A.C.T. Celebrates Pinter With THE HOMECOMING, Plays 3/3-27

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2010-11 season with a revival of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter's most provocative play, The Homecoming, directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director and longtime Pinter collaborator Carey Perloff. Award-winning actress René Augesen celebrates her tenth anniversary with the A.C.T. core Acting Company as she takes on the enigmatic central role of Ruth. In The Homecoming, a long-absent son and his attractive wife, Ruth, return to his contentious childhood home in London's East End. Caught in a grueling power struggle, father and sons vie for Ruth's attention and affection with outrageous consequences in a play that changed the face of 20th-century drama. Hailed as "Pinter's masterpiece" by the Los Angeles Times and called "a contemporary classic that packs a wallop" by Newsday, The Homecoming plays March 3-27, 2011, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Press night is Wednesday, March 9, 2011, at 8 p.m. Tickets (starting at $10) are available by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or at www.act-sf.org.

Along with the production, A.C.T. will host Pursuing Pinter on March 20, 2011 following the 2 p.m. performance, a celebration of the life and work of Harold Pinter, in performance and discussion. Perloff will lead a discussion with Austin E. Quigley, author of The Pinter Problem and The Modern Stage and Other Worlds and former dean of Columbia College at Columbia University, and Michael Krasny, host of KQED Radio's Forum program. Following the discussion, actors from A.C.T.'s core company and the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program will read from a wide range of Pinter's work in various venues at the theater. For updates and other information, visit act-sf.org/homecoming.

Perloff began her artistic relationship with Pinter while she was the artistic director of Classic Stage Company in New York City, where she worked closely with the writer in staging his plays The Birthday Party and Mountain Language (American premiere). At A.C.T. she directed Old Times in 1998, as well as a double bill of Celebration (American premiere) and The Room in 2001, which prompted the San Francisco Examiner to exclaim: "[Perloff has] produced the most compelling Pinter I've seen anywhere, including London." Perloff says of Pinter: "A writer of acute observation and meticulous precision, the late, great Harold Pinter is missed by all lucky souls who had the pleasure of working with him. Pinter's theater, like his pauses, always leaves room for the audience to fill in the gaps with their own secrets, their own dreams, their own fears, their own imaginations. He was the least manipulative and, in some sense, the most generous (and wickedly funny) of playwrights. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate his legacy than exploring The Homecoming, my favorite of all of Pinter's plays, with our amazing core Acting Company."

Pinter, who got his start as an actor, is known for writing great roles for great actors. Thus it's only fitting that the Homecoming cast is populated with acclaimed actors from the Bay Area and beyond. René Augesen, who began her A.C.T. career as Célimène in The Misanthrope, has been an audience and critical favorite since she first hit the A.C.T. stage in October 2000, taking on some of theater's most iconic roles in such classical and modern plays as Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ibsen's A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, and Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll. Augesen was recently awarded a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship by the Ten Chimneys Foundation, which honors America's best regional theater actors. Perloff says: "I'm thrilled to be able to celebrate René's anniversary with this role she was born to play. René has astonishing range-there is almost no one of her generation that I can think of who is like her. She has a body of work that is unique in the American theater." Perloff also speaks to the effect Augesen has had on the entire A.C.T. community: "Along with her beautiful work on our stages, she has also had an enormous impact on a whole generation of M.F.A. students, who have been trained by her, acted with her, directed by her, and really mentored by her." Joining Augesen are A.C.T. core Acting Company members Anthony Fusco (Clybourne Park, November, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo at A.C.T.) and Jack Willis (The Tosca Project, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Rock 'n' Roll, Blood Knot at A.C.T.); A.C.T. favorite Andrew Polk (David Mamet's November and Speed-the-Plow at A.C.T.); award-winning Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh (Grey Gardens on HBO and The Real Thing on Broadway); and Adam O'Byrne (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and Henry IV, Part 1 and London Assurance at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival).

