and love of theater. and listen to InterACT events online! Opportunities include helping out in our VISIT: performing-arts library and ushering in our theaters. ACT-SF.ORG/PODCAST FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit act-sf.org/conservatory to learn more and sign up! ACT-SF.ORG/VOLUNTEER PHOTO CREDITS LEFT TO RIGHT: RYAN MONTGOMERY, KEVIN BERNE, RYAN MONTGOMERY KEVIN BERNE, RYAN MONTGOMERY, RYAN RIGHT: LEFT TO CREDITS PHOTO

415.749.2228 9 A.C.T.’S 50TH SEASON GALA THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 5PM

Join A.C.T.’s celebrated alumni and artists from the past 50 years with a black-tie block party along Market Street.

THE EVENING WILL FEATURE • Champagne promenade and cocktail reception • Dinner in our tented supper club • Entertainment featuring excerpts from 50 years of A.C.T. productions

HONORARY COMMITTEE* SPECIAL GUESTS AND PERFORMERS* Beth Behrs Annette Bening Judy Kaye Colman Domingo Mary Birdsong Patrick Lane Douglas Sills Joy Carlin Julia Mattison Denzel Washington Nancy Carlin Matt McGrath Betsy Wolfe Rozzi Crane Jacob Ming-Trent Ryan Williams French Chelsea Peretti Nick Gabriel Jomar Tagatac Devon Graye Jacqueline Toboni Lateefah Holder Alysha Umphress Casey Lee Hurt Jud Williford Adam Jacobs BD Wong

FOR TICKETS, VISIT act-sf.org/gala

*as of February 7 FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the magical, mysterious world of Annie Baker. Geary-wide open-house celebration of A.C.T.’s birthday, with live Many of you may already be Baker aficionados (there have been events happening all over the building. The day will culminate excellent productions of her work at San Francisco Playhouse, in a free reading on the Geary stage of Dylan Thomas’s Under Marin Theatre Company, and Aurora Theatre Company), while Milk Wood, starring many beloved alumni and former company for others, John will be an introduction to the highly original members. We hope you will all join us for that! voice of a remarkable young playwright. John invites us into the Gettysburg bed-and-breakfast of a loquacious woman named As we put the finishing touches on Michael Paller’s 50th- Mertis. Nothing is what it seems in this hilarious and unsettling anniversary book, A Five-Act Play: 50 Years of A.C.T., I am meditation on loneliness, time, and the search for connection in constantly reminded of the founding vision for A.C.T. and an increasingly enigmatic universe. the tenacity of so many artists, administrators, and audience members that has kept it alive in spite of all obstacles. While I find it particularly interesting that we are doing this play in honoring the original vision of a muscular repertory company the home city of Airbnb, a company that has made ubiquitous that is also a distinguished educational institution, A.C.T. has the truly strange practice of sleeping in someone else’s home, evolved and grown in significant ways, particularly with regard surrounded by someone else’s personal possessions and life to the depth of our community engagement and the breadth stories. John is a ghost story about trying to make sense of of our commitment to new work. In this program, you’ll find a one’s place in the world, while surrounded by wind chimes, wonderful piece on our New Strands Festival and our work on lifelike dolls, and an endless array of tchotchkes. The play new plays over the past 50 years. These commitments give me is filled with Baker’s uniquely crafted language and wit and great hope about the next 50! feels particularly suited for the intimacy of The Strand. We’re delighted to welcome such a distinguished group of artists to Finally, as we celebrate our past and look to the future, we hope A.C.T. to collaborate on this West Coast premiere of Baker’s you will continue to share your own stories with us—we love latest play. what we’ve received so far! Visit act-sf.org/shareyourstory to tell us about your favorite memories of A.C.T. In the meantime, We are continuing to celebrate A.C.T.’s 50th anniversary with a welcome to John, and thank you as always for being with us. plethora of special events and master-artist residencies. It was a joy to have Tom Stoppard with us for The Hard Problem, and Yours, we are looking forward to hosting the legendary Peter Brook, who will join us in San Francisco for his landmark production of Battlefield this spring. At 92, Brook is one of the most revered directors in the world today, and we’re honored that he has chosen to be with us to share his ideas, teach master classes, Carey Perloff and participate in our festivities. On March 18, we will have a Artistic Director

11 CAREY PERLOFF, Artistic Director PETER PASTREICH, Executive Director CELEBRATE PRESENTS A.C.T.’S 50TH SEASON! TICKETS START AT $20. JOHN

BY ANNIE BAKER DIRECTED BY KEN RUS SCHMOLL MAR 30–APR 23 | THE GEARY THEATER

CREATIVE TEAM CAST . PHOTO COURTESY EX MACHINA. SCENIC DESIGNER MARSHA GINSBERG (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) COSTUME DESIGNER JESSIE AMOROSO MERTIS GEORGIA ENGEL* : ARTWORK BY ADAM LARSON. LIGHTING DESIGNER ROBERT HAND GENEVIEVE ANN MCDONOUGH* SOUND DESIGNER BRENDAN AANES ELIAS JOE PAULIK* PROPS MASTER JACQUELYN SCOTT JENNY STACEY YEN* DRAMATURG MICHAEL PALLER NEEDLES OPIUM AND CASTING DIRECTOR JANET FOSTER, CSA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SANGO TAJIMA UNDERSTUDIES VOCAL COACH LISA ANNE PORTER ELIAS PATRICK ANDREW JONES** JENNY NAREA KANG**

A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN GENEVIEVE, MERTIS TRISH MULHOLLAND* STAGE MANAGEMENT STAGE MANAGER DEIRDRE ROSE HOLLAND* ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER CHRISTINA LARSON* STAGE MANAGEMENT FELLOW CHARLOTTE MORRILL

: WELLESLEY ROBERTSON III IN WELLESLEY IN III ROBERTSON : THIS PRODUCTION MADE POSSIBLE BY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS PRISCILLA AND KEITH GEESLIN APR 26–MAY 21 JUN 7–JUL 2 : PHOTO BY SIMON ANNAND. PRODUCER John is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. ABBY AND GENE SCHNAIR THE GEARY THEATER THE GEARY THEATER World premiere produced by Signature Theatre, New York City ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS NEEDLES OPIUM AND James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director DRS. MICHAEL AND JANE MARMOR BATTLEFIELD Erika Mallin, Executive Director ANNE AND MICHELLE SHONK

act-sf.org/join | 415.749.2228 *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 Program class of 2017, appearing in this production courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association BOTTOM ROW: PHOTO CREDITS:

415.749.2228 13 CAREY PERLOFF, Artistic Director PETER PASTREICH, Executive Director PRESENTS JOHN BY ANNIE BAKER DIRECTED BY KEN RUS SCHMOLL

CREATIVE TEAM CAST SCENIC DESIGNER MARSHA GINSBERG (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) COSTUME DESIGNER JESSIE AMOROSO MERTIS GEORGIA ENGEL* LIGHTING DESIGNER ROBERT HAND GENEVIEVE ANN MCDONOUGH* SOUND DESIGNER BRENDAN AANES ELIAS JOE PAULIK* PROPS MASTER JACQUELYN SCOTT JENNY STACEY YEN* DRAMATURG MICHAEL PALLER CASTING DIRECTOR JANET FOSTER, CSA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SANGO TAJIMA UNDERSTUDIES VOCAL COACH LISA ANNE PORTER ELIAS PATRICK ANDREW JONES** JENNY NAREA KANG** GENEVIEVE, MERTIS TRISH MULHOLLAND* STAGE MANAGEMENT STAGE MANAGER DEIRDRE ROSE HOLLAND* ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER CHRISTINA LARSON* STAGE MANAGEMENT FELLOW CHARLOTTE MORRILL THIS PRODUCTION MADE POSSIBLE BY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS PRISCILLA AND KEITH GEESLIN

PRODUCER John is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. ABBY AND GENE SCHNAIR

World premiere produced by Signature Theatre, New York City ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director DRS. MICHAEL AND JANE MARMOR Erika Mallin, Executive Director ANNE AND MICHELLE SHONK

*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 Program class of 2017, appearing in this production courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

415.749.2228 13 ABOUT THE PLAY

MADNESS AND INTIMACY AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT ANNIE BAKER BY MICHAEL PALLER

Playwright Annie Baker PHOTO BY BRIGITTE LACOMBE BY PHOTO

14 ACT-SF.ORG When Annie Baker was 17 years old, she started surreptitiously recording everyday conversations and transcribing them exactly as she heard them. When she went back and read the transcriptions, she was moved by the innate rhythm of mundane speech, the pauses and false starts, what was said and unsaid. Since that high school experiment, Baker has gone on to become an internationally renowned, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. She is perhaps most well known for her distinctive dialogue, which realistically portrays the way human beings actually speak, complete with ums, ahs, repetitions, false starts, and silences. Before rehearsals began at A.C.T., we caught up with Baker over e-mail to talk about her newest play, John.

Can you say something about how John came about? concerning itself with us? Do you feel that sort of presence I read that you got interested in reading “uncanny texts like yourself? Is it comforting, or sinister? Hoffmann and Bruno Schulz and German Expressionist films.” Wow. Well, I love these questions. They’re big ones. I’m not Does what you’re reading often find its way into what you’re sure I feel comfortable answering them in a public forum. writing? And where else did this play come from? They’re definitely questions I’ve thought about a lot and I was John came out of years of reading and thinking, and yes, what thinking about all of them while writing the play. I think the I’m reading always finds its way into my work. Reading is part of best way to know my thoughts on this subject is to read or writing for me. One book that was a huge influence onJohn was see the play. Basically everything every character says, even Victoria Nelson’s The Secret Life of Puppets which then led me when they’re disagreeing with each other, encapsulates how to all these other texts by Bruno Schulz and E. T. A. Hoffmann I feel about the matter. They’re all different sides of myself and Daniel Schreber. What else influenced the play? William and my feelings surrounding the issue. Around the time I hit James’s Varieties of Religious Experience, a lot of Kierkegaard 30, someone very wise said to me something like: “Thinking and Rudolf Otto, an essay by Rilke on dolls, Jung’s autobiography, you know what someone else is thinking is the definition of Freud’s essay on the uncanny, various trips to Gettysburg and madness.” Or maybe they said: “Trying to figure out what the people I met there, and Georgia Engel herself. I worked with other people are thinking will drive you mad.” And as simple Georgia for the first time in 2012 on a production ofUncle Vanya, as it sounds, it kind of blew my mind. I’d expended so much and I felt like the two of us understood each other completely. I energy in my first 30 years trying to know and anticipate what started writing John for her, and I kind of built the whole play other people were thinking and then convincing myself that I’d around her. Our work together and our mutual love and figured it out. There is also the danger, of course, of trying to understanding was a big part of the process. And then of course, figure out what God is thinking. And that’s a different brand of there’s the young couple in the play, and the madness of being the same madness. in a relationship that needs to end. Certain relationships I had in my twenties made me feel like I was going totally bonkers. And John, like others of your plays, takes place in a single location, while I’d always been resistant to writing a “relationship play,” I a bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg. You’ve said that you’re was intrigued by making the somewhat young and immature interested in “trapping people in one space.” Is that an central relationship part of a larger, more expansive musing on aesthetic impulse, a psychological one, or something else? madness, and intimacy, and the numinous. It’s both an aesthetic and a psychological impulse (or I can’t really un-entwine them). It’s just something that theater can One of the things the play seems to be about is the do really, really well that film and television can’t: trap you in a possibility, or the sense, that we are being watched all the box. The restriction of and the literal borders around the stage time—or watched over, which can be either a sinister feeling space have always been thrilling to me. And when I write it’s or a comforting one, and by either some large, invisible really helpful to me to say to myself: we only see what happens force or by the small, inanimate objects that surround us. in this space. What happens outside of it is unknown. Do you have any sense about what, if anything, is out there

415.749.2228 15 ABOUT THE PLAY

A HIDDEN WELL AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR KEN RUS SCHMOLL BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN PHOTO BY ZACK DEZON ZACK BY PHOTO

“I findJohn terrifying,” says director Ken Rus Schmoll. “That’s different generations relate to one another. In addition to the what attracts me to it. It’s like driving down a road in the fog. young couple, there are two roles for actresses in their seventies You can only see a few yards ahead of you, and you never seem that are complex, far from the stereotypical “old ladies” that to arrive at your destination.” Schmoll is no stranger to plays permeate popular culture. that create this experience. Hailed as “an expert at sustained abnormality” by Time Out New York, Schmoll has directed works How does the title inform the play? that explore strangeness and illusion at many of New York’s It makes me think of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: the most illustrious off-Broadway theaters, including New York person that never arrives, an offstage force that pulls the play Theater Workshop, Clubbed Thumb, and Playwrights Horizons. along. It also makes me think of Sophocles’s Antigone, which As he prepared to direct John—his first Annie Baker play—at dramatically speaking is more about Creon, the person who has A.C.T., we caught up with him to chat about bed-and-breakfasts, to grapple with Antigone’s unwavering actions. Baker, and presenting reality onstage. Annie Baker is a playwright who is very specific about stage What research did you do for John? directions and set design. What is it like to work on a show Scenic designer Marsha Ginsberg and I went to Gettysburg, like this? Pennsylvania, and knocked on the doors of bed-and-breakfasts. Within structure lies freedom. By meticulously confronting We were invited into many of them and spent hours with the the details of the play, one senses the vast hidden mental and various proprietors looking through rooms, photographing emotional wells beneath the play. I don’t think of myself as an architectural details, taking notes on how they were decorated interpreter of plays, rather as a craftsperson or an engineer. To and organized. Secretly, we were compiling mental portraits of make emptiness, one makes a cup, as the Japanese saying goes. the proprietors themselves, to understand the type of person who would choose to run a B and B. What are the challenges of directing Baker’s work? There is a lot that is unspoken. There are the long pauses that What is your favorite thing about John? everyone associates with her plays. This requires a thorough I love the characters. Each of them is deeply knowable and exploration of what the characters are thinking. Thinking is deeply mysterious. One of the play’s preoccupations is how

16 ACT-SF.ORG OPPOSITE Director Ken Rus Schmoll. ABOVE Scenic designer Marsha Ginsberg’s bed-and-breakfast research photos from a trip to Gettysburg with Schmoll.

potentially as dramatic a force onstage as speaking. Personally, I am obsessed with “thinking” onstage: what actors think, what characters think, how thinking actually occurs, how thinking is represented to be happening.

