SAN FRANCISCO’S PREMIER NONPROFIT THEATER COMPANY

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Untitled-2 1 12/17/18 4:39 PM April 2019 Volume 17, No. 8 music dance theater 2018/19 Cal Perform ances SEASON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Shakespeare’s Paul Heppner President

Théâtre National de Bretagne Mike Hathaway by Senior Vice President Directed by Arthur Nauzyciel Kajsa Puckett Vice President, Sales & Marketing With a live jazz trio and provocative staging, French director Arthur Genay Genereux Nauzyciel revives his “visually stunning, Accounting & Office Manager musically moody, and unceasingly stylish” (The Boston Globe) production Production of Shakespeare’s great political tragedy. Susan Peterson Vice President, Production

Jennifer Sugden Assistant Production Manager April 27–28 ZELLERBACH HALL Ana Alvira, Stevie VanBronkhorst Production Artists and Graphic Designers

Sales Song of the Goat Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed Songs of Lear San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Directed by Grzegorz Bral Devin Bannon, Brieanna Hansen, Music by Jean-Claude Acquaviva and Maciej Rychly Amelia Heppner, Ann Manning Seattle Area Account Executives This award-winning production retells the tragic king’s story as a Carol Yip dramatic oratorio blending Corsican Sales Coordinator folk music and Gregorian chant— a production the New York Times Marketing called “viscerally awe inspiring.” Shaun Swick Senior Designer & Digital Lead

Ciara Caya May 11 & 12 ZELLERBACH PLAYHOUSE Marketing Coordinator

Encore Media Group 425 North 85th Street Eifman Ballet Seattle, WA 98103 The Pygmalion Effect p 800.308.2898 | 206.443.0445 (US Premiere) f 206.443.1246 A ballet by Boris Eifman [email protected] Johann Strauss, Jr., music www.encoremediagroup.com Zinovy Margolin, set design Olga Shaishmelashvili, costume design Alexander Sivaev and Encore Arts Programs and Encore Stages are published monthly Boris Eifman, lighting design by Encore Media Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights For 40 years, the defiantly controversial reserved. ©2019 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without choreographer Boris Eifman has written permission is prohibited. created productions punctuated by sumptuous costumes, exquisite dancing, and riveting drama. Here, the company presents the United States premiere of his brand new ballet, set to a score by Johann Strauss Jr.

May 31–Jun 2 ZELLERBACH HALL

Season calperformances.org/tickets Sponsor:

4 ACT-SF.ORG American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco’s Tony attracts students from around the world, while the San Award–winning nonprofit theater, nurtures the art of live Francisco Semester offers a unique study-abroad opportunity theater through dynamic productions, intensive actor for undergraduates. Other programs include Studio A.C.T.— training, and ongoing community engagement. We embrace our expansive course of theater study for adults—and the our responsibility to refresh, renew, and reinvent our rich Professional Development Training Program, which offers theatrical traditions, while exploring new artistic forms actor training for companies seeking to elevate employees’ and communities. Founded by William Ball, a pioneer of the business performance skills. Our alumni often grace our regional theater movement, A.C.T. opened in San Francisco in mainstage and perform around the Bay Area, as well as on 1967. We have since performed more than 400 productions to stages and screens nationwide. more than seven million people. A.C.T. brings the benefits of theater-based arts education to Hailed as the “perfect playhouse,” the beautiful Geary Theater more than 20,000 Bay Area students and educators each year. has been our home since the beginning. When the 1989 Loma Among our Education & Community Programs are the Young Prieta earthquake ripped the roof apart, San Franciscans Conservatory (students ages 8–19), our Fellowship Program raised a record-breaking $30 million to rebuild the theater. for emerging theater professionals, and our ACTsmart school The Geary reopened in 1996 with The Tempest, directed by and community programs, including the Student Matinee Carey Perloff, who took over as A.C.T.’s third artistic director (SMAT) program that has brought hundreds of thousands in 1992 after the retirement of Edward Hastings. of young people to A.C.T. performances since 1968. We also Perloff’s tenure was marked by translations of classical provide touring Will on Wheels Shakespeare productions, works; cross-disciplinary performances and international teaching-artist residencies, in-school workshops, and collaborations; and theater made by, for, and about the Bay study materials to Bay Area schools and community- Area. Exploring powerful stories by celebrated artists and based organizations. introducing audiences to extraordinary emerging voices in With the appointments of Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon American theater continues under A.C.T.’s current artistic and Executive Director Jennifer Bielstein, our continuing director, Pam MacKinnon. commitment to the development of new work and new A.C.T.’s 50-year-old Conservatory, led by Melissa Smith, artists, and our increased presence in the Central Market is at the center of our work. Our three-year, fully accredited neighborhood with The Strand and The Costume Shop Master of Fine Arts Program is at the forefront of America’s theaters, A.C.T. plays a leadership role in securing the future actor training programs. Our Summer Training Congress of theater for San Francisco and the nation.

American Conservatory Theater Board of Trustees (As of March 2019) The Board of Directors David Riemer Jennifer Bielstein Abby Sadin Schnair of the M.F.A. Program Chair Lesley Ann Clement Lori Halverson Schryer Jerome L. Dodson Jeff Spears Abby Sadin Schnair Kay Yun Olympia Dukakis Patrick S. Thompson Chair President Rod Ferguson Joaquin Torres Patrick S. Thompson Kirke M. Hasson Frannie Fleishhacker Jeffrey W. Ubben Vice Chair Immediate Past Chair Ken Fulk Nola Yee Nancy Livingston Patti Hart Dianne Hoge Emeritus Advisory Board Norman Abramson Chair Emerita Jo S. Hurley Barbara Bass Bakar Sara Barnes Celeste Ford Alan Jones Rena Bransten Carlotta Dathe Vice Chair David L. Jones Jack Cortis Frannie Fleishhacker Priscilla Geeslin Jascha Kaykas-Wolff Joan Danforth Arnie Glassberg Vice Chair James H. Levy Dagmar Dolby Dianne Hoge Heather Stallings Little William Draper III Christopher Hollenbeck Robina Riccitiello Janet V. Lustgarten John Goldman Luba Kipnis Vice Chair Pam MacKinnon Kaatri Grigg Linda Kurtz Steven L. Swig Jamie Martin James Haire Jennifer Lindsay Vice Chair Rodman Marymor Kent Harvey Katherine McGee Sue Yung Li Toni Ratner Miller Linda Jo Fitz Jeffrey S. Minick Christine Mattison Mary Ann Munro Treasurer Marcy S. Nathan Joan McGrath Joseph Ratner Adriana López Vermut Michael P. Nguyen-Hormel Deedee McMurtry Toni Rembe Secretary Gerine Ongkeko Mary S. Metz Lori Halverson Schryer Toni Rembe Cherie Sorokin Anne Shonk Michael Richter Barry Lawson Williams Melissa Smith Sally Rosenblatt Carlie Wilmans Rusty Rueff American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 by William Ball. Edward Hastings, Artistic Director 1986–92. Carey Perloff,Artistic Director 1992–2018.

415.749.2228 5 UP NEXT AT THE GEARY

Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco Translated by Derek Prouse Directed by “Roars with power and humor . . . fascinating . . . action-packed . . . timely” Sarasota Herald-Tribune DON’T JUST SIT THERE . . .

“Sharp as ever! Ionesco’s seminal absurdist satire . . . about the fragility of civilized norms we take for granted” Los Angeles Times At A.C.T.’s free InterACT events, you can mingle with cast members, join interactive workshops with theater artists, and meet fellow theatergoers at hosted celebrations in our lounges. Join us for Was that really a rhinoceros in the Rhinoceros and InterACT with us! village square? As townspeople shed their clothes for hides and BIKE TO THE THEATER NIGHT MAY 29, 7 PM horns, rumpled office worker Take advantage of secure bike parking, low-priced tickets, and our preshow Berenger faces a desperate choice: mixer, presented in partnership with the stand against the armored beasts San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. or join the mindless herd? PROLOGUE JUN 4, 5:30 PM Go deeper with a fascinating preshow discussion with a member of the Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros artistic team. inspiration for Rhinoceros “was the THEATER ON THE COUCH* encroaching shadow of fascism and JUN 7, 8PM This exciting postshow discussion Hitler in the 1930s,” says Tony Award– addresses the minds, motivation, and winning director Frank Galati (1776 behavior of the characters. at A.C.T.). “He couldn’t believe that SAN FRANCISCO ZOO DAY JUN 9, 1–7PM intellectual men and women, whom Check our website for more details!

he loved and admired, kept their AUDIENCE EXCHANGE* mouths shut, acquiesced, and were JUN 11, 7 PM; JUN 16, 2 PM; JUN 19, 2 PM Join us for an exciting Q&A with the cast complicit. The terror of observing that following the show. contagion was the kernel of the story.” OUT WITH A.C.T.* JUN 12, 8 PM Mix and mingle at this hosted postshow Uniting riotously funny comic moments LGBTQ+ party. with chillingly resonant satire about WENTE VINEYARDS WINE SERIES JUN 18, 7 PM power and propaganda, Rhinoceros Meet fellow theatergoers at this hosted thunders into The Geary on May 29. wine-tasting event. PLAYTIME JUN 22, 12:45 PM Get hands-on with theater at this interactive preshow workshop.

*Events take place immediately following MAY 29–JUN 23 the performance. A.C.T.’S GEARY THEATER

ACT-SF.ORG/RHINO Rhinoceros To learn more about 415.749.2228 our InterACT events, by Eugène Ionesco Translated by Derek Prouse Directed by Frank Galati visit act-sf.org/interact. Come explore the B Z A.C.T.’S 19/20 SEASON Rules of play Y A 8

The most unforgettable TOP GIRLS dinner party you’ll BY CARYL CHURCHILL DIRECTED BY TAMILLA WOODARD ever attend

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TESTMATCH Scorching world premiere BY KATE ATTWELL about the rules of play on DIRECTED BY PAM MACKINNON and off the field

THE STRAND THEATER

A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS ADAPTED BY CAREY PERLOFF AND PAUL WALSH MUSIC BY KARL LUNDEBERG CHOREOGRAPHY BY VAL CANIPAROLI DIRECTED BY PETER J. KUO The Bay Area’s favorite holiday tradition BASED ON THE ORIGINAL DIRECTION BY CAREY PERLOFF THE GEARY THEATER

WAKEY, WAKEY BY WILL ENO What if you had just a few DIRECTED BY more minutes left to live? STARRING TWO-TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER TONY HALE

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@ACTSanFrancisco Come explore the B Z A.C.T.’S 19/20 SEASON Rules of play Y A 8

Scalpel-sharp dark GLORIA comedy from MacArthur BY BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS “Genius” winner Branden DIRECTED BY ERIC TING Jacobs-Jenkins

THE STRAND THEATER

TONI STONE BY LYDIA R. DIAMOND The extraordinary true DIRECTED BY PAM MACKINNON story of a trail-blazing CHOREOGRAPHED BY Bay Area athlete CAMILLE A. BROWN A COPRODUCTION WITH

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RICHARD O’BRIEN’S Here we go, San Francisco, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW “Let’s do the Time Warp BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY RICHARD O’BRIEN DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY again!” SAM PINKLETON

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POOR YELLA REDNECKS: The next chapter in VIETGONE PART 2 Qui Nguyen’s rollicking BY QUI NGUYEN Vietgone trilogy DIRECTED BY JAIME CASTAÑEDA

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SF Ballet SFB079 and SFA079.indd 1 3/11/2019 4:31:49 PM Untitled-1 1 3/12/19 9:52 AM PHOTO BY SCOTT SUCHMAN SCOTT BY PHOTO

WHAT’S INSIDE LEFT TO RIGHT Actors Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan, Maribel Martinez, Rebekah Brockman (M.F.A. Program class of 2013), Adam Magill, Anthony Michael Lopez, and Vincent Randazzo (M.F.A. Program class of 2018) in Vanity Fair.

ONSTAGE NOW A.C.T. TODAY

13 LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC 33 A NEIGHBORHOOD EDITOR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS PARTNERSHIP SIMON HODGSON Meet A.C.T.’s Official Hotel Partners, ASSOCIATE EDITOR 16 NEVER STOP STRIVING Hilton San Francisco Union Square ELSPETH SWEATMAN An Interview with Playwright Kate Hamill and Parc 55 CONTRIBUTORS By Simon Hodgson By A.C.T. Publications Staff JENNIFER BIELSTEIN PAM MACKINNON 18 WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN 34 NEW PLAYS, NEW PARTNERS, JOY MEADS SELDOM MAKE HISTORY NEW STRANDS ANNIE SEARS Becky and Amelia, Then and Now A.C.T. and Page 73 Bring Exciting Voices By Joy Meads to the 2019 New Strands Festival By Annie Sears VOLUNTEER! A.C.T. volunteers provide an invaluable service 36 WHEN WOMEN TAKE MATTERS with their time, enthusiasm, and love of theater. INTO THEIR OWN HANDS Opportunities include helping out in our performing The M.F.A. Spring Season arts library and ushering in our theaters. By Elspeth Sweatman act-sf.org/volunteer

TAKE A CLASS WITH A.C.T.’S CONSERVATORY PROGRAMS

LEARNLearn MORE more AT at ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY act-sf.org/conservatory.

415.749.2228 11 PHOTO BY JAY YAMADA JAY BY PHOTO

Develop your character with A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory, where students ages 8–19 gain professional theater training and the confidence to succeed—all in a comfortable, creative, and fun environment. Register now for “The Young Conservatory Summer classes! is the absolute best place for any hopeful Summer Session: young artist.” Darren Criss Jun 10–Aug 16 Golden Globe winner and YC alum ACT-SF.ORG/YC Photo by PopSugar / CC BY Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license FROM THE ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Welcome to A.C.T. and Vanity Fair! Thank you for coming to A.C.T.!

I am writing this program note while directing a new play by We are so pleased to welcome you to our production of Vanity Bruce Norris at the National Theatre in London. On a day off, Fair. I am particularly excited to be part of producing a play I headed to the National Portrait Gallery and stumbled upon by Kate Hamill. Kate adds a strong, contemporary lens to her a medium-sized oil painting of Vanity Fair novelist William adaptations of classics, ensuring that they are resonant with Makepeace Thackeray, age 28. His was an arresting face, full audiences today. You are in for a treat as Kate brings to life of ambition, maybe even a little smug, with a firm chin tilted the adventures of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley in England up, dark eyes fixed on the viewer. I felt a bit challenged by his during the 19th century. gaze. I felt I had come face to face with Becky Sharp herself and I suppose I had, for he created her. His striking creation It’s been a whirlwind of theater-making at A.C.T. this spring. continues to resonate today. In early April, our Fellows presented Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists, a brutal, comedic quartet of four real-life I have long loved the novel Vanity Fair, with its mysterious women living in France during the French Revolution. Our narrator who attempts to categorize and moralize but seems Young Conservatory gave us a ferocious production of Sarah to have little power; with the dozens of side stories about not DeLappe’s The Wolves, about a high school girls’ soccer only the London social set but also foreign war campaigns; and team warming up to face the challenges of adult life. And our of course with its unabashedly forward-moving and steadily M.F.A. Program students are putting on Medea and Sense and climbing heroine. Becky Sharp is a wonder who feels as Sensibility in May, showing us two very different stories of recognizably contemporary as she is specific to her time. I’m women interacting with their own families. It’s inspirational very excited to have this satirical tale of intrigue and shocking to experience so many different voices and stories onstage. ambition in flesh and blood, realized for the stage by Kate Hamill and directed by the marvelous Jessica Stone In the midst of these productions, we have also announced in a coproduction with Washington, DC’s Shakespeare the 2019–20 season! We will be bringing you a world Theatre Company. premiere, a Pulitzer finalist, a legendary immersive rock musical, an exciting super-sized sequel, a modern classic, and Kate Hamill is rapidly becoming one of the most produced more. And, of course, we continue with our annual tradition playwrights in America. Her swirling big book adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The season is filled with exciting have taken off, and alongsideVanity Fair on our mainstage, work that reflects the rich diversity of stories and human A.C.T. presents Sense and Sensibility in our M.F.A. Program experience from throughout the world. To learn more about Spring Season. I encourage you to see both to really marvel in our 2019–20 season, check out act-sf.org/join. And keep an what Kate gives to actors and audiences alike. eye on your mailbox (or email) for more insider information from Pam and me about the new season! We’ve recently announced the 2019–20 A.C.T. season as an exploration of the theme “rules of play.” These seven plays We are thrilled to create and share these productions with explore the rules we take for granted, how rules tilt the playing you. We also need your help to spread the word. Please field, who transgresses when and how.Vanity Fair could encourage friends and family who don’t currently attend the certainly fall under this umbrella too. To quote the tagline of theater to try us out at some point in the coming months. You the recent Vanity Fair mini-series on Amazon, “Their World. are our best advocates and we thank you in advance. Her Rules.” Enjoy Vanity Fair! Enjoy!