A celebrated playwright, actor, director, and political activist, Pinter has been a defining force in modern theater with such plays as The Caretaker, Betrayal, Celebration, The Birthday Party, and Old Times. In addition to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, Pinter received a Tony Award (for The Homecoming in 1967) and lifetime achievement recognition with the David Cohen Prize, the Laurence Olivier Special Award, the World Leaders Award for "Creative Genius," and the European Theatre Award. His screenwriting was recognized with two Academy Award nominations, for Betrayal and The French Lieutenant's Woman.A.C.T. will offer numerous InterACT events-many of which are offered free of charge-in association with The Homecoming that will give patrons opportunities to get closer to the action while making a whole night out of their evening at the theater:

• 10UP: World-Class Theater at Happy-Hour Prices: Mar. 3-13

Live it up with 10UP! Enjoy the Bay Area's best theater for only $10 a ticket for Balcony seats during select performances. The third-floor Sky Bar opens one hour before curtain time-show up early and mingle with other theatergoers while you enjoy happy-hour drinks and soak up the historic charm of one of the most beautiful theaters in the country.

• Audience Prologue Featuring Director Carey Perloff: Tue., Mar. 8, at 5:30 p.m.

Get inside the artistic process with a free half-hour preshow discussion with Carey Perloff. FREE and open to the public (no tickets required).

• Bring What You Can/Pay What You Wish: Thu., Mar. 10, at 8 p.m.

Pay any amount for your tickets when you bring nonperishable food donations for the San Francisco Food Bank (sffoodbank.org). Patrons are limited to two tickets per donated item, two tickets per person. Tickets go on sale at 6 p.m. the day of the performance. Sponsored by Bank of the West.

• Theater on the Couch: Fri., Mar. 11, at 8 p.m.

Join members of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis for an exciting postperformance discussion that explores the psychological aspects of the show and addresses audience questions.

• Audience Exchanges: Tue., Mar. 15, at 7 p.m. / Tue., Mar. 23, at 8 p.m.

After the show, stick around for a lively Q&A session with the actors and artists who create the work onstage.

• OUT with A.C.T.: Wed., Mar. 16, following the 8 p.m. performance

Ten-year anniversary! Meet the cast and enjoy free cocktails and treats at these popular LGBT parties. Visit www.act-sf.org/out for more information about subscribing to OUT nights.

• Pursuing Pinter: Sun., Mar. 20, following the 2 p.m. performance

Join us for a celebration of the life and work of Harold Pinter, in performance and discussion. A.C.T. Artistic Director and longtime Pinter collaborator Carey Perloff will lead a discussion with Austin E. Quigley, author of The Pinter Problem and The Modern Stage and Other Worlds and former dean of Columbia College at Columbia University, and Michael Krasny, host of KQED Radio's Forum program. Following the discussion, actors from A.C.T.'s core company and the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program will read from a wide range of Pinter's work in various venues at the theater. For updates and other information, visit act-sf.org/homecoming.

A.C.T.'s production of The Homecoming is sponsored by Blue Shield and is made possible by executive producers Frannie and Mort Fleishhacker and Doug Tilden; producers Dan Cohn and Lynn Brinton, Marcia and Geoffrey Green, Rita and Ian Isaacs, Joan and Robert McGrath, Marjorie and Joseph Perloff, Gene and Abby Schnair, Alan L. and Ruth Stein, J. Dietrich Stroeh and Dawna Gallagher Stroeh, Olga and Ian Thomson, and Paul and Barbara Weiss; and associate producers Flo and John Bryan, Lynn Bunim and Alexander Fetter, Mrs. Michael Dollinger, Anne and Jerry Down, Linda Jo Fitz, Harvey and Gail Glasser, Jack R. Steinmetz in memory of Richard E. Hall, and Ayn and Brian Thorne. A.C.T. would also like to acknowledge its 2010-11 season company sponsors: Priscilla and Keith Geeslin; Ambassador James C. Hormel and Mr. Michael P. Nguyen; Nancy Livingston and Fred Levin, The Shenson Foundation; Burt and Deedee McMurtry; Patti and Rusty Rueff; Mary and Steven Swig; and Jeff and Laurie Ubben.