What makes Baker’s plays so powerful? They are generous with audiences. There is something immediately recognizable in each of her plays, often the setting (a movie theater, a bed-and-breakfast), sometimes a situation— friends hanging out. At the same time, she does not fill in every detail of the story. She allows space for the audience to project Want to know more about John? Words themselves into her worlds and to wander among the thoughts on Plays is full of original essays and of the characters, and their own thoughts, too. Annie’s plays interviews that give you a behind-the- are like a communal garden divided into individual plots, where scenes look at John—perfect for reading each audience member may plant whatever he or she prefers. before the play, during intermission, or when you get home! Proceeds from Why this play now? sales of Words on Plays benefit A.C.T.’s In a moment when many people are feeling an urgency—to do education programs. something, to figure out what to do—John asks us to consider going in through the side door. The side door takes more time, we have to figure out where it is, and it involves a bit AVAILABLE IN THE BOX OFFICE, LOBBY, AND ONLINE AT ACT-SF.ORG/WORDSONPLAYS. of a journey.

415.749.2228 17 WHO’S WHO IN JOHN GEORGIA recently Our Town (Mrs. Soames). On Night at Hartford Stage; The Winter’s ENGEL* (Mertis) television, she was in Law & Order, The Tale and Haroun and the Sea of Stories is thrilled to be Good Wife, and All My Children (Esther). at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; rediscovering Macbeth and As You Like It at the the role of Mertis JOE PAULIK* Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; in the West Coast (Elias) has many and the world premiere of Love in the premiere of John at off-Broadway Wars at Bard SummerScape, directed A.C.T. She created credits, including by Ken Rus Schmoll. In New York, Yen the role in 2015 at New York’s Signature Stupid Fucking Bird has premiered new work with such Theatre and received an Obie Award for (The Pearl Theatre theater companies as Ars Nova, The Distinguished Performance by an Company), Love & Mad Ones, Clubbed Thumb, The Play Actress. Other recent New York Money (Signature Company, and The Public Theater. downtown credits include Anton Theatre), P. S. Jones and the Frozen City Internationally, Yen has toured The Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at Soho Rep. (New Ohio Theatre), Timon of Athens Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the King’s (adapted by Annie Baker, directed by (The Public Theater), A Feminine Ending Theatre Edinburgh, Singapore’s Sam Gold) and Will Eno’s Middletown at (Playwrights Horizons), The Sporting Esplanade Theatre, and New York’s Vineyard Theatre (directed by Ken Rus Life (Vineyard Theatre), and Measure acclaimed Under the Radar Festival. Schmoll). On Broadway, Engel’s credits for Measure (The Acting Shakespeare Television credits include Elementary, include The Drowsy Chaperone, My One Company). His regional credits include Madam Secretary, Treme, The Blacklist, and Only, and Hello, Dolly! Her television The Power of Duff (Geffen Playhouse High Maintenance, Gossip Girl, credits include Hot in Cleveland, and Huntington Theatre Company), Unforgettable, The Good Wife, Blue Everybody Loves Raymond (three Emmy Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Bloods, Ugly Betty, Nurse Jackie, and Award nominations), Coach, and The Sawyer and Twelfth Night (Hartford CSI: NY. Yen received her BA from Mary Tyler Moore Show (two Emmy Stage), Moonchildren (Berkshire Theatre Brown University and her MFA from Award nominations). Group), Major Barbara (Guthrie Theater), New York University’s Tisch School of Old Wicked Songs (Westport Country the Arts. ANN Playhouse), and Eurydice, Cabaret & MCDONOUGH* Main, and Kilroy Was Here PATRICK (Genevieve) was (Williamstown Theatre Festival). His ANDREW most recently at television credits include Guiding Light, JONES** Arena Stage in The Good Wife, and Person of Interest. (Understudy) is in Washington, DC, Paulik holds an MFA from New York his third year of the in The City of University’s graduate acting program, A.C.T. Master of Fine Conversation. At and he completed the Shakespeare Arts Program and Lincoln Center Theater in New York, course of study at the Royal Academy recently made his she was in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and of Dramatic Art. Geary debut with A Christmas Carol. Dinner at Eight. She was in the original Jones is the recipient of the 2015 M.F.A. production of A. R. Gurney’s The Dining STACEY YEN* Program “Hit Your Stride” scholarship. Room (Playwrights Horizons), and she (Jenny) makes her Some of his favorite credits with the was in it again, 25 years later, when A.C.T. debut with M.F.A. Program are KJ in The Aliens for the cast of the Keen Company John. Yen’s theater the A.C.T. Sky Festival, Macbeth in production won a Drama Desk Award credits include A Macbeth, and Tranio in The Taming of for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Confederacy of the Shrew. Along with working Also in New York, she appeared in the Dunces with Nick extensively in the New York City theater original productions of Sister Mary Offerman at the scene, he has worked in the Bay Area Ignatius Explains It All for You, What I Huntington Theatre Company; Mary performing such roles as Ferdinand in Did Last Summer, Mastergate, Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights at Arena The Tempest and Charles Musgrove in Uncommon Women and Others, and Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Jane Austen’s Persuasion at the Fables for Friends. At Long Wharf Lookingglass Theatre, and Kansas City Livermore Shakespeare Festival. Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, she Repertory Theatre; Mirror of the Invisible has performed in 12 productions, most World at Goodman Theatre; Twelfth

*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 Program class of 2017, appearing in this production courtesy of Actors Equity Association 18 ACT-SF.ORG NAREA KANG** for Outstanding Play), The Aliens (Understudy) is in (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater; Obie her third year of the Award for Best New American Play), A.C.T. Master of Fine Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Arts Program. She Company; Drama Desk and Outer was last seen on the Critics Circle Award nominations for Geary stage in A Oustanding Play/the John Gassner Christmas Carol and Award), and an adaptation of as Bo in Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep., Problem. Recent M.F.A. Program credits Drama Desk Award nomination for include Doubt, A Parable (Sister Outstanding Revival), for which she Aloysius), Horton Foote’s Blind Date also designed the costumes. Her plays (Dolores) and The Actor (Elizabeth), have been produced at more than 200 Cardenio (Camila), and Macbeth (Lady theaters throughout the US and in Macbeth). Kang has worked as an actor, more than a dozen countries, including teaching artist, and producer in Seattle productions at the Royal National and San Francisco. Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre in London and the Moscow Art Theatre in TRISH Moscow. Other recent honors include a MULHOLLAND* Guggenheim Fellowship, The Steinberg (Understudy) is Playwright Award, an American a graduate of Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Memory Australia’s National Literature, a New York Drama Critics’ Theatre Drama Circle Award, and the Cullman Center School. She was a Fellowship at The New York Public Caring top-rating, award- Library. She is a resident playwright winning radio host in Melbourne, at Signature Theatre and a Master The city’s finest memory Australia, and hosted radio shows in Artist in Residence at the Playwriting Italy and France, before finally settling MFA Program at Hunter College. care community features in the Bay Area and returning to theater. higher staff-to-resident ratio, A core company member of Berkeley’s KEN RUS SCHMOLL (director) Shotgun Players, Mulholland has has recently directed MJ Kaufman’s advanced techniques appeared on stages around the Bay Sagittarius Ponderosa for the National and programs. Only 37 Area including A.C.T., Aurora Theatre Asian American Theatre Company, Company, and the San Francisco Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton at apartments. Call Candiece Shakespeare Festival. Favorite roles the Philadelphia Theatre Company, at 415.345.5072 or visit include Mother Courage, Agave in The Anne Washburn’s Antlia Pneumatica Bacchae, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, at Playwrights Horizons, Max Posner’s rgplaza.org. the updated diva in The Seagull in The Judy for Page 73 Productions, Kate CLIENT RGP Hamptons, and Woman in the West E. Ryan’s Card and Gift for Clubbed PUB Encore / ACT program Coast premiere of Edward Albee’s The Thumb, Jenny Schwartz and Todd REF NO RGP745-01hb - Memory Care Play about the Baby (Shotgun Players). Almond’s Iowa at Playwrights Horizons, AD TYPE 1/3 Page vertical , 4C Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand SPECS 2.25” w x 9.875” h ANNIE BAKER (Playwright) has at New York Theatre Workshop, written many plays, including John John Banville’s Love in the Wars at ISSUE 2/27-4/23 (Signature Theatre; Obie Award, Bard SummerScape, and Will Eno’s MAT’LS DUE 1/27/17 Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel award Middletown at the Vineyard Theatre. VERSION 2 nominations for Outstanding Play), He is a usual suspect at New York AGENCY RESIN The Flick (Playwrights Horizons/ Theatre Workshop, an affiliated artist Here, you’re like family. CONTACT Tim Paschke – 415 987 4274 Barrow Street Theatre; Pulitzer Prize with Clubbed Thumb, co-mentor of the for Drama, Hull-Warriner Award, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, 2180 Post Street Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Obie a three-time Sundance Institute San Francisco, CA 94115 Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Theatre Program alum, a former co- rgplaza.org Transformation (Playwrights Horizons; chair of the Soho Rep. Writer/Director Founded by Jewish Family and Children’s Obie Award for Best New American Lab, and the recipient of two Obie Services and Mount Zion Health Fund Play, Drama Desk Award nomination Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award RCFE# 385600125

415.749.2228 19 nomination. Schmoll’s upcoming Guggenheim Works & Process); Brooklyn Academy of Music, Opéra de projects include Tony Meneses’s The Red Dog Howls (New York Theatre Québec), Ariadne auf Naxos (Opéra Women of Padilla at Two River Theatre. Workshop); A Map of Virtue (13P); and National de Bordeaux), Methusalem Telephone (The Foundry Theatre). Projekt and Don Pasquale (Deutsches MARSHA GINSBERG (Scenic Ginsberg has designed opera projects Nationaltheater Weimar), and Die Designer) is an Obie Award–winning with directors Christopher Alden, Roy Entführung aus dem Serail (Theater scenic and costume designer working Rallo, Lydia Steier, Jay Scheib, and Ted Basel), among others. Her recent in theater and opera in the US and Huffman. These include Transformations theater credits include The Undertaking Europe. Her previous work with Ken and Cosí fan tutte (San Francisco (Barrow Street Theatre), Nikolai and Rus Schmoll includes Love in the Wars Opera/Merola Opera Program), L’O r feo the Others (Lincoln Center Theater/ (Bard SummerScape); Proserpina (Konzert Theater Bern), The Rake’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, directed (Spoleto Festival USA); It Happens Progress (Staatstheater Braunschweig), by David Cromer), and Angel Reapers, Like This (Tanglewood Music Center/ Powder Her Face (New York City Opera/ created by Martha Clarke (Signature Theatre). Ginsberg is the recipient of many grants and awards, including the 2016 New York State Council on the music dance theater 2016/17 Arts grant for Faust 2.0 (Mabou Mines), Cal Perform ances SEASON the New York Foundation for the Arts UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Architecture Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Groups Design Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile Fellowship, an Elliot Norton Award, The Watermill Center Residency, and at the Greek! The MacDowell Colony Residency. Three of the world’s most acclaimed musicians take the stage at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre for a breathtaking celebration JESSIE AMOROSO (Costume of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Designer) is in his eighth season at A.C.T. and is currently the costume director for the company. Bay Area theater design and styling credits include work at the California Theatre Center, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Berkeley Playhouse, Solano College Theatre, Central Works Theater Company, Marines’ Memorial Theatre, the Herbst Theatre, the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, and the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. A.C.T. credits are Ah, Wilderness!; Love and Information; Testament with Seana McKenna; Underneath the Lintel; and April 30 Chester Bailey. Other highlights include GREEK THEATRE designing two world premieres for Brad Erickson at New Conservatory Theatre Center, most recently American Dream. At Project Artaud he designed Caligula, featuring Nancy Carlin, and at Z Space he designed A Round-Heeled Woman, starring Sharon Gless. Volunteer designs for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS include Broadway Bares 23: United Strips of America and Broadway Bares SF: Tech calperformances.org Tails. He is a graduate of California 510.642.9988 State University, Hayward (now California State University, East Bay).