Pam MacKinnon Artistic Director Jennifer Bielstein Executive Director

13

A special celebration in support of our artist training and education and community programs

SATURDAY 06.01.19 GEARY THEATER 6pm cocktails · 7pm performance of inoeo

AUGUST HALL 8:30pm dinner + student performances + dancing + games + bowling!

EENT CO-CHAIRS LEAD SPONSOR

ABBY SADIN SCHNAIR & LORI HALVERSON SCHRYER

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, VISIT ACT-SF.ORG/FLING PAM JENNIFER MACKINNON BIELSTEIN Artistic Director Executive Director

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CAST SHAKESPEARE THEATRE (in alphabetical order) COMPANY REBEKAH BROCKMAN* DAN HIATT* Becky Sharp Manager, Miss Matilda Crawley, Lord Steyne, General Tufto PRESENTS

ALYSSA WILMOTH KEEGAN*◊ ANTHONY MICHAEL LOPEZ* ADAM MAGILL* George, Lesser Pitt, Miss Briggs, Dobbin, Miss Pinkerton, Rawdon, Mr. Sedley, Lady Bareacres, and others Rose Crawley, and others and others

by KATE HAMILL MARIBEL MARTINEZ* VINCENT RANDAZZO*† Based on the novel by Amelia Sedley Jos, Sir Pitt, Mr. Osborne, William Makepeace Miss Jemima, Lady Chesterton, King George Thackeray Directed by JESSICA STONE UNDERSTUDIES ADAM DONOVAN** AYELET FIRSTENBERG* JASMINE OSBORNE* Rawdon, Mr. Sedley, Jos, Sir Pitt, George, Lesser Pitt, Miss Briggs, Becky Sharp Mr. Osborne, Miss Jemima, Lady Bareacres, and others Lady Chesterton, King George, THIS PRODUCTION MADE and others POSSIBLE BY

MICAH PEOPLES** AVANTHIKA SRINIVASAN** HOWARD SWAIN* Company Sponsors Dobbin, Miss Pinkerton, Amelia Sedley Manager, Miss Matilda Crawley, FRANNIE FLEISHHACKER Rose Crawley, and others Lord Steyne, General Tufto MARY AND STEVEN SWIG KAY YUN AND ANDRE NEUMANN-LORECK STAGE MANAGEMENT Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Stage Management Fellow Executive Producers CRISTINE ANNE REYNOLDS* CHRIS WATERS* MIRANDA RAMOS MRS. BARBARA BAKAR JOHN LITTLE AND HEATHER STALLINGS LITTLE NION MCEVOY AND CREATIVE TEAM LESLIE BERRIMAN MARCY S. AND PAUL NATHAN Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer SARA EISNER RICHTER AND ALEXANDER DODGE JENNIFER MOELLER DAVID WEINER MICHAEL RICHTER

Sound Designer Associate Producers and Original Music Choreographer DR. BARBARA L. BESSEY JANE SHAW CONNOR GALLAGHER DR. AND MRS. RICHARD E. GEIST Voice, Text, LINDA KURTZ Fight Choreographer and Dialect Coach Dramaturg PERKINS COIE CLIFF WILLIAMS III LISA NATHANS DREW LICHTENBERG EMMETT AND MARION STANTON VERA AND HAROLD STEIN Casting Directors DR. MARTIN AND CARTER C. WOODDELL Vocal Support ELIZABETH TERPLAN JANET FOSTER, CSA LISA ANNE PORTER

OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNER A.C.T. PRODUCING TEAM

Associate Artistic Director General Manager Director of Production ANDY DONALD LOUISA BALCH MARTIN BARRON

Vanity Fair received its New York City premiere by The Pearl Theatre Company *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States (Hal Brooks, Artistic Director). **Member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts class of 2019 appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Vanity Fair is presented by special union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, †Fight Captain 15 Inc., New York. ◊ Dance Captain 16 16 ONSTAGE NOW BY SIMONHODGSON KATE HAMILL AN INTERVIEWWITH PLAYWRIGHT NEVER STOP STRIVING ACT-SF.ORG

PHOTO BY SUB/URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY Kate Hamill grew up in a family of six children on a farm in upstate New York. The remote location and her parents’ belief in literature to expand horizons engendered a love of storytelling and a curiosity for the theater. “When you grow up in a small town, you get interested in other people’s stories,” says Hamill. “I spent a lot of time reading and making up things in my head.”

After working exclusively as an actor for a number of Did you always want to be a playwright? years, she drew on her love of classic novels to write I became a playwright because I was frustrated by seeing her own play. Her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, women drop out of the business because there weren’t roles a universal tale told with razor-sharp theatricality, for them, onstage and off. I was constantly auditioning to be dazzled audiences. Hamill went on to adapt several more the idea of a woman, instead of women I knew—who were classics, including Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, funny or flawed or vulgar or sexual. Although I’d written Little Women, and The Odyssey. As she looked forward some short plays, I felt that playwrights weren’t like me. to rehearsals for Vanity Fair, we caught up with the In my mind, a playwright was like . playwright to learn more. [Laughs] Then one night, I split a bottle of wine with my

What draws you to these 19th-century stories? friend Andrus Nichols [an actor and cofounder of Bedlam theater company]. And I told Andrus, “I bet you a hundred I love stories that are big and epic and sweeping. I’m dollars I can write a play.” I wrote her a check and said she interested in class and social structures, which were more could cash it if I didn’t get her a draft. That’s how it started. delineated in the 1800s. When I started working on Jane Austen, I realized that all the stage adaptations of Sense and Sensibility were by men. So many of these female- centric classics continue to be filtered through a male “I’M INTERESTED IN RECLAIMING THE gaze. I’m interested in reclaiming them with a female gaze. CLASSICS WITH A FEMALE GAZE.” How do you adapt stories such as Vanity Fair for a 2019 audience? I’m completely disinterested in adapting things unless You played Becky Sharp in the original production of Vanity I feel like they’re relevant to today. Right now, we are Fair at The Pearl Theatre Company in 2017. Why does this interrogating women’s roles in society, how women character attract you? are judged, and the rules that women are traditionally Becky believed that she could change her circumstances supposed to follow. In my more optimistic moments, I in a way that felt completely unrealistic [to those around tend to think we’re on the brink of something changing. her]. For someone like myself, from a small town without How do you transform an 800-page novel for the stage? access to professional theater, it was a crazy dream to become an actor. I felt a connection to Becky and to her I keep what’s dramaturgically interesting. I love how dark sometimes exhausting drive to make something of herself. and funny and twisted Vanity Fair is. But there’s tons you There was something about her ambitiousness that I liked. can’t fit in. A lot of my process is just new playwriting. And of course, I love to play characters who speak the I wholly invent quite a bit, to be honest; I believe in a radical uncomfortable truth, and I think Becky tells a lot of truths. approach, in stretching the concept of “adaptation.” I want to take these stories out in the air and let them play and As the playwright, I don’t care if you think Becky is always breathe and change. In Vanity Fair, I aim to blend in new scrupulous or appealing. It’s powerful for people to see a dialogue so seamlessly that you can’t tell what’s Thackeray woman onstage who is not meant to be likable, and who we and what’s me. cannot easily judge. Both of these characters—Becky and Amelia—are not meant to be always likable. I was interested I feel comfortable changing things because the play is in writing characters who exist not to get the audience’s separate from the novel; it’s not meant to be a copy. It’s approval, but because they’re more complicated reflections meant to surprise, shake up expectations, and bring new of how people deal with getting what they want in life. n angles to an old story. Some people write me emails who feel I’m drawing on their altars with crayon. But I’m okay with that, because these stories are cultural touchstones. We can take them out and play with them and see what happens.

415.749.2228 17 ONSTAGE NOW PHOTO BY SCOTT SUCHMAN SCOTT BY PHOTO

WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN SELDOM MAKE HISTORY BECKY AND AMELIA, THEN AND NOW BY JOY MEADS 18 ACT-SF.ORG The 19th-century novel Vanity Fair begins with Becky Sharp hurling a dictionary—the farewell gift representing her years at Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies—out of the coach carrying her away from the school. With that single gesture, Becky rejects her society’s rules of feminine behavior and becomes one of literature’s most badass women.

The conventions that she trashes throughout the novel and damned if they don’t. This isn’t the only risk of abiding crushed women’s independence and ambition then and still by Miss Pinkerton’s code of etiquette. Amelia’s passiveness influence the perception of women today. The values taught leaves her dependent upon external circumstances and in 19th-century Britain and America, says historian Barbara others to provide for her, while Becky’s agency makes her Welter, represented a “cult of domesticity . . . men were the more resilient against changes of fortune. movers, the doers, the actors. Women were the passive, submissive responders.” This fact above all may be the hidden root of our societal stigma against female ambition. “What is likability if not These expectations of young men and women’s behavior a deference to men—with a self-deprecating smile?” asks shaped the literature of the time too. In a study of 19th- Katha Pollitt in an article for The Nation. “A likable woman century novels at the University of Nevada, researchers doesn’t talk too loud or too much. She doesn’t take up too discovered a stark difference between the verbs associated much space, isn’t too sexy or too dowdy, and gracefully eludes with male and female fictional characters. Verbs connected confrontation. In short, she doesn’t demand anything that with emotion (cry, love, weep) were generally related to men would rather keep for themselves, be it political power female characters, but verbs referring to action (advance, or sexual autonomy or the right to be safe after having a approach, ride) were typically related to male characters. couple of drinks.”

Becky Sharp’s agency and ambition broke the mold for this Even in the first few months of the 2020 presidential vision of 1800s heroines. But ever since William Makepeace season—with a campaign featuring six female candidates Thackeray introduced her to the world in 1848, people have to date—the enduring force of these old dynamics is hard debated whether or not she is “likable.” In his novel, the to deny. After Elizabeth Warren declared her candidacy, author himself often seems in two minds about his wickedly an article in online magazine Politico questioned how the vivacious creation, praising her go-getting energy yet candidate could “avoid a [Hillary] Clinton redux—written off criticizing her naked ambition. Even his editor at the time as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground.” chided him for “enjoying Becky” too much, and urged him to redirect his sympathies toward Amelia. Much has changed since Thackeray presented readers with Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley in 1848. In contemporary The question over whether powerful, independent women America, most people believe in the concept of gender equity. like Becky are likable is much more than a literary debate. Our society has worked hard to break down the structural There is a vast body of research demonstrating that women barriers to women’s advancement, resulting in real—if in the real world are stigmatized when they prioritize their incomplete—progress. In continuing to shake up outdated own ambitions instead of others’ needs. In one Columbia gender binaries, Vanity Fair playwright Kate Hamill asks University study, researchers gave two groups of MBA us to perceive her characters and our leaders, friends, and students the same profile of an ambitious executive, naming colleagues afresh, in all their complicated humanity. n the person Howard for one test group and Heidi for the other. Although both Heidi and Howard were viewed as competent, AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER 18/19 SEASON VOL. XXV, NO. 6 Howard was judged to be far more likable than Heidi. VANITY FAIR

Women who are the opposite of Becky and put others before themselves, such as Becky’s best friend Amelia, hardly fare better, according to research. Though they are more liked, Want to know more about Vanity Fair? they are also perceived as less competent than their ambitious Words on Plays is full of interviews and original counterparts. Feminist scholars call this behavioral trap articles that give you a behind-the-scenes look. “the double bind”—women are damned if they do aspire, Proceeds from sales of Words on Plays benefit A.C.T.’s education programs.

LEFT Rebekah Brockman and Maribel Martinez in Shakespeare Theatre Available at the box office and lobby, at the bars, Company and A.C.T.'s 2019 production of Vanity Fair. and online at act-sf.org/wordsonplays.

415.749.2228 19 20 ACT-SF.ORG

Untitled-1 1 2/28/19 11:54 AM WHO'S WHO IN VANITY FAIR

REBEKAH His Bay Area credits include Joe Best Supporting Actress in a Musical); BROCKMAN* Turner’s Come and Gone and Dinner Richard III (Folger Theatre); Late: A (Becky Sharp) with Friends (Berkeley Repertory Cowboy Song and Stop Kiss (No Rules returns to A.C.T., Theatre); , Romeo and Theatre Company); The History of where she Juliet, , Man and Superman, Invulnerability (Theater J); The performed in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Container (Baltimore Center , Dead Nickleby (California Shakespeare Stage); and more than 30 productions Metaphor (world Theater); A Flea in Her Ear and This at American Shakespeare Center. premiere), A Christmas Carol, Elektra Wonderful Life (San Jose Repertory Keegan’s film credits includeKringle (with Olympia Dukakis), and Happy to Theatre); Anne Boleyn (Marin Time (2019). She received her MFA Stand. Other regional credits include Theatre Company); The 39 Steps from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing (Signature (TheatreWorks); and Breakfast with Academy for Classical Acting at Theatre), The Liar (Westport Country Mugabe (Aurora Theatre Company). George Washington University. Playhouse), Arcadia (Yale Repertory Other regional work includes The Theatre; Connecticut Critics Circle Way of the World and Mary Stuart ANTHONY Award for Outstanding Featured (Huntington Theatre Company); MICHAEL LOPEZ* Actress in a Play), Our Town (Actors The Two Gentlemen of Verona and (Dobbin and Theatre of Louisville), Romeo and Dirty Blonde (Arizona Theatre others) has Juliet and Blithe Spirit (California Company); and Picasso at the Lapin performed off- Shakespeare Theater), The Children Agile (Ford’s Theatre; Helen Hayes Broadway in Light (The Gift Theatre), and The Winter’s Award nomination). Shining in Tale and The Comedy of Errors Buckinghamshire (directed by Rachel (Kingsmen Shakespeare Company). In ALYSSA Chavkin), Othello (starring Daniel New York, she has appeared in A Taste WILMOTH Craig and David Oyelowo, directed by of Honey (The Pearl Theatre KEEGAN* (George and Sam Gold), and Dessert (directed by Company) and Burial at Thebes (Irish others) has Whitney White) at New York Theatre Repertory Theatre). She has trained at performed Workshop; The Artificial Jungle at Rince na Tiarna School of Irish internationally in Theater Breaking Through Barriers; Dance, and she earned her M.F.A. Thomas and and Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected from A.C.T., where she received the Friends Live Onstage (ThemeSTAR) Guest at Theatre Row. His other New Joan Sadler Award. and off-Broadway inAgamemnon York credits include The Penalty (with rebekahbrockman.com (Eleventh Hour Theatre Company). the Apothetae theater company at The DAN HIATT* Her regional credits include How I Public Theater), A Midsummer Night’s (Manager and Learned to Drive, Cat on a Hot Tin Dream (with the Apothetae at Queen’s others) returns Roof (Helen Hayes Award for Theatre), and All The Rats & Rags for his second Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play), (Joe’s Pub; reading). Lopez also played coproduction with and (Round House Vice Principal Douglas Panch in the A.C.T. and Theatre); Gloria and Botticelli in the national tour of The 25th Annual Shakespeare Fire (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Putnam County Spelling Bee. His Theatre Company, Company; Helen Hayes Award regional credits include after King Charles III in 2016. Other nominations); Digging Up Dessa (John (Hartford Stage) and the reading of productions at A.C.T. include Father F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Nike, or We Don’t Need Another Hero Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 Arts); Bad Dog (Helen Hayes Award (A.C.T.). Lopez has appeared on screen & 3), Hamlet, Love and Information, nomination) and Fickle: A Fancy in the filmsMapplethorpe (starring Round and Round the Garden, The French Farce (Olney Theatre Center); Matt Smith; Tribeca Film Festival), Rivals, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Come From Away (Ford’s Theatre; Anomaly, and Pop Meets the Void, and Are Dead, The Matchmaker, The Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding on television in Broad City, Homeland, Cherry Orchard, and Ah, Wilderness! Acting Ensemble and nomination for The Knick, and Half Life (pilot).

