American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon and Executive Director Jennifer Bielsteinannounced the performance schedule for the previously announced productions that will make up the company's 2019-20 season. In addition, A.C.T. announced new weekday performance times for Geary Theater productions for the 2019-20 season. Beginning September 2019, the new Geary Theater performance schedule is as follows: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays at 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.and 7 p.m. The Strand Theater performance schedule remains the same:Tuesdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday and Saturdays at 2 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Doors open one hour prior to show time.
Season subscriptions for the 2019-20 season range in price from $98-$693 and are available now. Single tickets will go on sale on August 9, 2019 at 10 a.m. Priority for early access to tickets and to secure seats is given to subscribers. To become a new subscriber or renew a current subscription for the 2019-20 season, visit
act-sf.org/join or call the A.C.T. Subscriptions Office at 415-749-2250.
The 2019-20 season kicks off with
Caryl Churchill's "breathtaking" (The Washington Post) Top Girls (September 19-October 13, 2019). In '80s Britain, Marlene celebrates a promotion with a dinner party full of legendary, historical, and mythical women, from Pope Joan to one of Chaucer's pilgrims to an imperial Japanese courtesan. As the wine starts to flow, each of these iconic women shares her own stories of sacrifice and success-but where's the sisterhood? Written by Churchill (Love and Information), one of the English language's greatest living playwrights, and directed by
Tamilla Woodard (Men on Boats) in her return to A.C.T., this modern classic dissects feminism and the cost of progress in Margaret Thatcher's Britain, a country divided by class, cruelty, and capitalism. Performances of Top Girls will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Next, A.C.T. Artistic Director
Pam MacKinnon (in her Strand Theater debut) directs the scorching world premiere of Kate Attwell's Testmatch (October 24-December 8, 2019), a contrast of two time-traveling stories focusing on cricket, a game of strict rules and hidden violence. It's 2019 and tensions in the locker room rise during a world-class match between rival women's cricket players from India and England, as secrets spill about relationships, influencers, and the integrity of the sport. Then in 1800 (or so), Abhi, the Number One Sepoy of the East India Co., struggles to force two bungling, cheating British administrators-absorbed in setting down the rules of cricket-to focus on the famine they have created outside the compound walls. Asking hard-hitting questions about colonialism, gender, and power, Testmatch launches Kate Attwell, an exciting new voice in American theater.Performances of Testmatch will take place at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater. Press nights will be held on Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Following another successful run in 2018, A.C.T. welcomes back the Bay Area's favorite holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol (performances begin November 29, 2019). Featuring a lively cast of dozens, delightful music, gorgeous costumes, and deliciously spooky ghosts, this version of A Christmas Carol, adapted by
Paul Walsh and
Carey Perloff, stays true to the heart of Dickens's timeless story of redemption and brings a playful sensibility to his rich language. Directed by A.C.T. Associate Conservatory Director Peter J. Kuo, A Christmas Carol is a cornerstone of the A.C.T. repertory and has become a holiday tradition for families around the Bay Area. Performances of A Christmas Carol will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held on Friday, December 6, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Ringing in 2020, A.C.T. will present Obie Award-winning playwright
Will Eno's new play Wakey, Wakey (January 23-February 16, 2020). What if you had just a few more minutes left to live? Eno (The Realistic Joneses) crafts an intimate comedy drama that takes audiences on a theatrical journey that's surprising, yet familiar. Experience the play that has everyone talking-plus the curtain-raiser written especially for A.C.T. by Eno, and a party to follow the show. Starring two-time Emmy Award winner
Tony Hale (HBO's Veep and Fox's/Netflix's Arrested Development) and directed by Obie Award winner
Anne Kauffman (Hundred Days at Z Space),Wakey, Wakey is a remarkable combination of the everyday and the extraordinary that invites you to share the pleasure, humor, and beautiful mystery of life.Performances of Wakey, Wakey will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Next up at The Strand, A.C.T. will present
Branden Jacob-Jenkins's "sharply observed satirical comedy" (The Hollywood Reporter) Gloria (February 13-April 12, 2020). In the editorial office of a Manhattan magazine, competing twentysomethings Ani, Dean, and Kendra are only interested in scoring a book deal to kick-start a career. But after disaster strikes, which one of them will write the story? MacArthur "Genius" winner Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate, Everybody) reunites with Cal Shakes Artistic Director