20 ACT-SF.ORG ROBERT HAND (Lighting The Lily’s Revenge, The Brothers Designer) most recently designed Size, Goldfish, and Octopus (Magic Monstress and Chester Bailey, for Theatre); Stories by Emma Donoghue which he received the Theatre Bay and Colm Tóibín and Stories by Alice Area Award for Outstanding Lighting Munro (Word for Word Performing Design (A.C.T.); Seared and Stage Kiss Arts Company); Assassins and God’s (San Francisco Playhouse); Home in 7 Plot (Shotgun Players); Hundred Days by choreographer Amy Seiwert and and The Companion Piece (Z Space); Boiling Point by choreographer Darrell American Hwangap (The Play Company, Grand Moultrie (Atlanta Ballet); and New York); and as art director for Park Peter Pan by choreographer Jorden Pictures, Paper Dog Video, and Heist. Morris (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre). Additional credits include lighting MICHAEL PALLER (Dramaturg) designs for the English National Ballet, joined A.C.T. as resident dramaturg and North Carolina Theatre, Milwaukee director of humanities in August 2005, Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Anchorman and since then he has dramaturged 2: The Legend Continues, and Scary more than 50 productions and Movie 5. He is also the former resident workshops. He began his professional lighting designer for Atlanta Ballet, career as literary manager at Center where he designed more than 25 Repertory Theatre (Cleveland), then new works, many of which remain worked as a play reader and script in their permanent repertoire. consultant for Manhattan Theatre Club, and has since been a dramaturg BRENDAN AANES (Sound for George Street Playhouse, the Designer) has designed sound for Berkshire Theatre Festival, Barrington recent productions, including The Hard Stage Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Problem, The Unfortunates, and Chester Roundabout Theatre Company, and Bailey at A.C.T.; Othello at California others. He dramaturged the Russian Shakespeare Theater; Cowboy premiere of Tennessee Williams’s Small Bob at Ars Nova; Triangle (Theatre Craft Warnings at the Sovremennik Bay Area Award for Outstanding Theater in Moscow. Paller is the author Sound Design), The Life of the Party, of Gentlemen Callers: Tennessee Proud to Confederates, and The Lake Effect Williams, Homosexuality, and Mid- for TheatreWorks; Fire in Dreamland Twentieth Century Drama (Palgrave at Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Macmillan), Williams in an Hour Support The Way West at Marin Theatre (Smith & Kraus), and A Five-Act Play: Company; Rapture, Blister, Burn at 50 Years of A.C.T. (Chronicle Books). A.C.T. Aurora Theatre Company; The Hundred He has also written theater and book Flowers Project (Will Glickman Award reviews for the Washington Post, for Best New Play) and Truck Stop at Village Voice, Newsday, and Mirabella Crowded Fire Theater; Mutt at Impact magazine. He recently adapted the Theatre; and Abigail’s Party, Bloody text for the San Francisco Symphony’s Personal attention Bloody Andrew Jackson, and The multimedia presentation of Peer Gynt. thoughtful litigation Aliens at San Francisco Playhouse. Before his arrival at A.C.T., he taught final resolution at Columbia University and the State

JACQUELYN SCOTT (Props University of New York at Purchase. Our goal is to preserve our LAW FAMILY Master) works as props master, set client’s dignity and humanity. designer and art director for theaters JANET FOSTER, CSA (Casting and film companies throughout the Bay Director) joined A.C.T. as the casting Area. Her previous credits include She director in the 2011–12 season. On FA M I LYLAW G R OUP, P. C . Loves Me, Seared, Stage Kiss, Company, Broadway she cast The Light in the Tree, Into the Woods, Jerusalem, Piazza (Artios Award nomination), 575 Market Street, Suite 4000 Abigail’s Party, and A Behanding in Lennon, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and San Francisco, CA 94105 Spokane (San Francisco Playhouse); Taking Sides (co-cast). Off-Broadway 415.834.1120 Fool for Love, A Lie of the Mind, Buried credits include Lucy, Brundibar, True www.sflg.com Child, The Happy Ones, Annapurna, Love, Endpapers, The Dying Gaul, The

415.749.2228 21 Maiden’s Prayer, The Trojan Women: PRISCILLA AND KEITH A Love Story, Floyd Collins, The GEESLIN (Executive Producers) Monogamist, A Cheever Evening, Later have produced the A.C.T. shows Life, and many more at Playwrights Satchmo at the Waldorf, Old Hats, TOP Horizons. Regionally, she has worked Underneath the Lintel, Armistead at Intiman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Maupin’s Tales of the City, Scapin, BILLING Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, The Tosca Project, Curse of the Starving AT THE MORTIMER Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Dallas Class, and The Rivals, among others. Theater Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Priscilla currently serves as vice chair Come before or after your Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre of the A.C.T. Board of Trustees, of which A.C.T. show and enjoy Company, The Old Globe, Center Stage in she has been a member since 2003, hand crafted cocktails and Baltimore, Westport Country Playhouse, as well as chair of the Development delicious bites! and the American Repertory Theater. Committee. She also serves on the Film, television, and radio credits include boards of the San Francisco Symphony, Cosby (CBS), Tracey Takes On New York Grace Cathedral, and chairs the Show your (HBO), Lewis Black’s The Deal, Advice NARAL ProChoice America Foundation Show ticket and receive a from a Caterpillar, The Day That Lehman Board. A principal of Francisco complimentary Died (BBC World Service and Blackhawk Partners, Keith is the president of San Productions; Peabody, SONY, and Francisco Opera’s board of trustees. CHEF’S Wincott awards), and “T” Is for Tom (Tom APPETIZER Stoppard radio plays, WNYC and WQXR). SPECIAL THANKS  Peninsula Piano Brokers with the purchase DEIRDRE ROSE HOLLAND* of one beverage. (Stage Manager) has worked on many regional theater projects and productions, including the 2016 New Strands Festival, On Beckett, Chester Bailey, Let There Be Love, and Ah, Wilderness! at A.C.T.; The Liar at Santa Cruz Shakespeare; Othello, Twelfth Night, and Lady Windermere’s Fan at at Hotel Adagio California Shakespeare Theater; Daddy 550 Geary Street, SF 94102 Long Legs, Cyrano, and 2 Pianos 4 415-775-5000 Hands at TheatreWorks; The Big Meal, hoteladagiosf.com Game On, Next Fall, Next to Normal, A Christmas Carol (2011 and 2012), and ONE BLOCK FROM THE GEARY THEATER Spring Awakening at San Jose Repertory Theatre; The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later and the world premiere of Bonnie & Clyde at La Jolla Playhouse; and the Shakespeare Festival 2011, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2010), and The Mystery of Irma Vep at The Old Globe. Holland holds an MFA in stage management from UC San Diego.

CHRISTINA LARSON* (Assistant Stage Manager) most recently assistant stage-managed The Hard Problem, The Last Five Years, and The Unfortunates at A.C.T. Her favorite shows as production assistant have been King Lear (California Shakespeare Theater), Sister Play (Magic Theatre), Tribes (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and Macbeth (California Shakespeare Theater).

22 ACT-SF.ORG INSIDE A.C.T. ARTWORK BY ADAM LARSON ADAM BY ARTWORK

with the Joplin family. “They had wanted to do a new show LOVE AND HAIGHT about Janis,” says Johnson. “[The meeting] was going to be 20 minutes and turned into a two-and-a-half hour meeting. One LOOKING AHEAD TO of the things [her family] talked about was cleaning day in the A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN Joplin house. Dorothy Joplin [Janis’s mother] had wanted to be a Broadway singer. Circumstances happened and she stayed in BY SIMON HODGSON Port Arthur, Texas, and had a family. On cleaning day they would play Broadway show tunes, and each Saturday was a different She breathed in air. She breathed out soul. Janis Joplin was, for cast album. They listened to West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and many San Franciscans, the voice of the Summer of Love. Born Porgy and Bess. Janis played ‘Summertime’ over and over, and it in 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas, Joplin was a quiet, blues-loving went on to become one of her greatest hits.” bohemian girl. But in 1964, she headed west and fell headlong into ’60s San Francisco, living in Haight-Ashbury, recording “Summertime” is just one of the singer’s favorites featured in tracks with emerging musicians, and diving deep into the A Night with Janis Joplin, joining such songs as “Piece of My city’s counterculture. Within two years, she had joined the Heart,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Ball and Chain.” Framed psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, by these classic ’60s tracks, the musical focuses on Janis’s story and she was earning a reputation across West Coast venues for as she tells us about her roots, her growth, and the singers her extraordinary voice, laced with heart, soul, and Southern whose sound influenced her own.Janis isn’t just a celebration Comfort. By the time she performed at the Monterey Pop of Joplin’s raw harmony, but also a salute to the soulful vocals of Festival in the summer of 1967, Joplin was at the top of her game. five other iconic twentieth-century artists: Nina Simone, Odetta, Etta James, Bessie Smith, and Aretha Franklin. As San Francisco “At A.C.T. we have long been invested in San Francisco stories,” gears up to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its Haight- says Artistic Director Carey Perloff. “So when the opportunity Ashbury heyday, what better way to celebrate our own 50th came to bring A Night with Janis Joplin to San Francisco in anniversary . . . and to rock The Geary like it’s 1967. celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, it was irresistible.”

For the show’s creator, Randy Johnson—producer of theatrical A Night with Janis Joplin runs June 7 to July 2 shows about artists from Elvis Presley to Conway Twitty, Louis at The Geary Theater. Learn more at act-sf.org/janis. Prima to Patsy Cline—the idea for the show began at a meeting

415.749.2228 23 INSIDE A.C.T. PHOTO BY KEVIN BERNE BY PHOTO

from many other A.C.T. productions; he was most recently seen on the Geary stage as the Ghost of Jacob Marley in FIFTY YEARS A Christmas Carol).

Beginning in 1973, Executive Director Edward Hastings mounted OF DISCOVERY simple productions of new plays in the 49-seat Play Room, A HISTORY OF NEW WORK AT A.C.T. located on the first floor of 450 Geary Street. This project, funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, developed BY SHANNON STOCKWELL into a program called Plays in Progress (PIP). Tickets were free to subscribers, and in the program’s first season, a total of five Throughout our 50 years of existence, A.C.T. has been a home thousand people came to the performances. Over 20 years for new work, commissions, and world premieres. We have at A.C.T., 84 new plays were produced through PIP, mostly by always supported new plays—like Annie Baker’s John, which West Coast playwrights (who Hastings felt had fewer chances premiered in New York in 2015—and we’ve done so since at productions than East Coast playwrights). Some writers that the beginning. went through PIP include short-story writer Raymond Carver; filmmaker Ethan Coen No( Country for Old Men; O Brother, In fact, A.C.T.’s second season contained a total of four new Where Art Thou?); Mark Medoff, who went on to win a Tony plays: Brian McKinney’s Deedle, Deedle, Dumpling, My Son God; Award for Children of a Lesser God; and William M. Hoffman, Nagle Jackson’s Caught in the Act; Jerome Kilty’s Don’t Shoot, whose play As Is was produced on Broadway in 1985. Mabel! It’s Your Husband; and Long Live Life, also by Kilty, which was based on the letters of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov PIP offered playwrights the opportunity to hone their work, but (played by Ken Ruta, whom Bay Area audiences may remember it also provided actors in the Advanced Training Program (the

24 ACT-SF.ORG PHOTO BY KEVIN BERNE BY PHOTO KEVIN BERNE BY PHOTO

OPPOSITE Rachel Ticotin and Nol Simonse in The Tosca Project.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Hiro Kanagawa and Carrie Paff in After the War; Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City; A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff at a reading of Monstress. PHOTO BY RYAN MONTGOMERY RYAN BY PHOTO

precursor to A.C.T.’s acclaimed Master of Fine Arts Program) the Perloff is also a fierce advocate of commissioning new opportunity to act in and direct new plays. Hastings said of PIP: translations, by contemporary American playwrights, of great “We’re part of the theatrical maternity ward instead of being just foreign works. At A.C.T., new translations are treated as new plays keepers of the archives.” and receive intensive workshops before they are staged. Among the playwrights with whom we have worked on new translations Also showing A.C.T.’s commitment to new work is the Young are Paul Walsh (Ibsen and Strindberg), Timberlake Wertenbaker Conservatory’s Grace Magill New Plays Program, which Young (the Greeks), and Melinda Lopez (Federico García Lorca). Conservatory Director Craig Slaight started in 1989 to develop plays, by professional playwrights, about the world as seen Meanwhile, New Strands, A.C.T.’s play development and through the eyes of young people. Since the program began, it commissioning program, began in earnest in 2014. The inaugural has fostered the creation of more than 40 new plays by English- New Strands Festival—when we first presented these works to speaking playwrights—including Ursula Rani Sarma, adapter of the public—was held in February 2016 and ignited The Strand A.C.T.’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, whose play Riot premiered Theater with work from every artistic discipline, from film to with a YC cast in 2010. dance to animation to music to theater.