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States 415.749.2228 21 ADAM MAGILL* VINCENT (Rawdon and RANDAZZO* others) is a Bay (Jos and others) Proud to Area actor who has returns to A.C.T., been seen at where he has Support Berkeley Repertory performed in A Theatre (), Walk on the Moon, A.C.T. Marin Theatre Hamlet, and A Company (Shakespeare in Love, The Christmas Carol. Other Bay Area Legend of Georgia McBride, Native credits include Washed Up on the Son, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Potomac at San Francisco Playhouse. Pemberley, and The Whale), San Other credits include projects with Personal attention Francisco Playhouse (Stupid Fucking The Shylock Project in Venice, Italy Bird), Shotgun Players (Dry Land), thoughtful litigation (Orson Welles/Shylock—A Docu– and Cutting Ball Theater (Uncle Fantasy Radio Play), St-Ambroise final resolution Vanya). He trained at Foothill Theatre Montreal Fringe Festival,

Our goal is to preserve our LAW FAMILY Conservatory and Seydways Acting Fringe Festival, and Franklin Stage client’s dignity and humanity. Studios. Company. Randazzo earned his BA in theatre from Le Moyne College and MARIBEL his M.F.A. from A.C.T. MARTINEZ* FA M I LYLAW G R OUP, P. C . (Amelia Sedley) ADAM has performed DONOVAN** 575 Market Street, Suite 4000 off-Broadway in (Understudy) is San Francisco, CA 94105 415.834.1120 Julius Caesar at a third-year www.sflg.com The Public student in A.C.T.’s Theater’s Master of Fine Shakespeare in the Park. Her regional Arts Program. credits include Miss Bennet: He was last Christmas at Pemberley (Cincinnati seen on the Geary stage as Fred in Playhouse in the Park), Rip Van Get a taste of A Christmas Carol. His Bay Area Winkle; Or, Cut the Old Moon into credits include Tarzan in Tarzan at Stars (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Berkeley Playhouse and Gus in White Festival); The Merry Wives of at Shotgun Players, as well as Josh with a glass of Windsor, As You Like It, and The Beard in a reading of Seas Between Us Braid of Avon (Santa Cruz Shakespeare); at San Francisco Playhouse. A.C.T. Becky’s Rack Punch and Hamlet and As You Like It (New M.F.A. credits include Solyony in Swan Shakespeare Festival). She has Three Sisters, Dionysos in The White rum, participated in workshops for the Bacchae of , and Sir Andrew journey between, by Korde Arrington Aguecheek in . Donovan organic lemonade, Tuttle (JAGfest); Bees and Honey, by toured nationwide performing orange bitters, Guadalís Del Carmen (The Sol Orlando in As You Like It, Sebastian in Project’s SolFest: A Latinx Theater The Tempest, and Jem in To Kill a and nutmeg, Festival); Citrus (Northern Stages’s Mockingbird in repertory. topped with New Works Now); and LAByrinth Theater Company’s Barn Series. sparkling water and Martinez received her MFA in an orange slice. acting from UC Irvine. maribel-martinez.com $14

Order your drink from the bar at intermission. *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States **Member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts class of 2019 appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States 22 ACT-SF.ORG AYELET North Carolina School of the Arts, HOWARD FIRSTENBERG* where she was awarded the Sarah SWAIN* (Understudy) Graham Kenan Scholarship of (Understudy) was most recently Excellence. She is grateful to her returns to A.C.T., seen in Yoga Play parents, her 15-year-old cat Lulu, where his credits at San Francisco and her partner Jeff for their love include Curse of the Playhouse, and support. Starving Class, Fun Home at Taking Steps, A Lie TheatreWorks, and a workshop MICAH of the Mind, and The Seagull. He has reading of Carey Perloff’sBastiano at PEOPLES** worked off-Broadway at New York Playwrights Foundation. Bay Area (Understudy) Theatre Workshop and on the national credits include the world premiere of is in his final year tours of Picasso at the Lapin Agile Stephen Schwartz’s The Prince of as an A.C.T. and Love, Janis. Local credits include Egypt at TheatreWorks; The M.F.A. Program Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Effect, Sunday in the Park with candidate. He was TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre George, and She Loves Me at San last seen on the Company, West Edge Opera, San Jose Francisco Playhouse; Noises Off at Geary stage as Topper in A Christmas Stage Company, Magic Theatre, Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre; The Carol. Peoples has been in many TheatreFIRST, San Francisco Wild Party at Ray of Light Theatre; M.F.A. productions. Some of his Playhouse, Center REPertory and workshop readings at American favorites include Lynn Nottage’s Las Company, Marin Theatre Company, Conservatory Theater, Shotgun Meninas, Othello, Fuente Ovejuna, and Intersection for the Arts, PlayGround, Players, Custom Made Theatre, and Three Sisters. Regionally, he has and Symmetry Theatre Company, as Golden Thread. Off-Broadway credits worked at Nevada Conservatory well as the Oregon Shakespeare include Pinkalicious and Angelina Theatre in Las Vegas, as well as Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Ballerina at the McGinn/Cazale Chautauqua Theater Company in its Festival, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Theatre. This summer, Firstenberg productions of Detroit ’67 and Romeo Marin Shakespeare Company, and can be seen at Davis Shakespeare and Juliet. He hopes you enjoy the California Shakespeare Theater. Festival in A Gentleman’s show. @peeeeeepulz Screen credits include Nash Guide to Love and Murder. AVANTHIKA Bridges, Midnight Caller, Partners in AyeletFirstenberg.com SRINIVASAN** Crime, Kiss Shot, Bed of Lies, Hill is Street Blues, Cherry 2000, Miracle JASMINE (Understudy) excited to return to Mile, Metro, Dog and the Dogma, OSBORNE* Bartleby, Golden Gate, Just One is The Geary this (Understudy) Night, Teknolust, Frameup, Night of honored to join the spring in Vanity the Scarecrow, Valley of the Heart’s San Francisco Fair. Srinivasan is Delight, and Smoke and Mirrors. production of a third-year student in A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program. Vanity Fair at WILLIAM MAKEPEACE Recent acting credits at A.C.T. include A.C.T. Some Bay THACKERAY (Author) was Area credits include The Jungle Book Tasha in Both Your Houses, a new play born in 1811 in Calcutta, India, (Marin Theatre Company), The by Susan Soon He Stanton co- to British parents. At the age of Wolves (Capital Stage Company), and commissioned by A.C.T. and Crowded five, he was sent back to Britain to Kano + Abe: A Daly City Bible Story Fire Theater; Natasha in Three attend school. After squandering (PlayGround at Potrero Stage). Before Sisters; Laurencia in Fuente Ovejuna; his inheritance and trying several relocating to California, she lived and Feste in Twelfth Night; and in other professions (including visual worked in New York City, where she Tartuffe (Sky Festival). Last summer, art and law), Thackeray became a was in Kris Kringle (Manhattan Srinivasan played Perdita in The writer, contributing criticism, prose Theatre Club). You can see her on Winter’s Tale at Livermore sketches, and satirical pieces to Shakespeare Festival. She also screen in the feature filmHow to Be a Fraser’s Magazine, The Times, and recently played the role of Indian Man (Fox 20th Century Digital Punch, among others. He also wrote Studios), as well as in One Life to Live goddess Namagiri in the play Partition travel books and fiction, including at Indra’s Net Theater in Berkeley. She (The Online Network) and What Catherine (1840), The Book of Snobs holds a BA in French and theater from Would You Do? (ABC). Osborne holds a (1848), Pendennis (1850), and his Princeton University. BFA in acting from the University of most famous work, Vanity Fair avanthikasrinivasan.com

415.749.2228 23 PHOTOS BY MARK KITAOKA AND TRACY MARTIN AND TRACY MARK KITAOKA BY PHOTOS REAL THEATER CLASSES FOR REAL PEOPLE

Register today for our summer sessions! SESSION 1: Jun 10–Jul 12 SESSION 2: Jul 15–Aug 16 ACT-SF.ORG/STUDIO (1848). He was considered second and Sonia and Masha and Spike, include Sweat on Broadway; Love’s only to fellow Victorian novelist Charlotte’s Web, June Moon, Last Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare in the Charles Dickens. Thackeray’s writing of the Red Hot Lovers, The 25th Park); Mlima’s Tale, Sweat, and Tiny career was cut short in 1863, when Annual Putnam County Spelling Beautiful Things (The Public Theater); he suffered a stroke at the age of 52. Bee, and Absurd Person Singular, as Aubergine (); well as the upcoming production of Cardinal (); and KATE HAMILL (Playwright) is an As You Like It at The Old Globe. The Dance and the Railroad (Signature actor and playwright who was named Theatre). Regionally, Moeller has Wall Street Journal’s 2017 Playwright ALEXANDER DODGE (Scenic designed costumes for Candide and of the Year. Her plays include Sense & Designer) makes his A.C.T. debut La bohème (Washington National Sensibility (in which she originated with Vanity Fair. His Broadway Opera); Bachelorette and Venus in Fur the role of Marianne; Off-Broadway credits include Anastasia (Outer (Studio Theatre); Alliance Award); Vanity Fair at The Critics Circle Award nomination), and (Guthrie Theater); Pearl Theatre Company (in which A Gentleman’s Guide to Love The Last Goodbye (The Old Globe); she originated the role of Becky and Murder (Tony, Drama Desk, The How and the Why (McCarter Sharp; Off-Broadway Alliance Award and Outer Critics Circle Award Theatre Center); Six Degrees of nomination); Pride & Prejudice at nominations), Separation (Williamstown Theatre Primary Stages and Hudson Valley (Tony Award nomination), Old Festival); and The Winter’s Tale (Yale Shakespeare Festival (in which she Acquaintance, Butley, and Hedda Repertory Theatre). Moeller has an originated the role of Lizzy); Mansfield Gabler. Off-Broadway credits include MFA from Yale School of Drama. Park at Northlight Theatre; and Little Harry Clarke (Vineyard Theatre, Women at Jungle Theater. Her plays Minetta Lane); Ripcord (Manhattan DAVID WEINER (Lighting have been produced off-Broadway, Theatre Club); Lips Together Teeth Designer) has designed The at American Repertory Theater, the Apart, Modern Terrorism, All Price, Misery, Romeo and Juliet, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the New People, and Trust (Second Dead Accounts, Grace, Godspell, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Repertory Stage Theater); Rapture Blister The Normal Heart, reasons to be Theatre, Folger Theatre, Pittsburgh Burn (Playwrights Horizons); The pretty, Butley, , Public, and others. She has upcoming Understudy (Roundabout Theatre Dinner at Eight, and Betrayal on productions at Trinity Repertory Company); Measure for Pleasure (The Broadway. His off-Broadway credits Company, Portland Center Stage, Public Theater); and Observe the Sons include work at The Public Theater, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public of Ulster (Lincoln Center Theater; Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Theater, Kansas City Repertory Lucille Lortel Award). Dodge has Stage Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre, and more. She is currently designed Disney’s The Hunchback of MCC Theater, New York Theatre developing new adaptations of The Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse, Paper Workshop, Vineyard Theatre, and Odyssey and The Scarlet Letter; a Mill Playhouse, Japan, Germany); Atlantic Theater Company. His Christmas play called Scrooge for All New People (London’s West End); regional credits include productions Senate; and new plays In the Mines, Samson et Dalila (Metropolitan at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Prostitute Play, and The Piper. Opera); The Ghosts of Versailles (LA Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Hamill was one of the top five most Opera); Dinner at Eight (Minnesota , the Guthrie produced playwrights nationwide Opera, Wexford Festival); and Il Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter in 2018–19. kate-hamill.com trittico (Deutsche Oper Berlin). He Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre trained at Yale School of Drama. Company, American Repertory JESSICA STONE (Director) has Theater, Williamstown Theatre directed at Williamstown Theatre JENNIFER MOELLER (Costume Festival, and Berkeley Repertory Festival, The Old Globe, Huntington Designer) is an affiliated artist with Theatre. Weiner has designed for Theatre Company, Two River Shakespeare Theatre Company, where theme parks (Frozen—Live at the Theater, Bucks County Playhouse, she has designed costumes for Twelfth Hyperion and Disney California and George Street Playhouse, among Night, King Charles III, The Tempest, Adventure Park), music festivals others. Her credits include Barefoot A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The (Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, and in the Park, Dancing at Lughnasa, Merchant of Venice, Richard II, Romeo Grandoozy), and the Michelin Star Bad Dates, Ken Ludwig’s Robin and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Antony Award–winning restaurant Cote. Hood! (world premiere), Ripcord, and Cleopatra, Tamburlaine, and He has received three Lucille Lortel Bad Jews, Arms and the Man, Vanya Richard III. Her New York credits Awards (for Guards at the Taj,

415.749.2228 25 Through a Glass Darkly, and Rodney’s CONNOR GALLAGHER (Baltimore Center Stage); Lulu, Wife), an LA STAGE Alliance Ovation (Choreographer) recently directed by Mark Lamos, and the US Award (Venice), a choreographed the Broadway premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s nomination (A Small Fire), and seven production of Beetlejuice. Off- In the Red and Brown Water (Yale Hewes Design Award nominations. Broadway, his credits include The Repertory Theatre); The Front Page, DavidWeinerDesign.com. Robber Bridegroom at Roundabout The Physicists, and The Corn is Green Theatre Company (Astaire Award, (Williamstown Theatre Festival); JANE SHAW (Sound Designer Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding and Macbeth, directed by Moisés and Original Music) has recently Revival) and Into the Woods at The Kaufman (New York Shakespeare worked on They Promised Her Public Theater (assistant director Festival). Internationally, Lichtenberg the Moon (The Old Globe), The and choreographer). His regional has dramaturged for Salomé and Engagement Party (Hartford Stage), work includes Beauty and the Beast Les Blancs at London’s National and The Price of Thomas Scott (Mint and Tangled (world premiere) for Theatre. He teaches at The Catholic Theater Company). Her New York Disney Creative Entertainment; University of America and The credits include I Was Most Alive Dancing at Lughnasa at Two River New School. He has a doctorate in with You (Playwrights Horizons), Theater; The 25th Annual Putnam dramaturgy and dramatic criticism Actually (Manhattan Theatre Club), County Spelling Bee at Bucks County from Yale School of Drama. Measure for Measure (Theatre for Playhouse; Found at Philadelphia a New Audience), Blood (National Theatre Company; The Twelve at CARTER C. WOODDELL Black Theatre), Ironbound (Women’s Denver Center for the Performing (Casting) has cast many productions Project Theater, Rattlestick Arts; and work at Westport Country for Shakespeare Theatre Company, Playwrights Theater), and In the Time Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, including The Panties, The Partner, of Butterflies (Repertorio Español). TheatreWorks, Northern Stage, and The Profit; Camelot; Waiting for She has designed and composed for and Mint Theater Company. He Godot; Noura; The Lover and The Cleveland Play House, the Mark choreographed the national tour of Elf Collection; The School for Lies; King Taper Forum, Cincinnati Playhouse the Musical (Madison Square Garden) Charles III; The Secret Garden; 1984; in the Park, Milwaukee Repertory and directed the national tour of The The Critic and The Real Inspector Theater, Triad Stage, Capital Magic School Bus. He once spent a Hound; Kiss Me, Kate; Salomé; Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, and year on Broadway as a dancing rug. Tartuffe; Dunsinane; Man of La the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Gallagher has a BFA from University Mancha; The Metromaniacs; and Shaw is a member of United Scenic of Cincinnati College-Conservatory 16 Shakespeare productions. Other Artists Local 829 and Theatrical of Music. connorgallagher.com. casting experience includes End of Sound Designers and Composers the Rainbow and High on Broadway, Association, and has been honored DREW LICHTENBERG and Tribes, Our Town, Freud’s Last with awards including a Drama Desk, (Dramaturg) has worked on 40 Session, A Perfect Future, The Irish Bessie, Henry, Premios Asociación productions with Shakespeare Curse, and An Error of the Moon de Cronistas del Espectáculo Theatre Company, including 19 off-Broadway. Some other New York (2012), Theatre Communications Shakespeare plays and world credits are Hamlet, Fly, and Sheila’s Group Career Development grant, premieres by David Ives, Robert Day (Lincoln Center Institute). and two Connecticut Critics Pinsky, Jeffrey Hatcher, Yaël Farber, Wooddell has cast national tours for Circle Awards. She was raised in and Heather Raffo. He has worked on The Acting Company and Riverdance, Kansas and lives in Brooklyn. Time and the Conways on Broadway, and regionally at , directed by Baltimore Center Stage, The Broad (Roundabout Theatre Company). Stage, Crossroads Theatre Company, His regional credits include The George Street Playhouse, the Guthrie Arsonists (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Company); and TheaterWorks (Hartford). Her (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The radio credits include The Piano Lesson Winter’s Tale (McCarter Theatre (BBC) and screen credits include The Center); Cyrano, Around the World Electric Company, 27 East (pilot), in 80 Days, and Caroline, or Change Premium Rush, and Junction.

26 ACT-SF.ORG Join us at The Strand for a MAY 16–19 week of free readings, master THE STRAND THEATER classes, panel discussions, art installations, happy hours, and 1127 MARKET STREET performances of new work!

