SAN FRANCISCO’S PREMIER NONPROFIT THEATER COMPANY JOHN FEB–APR 2017 SEASON 50, ISSUE 5 SR_SFJazz2017.qxp_SR 2017 ad template 11/28/16 1:38 PM Page 1 Stay Exquisite Experience extraordinary hospitality in the most distinctive of urban settings. With refined accommodations, unique event spaces and locally inspired dining, The St. Regis San Francisco embodies timeless spirit with modern day sophistication. The St. Regis San Francisco 125 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 t: 1.415.284.4000 stregis.com/sanfrancisco . s e t a i l i f f a s t i r o , . c n I , l a n o i t a n r e t n I t t o i r r a M f o s k r a m e d a r t e h t e r a s o g o l r i e h t d n a s i g e R . t S , G P S , t s e u G d e r r e f e r P . d e v r e s e R s t h g i R l l A . c n I , l a n o i t a n r e t n I t t o i r r a M 6 1 0 2 © Stay exquisite at more than 40 St. Regis hotels and resorts worldwide. @stregishotels EAP full-page template.indd 1 11/28/16 3:39 PM My wealth. My priorities. My partner. 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EAP full-page template.indd 1 9/6/16 11:24 AM February 2017 PRESENTS Volume 15, No. 5 THEATER TOURS FOR 2017 IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THEATER AT THE PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL COSTA MESA’S Paul Heppner Publisher PACIFIC PLAYWRIGHTS Susan Peterson Design & Production Director FESTIVAL Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst APRIL 21–24 Production Artists and Graphic Design Mike Hathaway EXPERIENCE THE EXCITEMENT OF HAMILTON ON BROADWAY Sales Director Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed, Rob Scott San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF Brieanna Bright, BROADWAY IN Joey Chapman, Ann Manning Seattle Area Account Executives NEW YORK CITY Jonathan Shipley Ad Services Coordinator JULY 11–17 Carol Yip Sales Coordinator EXPLORE ASHLAND AND THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL THE CHARMING OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Paul Heppner JULY 19–24 President Mike Hathaway Vice President RELISH THE LEGACY OF EUROPEAN DRAMA IN DUBLIN AND LONDON Genay Genereux NEW COMBO TOUR Accounting & Office Manager Sara Keats THE BEST OF BRITISH Marketing Manager Ryan Devlin AND IRISH THEATER Business Development Manager OCTOBER 3–12 Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 ALL THEATER TOURS ARE LED BY A.C.T. ARTISTIC STAFF AND INCLUDE: [email protected] • Tickets to world-class productions 800.308.2898 x105 www.encoremediagroup.com • Luxury accommodations • Discussions with guest artists led by A.C.T. staff • Welcome and farewell dinners • Lunches and cocktail hours • Complimentary breakfast each morning in our hotel • Sightseeing excursions and/or walking tours • Travel companions who love theater Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media For more information visit act-sf.org/theatertours Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget or contact Helen Rigby at 415.439.2469 or [email protected] Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2017 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. 4 ACT-SF.ORG SAN FRANCISCO'S THEATER COMPANY American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco’s Tony Award– A.C.T.’s 50-year-old Conservatory, led by Melissa Smith, is at winning nonprofit theater, nurtures the art of live theater the center of our work. Our three-year, fully accredited Master through dynamic productions, intensive actor training, of Fine Arts Program is at the forefront of America’s actor and ongoing engagement with our community. Under the training programs. Meanwhile, our intensive Summer Training leadership of Artistic Director Carey Perloff, we embrace Congress attracts students from around the world, and the San our responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent our rich Francisco Semester offers a unique study-abroad opportunity theatrical traditions and literatures, while exploring new for undergraduates. Other programs include the world-famous artistic forms and new communities. Founded by William Ball, Young Conservatory for students ages 8 to 19, led by 28-year a pioneer of the regional theater movement, A.C.T. opened its veteran Craig Slaight; Studio A.C.T., our expansive course of first San Francisco season in 1967. We have since performed theater study for adults; and the Professional Development more than 350 productions to a combined audience of more Training Program, which offers actor training for companies than seven million people. Every year we reach more than seeking to elevate their employees’ business performance skills. 