In the past decade, Artistic Director Carey Perloff—always a A.C.T.’s mission is partly to conserve, renew, and reinvent champion of new plays—has steered A.C.T. in the direction of theatrical traditions, but it is also committed to exploring tackling new work and commissions with increased fervor. These new artistic forms and has been for 50 years. While classics new plays have included such favorites as After the War (2007), constantly remind us of where we have been and how our past The Tosca Project (2010), Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City connects to the present, new works are vital in making sure (2011), Monstress (2015), and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2017). theater stays fresh and relevant to modern audiences. The conversations generated by the mixture of the old and the new is what makes A.C.T. truly special.

415.749.2228 25 INSIDE A.C.T.

EPIC SIMPLICITY A SNEAK PEEK AT PETER BROOK’S BATTLEFIELD BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN

In 1985, revolutionary director Peter Brook shook the theater For Brook and his writing partner, Marie-Hélène Estienne, world with The Mahabharata—a marathon nine-hour production The Mahabharata’s story of coming face-to-face with the of a Sanskrit epic poem written 2,500 years ago. Using every consequences of conflict has striking connections to modern tool in his extensive theatrical toolbox, he brought to life this times. King Yudhishthira, the protagonist of Battlefield, reminds story of familial dysfunction, power struggles, destiny, and Brook of men like J. Robert Oppenheimer, the developer of responsibility. “That play was the event of the New York theater the atom bomb. He “lived a tortured life because his discovery season,” says New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley. won the war, but fell with such horror on Hiroshima. And this “Theater cognoscenti lined up for the privilege of sitting from same Hiroshima question is there today in so many parts of the morning into night.” world,” says Brook.

Now, more than 30 years later, the legendary director has The director’s relationship with A.C.T. predates Brook’s returned to this rich material to create Battlefield. While groundbreaking Mahabharata. In 1972, Brook and the Royal Brook’s first production ofThe Mahabharata was epic in Shakespeare Company brought his circus-inspired Midsummer every way—cast size, sets, costumes, and scope—Battlefield Night’s Dream to the Geary stage. More recently, Brook and is a study in economy: it zooms in on one specific moment Estienne adapted The Suit—a story of betrayal and revenge of the ancient epic, focusing on the aftermath of a single set in a South Africa weighed down by apartheid—which conflict. Featuring only four actors and one musician on a bare played to sold-out audiences and rave reviews in 2014. Now, stage, Battlefield’s elegant simplicity gives it a raw power. “In not only will Brook’s Battlefield be on the Geary stage, but something very, very concentrated you can find an incredible the director himself will be in residence at A.C.T., offering richness,” said Brook in a recent interview with Slant magazine. masterclasses, discussions, and further exploration of this must-see theatrical creation.

26 ACT-SF.ORG “PETER BROOK’S INCLUSIVE AND IMAGINATIVE THEATRICAL

VISION CHANGED THE WAY SIMON ANNAND BY PHOTOS WE’VE ALL MADE THEATER FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS.” A.C.T. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CAREY PERLOFF

ABOVE Carole Karemera (left) and Ery Nzaramba in a scene from Battlefield.

RIGHT FROM TOP Battlefield actors Carole Karemera, Ery Nzaramba, Sean O’Callaghan, and Jared McNeil.

“At age 92, Peter Brook remains one of the greatest master directors in the world,” says A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. “His inclusive and imaginative theatrical vision changed the way we’ve all made theater for more than 50 years, so it’s particularly moving to have his stunning work represented as part of A.C.T.’s 50th-anniversary season. Battlefield’s poetic, magical form takes us to the essence of theatrical storytelling. All it takes is a good story on a bare stage to captivate an audience and help them imagine a whole world.”

Battlefield runs April 26 to May 21 at The Geary Theater. To learn more, visit act-sf.org/battlefield.

415.749.2228 27 INSIDE A.C.T. PHOTO BY EUGENE AHN BY PHOTO

CITIZEN DRAMATURGS HOW A.C.T.’S NEW STRANDS FESTIVAL IS CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO BY SIMON HODGSON

Last year’s inaugural New Strands Festival brought hundreds of What’s different about the festival this year? What can we look theatergoers to The Strand Theater and invigorated the Central forward to? Market neighborhood with electrifying new work. Featuring DJ The programming this year is inclusive of the new work sets, staged readings, and performances spanning dance, music, happening across all of A.C.T.’s departments. Over the last animation, and theater, the festival opened A.C.T.’s doors to the season, we’ve linked new-work development more deeply Bay Area community and to new generations of theatergoers. with our M.F.A. Program actors, community partners, and our The four-day event established The Strand as a home for dynamic Education & Community Programs. Rarely does an artist have new work, A.C.T.’s very own incubator for artists of all kinds. the option of utilizing all the departments of an institution Now, as we approach this year’s New Strands Festival, we sat to generate a piece, so providing access to A.C.T.’s down with A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Andy Donald, who performance and actor-training programs has made for some is leading the team organizing the festival, to talk about 2017’s fascinating commissions that will have their first showings at festival lineup, the opportunity posed by Central Market, and the this year’s festival. benefits of sharing secrets with audiences. The festival’s offerings this year are the perfect snapshot of A.C.T. What did A.C.T.’s artistic team learn from the 2016 New today: a devised piece about fathers and sons by extraordinary Strands Festival? artists from multiple disciplines; an intergenerational Bay Area Our major discovery was a growing appetite in this city for story written for the M.F.A. Program class of 2018; our latest witnessing the theatrical process—not just productions—and Collaborative Youth Arts Project with students from the A.C.T. an eagerness among San Franciscans to participate in the birth Young Conservatory, Oakland’s Destiny Arts Center, and our of new work. We realized that if we let our audiences in at an public high school residencies; and two brand-new musicals, earlier stage, they take on a shared ownership of the work with one about southern churchgoing and the other about tech our artists and assume a role as “citizen dramaturgs.” startups. We’ve also moved the festival to late spring to give it a feeling of culmination, of reflection on the past season while peeking into our future.

28 ACT-SF.ORG PHOTO BY STEFAN COHEN STEFAN BY PHOTO

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Julie Adamo, Maria-Christina Oliveras, and Joaquín Torres in Melinda Lopez’s adaptation of Yerma; Shona Tucker and Akilah A. Walker in Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation; PHOTO BY JAY YAMADA JAY BY PHOTO YAMADA JAY BY PHOTO Turbulence Lab with Keith Hennessy and Turbulence Company.

OPPOSITE Miwa Matreyek in This World Made Itself.

Who are the new voices who will be part of New Strands as we’re dreaming up new ways and new projects that will attract it progresses? the best artists to San Francisco to create that work. We’ve established a brand-new residency program—the New Strands Residency—which links us with a nationally recognized What role does the New Strands Festival play for San Francisco? incubator theater to bring three playwrights to the Bay Area When The Strand opened in 2015, A.C.T. became uniquely and workshop their newest pieces in the festival. Our inaugural situated at a nexus of San Francisco, where new tenants in the partner is New York’s Ma-Yi Theater Company, one of the tech industry collide with long-standing cultural, government, nation’s most prominent Asian American ensembles. We could and social-service institutions. This seemed like the perfect not be more excited to introduce these new voices to a city with neighborhood to create an annual festival about new work such a robust, diverse Asian American population. My hope is development, artistic expression, audience interaction, and that San Francisco gets to know these writers through various innovative ideas. panel discussions and happy hours scheduled around their festival presentations. The New Strands Festival will be an open house, with audiences moving freely from one event to another, showcasing what How does the New Strands Festival fit within A.C.T.’s The Strand can do for this vital part of town. With so much larger story? progress happening outside our doors, we wanted to harness that For half a century, the focus at A.C.T. has been on the craft and energy by envisioning a future for San Francisco inside as well. performance of the theater artist. With the opening of The Strand, we saw an opportunity to create this festival and invite our audience into the artist’s method. On a practical level, it also provides us with an unmovable deadline for wrestling work The 2017 New Strands Festival is free and into shape! We’re not looking to present final products during open to the public and runs May 19 to 21. this weekend, but rather show our audience that we’re making To find out more, visit act-sf.org/newstrands. strides on the commissioned work that they support, and that

415.749.2228 29 FRANNIE FLEISHHACKER, CO-CHAIR • ROBINA RICCITIELLO, CO-CHAIR Producers Circle members make annual contributions of $12,000 or more to A.C.T. We are privileged to recognize these members’ generosity during the January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2017, period. For information about Producers Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].

*Member of A.C.T. Next Stage Crew

SEASON PRESENTERS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Valli Benesch and Bob Tandler Luba Kipnis and David Russel ($100,000+) ($25,000–$49,999) Doug Tilden Rodman and Ann Marymor Susan A. Van Wagner Don and Judy McCubbin Frannie Fleischhacker Lesley Ann Clement Aaron Vermut and Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGrath Priscilla and Keith Geeslin Mrs. Robyn Coles and Dr. Tony Coles Adriana Lopez Vermut Mr. and Mrs. J. A. McQuown Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson Barbara and Stephan Vermut Mary and Gene Metz The Shenson Foundation Michael G. Dovey Kay Yun and Andre Neumann-Loreck* Mr. Byron R. Meyer Barbara Ravizza and John S. Osterweis* Bill and Phyllis Draper Tim Mott and Pegan Brooke Arthur Rock and Toni Rembe Sarah and Tony Earley PRODUCERS Paula and John Murphy Mary and Steven Swig Kevin and Celeste Ford ($12,000–$24,999) Elsa and Neil Pering Laurie and Jeff Ubben Mr. and Mrs. Gordon P. Getty Dianne and Ron Hoge Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Tom Perkins Chris and Holly Hollenbeck Paul Asente and Ron Jenks Rich Rava and Elisa Neipp COMPANY SPONSORS Jo S. Hurley Clay Foundation–West Robina Riccitiello Sally and Toby Rosenblatt ($50,000-$99,000) Christopher and Leslie Johnson Lloyd and Janet Cluff* Daniel E. Cohn and Lynn Brinton Anne and Michelle Shonk Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund John Little and Heather Stallings Little Carlotta and Robert Dathe Cherie Sorokin Jeri Lynn and Jeffrey W. Johnson Janet V. Lustgarten Dr. Caroline Emmett and Jeff and Maria Spears Burt and Deedee McMurtry Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman Dr. Russell Rydel Mr. David G. Steele Jack and Susy Wadsworth Donald J. and Toni Ratner Miller Kenneth and Gisele Miller Concepción and Irwin Federman Ruth and Alan L. Stein David and Carla Riemer Linda Jo Fitz Barry Williams and Lalita Tademy Abby and Gene Schnair Rose Hagan and Mark Lemley Nola Yee Kathleen Scutchfield* Kirke and Nancy Sawyer Hasson

DIANNE HOGE, CO-CHAIR • NOLA YEE, CO-CHAIR Directors Circle members make annual contributions of $2,000 to $11,999 to A.C.T. We are privileged to recognize these members’ generosity during the January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2017, period. For information about Directors Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].