VISIT ACT-SF.ORG/NEWSTRANDS FOR MORE INFORMATION JANET FOSTER, CSA (Casting) manager for Pacific Northwest has cast for A.C.T. for seven seasons, Ballet for three seasons. She studied including ’s Seascape, at College of Marin and has a BA Men on Boats, Sweat, Hamlet, A in theater arts from California Thousand Splendid Suns, The Hard State University at Long Beach. ACTOR TRAINING ACTOR TRAINING Problem, King Charles III, John, Arcadia, Stuck Elevator, The Orphan CHRIS WATERS* (Assistant of Zhao, Napoli!, and Endgame and Stage Manager) returns to A.C.T. Play. On Broadway she cast The after working on The Great Leap Light in the Piazza (Artios Award and Sweat earlier this season. He nomination), Lennon, Ma Rainey’s has worked off Broadway at The Black Bottom, and Taking Sides Public Theater and locally at Aurora (co-cast). Off-Broadway credits Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory include True Love, Floyd Collins, The Theatre, California Shakespeare Monogamist, A Cheever Evening, and Theater, Magic Theatre, Santa Later Life. Regionally, she has worked Cruz Shakespeare, and Z Space. at Intiman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Favorite past productions include Theatre, California Shakespeare Office Hour, Ain’t Too Proud: The 2019 Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Life and Times of the Temptations, FALL 2019 Yale Repertory Theatre, Goodman Hand to God, King Lear, Orlando, Intensive, Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and A House Tour of the Infamous Porter Family Mansion with Tour comprehensive Company, The Old Globe, and American Repertory Theater. Film, Guide Weston Ludlow Londonderry. AUG 31–DEC 13 actor training in television, and radio credits include Waters holds an MA in theater San Francisco: Take Cosby, Tracey Takes On New York, management from UC Santa Cruz. the 5-week Core The Deal, Advice from a Caterpillar, FRANNIE FLEISHHACKER The Day That Lehman Died (Peabody, Embark on a 15-week Skills Intensive, the (Company Sponsor) has been SONY, and Wincott awards), and actively involved with A.C.T. for more study-away program 2-week Shakespeare “T” Is for Tom ( radio than 21 years. She has chaired several with some of the best plays, WNYC and WQXR). She also Intensive, or combine season galas and currently serves on theater artists in the cast LifeAfter, a GE Theater podcast. the A.C.T. Board of Trustees and on business. Connect with them both for the the board of directors of the M.F.A. CRISTINE ANNE REYNOLDS* the eclectic Bay Area total actor package. Program. She is also co-chair of the (Stage Manager) is a Seattle- community, combining based stage manager who is thrilled Producers Circle, leads A.C.T.’s annual internationally- to be at A.C.T. for this project. Some Producers’ Circle dinner, and is an active member on the Development recognized professional 5-WEEK SESSION 1 of her regional theater credits include 20 seasons of productions at Committee. She has been a major actor training with Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle financial supporter of A.C.T., funding theatrical and cultural JUN 10–JUL 12 an M.F.A. Program scholarship Opera (including Wagner’s Ring immersion in the heart in Mort Fleishhacker’s name and 2-WEEK SESSION 2 Cycle in 1995 and 2000–13), and of San Francisco. Seattle Children’s Theatre, as well as making additional contributions to JUL 12–26 productions at Shakespeare Theatre support the refurbishment of The Company, Arena Stage, and South Garret at The Geary Theater, as well Coast Repertory. Her international as A.C.T.’s Strand Theater. She was tours include A Midsummer Night’s the treasurer of the Junior League of San Francisco for two years; the APPLY BY MAY 17 Dream (Macau Arts Festival) and for most serious consideration APPLY BY MAY 10 Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de treasurer, first vice president, and for most serious consideration Lune and Misalliance (Singapore president of The Francisca Club; and Festival of the Arts). In addition to her on the board of directors of “That SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE theater and opera credits, Reynolds Man May See,” which supports the SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE has also been the production stage Ophthalmology Department at UCSF. ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States

28 ACT-SF.ORG MARY AND STEVEN SWIG MRS. BARBARA BAKAR (Company Sponsors) have (Executive Producer) has been supported A.C.T. and attended involved with A.C.T. for three decades productions since the company’s and has produced numerous plays, arrival in San Francisco. Steven including Vigil, Gem of the Ocean, ACTOR TRAINING ACTOR TRAINING Swig has served as an A.C.T. trustee After the War, Souvenir: A Fantasia on since 1986 and is the cofounder the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, A and president emeritus of Presidio Streetcar Named Desire, and Satchmo Graduate School. The Swigs have co- at the Waldorf. Bakar is founder founded and are co-chairs of Freedom and president of Achieve, a high to Prosper, a campaign designed school scholarship and enrichment to cancel all existing student debt program for underserved students in the US. They also serve together from low-income families. She was on the boards of the Solar Electric chair of and is currently on the UC Light Fund and the Americans San Francisco board of overseers, for Cures Foundation (stem cells). and she is on the board of visitors at Mary Swig is also on the Women’s UC Berkeley. She has been president Leadership Board of Harvard and CEO of Emporium-Weinstocks; 2019 University’s John F. Kennedy School CEO and chair of I. Magnin; and a FALL 2019 of Government. At A.C.T., the Swigs director of Starbucks Corporation and Intensive, have produced Curse of the Starving DFS Group, Ltd. Bakar is an emerita comprehensive Class, , The Last Five trustee of A.C.T. and was on the Board Years, and A Walk on the Moon. of Trustees from 1992 to 2010. AUG 31–DEC 13 actor training in San Francisco: Take KAY YUN AND ANDRE JOHN LITTLE AND HEATHER NEUMANN-LORECK (Company STALLINGS LITTLE (Executive the 5-week Core Sponsors) have supported A.C.T.’s Producers) have produced Father Embark on a 15-week Skills Intensive, the Hamlet, King Charles III, Indian Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 Ink, Battlefield, and Love and & 3), A Thousand Splendid Suns, The study-away program 2-week Shakespeare Information. Yun is the president Last Five Years, and at with some of the best Intensive, or combine of the A.C.T. Board of Trustees, A.C.T. Heather Stallings Little is theater artists in the them both for the serves on several committees, a CPA-turned-writer who worked business. Connect with and hosts an M.F.A. Program in investment banking and as the total actor package. the eclectic Bay Area actor. Yun and Neumann-Loreck CFO of a company that manages community, combining are passionate about supporting the affairs of professional athletes. internationally- A.C.T., in particular its education She has an MFA from NYU Paris. recognized professional 5-WEEK SESSION 1 programs. Yun also serves on the A frequent adventure traveler, she board of San Francisco University writes travel stories as well as actor training with JUN 10–JUL 12 High School. She is a partner at a fiction. She is the author of Click theatrical and cultural private equity firm and Neumann- City (the novel and fiction serial immersion in the heart Loreck is a founder and managing seen in the San Francisco Chronicle) 2-WEEK SESSION 2 of San Francisco. partner of a consulting company and the novel False Alarm. She JUL 12–26 working with hardware start-ups. joined the A.C.T. Board of Trustees in 2011. John Little is a technology entrepreneur and inventor. He is currently working with a Texas oil APPLY BY MAY 17 company on an energy venture using for most serious consideration APPLY BY MAY 10 artificial intelligence and blockchain. for most serious consideration In his spare time, he enjoys adventure travel, skiing, photography, and SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE collecting art and cowboy boots. SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY ACT-SF.ORG/CONSERVATORY

415.749.2228 29 NION MCEVOY AND LESLIE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE ADDITIONAL CREDITS BERRIMAN (Executive COMPANY, recipient of the 2012 Zachary Flick, Kayla Minton Producers) are longtime subscribers Regional Theatre Tony Award, Kaufman, Assistant Directors to A.C.T. McEvoy is the chairman and is the nation’s leading premier Ann Beyersdorfer, Associate Set CEO of Chronicle Books and of the classical theatre company. Today, Designer McEvoy Group. He is a graduate of UC Shakespeare Theatre Company Chandon Jones, Associate Santa Cruz and UC Hastings College (STC) is synonymous with artistic Choreographer of the Law. He serves on the boards excellence and making classical Brandon Adams, Vocal Music Coach of San Francisco Museum of Modern theater more accessible to audiences Daniel Feyer, Music Support Art, UCSF, and McSweeney’s, and in and around the nation’s capital. Traci Peace-Greco, Wardrobe Crew he is currently president of the board Under the leadership of Artistic Ksenia Antonoff, Wigs Crew of SFFILM. He is the founder and Director Michael Kahn and Executive president of McEvoy Foundation for Director Chris Jennings, STC’s SPECIAL THANKS the Arts in San Francisco. Berriman innovative productions inspire The music in this production was recorded by: is a publishing professional in the dialogue that connects classic works Robert Curto, Accordion higher education arena and was most to the modern human experience. Bruno Nasta, Violin/Contractor recently executive editor at Pearson The company focuses on works with Anne Ament, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet Education in San Francisco. She has profound themes, complex characters, Karl Hovey, Tuba a BA in linguistics from Binghamton and poetic language written by University and an MA in French Shakespeare, his contemporaries, from Middlebury College. She serves and the playwrights he influenced on the board of UC Berkeley Art in order to preserve and promote Museum and Pacific Film Archive. classic theater—ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes—for all PHOTOGRAPHS AND SARA EISNER RICHTER AND audiences. A leader in arts education, RECORDINGS MICHAEL RICHTER (Executive STC has a stable of initiatives that Audience members may take photos Producers) Sara Eisner Richter in the theater before and after the teach and excite learners of all is an attorney and serves on several performance and during intermission. ages, from school programs and If you post photos on social media or nonprofit boards that support music, elsewhere, you must credit the adult acting classes to accessible production’s designers by including arts, and education, including the community programming like play- the following names: San Francisco Symphony’s Mid- relevant discussion series and the Alexander Dodge (Scenic Designer), Peninsula League. Michael Richter Instagram: @alexanderdodgedesign annual Free For All, two weeks of is an award-winning screenwriter Jennifer Moeller (Costume Designer), free performances. In 2019, Simon jenmoeller.com and film producer and the former Godwin will assume leadership David Weiner (Lighting Designer), chief privacy officer of Facebook. He Instagram: @dwlighting of the Company as its new artistic is currently producing Borough of Jane Shaw (Sound Designer director, with a debut season that and Original Music), Churches, a gritty police drama, which Facebook: jane.shaw.5832 includes Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s he wrote. His last film, Torn, received Please note: Photos are strictly Everybody, Emma Rice’s Romantics a theatrical release after winning prohibited during the performance. Anonymous, and James Baldwin’s Photos of the stage are not permitted if multiple awards at film festivals, an actor is present. Video recording is The Amen Corner, alongside a not permitted in the theater at any time. including two awards for best world-premiere adaptation of Peter @ACTSanFrancisco #ACTVanityFair feature film. Michael Richter is Pan by Lauren Gunderson and two a member of A.C.T.’s Board of Shakespearean classics, Timon of Trustees, and this is the second Athens and Much Ado about Nothing. play they have produced for A.C.T.

30 ACT-SF.ORG IN MEMORIAM: A.C.T. LIBRARY VOLUNTEER ROY ORTOPAN (1925–2019)

Born in Kenmore, Ohio, as one of seven pursued by volunteering in the Allen Fletcher children, Roy Ortopan was a bookworm performing arts library at A.C.T., a short from the start. His Serbian-born father commute from his home in Noe Valley. worked on the railroads and his mother was a homemaker. Roy served as a radioman in Established in 1967 when A.C.T. moved to San the US Navy during World War II; as soon as Francisco, the Allen Fletcher library houses he got out, he signed up for college, earning a more than 15,000 items in print, online, and BA in humanities at the University of Akron, other electronic formats, including nearly along with a master’s degree in English and 13,000 plays. Everything in the library is ordered a master’s in liberal arts from Case Western using the principles Roy developed during his Reserve University in Cleveland. tenure at A.C.T., where he continued to refine the library’s organization as a volunteer until the age From the day Roy graduated, he never had of 90. Roy was beloved by generations of A.C.T. a single day of unemployment. His career acting students seeking plays or monologues. spanned employment at several high- ranking educational institutions, including “Roy was a vanishing breed of librarian,” says Northwestern University, University of A.C.T. Head Librarian Joe Tally. “His dedication Wisconsin–Madison, and UC Berkeley, from to precision and clarity ensured every person which he retired in 1992. found their book, even when they didn't know they were looking for it.” In addition to his specialization in the bibliography of African Studies, he worked in multiple languages, including French, For more information about the A.C.T. library German, Italian, Norwegian, and Russian. or to make a donation, please contact Joe He also had a great love of theater, which he Tally at [email protected].

415.749.2228 31 Go Behind the Scenes with A.C.T. PHOTOS BY ANSLEY BRAVERMAN BY PHOTOS PHOTOS BY MIRANDA ASHLAND

A.C.T. TODAY A NEIGHBORHOOD

Get an inside look at PARTNERSHIP Macy’s Union Square. As well as spreading festive cheer what it takes to produce through caroling, cookie decorating, and wreath-making, MEET A.C.T.’S OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNERS, Hilton helped the event provide over 100 complimentary high-quality plays at a HILTON SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQUARE tickets to A Christmas Carol for under-resourced families. historic venue. Join us for AND PARC 55 “Hilton and A.C.T. are aligned in community engagement and outreach,” says Manchen. “To be able to fulfill that a behind-the-scenes tour BY A.C.T. PUBLICATIONS STAFF aspect of our mission alongside A.C.T. and Macy’s for the of A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, holidays was great.” Hilton also engaged Edward Albee’s To put on an A.C.T. production such as Vanity Fair, it Seascape audiences with an amazing giveaway: a five-night led by a member of our takes a village: actors, stage managers, crew members, stay at their premier hotel in Waikiki. production team. administrative staff—and of course, our official hotel partners, Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55. It’s not only theater-makers but also theater-lovers who Located only a few blocks from The Geary Theater, Hilton are benefiting from this partnership. Hilton and Parc 55 helps support A.C.T.’s mainstage, artist-training, and are ideal places to grab a preshow bite, postshow drink, or Our Annual Backstage audience engagement programs. “We’re neighbors,” says celebrate alongside cast members at our opening night Tour is a benefit of Area Director of Sales and Marketing Frank Manchen. parties. “We have eight restaurants and lounges between “Together, we can bring each other more exposure, the two hotels,” says Manchen. “Enjoy dinner before the Supporter Level ($300) improve our patrons’ experiences, and enhance our show, or maybe cocktails afterwards in our Cityscape members and above. community initiatives.” Lounge on the 46th floor. It was great having the opening night party for A Walk on the Moon (2018) and the opening Hilton and Parc 55’s support allows A.C.T. to continue to night dinner for Edward Albee’s Seascape in January in dream big. By providing A.C.T. access to some of their 3,000 our spaces.” rooms, they make it possible for us to free up space in our budget to fund productions with larger casts and invite more “A.C.T. and Hilton —it’s a win-win partnership,” says For more information about than 100 artists to our annual New Strands Festival. This Manchen. “By working together, we can elevate season, Hilton will help us house approximately 50 artists. each other.” n our donor membership levels and benefits, please visit But Hilton doesn’t just support A.C.T.’s large-scale endeavors; For more information about partnering with A.C.T., they also champion our education and community programs. visit act-sf.org/support or contact A.C.T. Director of act-sf.org/memberships or This past December, Hilton served as lead sponsor of our Development Caitlin A. Quinn at 415.439.2436 or contact 415.439.2353. second annual “A Dickens of a Holiday” event hosted at [email protected]. PHOTOS BY MIRANDA ASHLAND

A.C.T. TODAY A NEIGHBORHOOD

PARTNERSHIP Macy’s Union Square. As well as spreading festive cheer through caroling, cookie decorating, and wreath-making, MEET A.C.T.’S OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNERS, Hilton helped the event provide over 100 complimentary HILTON SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQUARE tickets to A Christmas Carol for under-resourced families. AND PARC 55 “Hilton and A.C.T. are aligned in community engagement and outreach,” says Manchen. “To be able to fulfill that BY A.C.T. PUBLICATIONS STAFF aspect of our mission alongside A.C.T. and Macy’s for the holidays was great.” Hilton also engaged Edward Albee’s To put on an A.C.T. production such as Vanity Fair, it Seascape audiences with an amazing giveaway: a five-night takes a village: actors, stage managers, crew members, stay at their premier hotel in Waikiki. administrative staff—and of course, our official hotel partners, Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55. It’s not only theater-makers but also theater-lovers who Located only a few blocks from The Geary Theater, Hilton are benefiting from this partnership. Hilton and Parc 55 helps support A.C.T.’s mainstage, artist-training, and are ideal places to grab a preshow bite, postshow drink, or audience engagement programs. “We’re neighbors,” says celebrate alongside cast members at our opening night Area Director of Sales and Marketing Frank Manchen. parties. “We have eight restaurants and lounges between “Together, we can bring each other more exposure, the two hotels,” says Manchen. “Enjoy dinner before the improve our patrons’ experiences, and enhance our show, or maybe cocktails afterwards in our Cityscape community initiatives.” Lounge on the 46th floor. It was great having the opening night party for A Walk on the Moon (2018) and the opening Hilton and Parc 55’s support allows A.C.T. to continue to night dinner for Edward Albee’s Seascape in January in dream big. By providing A.C.T. access to some of their 3,000 our spaces.” rooms, they make it possible for us to free up space in our budget to fund productions with larger casts and invite more “A.C.T. and Hilton —it’s a win-win partnership,” says than 100 artists to our annual New Strands Festival. This Manchen. “By working together, we can elevate season, Hilton will help us house approximately 50 artists. each other.” n

But Hilton doesn’t just support A.C.T.’s large-scale endeavors; For more information about partnering with A.C.T., they also champion our education and community programs. visit act-sf.org/support or contact A.C.T. Director of This past December, Hilton served as lead sponsor of our Development Caitlin A. Quinn at 415.439.2436 or second annual “A Dickens of a Holiday” event hosted at [email protected].