250,000 people through our productions and programs. Our alumni often grace our mainstage and perform around the Bay Area, as well as on stages and screens across the country. Rising from the wreckage of the earthquake and fire of 1906 and hailed as the “perfect playhouse,” the beautiful, historic A.C.T. also brings the benefits of theater-based arts education Geary Theater has been our home since the beginning. When to more than 12,000 Bay Area students and educators each the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake ripped the roof apart, San year. Central to our ACTsmart education programs, run by Franciscans rallied together to raise a record-breaking $30 Director of Education & Community Programs Elizabeth million to rebuild the theater. The Geary reopened in 1996 with Brodersen, is the longstanding Student Matinee (SMAT) a production of The Tempest directed by Perloff, who took over program, which has brought hundreds of thousands of young in 1992 after the retirement of A.C.T.’s second artistic director, people to A.C.T. performances since 1968. We also provide gentleman artist Ed Hastings. touring Will on Wheels Shakespeare productions, teaching- artist residencies, in-school workshops, and study materials to Perloff’s 24-season tenure has been marked by groundbreaking Bay Area schools and community-based organizations. productions of classical works and new translations creatively colliding with exceptional contemporary theater; cross- With our increased presence in the Central Market neighborhood disciplinary performances and international collaborations; marked by the renovation of The Strand Theater and the and theater made by, for, and about the Bay Area. Her fierce opening of The Costume Shop Theater, A.C.T. plays a leadership commitment to audience engagement ushered in a new era role in securing the future of theater for San Francisco and of InterACT events and dramaturgical publications, inviting the nation. everyone to explore what goes on behind the scenes. American Conservatory Theater Board of Trustees (As of October 2016) The Board of Directors of the M.F.A. Program Nancy Livingston Ray Apple Carey Perloff Dagmar Dolby CHAIR Lesley Ann Clement Robina Riccitiello William Draper III Abby Sadin Schnair Kirke M. Hasson Richard T. Davis-Lowell Dan Rosenbaum John Goldman CHAIR PRESIDENT Jerome L. Dodson Sally Rosenblatt Kaatri Grigg Michael G. Dovey Abby Sadin Schnair James Haire Sara Barnes Celeste Ford VICE CHAIR Olympia Dukakis Jeff Spears Kent Harvey Carlotta Dathe Sarah M. Earley Robert Tandler Sue Yung Li Frannie Fleishhacker Priscilla Geeslin Frannie Fleishhacker Patrick S. Thompson Christine Mattison Arnie Glassberg VICE CHAIR Ken Fulk Joaquin Torres Joan McGrath Christopher Hollenbeck David Riemer Dianne Hoge Jeff Ubben Deedee McMurtry Luba Kipnis VICE CHAIR Jo S. Hurley Adriana Lopez Vermut Mary S. Metz Linda Kurtz Steven L. Swig Jeri Lynn Johnson Nola Yee Toni Rembe Jennifer Lindsay VICE CHAIR Alan Jones Kay Yun Rusty Rueff Toni Miller Linda Jo Fitz James H. Levy Joan Sadler Toni Rembe TREASURER Heather Stallings Little EMERITUS Cherie Sorokin Sally Rosenblatt Janet V. Lustgarten ADVISORY BOARD Alan L. Stein Anne Shonk Daniel E. Cohn SECRETARY Jeffrey S. Minick Barbara Bass Bakar Barry Lawson Williams Melissa Smith Michael P. Nguyen Rena Bransten Carlie Wilmans Alan L. Stein Alan L. Stein Martim Oliveira Jack Cortis Patrick S. Thompson CHAIR EMERITUS Peter Pastreich Joan Danforth American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 by William Ball. Edward Hastings, Artistic Director 1986–92 415.749.2228 5 “SUPER-VISIONARY”—THE NEW YORK TIMES “A MASTERPIECE”—TORONTO STAR NEEDLES . NEEDLES AND OPIUM WELLESLEY ROBERTSON III IN WELLESLEY ROBERTSON EX MACHINA. COURTESY PHOTO IN THIS INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION FROM FRENCH Canadian director Robert Lepage, three worlds collide inside a vast cube suspended over the Geary stage. Jazz legend Miles Davis travels to Europe in 1949 to discover the pleasures of Paris, unlock his creativity, and find his heroine in Juliette Gréco. At the same time, French filmmaker Jean Cocteau returns from his own opium-fueled journey to New York. Forty years later, a Québécois actor wanders the streets of Paris, seeking solace from a lost love in the words of Cocteau and the cool jazz of Davis.