*Member of A.C.T. Next Stage Crew

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS Jennifer Langan PLAYWRIGHTS Amanda and John Kirkwood ($6,000–$11,999) Marcia and Jim Levy ($4,000–$5,999) Mr. and Mrs. John P. Levin Jennifer S. Lindsay Paul Angelo Anonymous Patrick Machado Drs. Michael and Jane Marmor Valerie Barth and Peter Booth Wiley Ray and Jackie Apple Melanie and Peter Maier­— Christine and Stan Mattison Kathleen Bennett and Tom Malloy Mr. and Mrs. Gerson Bakar John Brockway Huntington Milton Mosk and Thomas Foutch* Kenneth Berryman Mr. Eugene Barcone Foundation The New Ark Fund Dr. Barbara L. Bessey Sara and Wm. Anderson Barnes Fund Mr. Daniel Murphy Terry and Jan Opdendyk Linda Joanne Brown Roger and Helen Bohl Barbara O’Connor LeRoy Ortopan Gayle and Steve Brugler Ms. Donna Bohling and Denise Orwin Norman and Janet Pease Drs. Devron Char and Mr. Douglas Kalish Peter Pastreich and Jamie Whittington Ms. Carey Perloff and Mr. Anthony Giles Valerie Charlton-Char Christopher and Debora Booth* Mr. and Mrs. William Pitcher Marjorie Perloff Mr. and Mrs. David Crane Ben and Noel Bouck Joseph E. Ratner Ms. Saga Perry and Mr. Frederick Perry Richard Davis-Lowell and Bill Lowell Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto Jeff and Karen Richardson* Jon and Barbara Phillips Joan Dea Leslie and Buzz Burlock Gary and Joyce Rifkind Lisa and John Pritzker Carol Dollinger Madeline and Myrkle Deaton Gary Rubenstein and Nancy Matthews Merrill Randol Sherwin Mr. Joseph W. Donner III Richard DeNatale and Craig Latker Lori Schryer John Riccitiello Barb and Gary Erickson Anne and Gerald Down Thomas Schumacher Rick and Anne Riley Mr. Rodney Ferguson and Emerald Gate Charitable Trust Dr. F. Stanley Seifried Dr. James Robinson and Ms. Kathleen Egan Philip and Judy Erdberg The Somekh Family Foundation Ms. Kathy Kohrman Vicki and David Fleishhacker Jacqueline and Christian Erdman* Mr. Richard Spaete Matt and Yvonne Rogers Myrna and Tom Frankel Nancy and Jerry Falk Pasha and Laney Thornton Susan Roos Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Gallagher Sue and Ed Fish* The Tournesol Project Paul and Julie Seipp Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Geist Dr. and Mrs. Fred N. Fritsch* Joy and Ellis Wallenberg, Rick and Cindy Simons Arnie and Shelly Glassberg Mrs. Susan Fuller Milton Meyer Foundation Mr. Laurence L. Spitters Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara Sameer Gandhi and Monica Lopez Barbara and Chris Westover Emmett and Marion Stanton Marcia and John Goldman Marilee K. Gardner Mr. and Mrs. Bruce White Vera and Harold Stein Marcia and Geoffrey Green Jason Goldman Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Wiesenthal Dr. Martin and Elizabeth Terplan* Betty Hoener Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb Helen M. Marcus and Patrick S. Thompson James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen Mark and Renee Greenstein* David J. Williamson* John and Sandra Thompson Alan and Cricket Jones Mr. and Mrs. Henry Paul Hensley* Mr. and Mrs. Roger Wu Katherine Welch Mr. Joel Krauska and Ms. Patricia Fox Bannus & Cecily Hudson The Arthur and Charlotte Minott and Ashley Wessinger Paola and Richard Kulp Becky and Lorin Kaplan & Family Zitrin Foundation Beverly and Loring Wyllie Linda Kurtz* Joseph D. Keegan, Ph.D.

30 ACT-SF.ORG Mr. Robert Feyer and Dr. Lois Levine Mundie* Ms. Nancy M. Schulz DIRECTORS Ms. Marsha Cohen* Mr. Michael Levy Ms. Jean Schulz ($2,000–$3,999) Mr. and Mrs. Patrick F. Flannery* Ms. Helen S. Lewis Andrew and Marva Seidl Anonymous (2) Jacques Fortier Sue Yung Li and Dale K. Ikeda Russ Selinger Martha and Michael Adler Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler Herbert and Claire Lindenberger Mr. and Mrs. John Shankel Bruce and Betty Alberts Elizabeth and Paul Fraley Ron and Mary Loar Mr. James Shay and Mr. Steven Correll Lynn Altshuler and Stanley D. Herzstein Lynda Fu Ms. Evelyn Lockton Michelle Shonk Mr. and Mrs. Harold P. Anderson Ms. Kathleen Gallivan Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Long Ms. Ruth A. Short Sharon L. Anderson* Mr. Jon Garber and Ms. Bonnie Fought Ms. Gayla Lorthridge* Mr. Earl G. Singer Whitney and Phillip Arnautou William Garland and Michael Mooney* Stephanie and Jim Marver Raven Sisco Jeanne and William Barulich Mr. Michael R. Genesereth Ms. Jill Matichak Handelsman Richard and Jerry Smallwood Michele Bear Susan and Dennis Gilardi John B. McCallister Ms. Judith O. Smith Nancy and Joachim Bechtle Dr. A. Goldschlager John G. McGehee Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Snow David V. Beery and Norman Abramson Ms. Ann M. Griffiths Kathleen McIlwain Lee and Carolyn Snowberg Donna L. Beres and Terry Dahl Douglas W. and Kaatri Grigg Casey and Charlie McKibben* Kristine Soorian and Bryce Ikeda Barbara Berkeley and Wendy Storch Raymond and Gale L. Grinsell Elisabeth and Daniel McKinnon Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Spears Jane Bernstein and Robert Ellis Nadine Guffanti and Ed Medford Ms. Nancy Michel* Steven and Chris Spencer* Fred and Nancy Bjork Naren and Vinita Gupta Mr. and Mrs. Roger Miles Mr. Paul Spiegel David and Rosalind Bloom James Haire and Timothy Cole J. Sanford Miller and Vinie Zhang Miller Diana L. Starcher Larry and Lisbeth Blum Mr. and Mrs. Richard Halliday Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Mouat Lillis and Max Stern John Boland and James Carroll Vera and David Hartford Mr. and Mrs. Merrill E. Newman Rick Stern and Nancy Ginsburg Stern Mr. Mitchell Bolen and Mr. Greg Hartman* Jeanne Newman Vibeke Strand, MD and Jack Loftis, PhD Mr. John Christner Ms. Kendra Hartnett Ms. Mary D. Niemiller Richard and Michele Stratton Carol and Shelby Bonnie Mr. Stephen Heiman Ms. Lisa Nolan J. Dietrich and Dawna Stroeh Brenda and Roger Borovoy Mrs. Deirdre Henderson Mrs. Margaret O’Drain* Ms. Norah Terrault Jamie Bowles Richard N. Hill and Nancy Lundeen Ms. Mary Jo O’Drain Susan Terris Romana D. Bracco Mr. and Mrs. Jerre Hitz Emilie and Douglas Ogden Dr. Eric Test and Dr. Odelia Braun* Marilyn and George Bray Ms. Marcia Hooper Margo and Roy Ogus Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr Robert Brunner Rob Hulteng Mr. Don O’Neal Ian and Olga Thomson Tom and Carol Burkhart Robert Humphrey & Diane Amend Meredith Orthwein* Ms. Patricia Tomlinson and Mrs. Libi Cape Judy and Bob Huret Janet and Clyde Ostler Mr. Bennet Weintraub Ms. Sally Carlson Sarah and Jordan Hymowitz Janine Paver and Eric Brown Mr. and Mrs. John R. Upton Jr. Denis Carrade and Jeanne Fadelli Robert and Riki Intner Mark Pigott Jane and Bernard von Bothmer Mr. Todd Chaffee Harold and Lyn Isbell Ms. M. N. Plant Arnie and Gail Wagner The Donald and Franklin Jackson & Maloos Anvarian* Victoria and Dan Prendergast Mr. and Mrs. James Wagstaffe Carole Chaiken Foundation Stephanie and Owen Jensen Kenneth Preston Mrs. Katherine G. Wallin and Steven and Karin Chase Russell and Mary Johnson Gordon Radley Mr. Homer Wallin Irmgard Chu Kathy and Joe Jolson Sandi and Mark Randall Ms. Margaret Warton and Mr. Byde Clawson and Barbara and Ron Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ratinoff Mr. Steve Benting Dr. Patricia Conolly Sy Kaufman* Shirley and Robert Raymer Ms. Carol Watts Susan and Ralph G. Coan Jr. Ed and Peggy Kavounas Mr. and Mrs. John A. Reitan Irv Weissman and Family Rebecca Coleman Ms. Pamela L. Kershner Albert and Roxanne Richards Fund Ms. Allie Weissman Jean and Mike Couch Miss Angèle Khachadour Victoria and Daniel Rivas Ms. Beth Weissman Mr. and Mrs. Ricky J. Curotto Ms. Nancy L. Kittle Mr. Orrin W. Robinson III* Marie and Daniel Welch Tiffanie DeBartolo and Scott Schumaker Mr. R. Samuel Klatchko* Mrs. Marianne B. Robison Diane B. Wilsey Robert and Judith DeFranco Mr. Brian Kliment Barbara G. Rosenblum Kenneth and Sharon Wilson Ingrid M. Deiwiks Dr. Thane Kreiner and Susan Rosin and Brian Bock Mr. David S. Wood and Reid and Peggy Dennis Dr. Steven Lovejoy* Ms. Irene Rothschild Ms. Kathleen Garrison Mrs. Julie D. Dickson Stephanie Hencir Lamey and Ms. Diane Rudden Mr. and Mrs. Roy B. Woolsey Art and JoAnne Dlott Patrick Lamey Ms. Dace Rutland Bonnie and Rick Dlott Harriet Lawrie Scott and Janis Sachtjen Robert Eklund Ms. Pamela D Lee Ms. Monica Salusky and Charles and Susan Fadley* Mr. Richard Lee and Mr. John Sutherland Mr. Alexander L. Fetter and Ms. Patricia Taylor Lee Betty and Jack Schafer Ms. Lynn Bunim

415.749.2228 31 ALAN JONES, CHAIR Friends of A.C.T. make annual contributions of $500–$1,999 in support of A.C.T.’s operations and programs. We are privileged to recognize these members’ generosity during the January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2017, 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 Stephanie Swide at 415.439.2353 or [email protected].