415.749.2228 33 NEW PLAYS, A.C.T. TODAY NEW PARTNERS, YAMADA JAY BY PHOTO NEW STRANDS A.C.T. AND PAGE 73 BRING EXCITING VOICES TO THE 2019 NEW STRANDS FESTIVAL BY ANNIE SEARS

LEFT TO RIGHT Actors Leonard Thomas (M.F.A. Program class of 2018) and Dahlak Brathwaite in Nike, or We Don’t Need Another Hero in the 2018 New Strands Festival.

34 ACT-SF.ORG PHOTO BY JAY YAMADA “It’s wonderfulthatthisorganization 415.749.2228 A.C.T. M.F.A.alumandtheplaywright A.C.T.’s DirectorofDramaturgyand York. Byprovidingcareerguidance, serobsed meiserobsed prionsulla desvatum quam dientis noterebustem qui tur, corae conc re factore pondam Nam estiferobse hocusul ciorivas- tam consen haceps, Cata re, quidit. facientemFiri auctum- adempos The Strand this season). “I love Page The Strandthisseason).“Ilove Page Group who will be joining us for us joining be Group who will Jiehae is playwrights ofOne those City nonprofitthatnurturespromising It’s nearly here. Come May 16, The It’s The 16, Come May here. nearly 73’s taste,”saysMeads.“Theyhave New Works. It’s our annual New New Works.It’sourannual Untitled Untitled her script bring will Park 73’s amember of Page Writers Park, who camebeforethem.” February) andMfonisoUdofia(an financial assistance,andproduction with conversation and creativity, creativity, and with conversation workshopped BothYourHousesat Page 73hasarecordofdiscovering with otherartistsastheyfine-tune work readaloudandtocollaborate For thelastfouryears,A.C.T.has voices inAmericantheater,including yet toreceivetheirbigbreakinNew voices inAmericantheaterwhohave Strand Theater willbe“buzzing Strand Theater Strands Festival—fourdaysofstaged in thrall to the influence of the artists artists in thralltotheinfluenceof a goodeyeforplaywrightswhohave activity andexcitement,aspirit artist SusanSoonHeStanton(who artist a creativehome.” across thecountrytogiveup-and- of HerPortmanteau,whichplayedat our M.F.A.studentsstageditthispast of experimentation,” says Joy Meads, of experimentation,”saysJoyMeads, exists togivepeopleagoodlaunchand critical environment,”saysMeads. embrace inwhatcanbeaverycaustic, opportunities forcommitted coming artistsachancetoheartheir of possibility. this year’s New Strands Festival. Festival. New Strands year’s this their owndistinctvoicesandaren’t the 2018NewStrandsFestivalbefore playwrights whogoontobeimportant playwrights, Page73offers“awarm to partnerwithPage73,aNewYork their writing.Thisyear,we’reexcited partnered withnewplayincubators sense kitchens, DJs,andaninfectious readings, masterclasses,pop-up “Each adds a different flavor note that flavor note different a adds “Each are plays new these all “Imagine A.C.T. has also invited another Page Page another invited A.C.T. also has The Best We Could (a We Best Could family tragedy) The Gloria Project Three-time winner winner Obie Award Three-time Storytelling Project Storytelling at the2018 New Strands Festival. FROM LEFTActors SoleaPfeiffer andKayla Foster inUntitledTegan andSara Musical iae conitrumiae molis. Furaedi en- facips, factore, sictusp erriptiam nonsu se hem pos ment, que publis ina, conitrit? imusquam Gerum crenam teristintia morum, facchilis re, pro mis etis, teatquius, nihiliem 73 playwright, Emily Feldman, to to Feldman, Emily playwright, 73 Daniel Aukin will direct this this direct will Aukin Daniel Exposing audiences to a breadth abreadth to audiences Exposing women and storytelling? And how And storytelling? women and inventive script, which employs a which script, inventive and subjects is one of the primary primary one of is the subjects and artistic director who’ll be directing directing be who’ll director artistic desire to reconnect with her love with reconnect to desire does that relationship shift when shift relationship that does complements the others.” complements the astew,” Meads. to says contributing aesthetics, styles, of theatrical theatergoers. engage goals of our New Strands Festival. Festival. New of Strands our goals personal and zeitgeist cultural when the happens what explore of storytelling. Why do we have a do we have Why of storytelling. primal urge to share stories? What’s What’s stories? share to urge primal the California Shakespeare Theater Theater Shakespeare California the pressures? young between relationship the beliefs come into conflict in her in conflict come into beliefs the artist encounters marketplace marketplace encounters artist the unique storytelling structure sure to to sure structure storytelling unique father-daughter road trip story, trip road father-daughter at The Strand next season. next Strand The at will be directed by Eric Ting, Ting, Eric by directed be will Untitled Storytelling Storytelling Untitled , sparked by her by , sparked

. “Organizations such as Page 73 are are 73 Page as such “Organizations American playwriting,” says Meads. Meads. says playwriting,” American The connections that people see and and people see that connections The It’s one thing to see a play and talk talk and aplay see to It’s one thing Manager Allie Moss, “you’re primed to to “you’re primed Moss, Allie Manager filling a vital niche because there because niche vital a filling Between readings and master classes, classes, master and readings Between Here in 2019, “We’re in agolden of “We’re 2019, in age Here in will channel that electricity.” electricity.” that channel will is an abundance and diversity of diversity and abundance an is local DJs, and conversations about about conversations DJs, and local about it, and it’s another thing to thing it’s another and it, about artistic excellence in the field of new field the in excellence artistic drinks at the bar, sound mixing by four by mixing bar, sound the at drinks conversation about multiple pieces. pieces. multiple about conversation play in the morning,” says Literary Literary says morning,” the in play play festival.” play play creation right now. New Strands now. New right Strands creation play the Strand lobby will be busy with with busy be lobby will Strand the the art-in-progress. “If you see one you see “If art-in-progress. the think about the next play differently. play next the about think together—that’s unique to anew to unique together—that’s make because of the work we’ve paired paired we’ve work the of because make see a chunk of readings and have a have and of readings achunk see tesci perus, tesci Anteri patium incullarite acrimo dentenam, apercentea nes factorat. des mantem nost inerevides bon tus, firtum vit,mo patum tum tessilii poratimium iam furorae weekend of experimentation. exciting an for 16–19 May us join and act-sf.org/newstrands Visit first-timers! and veterans lovers, theater and to everyone—artists open and free is Festival Strands A.C.T.’s New to learn more, more, to learn n

35

PHOTO BY STEFAN COHEN PHOTO BY STEFAN COHEN. A.C.T. TODAY WHEN WOMEN TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS THE M.F.A. SPRING SEASON BY ELSPETH SWEATMAN PHOTOS BY BERYL BAKER

36 ACT-SF.ORG These two stories of powerful women also speak to the tenets at the center of A.C.T.’s actor training. “In my training, I have been working to claim my space as a performer, make bold choices as an artist, and eradicate timidity from my work,” says first-year actor Eliza Murphy. “A character like Marianne is the perfect way to explore this boldness; she refuses to settle, she fights with her whole heart, and she is a genuine, generous, and fierce sister, lover, and friend. The women in Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility do not apologize for the way they feel, despite the pressure and judgment that is placed on them.” LEFT M.F.A. Program actors Jeff Wittekiend and Emma Van Lare (class of 2020) in Medea. ABOVE M.F.A. Program actors Eliza Murphy (class of 2021) and Dinah Berkeley (class of “When selecting our M.F.A. Program 2020) in Sense and Sensibility. season, we consider how to test and take advantage of our training,” says A.C.T.’s stages this spring are filled Conservatory Director Melissa Smith. with strong women making bold Medea runs May 8–12 at The “The first- and second-year M.F.A. choices and taking fate into their own Costume Shop Theater. Sense actors are focusing on dialects and hands. At The Geary, Master of Fine and Sensibility runs May 9–11 texts that are rich in imagery and Arts Program alum Rebekah at The Rueff at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater. For tickets, visit poetry. They are exploring the Greek Brockman (class of 2013) plays Becky act-sf.org/mfashows. chorus in their voice classes. What Sharp, a woman climbing the better way to celebrate the culmination 19th-century social ladder in Vanity of another year than our actors putting Fair. And over on Market Street, back,’ feels as revolutionary now as it their newly acquired skills to work in current M.F.A. Program actors are was back then.” Medea and Sense and Sensibility.” tackling the iconic roles of Euripides’s eponymous heroine in Medea and Jane Next door at The Strand, first- and “Part of our M.F.A. curriculum is Austen’s beloved sisters in Sense and second-year actors are also exploring a Citizen Artistry, where we teach our Sensibility (adapted by Vanity Fair world run by patriarchal rules in Sense students how to empower themselves playwright Kate Hamill). and Sensibility. When their father’s and others both on and off the stage,” death leaves the Dashwood sisters says Kuo. “These plays spotlight a In The Costume Shop Theater, second- penniless, homeless, and vulnerable to female narrative, by embodying not year M.F.A. Program actor Emma Van gossip, they must rely on each other to only the women but also the characters Lare plays Medea, an immigrant discover what it takes to follow their who work against them. Showcasing struggling against discrimination, hearts. Filled with Hamill’s unique these barriers is necessary to telling misogyny, and patriarchy in this playful theatricality, this immersive these stories. I can’t wait to see production set against the backdrop of production invites audiences inside the actors rise to the challenge of 1930s New Orleans. When her husband Austen’s world of balls, courtships, and creating worlds that feature these abandons her, she must face a world advantageous matches. “It’s imperative badass women.” n where the system is rigged against her for female-identifying actors to play and vengeance seems like her only roles that are flawed, complicated, and means of restoring the balance. “The fully human,” says second-year M.F.A. fact that this story was written in Program actor Dinah Berkeley, who For more information about Grecian times is insane,” says A.C.T. plays Elinor Dashwood. “Kate Hamill’s our Master of Fine Arts Associate Conservatory Director Peter ability to write humorous, complicated, Program, as well as our other J. Kuo, who is directing Medea. “A actor-training programs, visit full-of-life characters is such a skill. act-sf.org/conservatory. woman saying, ‘If you’re going to I’m thrilled and honored to have the trample me, I’m going to trample you opportunity to play in this world.”

415.749.2228 37 FRANNIE FLEISHHACKER, CO-CHAIR • ROBINA RICCITIELLO, CO-CHAIR We are privileged to recognize Producers Circle members’ generosity during the March 1, 2018 to March 1, 2019, period. For information about Producers Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].

† A Dickens of a Holiday event sponsor/lead supporter wLead Gala supporter * Leadership Circle Member ** Deceased

Season Presenters JEROME L. AND JAMES C. HORMEL AND TONI REMBE AND JEFF AND LAURIE UBBENw THAO N. DODSON† MICHAEL P. NGUYEN-HORMELw ARTHUR ROCKw Jeff is a founder of ValueAct Capital Jerry is president of Parnassus James, the first openly gay US Past chair of A.C.T.’s Board of and a director of 21st Century Fox Investments and serves on the boards ambassador, founded the James C. Trustees, Toni is a retired partner at Inc. and Willis Towers Watson PLC. of San Francisco Opera and A.C.T. Thao Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. He serves on the boards of Duke and Jerry have established scholarships San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). Arthur was one of America’s first University, Northwestern University, for music education at the San Francisco Michael works alongside James on their venture capitalists. Along with other and the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Symphony, undergraduate education at charitable giving foundation, and has community endeavors, they are Foundation. Laurie founded San UC Berkeley, and high school education served on the SFPL Commission for cofounders of the Arthur and Toni Francisco’s Bird School of Music. for 125 girls in Vietnam. two terms. A trustee of A.C.T., Michael Rembe Rock Center for Corporate is profoundly passionate about the arts Governance at Stanford Law School. KAY YUN AND ANDRE PRISCILLA AND KEITH GEESLIN†w and humanities. NEUMANN-LORECK†w Priscilla is a vice chair of A.C.T.’s ROBINA RICCITIELLO†w President of A.C.T.’s Board of Trustees, Board of Trustees and Development FRED M. LEVIN AND NANCY Robina is communications director for Kay is a partner at private equity fund Committee chair. She is vice president LIVINGSTON, THE SHENSON the Million Person Project, a company Health Evolution Partners. She is a of the SF Symphony, Grace Cathedral, FOUNDATIONw that helps people identify their core trustee of Parnassus Funds and a board and past chair of NARAL Pro-Choice Nancy is the Chair Emerita of A.C.T.’s values to tell their personal story. She member of San Francisco University America’s Foundation Board. Board of Trustees. She serves on the is involved with the UCLA Depression High School. Andre, the founder of On A principal of Francisco Partners, boards at the College of Fine Arts at Grand Challenge, an effort to cure Tap Consulting, has held executive roles Keith is president of SF Opera’s board Boston University and the National depression by the end of this century, in startups and Fortune 500 companies. of trustees and a board member of Council for the American Theatre. and with NARAL Pro-Choice America. Episcopal Community Services. Fred serves on the boards of the San Francisco Symphony, the Asian Art MARY AND STEVEN SWIGw Museum, and the SF Film Society. Steven has served on A.C.T.’s board since 1986 and is cofounder of Presidio KENNETH AND Graduate School. Mary is on the GISELE MILLER Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. They serve on the boards of the Solar Electric Light Fund and the Americans for Cures Foundation.

Company Sponsors Executive Producers Marcy S. and Paul Nathan The New Ark Fund Lesley Ann Clement and Mrs. Barbara Bakar Barbara Ravizza and John S. Osterweis Concepción and Irwin Federman Karl Lukaszewicz◆ Bill Draper Sara Eisner Richter and Michael Richter◆ Marcia and Jim Levy† Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund◆ Mr. Rodney Ferguson and Sally and Toby Rosenblatt◆ Don and Judy McCubbin Frannie Fleishhacker Ms. Kathleen Egan◆ Abby and Gene Schnair◆† Mr. and Mrs. J. A. McQuown Kevin and Celeste Ford Sakana Foundation Lori Halverson Schryer◆† Mary and Gene Metz◆ Mr. and Mrs. Gordon P. Getty Linda Jo Fitz◆† Matthew and Lisa Sonsini Clay Foundation - West Kirke and Nancy Sawyer Hasson◆ The Milledge and Patti Hart Family Barbara and Stephan Vermut Donald J. and Toni Ratner Miller◆† Jeri Lynn and Jeffrey W. Johnson Dianne and Ron Hoge◆† Diane B. Wilsey Rich Rava and Elisa Neipp Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGrath Jo S. Hurley◆ Nola Yee Norman and Janet Pease Burt** and Deedee McMurtry Christopher and Leslie Johnson Elsa and Neil Pering David and Carla Riemer◆† John Little and Heather Stallings Little Producers Merrill Randol Patti and Rusty Rueff◆ Janet V. Lustgarten Paul Asente and Ron Jenks Kathleen Scutchfield Aaron Vermut and The Marymor Family Fund Lloyd and Janet Cluff Anne and Michelle Shonk◆ Adriana López Vermut◆† Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman◆ Daniel E. Cohn and Lynn Brinton Cherie Sorokin Jack and Susy Wadsworth◆ Emmett and Marion Stanton

Associate Producers Richard Davis-Lowell and Bill Lowell Betty Hoener Rick and Cindy Simons Carol Dollinger Luba Kipnis and David Russel◆ Vera and Harold Stein Anonymous Vicki and David Fleishhacker Mr. Joel Krauska and Ms. Patricia Fox Dr. Martin and Elizabeth Terplan Paul Angelo Marilee K. Gardner Linda Kurtz◆ Mrs. Katherine G. Wallin and Sara and Wm. Anderson Barnes Fund Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Geist Ken Lamb Mr. Homer Wallin◆ Dr. Barbara L. Bessey Arnie and Shelly Glassberg Mr. and Mrs. John P. Levin Beverly and Loring Wyllie Linda K. Brewer Glasser Family Fund Milton Mosk and Thomas Foutch Linda Joanne Brown Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara Mr. and Mrs. Tom Perkins Gayle and Steve Brugler Marcia and John Goldman Barbara Phillips Carlotta and Robert Dathe◆† Stephen and Diane Heiman Joseph E. and Julie Ratner◆† James and Julia Davidson

38 ACT-SF.ORG DIANNE HOGE, CO-CHAIR • NOLA YEE, CO-CHAIR

We are privileged to recognize these members’ generosity during the March 1, 2018 to March 1, 2019, period. For information about Directors Circle membership, please contact Tiffany Redmon at 415.439.2482 or [email protected].