Eric Ting, who directed the playwright's An Octoroon (2017) at Berkeley Rep. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016, this scalpel-sharp dark comedy evolves into a provocative exploration of how we cope with trauma and the tales we tell each other to escape. Performances of Gloria will take place at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater. Press nights will be held on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
In Spring 2020, A.C.T. will present
Lydia R. Diamond's new play, Toni Stone(March 5-29, 2020). Toni Stone dreams of nothing but baseball. But to become the first woman to play professionally as a member of the Negro League's Indianapolis Clowns, she must confront hostile crowds, ruthless team owners, and players who slide spikes first. As she negotiates life's challenges and opportunities on and off the field, Toni stays true to herself and reaches for who she can be. In this new play, Diamond (Broadway's Stick Fly and Showtime's The Affair) uncovers the theatrical journey in Martha Ackmann's book, Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone. The culmination of a six-year collaboration between Diamond and director
Pam MacKinnon, Toni Stone is the extraordinary, real-life story of a trail-blazing Bay Area athlete. Toni Stone is a coproduction with
Arena Stage.Performances of Toni Stone will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
On a dark and stormy night, Brad and Janet get a flat tire . . . So begins the party at The Geary Theater with
Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show (April 23-May 17, 2020). Tony Award-nominated director-choreographer
Sam Pinkleton (Soft Power and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) reimagines this swirling, sci-fi world for 2020 San Francisco. Before this cross-dressing classic was ever a midnight movie at The Strand,
Richard O'Brien's Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Magenta, and Riff Raff started life as a smash rock musical. Experience The Geary as never before in this outrageous celebration of sex, drag, rock'n'roll, and being who you really are. In a dazzling mix of sequins and fishnet stockings, "Let's do the Time Warp again!"Performances of The Rocky Horror Show will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
After the rollicking success of Vietgone (2018) at The Strand, playwright
Qui Nguyen returns to A.C.T. with Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone Part 2 (June 4-28, 2020), the second chapter in his kickass, hip-hop trilogy about a Vietnamese family who swap war-torn Saigon for rural '70s Arkansas. Lovers Tong and Quang are now married, but with low-wage jobs, a son struggling with English, and rumors of old flames, the challenges are only beginning. Nguyen reunites with director Jaime Castañeda to draw from rap, leap into martial arts, and dig deep into his own family journey. Funny, sexy, and subversive, Poor Yella Rednecks confirms Nguyen as a groundbreaking playwright of the new American story. Performances of Poor Yella Rednecks will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater. Press night will be held onWednesday, June 10, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Full-season subscriptions offer incredible savings, unparalleled access, exclusive benefits, and personalized customer service. Subscribers save as much as 33% off single-ticket prices. Students and educators are eligible to save 50% on subscriptions, and senior discounts are available for certain series. To make subscriptions more affordable, A.C.T. also offers all subscribers an extended payment plan that allows payment in three easy installments. A.C.T.'s subscriber benefits include free ticket exchanges up to curtain time on your scheduled performance, guaranteed best seating, ticket protection, early access to tickets for special events outside of the regular season, subscriber-only events, discounts on convenient prepaid parking one block away from the theater, discounts for neighborhood restaurants, and the opportunity to subscribe to Words on Plays, A.C.T.'s in-depth theater guide for each show.
A.C.T. will offer numerous InterACT events for each mainstage production during the 2019-20 season that give patrons opportunities to get closer to the action while having an entire night out at the theater. InterACT events include Bike to the Theater Night, a partnership with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition; Prologue, featuring a preshow sneak peek at the artistic process with members of the artistic staff; Theater on the Couch, featuring exciting postshow discussions that explores the minds, motives, and behavior of the characters in each production; Audience Exchanges, featuring lively Q&As with the actors and artists who create the work onstage; OUT with A.C.T., a pre- and postshow party celebrating LGBTQ+ pride within the theater community; Wine Series, featuring preshow wine tasting from some of the Bay Area's hottest local wineries; and PlayTime, a preshow interactive theater workshop with the artists who make each production happen. Additional InterACT events will be added throughout the season.
A.C.T. would also like to acknowledge its Season Presenters Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson; Priscilla and Keith Geeslin; James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen-Hormel; Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation; Kenneth and Gisele Miller; Toni Rembe and Arthur Rock; Robina Riccitiello; Mary and Steven Swig; Jeff and Laurie Ubben; Kay Yun and Andre Neumann-Loreck. Additional support provided by Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 San Francisco, A.C.T.'s Official Hotel Partner.
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