*Member of A.C.T. Next Stage Crew

PATRONS Mr. William Barnard Mrs. Gary Letson Mr. Keith Wetmore ($1,200–$1,999) Ms. Pamela Barnes Barry and Ellen Levine Tim M. Whalen Anonymous (3) Robert H. Beadle* Ms. Elise S. Liddle Mr. David S. Winkler Kat and Dave Anderson* Mr. Daniel R. Bedford Ms. Carol H. Lokke Sally Woolsey Ms. Kay Auciello* Mr. Ari Benbasat Mr. and Mrs. William Manheim Marilyn and Irvin Yalom Mr. David N. Barnard Mr. and Mrs. Paul Berg Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Marks Elysa Yanowitz* Dorothy and Ervin Behrin Richard and Katherine Berman* Dennis and Karen May Jacqueline Young Mr. Thomas Benet Stuart and Helen Bessler Robert McCleskey Mr. and Mrs. Philip Zimbardo Lauren Berman Mr. John Blankenship and Karin and Gregory McClune* Peter Blume Ms. Linda Carter Mr. and Mrs. Jason McDonell CONTRIBUTOR LEVEL Mr. Nicholas Brathwaite Mr. Noel Blos Mark and Gene McGranahan NEXT STAGE CREW Stan and Stephanie Casper Jeff and Cecil Bodington Karen and John McGuinn ($500–$749) Paul and Deborah Cleveland Jaime Caban and Rob Mitchell Dr. Margaret R. McLean* Dr. Seth D. Ammerman* Ms. Donna Crabb and Mr. Gustav Laub Zoe Catalano Mr. and Mrs. Casey McManemin David and Michele Benjamin* Gregory Davis Ms. Linda R. Clem Jeffrey and Elizabeth Minick Mr. Igor R. Blake* Ira and Jerry Dearing* Martha Conte Thomas and Lydia Moran Mrs. Katie Budge* William Dewey Ms. Shirley Cookston John and Betsy Munz Ms. Cecily Cassel* Ms. Kathleen Dumas Ms. Karen T. Crommie Dorotea C. Nathan Ms. Buffy Cereske* Mr. Timothy C. Duran Mr. Copley E. Crosby Adam Neeley Fine Art Jewelry SF LLC Craig E. Claussen* Leif and Sharon Erickson James Cuthbertson Nancy and Bill Newmeyer Mr. Edward Conger* Ms. Susan Free Yogen and Peggy Dalal Ms. Nancy F. Noe Lisa Conte* Kathleen and Paul Goldman Niccolo De Masi Alicia Nogales and Greg Little Kristen and Charles Correll* Ms. Margaret J. Grover Dr. Thomas R. Delebo Ms. Joanna Officier and Mr. Ralph Tiegel Mr. Gregory Curatolo* Mr. David C. Hale Ms. Roberta Denning Mr. Lester Olmstead-Rose* Alan Entine* Kathy Hart* Richard and Sheryl Donaldson Pamela Orloff Dr. Marcus Feldman and Mr. John F. Heil Ms. Joanne Dunn Mr. James O’Toole Mrs. S. Shirley Feldman* Dr. and Mrs. Richard W. Horrigan Marilynne Elverson Barbara Paschke and Karen and Stuart Gansky* Edward L. Howes, MD Ms. Susan English and Michael Kalkstein David Volpendesta Bill and Nancy Grove* Alex Ingersoll and Martin Tannenbaum M. Daniel and Carla Flamm Mr. David J. Pasta Ms. Marlyne L. Hadley* Louise Karr Mrs. Dorothy A. Flanagan Ms. Danielle Rebischung Mr. Mark Hall* Jeffrey and Loretta Kaskey Darla and Patrick Flanagan Maryalice Reinmuller Adrienne Hirt and Jeffrey Rodman* George and Janet King Mr. Gregory Fung Sheryl and Jim Reuben Jeff and Sue Mulvihill* Tori and David Kistler Mr. John Garfinkle Mr. Philip Rich Richard and Donna Perkins* Hal and Leslie Kruth Frederick and Leslie Gaylord Marguerite Romanello Jillian C. Robinson* Eileen Landauer and Mark Michael David and Marcia Glassel Dan Rosenbaum and Suzanne L. Klein Meline and Jirayr Roubinian* Thomas and Barbara Lasinski Matthew G. Gloss Maureen and Paul Roskoph Mr. Robert Scheid and Mr. Todd Charles* Julia Lobel Marlys T. Green Ms. Mary Ellen Rossi Jill Stanfield* Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Logan Prerna Gupta Patti and Rusty Rueff Kay Sternberger* Jeff and Susanne Lyons Kelly and Mike Halper Paul Sack The Toland-Yeh Family* Mr. E. Craig Moody Julia Hardin Hansen Mrs. H. Harrison Sadler Mr. and Mrs. Ron Vitt* Joseph C. Najpaver and Deana Logan Mr. Thomas Harkins Sonja Schmid Ms. Rosemary Welde* Cindy Nicola* Mr. Kim Harris and Bennet Marks Mr. Paul Schmidt Christy Wise and Bob Axelrod* Ms. Susan O’Brien William Heavlin Dr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Schoen Andrew Ferguson and Kay Wu* Robert and Marcia Popper Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Heinrichs Mr. James J. Scillian Ms. Nicole Zayac* Ms. Diane Raile The Brian and Patricia A. Herman Fund Mr. Jim Sciuto Mark Zielazinski* Barbara and Saul Rockman* at Community Foundation Santa Mr. Robert J. Sehr Peter and Janice Scattini* Cruz County Mr. Jon Shantz David Schnur Leni and Doug Herst Ms. Patricia Sims Jason Seifer and Brian Ayer Dr. James and Suzette Hessler Christina Sonas Dr. Gary Stein and Jana Stein Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Hill Mr. Herbert Steierman Ms. Jacqueline Stewart James and Helen Hobbs Jeffrey Stern, M.D. Ian E. Stockdale and Ruth Leibig* Leslie and George Hume Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Strickberger Dr. and Mrs. G. Cook Story Richard and Cheryl Jacobs Mr. Jason Surles Mr. Jay Streets Ms. Carolyn Jayne Roselyne C. Swig Mrs. Helena Wasp Troy Allan and Rebecca Jergesen Marilyn E. Taghon Larry Vales Mr. and Mrs. Norman L. Johnson Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Melissa and Jonathan Weinberg Mrs. Zeeva Kardos Marvin Tanigawa Mr. Dennis Kaump Maggie Thompson SUSTAINERS Jascha Kaykas-Wolff Ms. Mary Topliff ($750–$1,199) Ms. Josephine Kennedy Ms. Leslie Tyler Michael Kim Leon Van Steen Anonymous (4) Karla Kirkegaard Mr. and Mrs. Ronald G. VandenBerghe Susan Adamson and George Westfall Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Klotter Marsha Veit Ms. Patricia Wilde Anderson Michael Kossman Mr. Douglass J. Warner Mr. Paul Anderson Ms. Hamila Kownacki Mr. William R. Weir Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Anderson Edward and Miriam Landesman Mr. Richard West Dick Barker Mrs. Judith T. Leahy Mr. Robert Weston

32 ACT-SF.ORG JO S. HURLEY, CHAIR A.C.T. gratefully acknowledges the Prospero Society members listed below, who have made an investment in the future of A.C.T. by providing for the theater in their estate plans.

**Deceased Providing a Legacy for A.C.T.

GIFTS DESIGNATED TO Alan and Susan Fritz John McGehee GIFTS RECEIVED BY AMERICAN CONSERVATORY Marilee K. Gardner Burt and Deedee McMurtry AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER Michele Garside Dr. Mary S. and F. Eugene Metz THEATER Anonymous (8) Dr. Allan P. Gold and J. Sanford Miller and The Estate of Barbara Beard Anthony J. Alfidi Mr. Alan C. Ferrara Vinie Zhang Miller The Estate of John Bissinger Judith and David Anderson Arnold and Nina Goldschlager Milton Mosk and Tom Foutch The Estate of Ronald Casassa Kay Auciello Carol Goodman and Anthony Gane Bill** and Pennie Needham The Estate of Rosemary Cozzo Ms. Nancy Axelrod JeNeal Granieri and Walter A. Nelson-Rees and The Estate of Nancy Croley M. L. Baird, in memory of Alfred F. McDonnell James Coran The Estate of Leonie Darwin Travis and Marion Baird William Gregory Michael Peter Nguyen The Estate of Mary Jane Detwiler Therese L. Baker-Degler James Haire and Timothy Cole Dante Noto The Estate of Olga Diora Ms. Teveia Rose Barnes and Richard and Lois Halliday Sheldeen Osborne The Estate of Mortimer Fleishhacker Mr. Alan Sankin Terilyn Hanko Elsa and Neil Pering The Estate of Mary Gamburg Eugene Barcone Mr. Richard H. Harding Marcia and Robert Popper The Estate of Phillip E. Goddard Robert H. Beadle Kent Harvey Kellie Yvonne Raines The Estate of Mrs. Lester G. Hamilton Susan B. Beer Betty Hoener Anne and Bertram Raphael The Estate of Sue Hamister David Beery and Norman Abramson Jo S. Hurley Jacob and Maria Elena Ratinoff The Estate of Howard R. Hollinger J. Michael and Leon Berry-Lawhorn Dr. and Mrs. Stewart Karlinsky Mary L. Renner The Estate of William S. Howe, Jr. Dr. Barbara L. Bessey and Nelda Kilguss Ellen Richard The Estate of Thomas H. Maryanski Dr. Kevin J. Gilmartin** Ms. Heather M. Kitchen Jillian C. Robinson The Estate of Michael L. Mellor Lucia Brandon Mr. Jonathan Kitchen and Susan Roos The Estate of Bruce Tyson Mitchell Mr. Arthur H. Bredenbeck and Ms. Nina Hatvany Andrea Rouah The Estate of Gail Oakley Mr. Michael Kilpatrick John and Karen Kopac Reis David Rovno, MD The Estate of Dennis Edward Parker Linda K. Brewer Catherine Kuss and Danilo Purlia Paul and Renae Sandberg The Estate of Rose Penn Martin and Geraldine Brownstein Mr. Patrick Lamey Harold Segelstad The Estate of Shepard P. Pollack Gayle and Steve Brugler Philip C. Lang F. Stanley Seifried The Estate of Margaret Purvine Bruce Carlton and Richard McCall** Mindy Lechman Ruth Short The Estate of Gerald B. Rosenstein Florence Cepeda and Earl Frick Marcia Lowell Leonhardt Dr. Eliot and Mrs. Kathy Shubin The Estate of Charles Sassoon Paula Champagne and David Watson Marcia and Jim Levy Andrew Smith and Brian Savard The Estate of Olivia Thebus Mr. and Mrs. Steven B. Chase Ines R. Lewandowitz Cherie Sorokin The Estate of Ayn and Brian Thorne Lesley Ann Clement Jennifer Lindsay Alan L. and Ruth Stein The Estate of Sylvia Coe Tolk Lloyd and Janet Cluff Nancy Livingston and Fred M. Levin Mr. and Mrs. Bert Steinberg The Estate of Elizabeth Wallace Patricia Corrigan Dot Lofstrom and Robin C. Johnson Jane and Jay Taber The Estate of Frances Webb Susan and Jack Cortis Ms. Paulette Long Mr. Marvin Tanigawa The Estate of William Zoller Ms. Joan Danforth Dr. Steve Lovejoy and Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr Richard T. Davis-Lowell Dr. Thane Kreiner Michael E. Tully Sharon Dickson Jim and Anne Magill Ms. Nadine Walas Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson Melanie and Peter Maier Marla Meridoyne Walcott Drs. Peter and Ludmila Eggleton Jasmine Stirling Malaga and Katherine G. Wallin Linda Jo Fitz Michael William Malaga David Weber and Ruth Goldstine Frannie Fleishhacker Mr. Jeffrey Malloy Paul D. Weintraub and Kevin and Celeste Ford Michael and Sharon Marron Raymond J. Szczesny Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Fowler Mr. John B. McCallister Beth Weissman Tim M. Whalen Mr. Barry Lawson Williams

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PROSPERO SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP

HELEN RIGBY, DIRECTOR OF LEGACY GIVING 415.439.2469 | [email protected]

415.749.2228 33 Memorial & Tribute Gifts

The following members of the A.C.T. community made gifts in memory and in honor of friends, colleagues, and family members during the January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2017, period.

Sandi and Mark Randall in Honor of Frannie Fleischhacker Ms. Jamie Ney in Memory of Ann Adams Lucie and Jerry Weissman in Honor of Prisca Geeslin Anonymous in Memory of Ruth Asawa Vicki and Stephen Hoffman in Honor of Skylar Goldberg Michael Kim in Memory of Youngmee Baik Robert and Riki Intner in Honor of Ruth Keith Ms. Norma Bissetta in Memory of Julie A. Bernales Laurie Hernandez in Honor of Alan Littlehales Anita L. Motta in Memory of Julie A. Bernales Anne and Ed Jamieson in Honor of Nancy Livingston Romana D. Bracco in Memory of John Bracco Helen Hilton Raiser in Honor of Nancy Livingston and Fred Levin Mr. David J. Pasta in Memory of Gloria Guth Lisa Fung in Honor of Anna Neumann-Loreck Susan Stevenson in Memory of Meribeth Meacham Anonymous in Honor of Abby Pañares Gregory Davis in Memory of Orlando, Florida Katherine E. Akos and Harry L. Jacobs in Honor of Peter Pastreich, Ms. Carey Perloff and Mr. Anthony Giles in Memory of Liz Perle Tiffany Redmon, and Nancy Mims Richard and Victoria Larson in Memory of Dennis Powers Priscilla and Keith Geeslin in Honor of Luz Perez and Amber Jo Manuel Anonymous in Memory of Eva Ramos Susan Medak and Gregory S. Murphy in Honor of Ellen Richard Joshua and Diane Brett in Memory of Evelyn Ramos Michele Bear in Honor of Craig Slaight Martin and Geri Brownstein in Memory of Eva Ramos Lisa Conte in Honor of Craig Slaight Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler in Memory of Eva Ramos Mr. and Mrs. Casey McManemin in Honor of Maria Spears Richard Grosboll in Memory of Eva Ramos Ms. Libby Tracy in Honor of Maria and Jeff Spears Ms. Peggy Kivel in Memory of Eva Ramos Ms. Eve Niquette in Honor of Kay Yun Cherie Sorokin in Memory of Eva Ramos Daniel Weinstein in Memory of Eva Ramos Ms. Elizabeth Greenberg in Memory of Eva Ramos and Virginia Ingham

Corporate Partners Circle

The Corporate Partners Circle comprises businesses that support the artistic mission of A.C.T., including A.C.T.’s investment in the next generation of theater artists and audiences, and its vibrant educational and community outreach programs. Corporate Partners Circle members receive extraordinary entertainment and networking opportunities, unique access to renowned actors and artists, premium complimentary tickets, and targeted brand recognition. For information about how to become a Corporate Partner, please contact Bethany Herron at 415.439.2434 or [email protected].

LEAD EDUCATION PRESENTING PARTNERS PERFORMANCE STAGE PARTNERS OFFICIAL HOTEL 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPONSOR ($25,000–$49,999) PARTNERS ($5,000–$9,999) SPONSOR AIRLINE SPONSOR Bank of America Foundation ($10,000–$24,999) Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. Hotel G United Airlines Theatre Forward BNY Mellon Wealth McGraw Hill Financial U.S. Bank/Ascent Management Schoenberg Family Bank of the West Law Group Deloitte LLP Farella Braun + Martel SEASON SPONSOR Perkins Coie LLP Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Foundations and Government Agencies

The following foundations and government agencies provide vital support for A.C.T. For more information, please contact Bethany Herron at 415.439.2434 or [email protected].