† A Dickens of a Holiday event sponsor/lead supporter w Lead Gala supporter ** Deceased Benefactors Susan Roos Mr. Alexander L. Fetter and Mr. and Mrs. Merrill E. Newman David V. Beery and Norman Abramson◆ Scott and Janis Sachtjen Ms. Lynn Bunim Ms. Mary D. Niemiller Susan and Ralph G. Coan, Jr. George and Camilla Smith Mr. Robert Feyer and Ms. Marsha Cohen Barbara O’Connor Philip and Judy Erdberg Lee and Carolyn Snowberg Mr. and Mrs. Patrick F. Flannery Ms. Mary Jo O’Drain Tom Frankel The Somekh Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler Emilie and Douglas Ogden Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Gallagher Laura Spivy † Dr. and Mrs. Fred N. Fritsch Margo and Roy Ogus Kaatri and Doug Grigg Diana L. Starcher Lynda Fu Don and Sally O’Neal Sue Yung Li and Dale K. Ikeda Roselyne C. Swig◆ Mrs. Susan Fuller Janet and Clyde Ostler Marmor Foundation/Drs Michael John and Sandra Thompson◆ William Garland and Michael Mooney Peter Pastreich and Jamie Whittington and Jane Marmor Pasha and Laney Thornton Mr. Michael R. Genesereth Mr. and Mrs. William Pitcher Jeffrey and Elizabeth Minick Mrs. Helena Troy Wasp Susan and Dennis Gilardi Gordon Radley Terry and Jan Opdendyk Ms. Allie Weissman Dr. A. Goldschlager Sandi and Mark Randall Lisa and John Pritzker Family Fund Katherine Welch Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb Jeff and Karen Richardson Dr. James Robinson and Barbara and Chris Westover Marcia and Geoffrey Green Gary and Joyce Rifkind Ms. Kathy Kohrman Mr. and Mrs. Bruce White Mark and Renee Greenstein Rick and Anne Riley Matt and Yvonne Rogers Kenneth and Sharon Wilson Mr. Bill Gregory Mr. Orrin W. Robinson, III Mr. Laurence L. Spitters Raymond and Gale L. Grinsell Deborah Romer and William Tucker Patrick S. Thompson◆ Directors Naren and Vinita Gupta Gary Rubenstein and Nancy Matthews Anonymous (4) James Haire and Timothy Cole Ms. Dace Rutland Mr. Howard J. Adams Mr. and Mrs. Richard Halliday Betty and Jack Schafer Playwrights Vera and David Hartford Kent and Nancy Clancy Anonymous (3) Martha and Michael Adler Ms. Kendra Hartnett and Robert Santilli Mr. and Mrs. John Shankel Ray and Jackie Apple Bruce and Betty Alberts Kent Harvey Mr. James Shay and Mr. Steven Correll The Tournesol Project Lynn Altshuler and Stanley D. Herzstein Lenore Heffernan Te Smith and Dennis Cress Paul Blake Sharon L. Anderson Mrs. Deirdre Henderson Kristine Soorian and Bryce Ikeda Roger and Helen Bohl Ms. Kay Auciello Ms. Marcia Hooper Ms. Valerie Sopher Ms. Donna Bohling and Jeanne and William Barulich Bannus and Cecily Hudson Mr. Richard Spaete Mr. Douglas Kalish Mr. Michael Bassi and Ms. Christy Styer Rob Hulteng Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Spears Christopher and Debora Booth Donna L. Beres and Terry Dahl Robert Humphrey & Diane Amend Steven and Chris Spencer Ed Brakeman David and Rosalind Bloom Robert and Riki Intner Vibeke Strand, MD and Jack Loftis, PhD Richard DeNatale and Craig Latker Peter Blume Harold and Lyn Isbell Richard and Michele Stratton Ms. Roberta Denning Mr. Mitchell Bolen and Franklin Jackson & Maloos Anvarian Mr. Jay Streets◆ William H. Donner Foundation Mr. John Christner Anne Jamieson Dawna Stroeh Anne and Gerald Down Brenda and Roger Borovoy Phil and Edina Jennison Mr. M. H. Suelzle Charles and Susan Fadley Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto Stephanie and Owen Jensen Susan Terris Nancy and Jerry Falk Susan Breyer Ms. Pamela L. Kershner Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr Sue and Ed Fish Mrs. Libi Cape Mr. R. Samuel Klatchko John R. Upton Jr. and Sameer Gandhi and Monica Lopez Steven and Karin Chase Harold L. Wyman Foundation Janet Sassoon-Upton Bruce Golden Teresa Clark and Martin Lay Harold and Leslie Kruth Arnie and Gail Wagner Kenneth Hitz Mr. and Mrs. David Crane Sue Kubly Mr. and Mrs. James Wagstaffe Alex Ingersoll and Martin Tannenbaum Ms. Karen T. Crommie Harriet Lawrie Joy and Ellis Wallenberg, Milton Alan and Cricket Jones◆† Joan T. Dea and Lionel F. Conacher Julius Leiman-Carbia Meyer Foundation Sy Kaufman and Kerstin Edgerton Madeline and Myrkle Deaton Mr. Michael Levy and Ms. Margaret Warton and Paola and Richard Kulp Robert and Judith DeFranco Mr. Michael Golden Mr. Steve Benting Jennifer S. Lindsay Ingrid M. Deiwiks Ms. Helen S. Lewis Ms. Carol Watts Melanie and Peter Maier, John Brockway Mrs. Julie D. Dickson Ms. Gayla Lorthridge Ms. Patricia Tomlinson and Huntington Foundation Art and JoAnne Dlott Dr. Thane Kreiner and Mr. Bennet Weintraub Christine and Stan Mattison Bonnie and Rick Dlott Dr. Steven Lovejoy Irv Weissman and Family Mr. and Mrs. Roger Miles Ms. Kathleen Dumas Richard N. Hill and Nancy Lundeen Ms. Beth Weissman Tim Mott and Pegan Brooke Robert Ellis John B. McCallister Marie and Daniel Welch Mr. Daniel Murphy Barb and Gary Erickson Elisabeth and Daniel McKinnon Andrew and Billie Wiesenthal Paula and John Murphy Joseph Fanone Mr. Byron R. Meyer Mr. and Mrs. Roy B. Woolsey John Riccitiello Ms. Nancy Michel Mr. and Mrs. Roger Wu

Did you know? • Ticket sales cover 40% of the costs to bring bold theatrical productions of artistic excellence to the Bay Area. • A.C.T. is one of the largest providers of arts education in the region, reaching over 20,000 young people each year. • Many Bay Area students experience their first live performance through A.C.T.’s diverse community outreach efforts. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation when you renew your subscription or call 415.439.2353 to donate over the phone.

415.749.2228 39 We are privileged to recognize Friends of A.C.T. members’ generosity during the March 1, 2018 to March 1, 2019, period. Space limitations prevent us from listing all those who have generously supported the Annual Fund. For information about Friends of A.C.T. membership, please contact Hillary Bray at 415.439.2353 or [email protected].

†A Dickens of a Holiday event sponsor/lead supporter wLead Gala supporter * Leadership Circle Member ** Deceased

Patrons Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Logan Sustainers Marina and Andy Martin Anonymous (3) Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Long Anonymous (3) Marsha Mason Mr. and Mrs. Harold P. Anderson Jeff and Susanne Lyons Susan Adamson and George Westfall† Robert McCleskey Mr. Paul Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Bruce A. Mann Mr. and Mrs. James Michael Allen Carol McCutcheon-Aguilar and Ms. Patricia Wilde Anderson Karen and John McGuinn Robert Anderson Luis Aguilar Mr. David N. Barnard Dr. Margaret R. McLean Ms. Gwynn August Linda McPharlin and Nick Nichols Fred and Nancy Bjork Maris Meyerson◆ Susan Austin and Michael Charlson* Sue and Ken Merrill◆ Mr. John Blankenship and Trudy and Gary Moore Donna and Dan Aykroyd Ms. Jane E. Miller Ms. Linda Carter Thomas and Lydia Moran Mr. William Barnard Sharon and Jeffrey Morris Ben and Noel Bouck Dr. Lois Levine Mundie Ms. Linda J. Barron Joseph C. Najpaver and Deana Logan Tracy Brown and Greg Holland John and Betsy Munz Mr. Daniel R. Bedford Ms. Berna Neumiller Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Butcher Jane and Bill Neilson Monique and Avner Ben-Dor Jeanne Newman Denis Carrade and Jeanne Fadelli Bruce Noble and Diane Elder Mrs. Fowler A. Biggs Nancy and Bill Newmeyer Cecily Cassel & Larry Cassel Melodee and Lee Nobmann Mr. Igor R. Blake Ms. Joanna Officier and Mr. Ralph Tiegel Todd Charles in memory of Ms. Lisa Nolan Mr. Noel Blos Jillian C. Robinson Robert E. Scheid Ms. Susan O’Brien John Boland and James Carroll Ms. Diane Rudden Drs. James and Linda Clever Mrs. Margaret O’Drain Mr. Roland E. Brandel Laura Jo Ruffin Rebecca Coleman Shelly Osborne Marilyn and George Bray Mr. Joshua Rutberg Mr. Edward Conger Barbara Paschke and Ms. Angela Brunton Ms. Monica Salusky and Jean and Mike Couch David Volpendesta Jaime Caban and Rob Mitchell Mr. John Sutherland Mr. and Mrs. Ricky J. Curotto Janine Paver and Eric Brown Ms. Jean Cardoza Louise Adler Sampson Reid and Peggy Dennis Caitlin A. Quinn and Peter C. Garenani Mr. Copley E. Crosby Mr. James J. Scillian Ron Dickel Ms. Diane Raile James Cuthbertson Mr. Jim Sciuto Maria Donat Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ratinoff Ms. Kathleen Damron Mr. Jon Shantz Elizabeth Eaton Ms. Danielle Rebischung Ira and Jerry Dearing Catharine Shirley Leif and Sharon Erickson Maryalice Reinmuller William Dewey Donna and Michael Sicilian M. Daniel and Carla Flamm Mr. and Mrs. John A. Reitan Ms. Kirsty Ellis Jeffrey Stern, M.D. Elizabeth and Paul Fraley Albert and Roxanne Richards Fund Ms. Winn Ellis and Mr. David Mahoney Margaret Stewart and Ms. Susan Free Barbara and Saul Rockman Marilynne Elverson Severin Borenstein Alan and Susan Fritz Marguerite Romanello Mrs. Samuel Engel Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Strickberger Lisa Fung† Ms. Mary Ellen Rossi Mr. Albert M. Everitt Mr. Jason Surles John L. Garfinkle Michele and John Ruskin Dr. Marcus Feldman and Mr. John E. Sweeney and Ms. Nonie Greene and Mr. Todd Werby◆ Ms. Karen Scussel and Mr. Curt Riffle Mrs. S. Shirley Feldman Ms. Lana Basso Ms. Ann M. Griffiths Andrew and Marva Seidl Karen and Stuart Gansky Ms. Kim Szelog Bill and Nancy Grove Ms. Ruth A. Short Frederick and Leslie Gaylord Jane and Jay Taber* Ms. Margaret J. Grover Dr. Elliot and Mrs. Kathy Shubin David and Betty Gibson Catherine Tait Mr. Kim Harris and Bennet Marks Ms. Patricia Sims Kathleen Goldman Marvin Tanigawa Mr. John F. Heil Mr. Earl G. Singer David B. Goldstein and Julia Vetromile Ian and Olga Thomson Leni and Doug Herst Mr. Mark Small Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel Gregoratos Michael and Shirley Traynor Richard and Cheryl Jacobs Richard and Jerry Smallwood Mr. Harry Hamlin and Ms. Lisa Rinna Leon Van Steen Dr. and Mrs. John E. Jansheski Candrah Smith Ms. Margaret Handelman Susan A. Van Wagner Ms. Carolyn Jayne Dr. Angela Sowa and Dr. James and Suzette Hessler Mr. and Mrs. Ron Vitt Michael Kalkstein and Susan English Dr. Dennis B. Facchino Kathy Hart Anita Watkins Jeffrey and Loretta Kaskey Dr. Gary Stein and Jana Stein Ginger and Bill Hedden Ms. Meredith J. Watts Michael Kim Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Ms. Rebecca Helme Mr. Richard West George and Janet King Robert Tufts Susana Hernandez Mr. Robert Weston Jennifer Langan Steven and Jacqueline Tulsky Ms. Sandra Hess Judie and Howard Wexler Thomas and Barbara Lasinski Mr. Douglass J. Warner Adrienne Hirt and Jeffrey Rodman Tim M. Whalen Mr. Richard Lee and Mr. David S. Wood and Judy Hoeschler Mr. Laird Williamson Ms. Patricia Taylor Lee Ms. Kathleen Garrison Edward L. Howes, MD Mr. Steven Winkel Mrs. Gary Letson Jacqueline L. Young◆ Allan and Rebecca Jergesen Susan Wojcicki Amelia Lis Mr. and Mrs. Philip Zimbardo Mrs. Zeeva Kardos Marilyn and Irvin Yalom Julia Lobel Dan and Gloria Kearney Fund Ms. Emerald Yeh Dr. and Mrs. David Kessler Ms. Nancy L. Kittle Leadership Circle Donors Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Klotter Edward and Miriam Landesman Under $750 Ms. Denise Brosseau* Barry and Ellen Levine Ceil Cirillo* Thomas Lange and Spencer Lockson Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hassett* Ms. Evelyn Lockton Nelda Kilguss* Harold and Diane Lunde Ms. Sally Lopez* Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm MacNaughton Mr. Ronald Steininger* Mr. and Mrs. William Manheim Richard Votava* Helen M. Marcus, in memory of David Williamson For a full list of member benefits or to make a donation, visit act-sf.org/memberships or contact A.C.T.’s Development Department at 415.439.2353.

40 ACT-SF.ORG For more information about Prospero Society JO S. HURLEY, CHAIR membership, please contact A.C.T. gratefully acknowledges the Prospero Society members listed below, Tiffany Redmon, who have made an investment in the future of A.C.T. by providing for the theater in their estate plans. Deputy Director of

**Deceased Development Providing a Legacy for A.C.T. 415.439.2482 [email protected]. Gifts Designated to A.C.T. Marilee K. Gardner John B. McCallister Ms. Nadine Walas Anonymous (2) Michele Garside, PhD John G. McGehee Ms. Marla M. Walcott Mr. Anthony Alfidi Dr. Allan P. Gold and Mr. Alan C. Ferrara Dr. Margaret R. McLean Mrs. Katherine G. Wallin and Judith and David Anderson Dr. A. Goldschlager Burt** and Deedee McMurtry Mr. Homer Wallin Ms. Kay Auciello Ruth Goldstine and David Weber Mary and Gene Metz Paul Weintraub and Raymond Szczesny Nancy Axelrod Ms. Carol A. Goodman and J. Sanford Miller Ms. Beth Weissman Ms. Mary Lou Baird Mr. Anthony Gane Milton Mosk and Thomas Foutch Tim M. Whalen Mr. Eugene Barcone Ms. JeNeal Granieri and Alfred F. McDonnell Pennie Needham Barry Williams and Lalita Tademy Teveia Rose Barnes and Alan Sankin Mr. Bill Gregory Mr. Dante Noto Kay Yun and Andre Neumann-Loreck Robert H. Beadle James Haire and Timothy Cole Shelly Osborne Ms. Susan B. Beer Mr. and Mrs. Richard Halliday Ms. Patricia Patton Gifts Received by A.C.T. David V. Beery and Norman Abramson Ms. Terilyn Hanko Elsa and Neil Pering The Estate of Barbara Beard Leo and J. Michael Berry-Lawhorn Richard H. Harding Barbara Phillips The Estate of John Bissinger Dr. Barbara L. Bessey Kent Harvey Robert and Marcia Popper The Estate of Ronald Casassa Mr. Arthur Bredenbeck and Nina Hatvany and Jonathan Kitchen Kellie Raines The Estate of Rosemary Cozzo Mr. Michael Kilpatrick William E. Hawn** Bert and Anne Raphael The Estate of Nancy Croley Linda K. Brewer Betty Hoener Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ratinoff The Estate of Leonie Darwin Ms. Agnes Chen Brown James C. Hormel and John and Karen Kopac Reis The Estate of Mary Jane Detwiler Martin and Geri Brownstein Michael P. Nguyen-Hormel Mary L. Renner The Estate of Olga Diora Gayle and Steve Brugler Dr. and Mrs. Richard W. Horrigan Ellen Richard The Estate of Mortimer Fleishhacker Christine Bunn and William Risseeuw Jo S. Hurley Jillian C. Robinson The Estate of Mary Gamburg Mr. Bruce Carlton Alex Ingersoll and Martin Tannenbaum Arthur Rock and Toni Rembe The Estate of Rudolf Glauser Florence Cepeda and Earl Frick Mr. Barry Johnson Susan Roos The Estate of Phillip E. Goddard Ms. Paula Champagne and Ms. Robin Johnson and Ms. Dottie Lofstrom Ms. Andrea Rouah The Estate of Mrs. Lester G. Hamilton Mr. David Watson Carol and Paul Kameny Dr. David Rovno The Estate of Sue Hamister Steven and Karin Chase Dr. and Mrs. Stewart Karlinsky Ms. Pamela Royse The Estate of Howard R. Hollinger Lesley Ann Clement and Karl Lukaszewicz Nelda Kilguss Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sandberg The Estate of William S. Howe, Jr. Lloyd and Janet Cluff Heather M. Kitchen Sonja Schmid The Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz Mr. James L. Coran and Dr. Thane Kreiner and Dr. Steven Lovejoy Mr. Harold E. Segelstad The Estate of Thomas H. Maryanski Mr. Walter A. Nelson-Rees Catherine Kuss and Danilo Purlia Dr. F. Stanley Seifried The Estate of Michael L. Mellor Patricia Corrigan Stephanie Hencir Lamey and Patrick Lamey Ms. Ruth A. Short The Estate of Bruce Tyson Mitchell Jack and Susan Cortis Mr. Philip C. Lang Dr. Elliot and Mrs. Kathy Shubin The Estate of Gail Oakley Ms. Joan Danforth Mindy Lechman Andrew Smith and Brian Savard The Estate of Dennis Edward Parker Richard Davis-Lowell and Bill Lowell Ms. Marcia Leonhardt Cherie Sorokin The Estate of Rose Penn Mrs. Carl Degler Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, Ruth and Alan L. Stein The Estate of Shepard P. Pollack Sharon Dickson The Shenson Foundation Bert and LeAnne Steinberg The Estate of Margaret Purvine Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson Marcia and Jim Levy Jasmine Stirling The Estate of Gerald B. Rosenstein Bill Draper Jennifer S. Lindsay Mr. John E. Sweeney and Ms. Lana Basso The Estate of Charles Sassoon Drs. Peter and Ludmila Eggleton Ms. Paulette Long Jane and Jay Taber The Estate of Olivia Thebus Linda Jo Fitz Mr. and Mrs. Jim Magill Marilyn E. Taghon The Estate of Ayn and Brian Thorne Frannie Fleishhacker Melanie and Peter Maier, John Brockway Marvin Tanigawa The Estate of Sylvia Coe Tolk Kevin and Celeste Ford Huntington Foundation Nancy Thompson and Andy Kerr The Estate of Elizabeth Wallace Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler Mr. Jeffrey P. Malloy Mr. Dayton E. Torrence The Estate of Frances Webb Alan and Susan Fritz The Kenneth and Muriel Marks Living Trust Michael E. Tully The Estate of William Zoller Mr. and Mrs. Russell Fudge Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Marron Herman Victor

