American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced today that due to overwhelming audience response, the world premiere staging of Joseph Dougherty's Chester Bailey will add an extra performance at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater (1127 Market St, San Francisco) on Sunday, June 12 at 7 p.m.. The limited engagement must close on Sunday, June 12. Tickets for all performances through Sunday, June 12 are available at the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org.
Starring A.C.T. favorite and Academy Award nominee,
David Strathairn (Underneath the Lintel at A.C.T.; film: Good Night, and Good Luck; Lincoln; The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), and lauded Bay Area actor
Dan Clegg (Major Barbara at A.C.T.; Tribes at Berkeley Rep; A Midsummer Night's Dream at Cal Shakes; A.C.T. M.F.A. alumnus), Chester Bailey is a compelling account of regret, desire, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to find wholeness and truth.
In 1945, in a hospital in Long Island, a young man named Chester Bailey (portrayed by Clegg) has fallen under the charge of Dr. Philip Cotton (portrayed by Strathairn). Chester is recovering from devastating injuries that have made his imagination the safest haven he has, while Cotton is tasked with figuring out the best way to heal this unusual patient. When Chester weaves a vivid fantasy about a beautiful woman from his past, Cotton-who is wounded by his own disappointments in life and love-is forced to make an ethical decision that calls into question everything he has ever known and believed to be true. As he is left wondering how he can pierce the bubble of Chester's illusion without leading him back to a reality of pain and loss, Cotton comes to his own realizations about the fragile nature of love and hope-and the saving grace of the imagination.
Written by Emmy Award-winning playwright and screenwriter
Joseph Dougherty (theater: Digby, My Favorite Year; television: thirtysomething and Pretty Little Liars) and directed by veteran stage and television director
Ron Lagomarsino (theater: Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night of Ballyhoo; television: thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Pretty Little Liars), Chester Bailey is an elegant and spare, profound but unsentimental, two-person play about unexpected connections and a poetic reverie about the endurance of memory, longing, and imagination in the midst of tragedy. The Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City held a sold-out reading of Chester Bailey in 2014.
The creative team for Chester Bailey includes Nina Ball (Scenic Designer), Jessie Amoroso (Costume Designer), Robert Hand (Lighting Designer), and Brendan Aanes (
Sound Designer).
A.C.T.'s production of Chester Bailey is made possible by the Priscilla and Keith Geeslin New Strands Fund and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fund for New Works; and sponsored by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
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