$100,000 AND ABOVE $50,000–$99,999 $25,000–$49,999 $10,000–$24,999 $5,000–$9,999 Doris Duke Charitable Department of Children, Anonymous The Kenneth Rainin Leonard and Sophie Foundation Youth & Their Families Walter and Elise Haas Fund Foundation Davis Fund Grants for the Arts/San The Edgerton Foundation The Kimball Foundation Laird Norton Family Edna M. Reichmuth Francisco Hotel Tax Fund National Endowment for Koret Foundation Foundation Educational Fund of The William and Flora the Arts The Harold and Mimi San Francisco Neighborhood The San Francisco Hewlett Foundation The Bernard Osher Steinberg Trust Arts Collaborative Foundation Jewels of Charity, Inc. Foundation MAP Fund The Sato Foundation Saint Francis Foundation The Stanley S. Langendorf The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Foundation The Valentine Foundation Wallis Foundation The Zellerbach Family Foundation 34 ACT-SF.ORG Theatre Forward Current Funders List as of January 2017

Theatre Forward advances American theater and its communities by providing funding and other resources to the country’s leading nonprofit theaters. Theatre Forward and its theaters are most grateful to the following funders:

THEATRE EXECUTIVES PACESETTERS DONORS Kevin & Anne Driscoll *Theatre Forward Fund for ($50,000+) ($15,000‑$24,999) ($10,000‑$14,999) John R. Dutt*▴ New American Theatre AT&T▴ American Express* Paula A. Dominick*▴ Bruce R. and Tracey Ewing*▴ †Includes in-kind support ▴ Bank of America* Bloomberg Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Jessica Farr* ▴Educating through Theatre Support James S. & Lynne Turley*▴ Cisco Systems, Inc.* Epiq Systems* Mason & Kim Granger*▴ The Schloss Family The Estée Lauder Karen A. & Kevin W. Kennedy Brian J. Harkins*▴ Theatre Forward supporters are former Foundation▴ Companies Inc. Foundation Gregory S. Hurst*▴ supporters of National Corporate Theatre Fund and Impact Creativity. ▴ Howard and Janet Kagan▴ EY* Lisa Orberg For a complete list of funders, visit ▴ BENEFACTORS Alan & Jennifer Freedman*▴ Presidio* Joseph F. Kirk* theatreforward.org. ($25,000-$49,999) Frank & Bonnie Orlowski*▴ Thomas C. Quick* Mary Kitchen and Jon Orszag Buford Alexander and Marsh & McLennan RBC Wealth Management▴ Anthony and Diane Lembke, Pamela Farr*▴ Companies, Inc. Daniel A. Simkowitz*▴ in honor of Brian J Harkins, BNY Mellon National Endowment for S&P Global board member Steven & Joy Bunson*▴ the Arts▴ TD Charitable Foundation▴ John R. Mathena*▴ Citi Pfizer, Inc. Isabelle Winkles*▴ Jonathan Maurer and DeWitt Stern* Southwest Airlines▴† Gretchen Shugart*▴ Goldman, Sachs & Co. Theatermania/Gretchen SUPPORTERS Dina Merrill & Ted Hartley* MetLife Shugart*▴ ($2,500‑$9,999) Newmark Holdings* Morgan Stanley George S. Smith, Jr.*▴ Mitchell J. Auslander*▴ Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.* Wells Fargo*▴ UBS Sue Ann Collins John Thomopoulos*▴ Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP* Disney/ABC Television Group* Evelyn Mack Truitt* Dorfman and Kaish Family Leslie C. & Regina Quick Foundation, Inc.▴ Charitable Trust Dramatists Play Service, Inc.*

Gifts in Kind

A.C.T. thanks the following donors for their generous contributions of goods and services.

4imprint Krista Coupar Adrienne Miller The Marker Hotel Anthropologie Moleskine Blackbird Vineyards Piedmont Piano Company Chateau St. Jean Premium Port Wines, Inc. Chris and Holly Hollenbeck Recchiuti Confections Clift Hotel Vera Bradley CyberTools for Libraries diptyque Emergency BBQ Company First Crush Restaurant and Wine Bar Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Just Water

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 State Farm Companies Visa International Community Partnership The Gap Lockheed Martin Corporation Foundation John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

415.749.2228 35 A.C.T. STAFF

CAREY PERLOFF PETER PASTREICH MELISSA SMITH DON-SCOTT COOPER Artistic Director Executive Director Conservatory Director General Manager

James Haire Jef Valentine, Inventory Manager Ticket Services Mark Jackson, Devised Theater Producing Director Emeritus Maria Montoya, Head Stitcher Mark C. Peters, Subscriptions Manager W. D. Keith, On-Camera Acting Kelly Koehn, Accessories & Crafts Artisan David Engelmann, Head Treasurer Philip Charles MacKenzie, ARTISTIC Chanterelle Grover, First Hand Gillian Eichenberger, Head Clerk On-Camera Acting Andy Donald, Associate Artistic Director Megan LaFleur, Costume Administrator Scott Tignor, Stephanie Arora, Heidi Marshall, On-Camera Acting Michael Paller, Dramaturg Victoria Mortimer, Alexandra Shier Perry, Subscriptions Coordinators Seana McKenna, Acting Janet Foster, Director of Casting and Costume Fellows Andy Alabran, Hillary Bray, Peter Davey, Corrine Nagata, Dance Artistic Associate Elizabeth Halperin, Alex Mechanic, Caymichael Patten, Audition Wig Shop Allie Moss, Artistic Administrator Johnny Moreno, Treasurers Jeanna Parham, Stage Makeup Lindsay Saier, Wig Master Ken Savage, Assistant Producer Carey Perloff, Arts Leadership Melissa Kallstrom, Wig Supervisor Front of House Jessica Katz, Artistic Fellow Randy Collins, Theater Manager Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique Stacey Printz, Dance Resident Artists STAGE STAFF Cara Chrisman, Assistant House Manager Helen Rigby, Fundraising Anthony Fusco, Nick Gabriel, Domenique The Geary: Miguel Ongpin, Head Carpenter Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Associate House Lozano, Craig Slaight Suzanna Bailey, Head Sound Manager Megan Q. Sada, Theater Professionalism Mark Pugh, Head Properties Oliver Sutton, Security Ken Savage, Director Associate Artists Daniel Swalec, Head Electrian Susan Allen, Rodney Anderson, Danica Elyse Shafarman, Alexander Technique Marco Barricelli, Olympia Dukakis, Burt, Margaret Cahill, Jose Camello, Lisa Townsend, Director, Choreographer Giles Havergal, Bill Irwin, Steven Colin Wade, Flyman Anthony Cantello, Barbara Casey, Kathy Becca Wolff, Director Anthony Jones, Andrew Polk, Mary Montijo, Wardrobe Supervisor Dere, Larry Emms, Doris Flamm, Gabriella Tom Stoppard, Gregory Wallace, Diane Cornelius, Assistant Gonzalez, Lee Jewel, Blue Kesler, Ryszard Studio A.C.T. Timberlake Wertenbaker Wardrobe Supervisor Koprowski, Sharon Lee, Leontyne Mbele- Liz Anderson, Filmmaking Joe Nelson, Stage Door Monitor Mbong, Sam Mesinger, Kathy Napoleone, Playwrights Genevieve Pabon, Brandie Pilapil, Heidi Carlsen, Voice The Strand: Patsy McCormack, Strand Annie Baker; Mike Bartlett; Jean-Claude Tuesday Ray, Steven Salzman, Michael Matt Chapman, Movement Master Technician Carriére, Peter Brook, and Marie-Hélène Sousa, Melissa Stern, Lorraine Williams, Julie Douglas, Mask, Clown, and Movement Estienne; Randy Johnson; Robert Lepage; Sarah Jacquez, Strand Sound Engineer Ushers Lauren English, Acting and Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh; Ursula Rani John Abele, Strand Head Carpenter Shannon Amitan, Kim Anthony, Forrest Sarma; Tom Stoppard Choy, Holly Coley, Jake Freeman, Anthony Audition Technique ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE Hernandez, Brooke Jensen, Caleb Lewis, Francie Epsen-Devlin, Musical Theater Directors Denys Baker, Administrative Fiona McGovern, Michael Mittelbuscher, Paul Finocchiaro, Acting Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne; Project Manager Susan Monson, Pete Pickens, Jeremy Rice, Nick Gabriel, Acting Randy Johnson; Robert Lepage; Miki Richmond, Tracey Sylvester, Leonard Coralyn Bond, Executive Assistant and W. D. Keith, On-Camera Acting Domenique Lozano; David Muse; Carey Thomas, Cevie Toure, Bartenders Perloff; Ken Rus Schmoll Board Liaison Drew Khalouf, Speech and Diction Amy Hand, Associate General Manager Strand Cafe Choreographers Jessica Kitchens, Acting Amy Dalba, Company Manager Rafael Monge, Cafe Manager Val Caniparoli Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique Joseph Reyes, General/Company LaRina Hazel, Raj Paul Pannu, Baristas Mark Rafael, Acting Composers/Orchestrators Management Fellow Patrick Russell, Acting, Movement, Mark Bennett; David Coulter; Karl EDUCATION & COMMUNITY Finance and Clown Lundeberg, Nick Perloff-Giles and PROGRAMS Brendan Aanes Sharon Boyce, Matt Jones, Finance Rebecca Struch, Acting Associates Elizabeth Brodersen, Director of Education Laura Wayth, Acting Music Directors & Community Programs Daniel Feyer Information Technology Tyrone Davis, Community Artistic Director YOUNG CONSERVATORY Thomas Morgan, Director Jasmin Hoo, Curriculum & Training Specialist Craig Slaight, Young Conservatory Director Designers Joone Pajar, Network Administrator Vincent Amelio, School & Community Andy Alabran, Acting John Arnone, Andrew Boyce, Marsha Programs Coordinator Ginsberg, Ken MacDonald, Daniel Operations Cristina Anselmo, Acting Stephanie Wilborn, Education & Community Pierce Brandt, Musical Theater Ostling, Scenic Jamie McGraw, Associate Manager, Facilities Programs Fellow Operation and Security Nancy Gold, Physical Character, Acting Jessie Amoroso, Beaver Bauer, Linda Cho, Elizabeth Halperin, Student Matinees Alex Jaeger, Jennifer Moeller, Costumes Jeffrey Warren, Assistant Facilities Manager Dan Griffith, Movement Joseph Givens, David McKneely, Raven Lap Chi Chu, Russell H. Champa, Robert Santiago Hutchins, Facilities Crew Sisco, Apprentices W. D. Keith, Director Hand, Nancy Schertler, Robert Wierzel, Curtis Carr, Jr., Victor Newman, Deborah Leamy, Musical Theater Lighting Jesse Nightchase, Security CONSERVATORY Domenique Lozano, Director, Acting Brendan Aanes, Mark Bennett, Jake Jaime Morales, Geary Cleaning Foreman Christine Mattison, Dance, Choreographer Rodriguez, Sound Nick Gabriel, Director of Studio A.C.T. Jamal Alsaidi, Jeaneth Alvarado, Christopher Herold, Director of Summer Vivian Sam, Musical Theater, Dance Coaches Lidia Godinez, Geary Cleaning Crew Training Congress Dan Seda, Musical Theater Nancy Benjamin, Lisa Anne Porter, Development Jack Sharrar, PhD, Director of Trish Tillman, Acting Voice, Text & Dialect Academic Affairs Luz Perez, Director of Special Events Valerie Weak, Acting Jeffrey Crockett, Voice & Text Jerry Lopez, Director of Financial Aid Helen Rigby, Director of Legacy Giving Krista Wigle, Musical Theater Stephen Buescher, Movement Dan Kolodny, Manager, Conservatory Bethany Herron, Associate Director of Operations & Professional Development Training Conservatory Accompanists Jonathan Rider, Danielle O’Dea, Fights Development, Institutional Partnerships Daniel Feyer, Music Emily Hanna, Conservatory Associate, Young Thaddeus Pinkston, Naomi Sanchez, Tiffany Redmon, Associate Director of Conservatory & Studio A.C.T. Lynden James Bair Development, Individual Giving PRODUCTION Matt Jones, Bursar/Payroll Administrator Rose Oser, Grant Writer Library Staff Audrey Hoo, Production Manager Vanessa Flores, Conservatory Associate, Renée Gholikely, Special Events Assistant Academic Programs Joseph Tally, Head Librarian Associate Robert Hand, Sarah Armstrong, Major Gifts and Production Manager Lena Mier, Marcella Toronto, G. David Anderson, Laurie Bernstein, Corporate Associate Conservatory Fellows Helen Jean Bowie, Bruce Carlton, Michelle Symons, Assistant Peter Macfarlane, Development Associate Barbara Cohrssen, James Daniel, Production Manager Stephanie Swide, Individual M.F.A. Program Core Faculty William Goldstein, Pat Hunter, Connie , Conservatory Walter Ryon Giving Associate Nancy Benjamin, Co-Head of Voice and Ikert, Martha Kessler, Nelda Kilguss, Production Manager Julia Ludwig, Special Events Fellow Dialects, Director Barbara Kornstein, Analise Leiva, Ines Maeve Morgan, Conservatory Design and Lewandowitz, Richard Maggi, Patricia Madelene Tetsch, Development Fellow Stephen Buescher, Head of Production Coordinator Movement, Director O’Connell, Roy Ortopan, Maida Paxton, Connie Pelkey, Christine Peterson, Dana Haley Miller, Conservatory Design and Marketing & Public Relations Jeffrey Crockett, Head of Voice Production Coordinator Rees, Peter Schmid, Roger Silver, Jane Christine Miller, Associate Director of Domenique Lozano, Acting, Director Taber, Susan Torres, Jean Wilcox, Marie Marlena Schwartz, Production Fellow Marketing Michael Paller, Director of Humanities Wood, Library Volunteers Stage Management Brad Amorosino, Senior Graphic Designer Lisa Anne Porter, Co-Head of Voice Elisa Guthertz, Head Stage Manager Simon Hodgson, Publications Manager and Dialects A.C.T. thanks the physicians and staff of Elisa Guthertz, Deirdre Rose Holland, Simone Finney, Digital Content Manager Jack Sharrar, PhD, Theater History the Centers for Sports Medicine, Saint Megan Q. Sada, Karen Szpaller, Stage Kevin Kopjak/Charles Zukow Associates, Melissa Smith, Head of Acting, Director Francis Memorial Hospital, for their care Managers Public Relations Counsel of the A.C.T. company: Dr. Victor Prieto, Dr. Hoylond Hong, Dr. Susan Lewis, Christina Larson, Megan McClintock, Ashley Gennarelli, Marketing Associate M.F.A. Program Adjunct Faculty Mary Carbonara, Dance Don Kemp, P.A., and Chris Corpus, Leslie M. Radin, Assistant Stage Managers Thomas Moore, Visual Designer Clinic Supervisor. Hal Day, Production Assistant Sara Morales, Graphic Designer Milissa Carey, Singing, Director Danielle Bae, Joelle Hagen, Charlotte Shannon Stockwell, Publications Associate Tyrone Davis, Citizen Artistry Accreditation Morrill, Stage Management Fellows Emilianne Lewis, Marketing Fellow Andy Donald, Arts Leadership A.C.T. is accredited by the Accrediting Julie Douglas, Improv Prop Shop Karen Loccisano, Graphic Design Fellow Commission for Senior Colleges and Daniel Feyer, Music Director, Accompanist Universities of the Western Association of Ryan L. Parham, Supervisor Elspeth Sweatman, Publications Fellow Janet Foster, Audition, Showcase Schools and Colleges (WASC), 985 Atlantic Abo Greenwald, Assistant Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501, Anthony Fusco, Acting 510.748.9001, an institutional accrediting Costume Shop Nick Gabriel, Acting, Director body recognized by the Council on Jessie Amoroso, Costume Director Giles Havergal, Director Postsecondary Accreditation and the U.S. Callie Floor, Rentals Manager Gregory Hoffman, Combat Department of Education. Keely Weiman, Build Manager/Draper Jasmin Hoo, Citizen Artistry