The following members of the A.C.T. community made gifts in memory and in honor of friends, Memorial & Tribute Gifts colleagues, and family members of $100 or more during the March 1, 2018 to March 1, 2019, period.

Susan Medak and Gregory S. Murphy In Honor of Louisa Balch and Jennifer Bielstein Carol and Don Hardesty In Memory of Bart Cannon Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fischer In Honor of Marilee Gardner Maria Donat In Memory of Peter Donat Dr. Sandra L. Lillie In Honor of Dakota Lillie Mr. David J. Pasta In Memory of Gloria J. A. Guth Anne Jamieson In Honor of Nancy Livingston and Fred Levin Susan L. Kaplan In Memory of Richard M. Kaplan Ms. Roberta Denning In Honor of Carey Perloff Dr. Margaret R. McLean In Memory of Teresa and Phillip McLean Bill Draper In Honor of Carey Perloff Richard and Victoria Larson In Memory of Dennis Powers Dorothy Saxe In Honor of Carey Perloff Philip Huff In Memory of Mrs. Barbara Rosenblum Kristina Veaco In Honor of Carey Perloff Wendy, David, Marisa, and Jared Robinow In Memory of Barbara Rosenblum Jacqueline L. Young In Honor of Carey Perloff and Linda Jo Fitz Rosenblum - Silverman - Sutton, SF Inc. In Memory of Mrs. Barbara Rosenblum The Kellners & The Bunises In Honor of David A. Riemer Barbara C. Ross In Memory of Barbara Rosenblum Peter Blume In Honor of Hannah Roth-Evans Susan Terris In Memory of Barbara Rosenblum and Alan Stein Joan W. Sadler Trust In Honor of the Joan Sadler Award Ms. Carol Tessler In Memory of Barbara Rosenblum Eric and Susan Nitzberg In Honor of Craig Slaight Alan P. Winston In Memory of Deborah Rush Mr. and Mrs. Sandy Dean In Honor of Adriana Vermut Richard Gibson and Paul Porcher In Memory of Robert Simpson Judy and Robert Aptekar In Memory of Alan Stein Anonymous In Memory of Ruth Asawa Sally-Ann and Ervin Epstein, Jr. In Memory of Alan Stein Ms. Sandra H. Lanier In Memory of Ruth Asawa Dan and Gloria Kearney Fund In Memory of Alan Stein Michael Kim In Memory of Youngmee Baik Susan and John Weiss In Memory of Alan Stein Marilee K. Gardner In Memory of Winnie Biocini, Joey Chait, Ms. Joy Eaton In Memory of Todd Wees Joe Greenbach, and Roland Lampert Helen M. Marcus In Memory of David J. Williamson Ms. Agnes Chen Brown In Memory of Robert Elliott Brown

415.749.2228 41 Corporate Membership Program

As the Bay Area’s leading theater, A.C.T. provides unique partnership opportunities to the business sector, including visibility before an affluent and influential audience, entrée to creative and dynamic spaces for client entertaining and business meetings, and exceptional artistic insiders’ experiences like backstage tours, meet-and-greets with artists, and so much more. Member companies support the artistic mission of A.C.T., including A.C.T.’s investment in helping to develop the next generation of the Bay Area’s creative and empathetic workforce through our vibrant artist training and education and community outreach programs serving over 20,000 young people each year. For more information, please contact Caitlin A. Quinn at [email protected] or 415.439.2436.

Business Leadership Council PRESENTING PRODUCING PARTNERS Nancy Livingston, Co-Chair PARTNERS ($15,000–$24,999) A.C.T. Chair Emerita ($25,000–$49,999) Theatre Forward OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNER Jamie Martin, Co-Chair VP, Business Finance, PG&E

Lesley Clement, Clement & Associates Jerome L. Dodson, Parnassus EXECUTIVE Investments DIRECTING PARTNERS PARTNERS Celeste Ford, Stellar Solutions ($10,000–$14,999) ($50,000 +) Kirke M. Hasson, Pillsbury Winthrop Farella Braun & Martel Shaw Pittman LLP Perkins Coie LLP Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Mozilla Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Janet V. Lustgarten, Kx Systems, Inc. Pittman LLP Jeffrey Minick, Bank of America David Riemer, UC Berkeley Steven L. Swig, Presidio World College STAGE PARTNERS Patrick S. Thompson, Perkins Coie LLP ($5,000–$9,999) Jeffrey W. Ubben, ValueAct Capital RBC Wealth Management Kay Yun, Health Evolution Partners Schoenberg Family Law Group

Foundations and Government Agencies The following foundations and government agencies provide vital support for A.C.T. For more information, please contact Director of Grants and Foundation Relations Nicole Chalas at 415.439.2337 or [email protected].

$100,000 and above $50,000–$99,999 $25,000–$49,999 $10,000–$24,999 $5,000–$9,999 Department of Children, The Edgerton Foundation Anonymous California Arts Council Anonymous Youth & Their Families National Endowment for Walter and Elise Haas Fund The Stanley S. Langendorf Davis/Dauray Family Fund Doris Duke Charitable the Arts The Kimball Foundation Foundation The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation The Bernard Osher MAP Fund Laird Norton Family Foundation The William Randolph Hearst Foundation The Harold & Mimi Foundation Edna M. Reichmuth Foundations Steinberg Charitable Trust The Kenneth Rainin Educational Fund of The William and Flora The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation The San Francisco Hewlett Foundation Foundation San Francisco Arts Foundation Jewels of Charity, Inc. Commission Koret Foundation The Sato Foundation San Francisco Grants The Zellerbach Family for the Arts Foundation The Shubert Foundation

42 ACT-SF.ORG Theatre Forward Current Funders List as of October 2018

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

THEATRE PACESETTERS DONORS SUPPORTERS Leslie C. Quick, Jr. and EXECUTIVES ($15,000–$24,999) ($10,000–$14,999) ($2,500–$9,999) Regina A. Quick Charitable American Express Aetna Joe Baio & Anne Griffin* Trust Foundation ($50,000+) Sarah Robertson AT&T ◆ AudienceView Mitchell J. Auslander• Sheri and Les Biller Elliott Sernel & Larry Falconio* Bank of America• Bloomberg Philanthropies DELL Foundation Ten Chimneys Foundation Citi• Paula A. Dominick• Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Sue Ann Collins* Theatermania The Hearst Foundations ◆ The Estée Lauder Bruce R. & Tracey Ewing• Dramatists Play Service, Inc. John Thomopoulos • The Schloss Family Foundation◆ • Companies Inc. Mary Kitchen & Jon Orszag* Kevin & Anne Driscoll* Ubiñas Family Charitable Trust James S. & Lynne P. Turley* ◆ • Alan & Jennifer Freedman* • KLDiscovery John R. Dutt* Michael A. Wall* Wells Fargo ◆ Frank & Bonnie Orlowski• Anthony & Diane Lembke* Jessica Farr Marsh & McLennan Lisa Orberg ◆ Lucy Fato & Matt Detmer* Mary Beth Winslow & Companies, Inc. Presidio Foresight Theatrical Bill Darby* BENEFACTORS • The Music Man Foundation◆ RBC Wealth Management Steven & Donna Gartner* Terrence P. Yanni ($25,000–$49,999) Westlake Reed Leskosky ◆ Buford Alexander & Pamela Farr• Meltwater Daniel A. Simkowitz & Glen Gillen & • The Augustine Foundation ◆ Pfizer, Inc. Mari Nakachi Michael Lawrence • • BNY Mellon Thomas C. Quick S&P Global Richard K. Greene ◆ Steven & Joy Bunson• Southwest Airlines † Evelyn Mack Truitt* Nancy Hancock Griffith* ◆ • • EY TD Charitable Foundation Isabelle Winkles Joyce & Gregory Hurst George S. Smith, Jr.* • Willkie Farr & Gallagher Jujamcyn Goldman, Sachs & Co. *National Society Membership MetLife UBS Rob Kauffman* †Includes in-kind support Morgan Stanley Jonathan Maurer & • Patti & Rusty Rueff Foundation• Gretchen Shugart ◆ Educating through Theatre Support Louise Moriarty & Stephanie Scott• •Advancing Strong Theatre Support Patrick Stack* Robin and Bob Paulson Charitable Fund For a complete list of funders visit, theatreforward.org.

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

Hafner Vineyard ad sheet

ACORN Winery The Marker Hotel HAFNER VINEYARD CyberTools for Libraries Piedmont Piano Company Joe Tally and Dan Strauss Premium Port Wines, Inc. www.hafnervineyard.com Kryolan Professional Make-up

HAFNER VINEYARD www.hafnervineyard.com Corporations Matching Annual Fund Gifts As A.C.T. is both a cultural and an educational institution, many employers will match individual employee contributions to the theater. The following corporate matching gift programs honor their employees’ support of A.C.T., multiplying the impact of those contributions.

Acxiom Corporation BlackRock GE Foundation Macy’s, Inc. The Clorox Company Adobe Systems Inc. Charles Schwab Google Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation Apple, Inc. Chevron Hewlett-Packard Foundation, Inc. The James Irvine Foundation Applied Materials Chubb & Son IBM International Foundation Northwestern Mutual The Morrison & Foerster AT&T Foundation Dell Direct Giving Campaign JPMorgan Chase Foundation Foundation Bank of America Dodge & Cox Johnson & Johnson Family Pacific Gas and Electric TPG Capital, L.P. Bank of America Foundation Ericsson, Inc. of Companies Arthur Rock Verizon Bank of New York Mellon Federated Department Stores Levi Strauss Foundation Salesforce Visa International Community Partnership The Gap Lockheed Martin Corporation State Farm Companies John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Foundation

415.749.2228 43 A.C.T. STAFF

PAM MACKINNON JENNIFER BIELSTEIN MELISSA SMITH Artistic Director Executive Director Conservatory Director