36 ACT-SF.ORG A.C.T. PROFILES

CAREY PERLOFF (Artistic Director) Mary Stuart, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, The Tosca Café, The is celebrating her 25th season as artistic Voysey Inheritance, Scorched, and Underneath the Lintel. director of A.C.T., where she has Perloff is also an award-winning playwright. Her recent overseen a huge growth in the quality play Kinship premiered at the Théâtre de Paris in 2014; and scope of A.C.T.’s work, helped to Higher won the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation rebuild the earthquake-damaged Geary Theatre Visions Fund Award; and Luminescence Dating Theater and the new Strand Theater in premiered in New York at The Ensemble Studio Theatre. Central Market, and has forged Perloff’s book, Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater collaborations between A.C.T. and theaters across the United (City Lights Press), was selected as San Francisco States and Canada. Known for innovative productions of Public Library’s One City One Book read for 2016. classics and championing new writing and new forms of Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was artistic director of theater, Perloff has directed classical plays from around the Classic Stage Company in New York, where she directed the world, 10 plays by Tom Stoppard (including the American premiere of Ezra Pound’s Elektra, the American premiere premieres of The Invention of Love and Indian Ink, also at of Pinter’s Mountain Language, and many classic works. Roundabout Theatre Company, and two productions of Named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Arcadia), and many productions by favorite contemporary the French government, Perloff received a BA Phi Beta writers such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, José Rivera, Kappa in classics and comparative literature from Stanford and Philip Kan Gotanda. Favorite productions include Hecuba, University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford.

PETER PASTREICH (Executive six years as managing director of the Mississippi River Director) joins A.C.T. after a 50-year Festival. In addition, Pastreich has done management career in arts management. He spent 21 consulting for the Berlin Philharmonic, Southbank Centre in years as executive director of the San London, Detroit Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Milwaukee Francisco Symphony, a period that Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony included the tenures of music directors Orchestra in Australia. He has also served as mediator in Edo De Waart, Herbert Blomstedt, and orchestra and opera union negotiations in Detroit, Louisville, Michael Tilson Thomas, and during which Milwaukee, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, and San Antonio. the orchestra increased its endowment from $12 million to $120 Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, Pastreich received million. Pastreich was the chief administrator responsible for a BA in English literature from Yale University in 1959. In the construction of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, 1999, he was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des and for its acoustical renovation. Lettres by the French government and was named an Before coming to San Francisco, he spent 12 years as honorary member of the International Alliance of Theatrical executive director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Stage Employees by Local 16 of the Stagehands Union.

MELISSA SMITH (Conservatory the Bay Area. Prior to assuming leadership of the Director, Head of Acting) has served as Conservatory, Smith was the director of the Program in Conservatory director and head of acting Theater and Dance at Princeton University, where she also in the Master of Fine Arts Program at taught introductory, intermediate, and advanced acting. She A.C.T. since 1995. During that time, she has taught acting classes to students of all ages in various has overseen the expansion of the M.F.A. colleges, high schools, and studios around the continental Program from a two- to a three-year United States, at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Hawaii, New York course of study and the further University’s La Pietra campus in Florence, and the Teatro di integration of the M.F.A. Program faculty and student body Pisa in San Miniato, Italy. She is featured in Acting Teachers of with A.C.T.’s artistic wing, while also teaching and directing in America: A Vital Tradition. Also a professional actor, she has the M.F.A. Program, Summer Training Congress, and Studio performed regionally at the Hangar Theatre, A.C.T., the A.C.T. She also successfully launched the San Francisco California Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Semester, a semester-long intensive designed to deepen in New York at Primary Stages and Soho Rep.; and in England students’ well of acting experience, broaden their knowledge at the Barbican Centre in London and Birmingham Repertory of dramatic literature, and sharpen their technical skills—all Theatre. Smith holds a BA from Yale College and an MFA while immersing them in the multifaceted cultural landscape of in acting from Yale School of Drama.

415.749.2228 37 F.Y. I .

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES A.C.T. MERCHANDISE AFFILIATIONS Copies of Words on Plays, A.C.T.’s in-depth A.C.T.’s administrative and conservatory A.C.T. is a constituent of Theatre Communications performance guide, are on sale in the main offices are located at 30 Grant Avenue, San Group, the national organization for the nonprofit lobby, at the box office, and online. Francisco, CA 94108, 415.834.3200. On the professional theater. A.C.T. is a member web: act-sf.org REFRESHMENTS of Theatre Bay Area, the Union Square Strand Cafe hours are Thursday–Tuesday (8 Association, the San Francisco Chamber of a.m.–4 p.m.) and Wednesday (7 a.m.–noon) Commerce, and the San Francisco Convention BOX OFFICE INFORMATION for the general public. Full bar service, sweets, & Visitors Bureau. and savory items are available to patrons one A.C.T. BOX OFFICE A.C.T. operates under an agreement Visit us at 1127 Market Street at 7th Street, hour before performances. You can avoid the between the League of Resident Theatres across from the UN Plaza; or at 405 Geary long lines at intermission by preordering food and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of Street at Mason, next to the theater, one and beverages. Bar drinks are now permitted professional actors and stage managers in the United States. block west of Union Square. Walk-up hours in the theater. are Tuesday–Sunday (10 a.m.–15 minutes after CELL PHONES The Director is a member of the STAGE curtain) on performance days, and Monday– DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS If you carry a pager, beeper, cell phone, or Friday (noon–6 p.m.) and Saturday–Sunday SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union. watch with alarm, please make sure that (noon–4 p.m.) on nonperformance days. it is set to the “off” position while you are The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound (For Geary Box Office walk-up hours, please in the theater. Text messaging during the designers in LORT theaters are represented visit act-sf.org.) Phone hours are Tuesday– performance is very disruptive and not allowed. by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of Sunday (10 a.m.–curtain) on performance the IATSE. days, and Monday– Friday (10 a.m.–6 p.m.) PERFUMES and Saturday–Sunday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.) on The scenic shop, prop shop, and stage crew The chemicals found in perfumes, colognes, are represented by Local 16 of the IATSE. nonperformance days. Call 415.749.2228 and and scented aftershave lotions, even in use American Express, Visa, or MasterCard; small amounts, can cause severe physical A.C.T. is supported in part by a grant from or fax your ticket request with credit card reactions in some individuals. As a courtesy to information to 415.749.2291. Tickets are also the Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel fellow patrons, please avoid the use of these Tax Fund. available 24 hours a day on our website at products when you attend the theater. act-sf.org. All sales are final, and there are no refunds. Only current ticket subscribers and EMERGENCY TELEPHONE those who purchase ticket insurance enjoy Leave your seat location with those who STRAND THEATER EXITS ticket exchange privileges. Packages are may need to reach you and have them call available by calling 415.749.2250. A.C.T. gift 415.439.2397 in an emergency. certificates can be purchased in any amount online, by phone or fax, or in person. LATECOMERS A.C.T. performances begin on time.Latecomers SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION DISCOUNTS will be seated before the first intermission only Seniors (65+) save $40 on 8 plays, $35 if there is an appropriate interval. on 7 plays, $30 on 6 plays, $25 on 5 plays, G and $20 on 4 plays. Full-time students, LISTENING SYSTEMS educators, and administrators save up to Headsets designed to provide clear, amplified 50% off season subscriptions with valid ID. sound anywhere in the auditorium are Visit act-sf.org/educate for details. available free of charge in the lobby before performances. Please turn off your hearing aid SINGLE TICKET DISCOUNTS when using an A.C.T. headset, as it will react to Joining our eClub is the best—and sometimes the sound system and make a disruptive noise. only—way to find out about special ticket offers. Visit act-sf.org/eclub for details. Find PHOTOGRAPHS AND RECORDINGS of A.C.T. us on Facebook and Twitter for other great performances are strictly forbidden. deals. Beginning two hours before curtain, RESTROOMS are located on the basement a limited number of discounted tickets level; on the ground floor (two ADA toilets are available to seniors (65+), educators, behind the box office); and toward the back of administrators, and full-time students. For the upper orchestra, on mezzanine 2. M1 matinee performances, all seats are just $20 for seniors (65+). Valid ID required—limit Wheelchair Seating is located at the one ticket per ID. Not valid for Premiere main cross aisle on the orchestra Orchestra seating. All rush tickets are subject level, at Box A on the orchestra level, to availability. and in the mezzanine. A.C.T. is pleased to announce that an Automatic GROUP DISCOUNTS External Defibrillator (AED) is now available Groups of 15 or more save up to 50%! For in the Strand box office. more information call Gillian Eichenberger at 415.439.2309. LOST AND FOUND If you’ve misplaced an item while you’re AT THE THEATER still at the theater, please look for it at our A.C.T.’s Strand Theater is located at 1127 merchandise stand in the lobby. Any items Market Street. The lobby opens one hour found by ushers or other patrons will be taken M2 before curtain. Bar service and refreshments there. If you’ve already left the theater, please are available one hour before curtain. The call 415.439.2471 and we’ll be happy to check theater opens 30 minutes before curtain. our lost and found for you. Please be prepared with the date you attended the performance and your seat location.

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production or distributing recordings on any medium, including the Internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: www.samuelfrench.com/whitepaper

38 ACT-SF.ORG Business, meet Box Office.

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To learn what Encore can do for your business, visit encoremediagroup.com. ©2017 City National Bank City National Personal Banking “ my financiallifeintune.” CityNational helpskeep City National is essence ofasuccessfulrelationship. ofwhatIdoandlove.being apart Thatisthe music toaudiencesallover theworld.Theyenjoy inhelpingmebringclassical and isinstrumental classical music.CityNational shares mypassion focus oncreating andsharingthe“adventures” of help keepmyfinanciallifeoncoursesoIcan ensemble. Ineedpeoplewhocancountonto city, adifferent pieceofmusic,adifferent So muchofmylifeisalwaysshifting;adifferent Call (866)618-5242tolearnmore. Findyour wayup. cnb.com/Tuned2SF Hear Michael’s at completestory Conductor, Educator andComposer TilsonMichael Thomas The way up The way ® for me. SM CNB MEMBER FDIC