Artistic Director Emerita The Strand: Front of House M.F.A. Program Core Faculty Carey Perloff Sarah Jacquez, Head Sound David Whitman, House Manager and Volunteer Christine Adaire, Head of Voice Ana Gabriella Hernandez-Mikig, Usher Coordinator Danyon Davis, Head of Movement Producing Director Emeritus Head Electrician Megan Murray, Genevieve Pabon, Peter J. Kuo, Collaboration Building James Haire Dante Clark, Head Carpenter Tuesday Ray, House Managers Joy Meads, Character and Text Oliver Sutton, Security Lisa Anne Porter, Head of Text and Dialects ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION Ramsey Abouremeleh, Monica Amitin, Jack Sharrar, PhD, Theater History Shannon Amitin, Forrest Choy, Bernadette Andy Donald, Associate Artistic Director Coralyn Bond, Executive Assistant and Melissa Smith, Head of Acting, Fons, Nailah Harper-Malveaux, Anthony Board Liaison Conservatory Director Janet Foster, Director of Casting and Hernandez, Caleb Lewis, Svetlana Karasyova, Artistic Associate April Andrickson, Receptionist Susan Monson, Haley Nielsen, Trever Joy Meads, Director of Dramaturgy Pearson, Scott Phillips, Pete Pickens, Miki M.F.A. Program Adjunct Faculty and New Works Human Resources Richmond, Travis Rowland, Tracey Sylvester, Milissa Carey, Singing, Director Allie Moss, Literary Manager and Amanda Williams, Human Resources Director Cevie Toure, Robyn Williams, Bartenders Andy Donald, Arts Leadership Artistic Associate Amanda Roccuzzo, Julie Douglas, Improv Ken Savage, Associate Producer Human Resources Generalist Susan Allen, Rodney Anderson, Branden Lauren English, The Actor’s Work Bowman, Serena Broussard, Danica Burt, Ariana Johnson, Kayla Minton Kaufman, Daniel Feyer, Accompanist Artistic Fellows General Management Jose Camello, Barbara Casey, Wendy Chang, Janet Foster, Audition Louisa Balch, General Manager Niyjale Cummings, Kathy Dere, John Doll, Larry Emms, Doris Flamm, Claire Gerndt, Liz Anthony Fusco, Acting Associate Artists Amy Dalba, Associate General Manager Githuka, Carol Grace, Blue Kesler, Ryszard Jasmin Hoo, Citizen Artistry Marco Barricelli, Olympia Dukakis, Anthony Sabra Jaffe, Company Manager Koprowski, Sharon Lee, Sadie Li, David Fusco, Giles Havergal, Bill Irwin, Steven Mark Jackson, Performance Making Christina M. Sturken, Assistant Linger, Joe MacDonald, Maria Markoff, Val Anthony Jones, Andrew Polk, Tom Stoppard, Darryl Jones, Acting, Director Company Manager Mason, Sam Mesinger, Edvida Moore, Kathy Gregory Wallace, Timberlake Wertenbaker W. D. Keith, On-Camera Acting Emma Penny, General/Company Napoleone, Mary O’Connell, Brandie Pilapil, Management Fellow Mark Saladino, Steve Salzman, Walter Philip Charles MacKenzie, On-Camera Acting Coaches Schoonmaker, Michael Sousa, Melissa Stern, Heidi Marshall, On-Camera Acting Christine Adaire, Lisa Anne Porter, Finance Dale Whitmill, Lorraine Williams, June Yee, Seana McKenna, Acting Voice and Text Rob Fore, Chief Financial Officer Ushers Danielle O’Dea, Combat Danyon Davis, Movement Sharon Boyce, Accounting Manager Caymichael Patten, On-Camera Acting Dave Maier, Danielle O’Dea, Fights The Strand Cafe May Chin, Matt Jones, Ryan Jones, Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique Daniel Feyer, Music Finance Associates Rafael Monge, Cafe Manager Stacey Printz, Dance Kenneth Bronson, LaRina Hazel, Baristas Tiffany Redmon, Fundraising PRODUCTION Information Technology Gabriel Romero, Latin Social Dance Martin Barron, Director of Production Thomas Morgan, Director EDUCATION & COMMUNITY Lindsay Saier, Stage Makeup Robert Hand, Production Manager Joone Pajar, Network Administrator PROGRAMS Virginia Scott, Clowning Jack Horton, Production Manager Susie Falk, Interim Director of Education & Elyse Shafarman, Alexander Technique Operations Marlena Schwartz, Community Programs Lee Shawn, Singing Assistant Production Manager Eric Brizee, Operations and Facilities Manager Vincent Amelio, School & Community Programs Lisa Townsend, Director, Choreographer Chris Lundahl, Design and Production Associate Jeffrey Warren, Assistant Facilities Manager Operations Manager Stephanie Wilborn, Citizen Artistry Michelle Symons, Leopoldo Benavente, Matt Stewart-Cohn, Stephanie Wilborn, Conservatory Production Manager Facilities Crew Members Community Programs Manager Studio A.C.T. Curtis Carr, Jr., Sol Maclan, Jesse Nightchase, Jarrett Holley, School Programs Associate Sean Key-Ketter, Mark Jackson, Program Director Conservatory Technical Director Security Elizabeth Halperin, Student Matinees Sophia Nguyen, Young Conservatory & Studio Conservatory Jaime Morales, Geary Cleaning Foreman Miranda Erin Campbell, Hannah Clague, ACTsmart A.C.T. Associate Production and Stage Management Coordinator Jamal Alsaidi, Jeaneth Alvarado, Lidia Residencies Coordinator Liz Anderson, On-Camera Acting, Improv Lavine Leyu Luo, Godinez, Geary Cleaning Crew Production Management Fellow YOUNG CONSERVATORY Heidi Carlsen, Acting, Voice, Movement Julie Douglas, Acting, Clown Development Jill MacLean, Craig Slaight Director of Stage Management Caitlin A. Quinn, Director of Development the Young Conservatory Francie Epsen-Devlin, Musical Theater Elisa Guthertz, Head Stage Manager Tiffany Redmon, Deputy Director of Sophia Nguyen, Young Conservatory Paul Finocchiaro, Acting Dani Bae, Samantha Greene, Elisa Guthertz, Development & Studio A.C.T. Associate Margo Hall, Acting Christina Hogan, Leslie M. Radin, Nicole Chalas, Director of Grants and Rahel Zeleke, Young Conservatory Assistant W. D. Keith, Acting Cristine Anne Reynolds, Stage Managers Foundation Relations Andy Alabran, Acting Drew Khalouf, Speech, Shakespeare Cheryle Honerlah, Maggie Manzano, Jody Price, Director of Special Events Cristina Anselmo, Acting Kari Prindl, Alexander Technique Chris Waters, Hannah Woodward, Hillary Bray, Donor Relations and Enrico Banson, Musical Theater Mark Rafael, Acting Assistant Stage Managers Membership Manager Denise Blase, Musical Theater Katie Rubin, Stand-Up Comedy, Acting Amanda Marshall, Production Assistant Renée Gholikely, Development Research and Kimberly Braun, Musical Theater Patrick Russell, Acting, Clown Brianna Grabowski, Miranda Ramos, Prospect Manager Nancy Gold, Physical Character, Acting Naomi Sanchez, Musical Theater Noah Usher, Stage Management Fellows Stephanie Swide, Development Operations Manager Dan Griffith, Movement Michael Gene Sullivan, Playwriting Prop Shop Emily Remsen, Special Events Associate Domenique Lozano, Director, Acting Caitlyn Tella, Movement Abo Greenwald, Supervisor Taylor Steinbeck, Development Assistant Thaddeus Pinkston, Accompanist Laura Wayth, Acting, Musical Theater Mads Leigh-Faire, Special Events Fellow Salim Razawi, Acting Professional Development Costume Shop Ashley Mareira, Development Fellow Corinna Rezzelle, Musical Theater Jessie Amoroso, Costume Director Lauren Rosi, Musical Theater Liz Anderson, Fontana Butterfield, Mark Rafael, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Callie Floor, Rentals Manager Marketing & Public Relations Vivian Sam, Musical Theater, Dance Radhika Rao Keely Weiman, Build Manager/Draper Joan Rosenberg, Director of Marketing and Lauren Spencer, Acting Jef Valentine, Inventory Manager Communications Trish Tillman, Acting Conservatory Accompanists Maria Montoya, Head Stitcher Syche Phillips, Associate Director of Marketing Valerie Weak, Acting Lynden James Bair, Daniel Feyer, Christopher Kelly Koehn, Accessories & Crafts Artisan Simone Finney, Digital Content Manager Krista Wigle, Musical Theater Hewitt, Louis Lagalante, Paul McCurdy, Chanterelle Grover, First Hand Simon Hodgson, Publications Manager Thaddeus Pinkston, Naomi Sanchez Victoria Mortimer, Costume Administrator Kevin Kopjak/Charles Zukow Associates, CONSERVATORY NJ Bice, Kinsey Thomas, Costume Fellows Public Relations Counsel Peter J. Kuo, Associate Conservatory Director Library Staff Matt Mullin, Senior Graphic Designer Christopher Herold, Director of Summer Joseph Tally, Head Librarian Wig Shop Dani Karonis, Graphic Designer Training Congress G. David Anderson, Theresa Bell, Laurie Lindsay Saier, Wig Master Beryl Baker, Digital Content Associate Jack Sharrar, PhD, Director of Academic Affairs Bernstein, Helen Jean Bowie, Bruce Carlton, Barbara Cohrssen, William Goldstein, Pat Sara Leonard, Wigs Supervisor Elspeth Sweatman, Publications Associate Jerry Lopez, Director of Financial Aid Hunter, Connie Ikert, Ashok Katdare, Martha Lyre Alston, Wigs Fellow Samantha Wong, Conservatory Charlotte Brockman, Conservatory Manager Marketing Associate Kessler, Nelda Kilguss, Barbara Kornstein, Matt Jones, Bursar/Payroll Administrator Patricia O’Connell, Maida Paxton, Connie Miranda Ashland, Marketing Assistant STAGE STAFF Pelkey, Christine Peterson, Dana Rees, Roger Aaron Higareda, Marketing Fellow Silver, Whitney Spaner, Jane Taber, Aileen The Geary: Annie Sears, Publications Fellow Thong, Susan Torres, Joyce Weisman, Jean Miguel Ongpin, Head Carpenter Audrey Walker, Graphic Design Fellow Wilcox, Marie Wood, Library Volunteers Suzanna Bailey, Head Sound Amy Domjan, Head Electrician Ticket Services Accreditation Candace Drucelle Shankel, Head of Props Ian Fullmer, Director of Ticket Services A.C.T. is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Colin Wade, Flyman Mark C. Peters, Subscriptions Manager David Engelmann, Head Treasurer Universities of the Western Association of Mary Montijo, Wardrobe Supervisor Schools and Colleges (WASC), 985 Atlantic Elizabeth Halperin, Assistant Head Treasurer Diane Cornelius, Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501, Loren Lewis, Joe Nelson, Stage Door Monitors Anthony Miller, Group Sales 510.748.9001, an institutional accrediting Scott Tignor, Subscriptions Coordinator body recognized by the Council on Andy Alabran, Liam Blaney, Richard Claar, Postsecondary Accreditation and the U.S. Peter Davey, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Alex Department of Education. Mechanic, Treasurers

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

PAM MACKINNON (Artistic Director) Bruce Norris’s (Obie Award for Excellence in is celebrating her inaugural season as Direction, Tony and Lucille Lortel nominations). After five A.C.T.’s fourth artistic director. She is a years as board chair of Clubbed Thumb, a downtown New Tony, Drama Desk, and Obie Award– York theater company dedicated to new American plays, she winning director, having directed sits on its advisory board. She is an artistic associate of the upwards of 70 productions around the Roundabout Theatre Company, a Usual Suspect of New York country, off-Broadway, and on Theatre Workshop, and an alumna of the Drama League, Broadway. Her Broadway credits Women’s Project, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors’ include Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman (with Uma Labs. She is also the executive board president of the Stage Thurman), Amelie: A New Musical, David Mamet’s China Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). She grew up in Doll (with Al Pacino), Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Toronto, Canada, and Buffalo, New York, acted through her Chronicles (with Elisabeth Moss), Edward Albee’s A Delicate teens, but majored in economics and political science at the Balance (with and ), Edward University of Toronto and briefly pursued a PhD in political Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Tony Award, Drama science at UC , before returning to her true Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle nomination), and passion: theater.

JENNIFER BIELSTEIN (Executive Northlight Theatre, and Lincoln Park Zoo, and served on Director) joins A.C.T. with more than 25 the boards of the League of Theatres, the Arts years of theater management and Cultural Attractions Council, and other civic boards. experience. She serves on the board of She has received the Center for Nonprofit Excellence’s Theatre Forward and is president of Pyramid Award of Excellence in Leadership, and has been the League of Resident Theatres recognized in Louisville’s Business First’s 40 Under 40. (LORT)—an organization that In 2017, Bielstein was named by Twin Cities Business as represents 74 theaters nationwide— a Person to Know, and, in 2018, Minnesota Business having previously served as LORT’s vice president; chair of magazine named her as a Real Power 50 member. its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee; secretary; Bielstein is a graduate of University of North Carolina at and on multiple union negotiating teams. Before relocating Chapel Hill, attended Stanford’s Graduate School of to the Bay Area, Bielstein was the managing director of the Business Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, managing director of Arts, and earned an MBA from Bellarmine University, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and executive director of where she received the MBA Faculty Merit Award and Writers Theatre in Chicago. She has also worked for was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the honor society Steppenwolf Theatre Company, About Face Theatre, for business programs.

MELISSA SMITH (Conservatory leadership of the Conservatory, Smith was the director of Director, Head of Acting) has served as the Program in Theater and Dance at Princeton University. Conservatory director and head of She has taught acting classes to students of all ages in acting in the Master of Fine Arts various colleges, high schools, and studios around the Program at A.C.T. since 1995. During continental United States, at the Mid-Pacific Institute in that time, she has overseen the Hawaii, New York University’s La Pietra campus in expansion of the M.F.A. Program from Florence, and the Teatro di Pisa in San Miniato, Italy. She is a two- to a three-year course of study featured in Acting Teachers of America: A Vital Tradition. and the further integration of the M.F.A. Program faculty Also a professional actor, she has performed regionally at and student body with A.C.T.’s artistic wing, while also the Hangar Theatre, A.C.T., the California Shakespeare teaching and directing in the M.F.A. Program, Summer Festival, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre; in New York at Training Congress, and Studio A.C.T. In 2013, she launched Primary Stages and Soho Rep.; and in England at the the San Francisco Semester, a semester-long intensive that Barbican Centre in London and Birmingham Repertory deepens students’ acting. In 2016, she was honored by Theatre. Smith holds a BA from Yale College and an MFA in Theatre Bay Area as one of 40 individuals who have acting from Yale School of Drama. changed the face of Bay Area theater. Prior to assuming

415.749.2228 45 F.Y. I .

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES REFRESHMENTS AFFILIATIONS Full bar service, sweets, and savory items are A.C.T.’s administrative and conservatory A.C.T. is a constituent of Theatre available one hour before the performance in offices are located at 30 Grant Avenue, San Communications Group, the national Fred’s Columbia Room on the lower level and Francisco, CA 94108, 415.834.3200. On the organization for the nonprofit professional the Sky Bar on the third level. You can avoid web: act-sf.org. theater. A.C.T. is a member of Theatre Bay the long lines at intermission by preordering Area, the Union Square Association, the San food and beverages in the lower- and third- Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and the level bars. Bar drinks are now permitted in BOX OFFICE INFORMATION San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. the theater. A.C.T. BOX OFFICE Visit us at 405 Geary Street at Mason, next to CELL PHONES A.C.T. operates under an agreement the theater, one block west of Union Square; If you carry a pager, beeper, cell phone, or between the League of Resident Theatres or at 1127 Market Street at 7th Street, watch with an alarm, please make sure that and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of across from the UN Plaza. Walk-up hours it is set to the “off” position while you are professional actors and stage managers in are Tuesday–Sunday (noon–curtain) on in the theater. Text messaging during the the United States. performance days, and Monday–Friday performance is very disruptive and not allowed. (noon–6 p.m.) and Saturday–Sunday The Director is a member of the STAGE (noon–4 p.m.) on nonperformance days. PERFUMES DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS (For Strand Box Office walk-up hours, please The chemicals found in perfumes, colognes, SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union. visit act-sf.org.) Phone hours are Tuesday– and scented aftershave lotions, even in Sunday (10 a.m.–curtain) on performance small amounts, can cause severe physical The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound days, and Monday–Friday (10 a.m.–6 p.m.) reactions in some individuals. As a courtesy to designers in LORT theaters are represented and Saturday–Sunday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.) on fellow patrons, please avoid the use of these by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of nonperformance days. Call 415.749.2228 and products when you attend the theater. the IATSE. use American Express, Visa, or MasterCard; or fax your ticket request with credit card EMERGENCY TELEPHONE The scenic shop, prop shop, and stage crew information to 415.749.2291. Tickets are also Leave your seat location with those who are represented by Local 16 of the IATSE. available 24 hours a day on our website at may need to reach you and have them call act-sf.org. All sales are final, and there are no 415.439.2317 in an emergency. A.C.T. is supported in part by an award from refunds. Only current ticket subscribers and the National Endowment for the Arts. LATECOMERS those who purchase ticket insurance enjoy Performances begin promptly, and late ticket exchange privileges. Packages are seating is at the house manager’s discretion. A.C.T. is supported in part by a grant from available by calling 415.749.2250. A.C.T. gift Latecomers may have to watch the Grants for the Arts. certificates can be purchased in any amount performance on a video monitor in the lobby online, by phone or fax, or in person. until intermission. Latecomers and those who SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION DISCOUNTS leave the theater during the performance may GEARY THEATER EXITS Full-time students, educators, and be seated in alternate seats (especially if they administrators save up to 50% off season were in the first few rows) and can take their subscriptions with valid ID. Visit act-sf.org/ assigned seats at intermission. educate for details. Seniors (65+) save $40 on LISTENING SYSTEMS 8 plays, $35 on 7 plays, $30 on 6 plays, $25 Headsets designed to provide clear, amplified on 5 plays, and $20 on 4 plays. ORCHESTRA sound anywhere in the auditorium are SINGLE TICKET DISCOUNTS available free of charge in the lobby before Beginning two hours before curtain, a limited performances. Please turn off your hearing aid number of discounted tickets are available to when using an A.C.T. headset, as it will react to seniors (65+), educators, administrators, and the sound system and make a disruptive noise. full-time students. For matinee performances, RESTROOMS all seats are just $20 for seniors (65+). Valid Gender diversity is welcome at A.C.T. We ID required—limit one ticket per ID. Not valid invite audiences to use the restroom that for Premiere Orchestra seating. All rush best fits your gender identity or expression. If tickets are subject to availability. preferred, a single-user restroom can be found GROUP DISCOUNTS on the 5th floor. Groups of 15 or more save up to 35%! Wheelchair Seating is located For more information, call Anthony Miller in Fred’s Columbia Room on the at 415.439.2424. lower lobby level, the Balcony MEZZANINE Lobby, and the Garret on the AT THE THEATER uppermost lobby level. A.C.T.’s Geary Theater is located at 415 Geary Street. The lobby opens one hour before A.C.T. is pleased to announce that an Automatic curtain. Bar service and refreshments are External Defibrillator (AED) is now available available one hour before curtain. The theater in the house management closet in the lobby opens 30 minutes before curtain. of The Geary.

ABOUT OUR PLAYS LOST AND FOUND Copies of Words on Plays, A.C.T.’s in-depth If you’ve misplaced an item while you’re performance guide, are on sale in the main still at the theater, please look for it at our lobby, at the theater bars, at the box office, merchandise stand in the lobby. Any items and online at act-sf.org/wordsonplays. found by ushers or other patrons will be taken there. If you’ve already left the theater, please call 415.439.2471 and we’ll be happy to check BALCONY our lost and found for you. Please be prepared with the date you attended the performance and your seat location.

46 ACT-SF.ORG A devout young man struggles with his identity. An atheist biblical scholar faces her mortality. The creation of the Bible itself tells a tale. They all converge in The Good Book.

BY Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson DIRECTED BY Lisa Peterson

STARTS APRIL 25 · PEET’S THEATRE

A fresh, irreverent new musical comedy from the clever and culturally savvy mind of John Leguizamo!

BOOK BY John Leguizamo and Tony Taccone MUSIC BY Benjamin Velez LYRICS BY David Kamp, Benjamin Velez, and John Leguizamo BASED ON AN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY WRITTEN BY John Leguizamo and Stephen Chbosky CHOREOGRAPHY BY Maija Garcia DIRECTED BY Tony Taccone STARTS MAY 28 · RODA THEATRE

Call 510 647-2949 · Click berkeleyrep.org SEASON SPONSORS

Untitled-1 1 3/18/19 10:25 AM WEIGHTLESS

Featuring Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses (The Kilbanes) With Lila Blue, Julia Brothers, Dan Harris, and Joshua Pollock Directed by Becca Wolff

“Highest Rating! The Kilbanes could fly endlessly into space on a single, hypnotically executed chord” San Francisco Chronicle

APRIL 30–MAY 12 A.C.T.’s Strand Theater

Featuring Oakland-based band The Kilbanes, Weightless weaves together myth with their celebrated indie rock sound to tell a story of sisterhood, love, betrayal, and rebirth.

Tickets on sale now ACT-SF.ORG | 415.749.2228