Stay tuned for the rest of the season! You haven't experienced Jean-Paul Sartre's existential masterpiece No Exit until you've seen the groundbreaking multimedia version by Canada's The Virtual Stage and Electric Theatre Company, which makes its U.S. premiere at A.C.T. April 7-May 1, 2011. The 2010-11 season culminates in the much-anticipated world premiere of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, a new musical based on Maupin's beloved books and created by writer Jeff Whitty and director Jason Moore (the team behind Avenue Q) and Jake Shears and John Garden (the musical minds behind the glam-rock band Scissor Sisters). A.C.T. brings the iconic saga to San Francisco live May 19-June 19, 2011. To subscribe (three-play packages are still available) or to receive a season brochure, please call 415.749.2250 or log on to www.act-sf.org.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Harold Pinter (Playwright) achieved international renown as one of the world's most complex and challenging post-World War II dramatists. The son of a Jewish tailor, Pinter grew up in London's working-class East End. He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1948 but left after two terms to join a repertory company as a professional actor. In 1956 he began to write for the stage. The Room (1957) and The Dumb Waiter (1959), his first two plays, are one-act dramas that established the mood of comic menace that was to figure largely in his later works. His first full-length play, The Birthday Party, was first produced 1958, and his reputation as a unique voice was secured with The Caretaker (1960) and The Homecoming (1965). Many plays followed: Landscape (1969), Silence (1969), Night (1969), Old Times (1971), No Man's Land (1975), Betrayal (1978), Moonlight (1993), and Celebration (2000). In the 1970s Pinter began directing both his own plays and the works of others. In addition to works for the stage, Pinter wrote radio and television dramas and a number of successful screenplays: The Servant (1963), Accident (1967), The Go-Between (1970), The Last Tycoon (1976), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), the screen adaptation of his own play Betrayal (1983), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), and Sleuth (2007). Pinter was also a noted poet, and his verse-such as that collected in War (2003)-often reflects his political views and involvement in numerous causes. In 2005 Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in 2007 he was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government. He died in December 2008.

Carey Perloff (Director) is celebrating her 19th season as artistic director of A.C.T., where she most recently directed The Tosca Project (cocreated with choreographer Val Caniparoli) and Racine's Phèdre. Known for directing innovative productions of classics and championing new writing for the theater, Perloff has also directed for A.C.T. José Rivera's Boleros for the Disenchanted; the world premieres of Philip Kan Gotanda's After the War (A.C.T. commission) and her own adaptation (with Paul Walsh) of A Christmas Carol; the American premieres of Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love and Indian Ink and Harold Pinter's Celebration; A.C.T.-commissioned translations/adaptations of Hecuba, The Misanthrope, Enrico IV, Mary Stuart, Uncle Vanya, and A Mother; The Voysey Inheritance (adapted by David Mamet); the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian's Singer's Boy; and major revivals of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Government Inspector, Happy End (including a critically acclaimed cast album recording), A Doll's House, Waiting for Godot, The Three Sisters, The Threepenny Opera, Old Times, The Rose Tattoo, Antigone, Creditors, The Room, Home, The Tempest, and Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, Travesties, The Real Thing, Night and Day, and Arcadia. Perloff's work for A.C.T. also includes Marie Ndiaye's Hilda, the world premieres of Marc Blitzstein's No for an Answer and David Lang/Mac Wellman's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, and the West Coast premiere of her own play The Colossus of Rhodes (Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist). Her play Luminescence Dating premiered in New York at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, was coproduced by A.C.T. and Magic Theatre, and is published by Dramatists Play Service. Her play Waiting for the Flood has received workshops in A.C.T.'s First Look series and at New York Stage & Film and Roundabout Theater Company; her latest play, Higher, was developed at New York Stage and Film and presented at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum. Her one-act play The Morning After was a finalist for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Perloff has collaborated as a director on new plays by many notable contemporary writers, including Gotanda, Robert O'Hara, and Lucy Caldwell. She most recently directed a new Elektra for the Getty Villa in Los Angeles.

Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was artistic director of Classic Stage Company in New York, where she directed the world premiere of Ezra Pound's Elektra, the American premiere of Pinter's Mountain Language, and many classic works. Under Perloff's leadership, Classic Stage won numerous OBIE Awards, including the 1988 OBIE for artistic excellence. In 1993, she directed the world premiere of Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's opera The Cave at the Vienna Festival and Brooklyn Academy Of Music.

A recipient of France's Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the National Corporate Theatre Fund's 2007 Artistic Achievement Award, Perloff received a B.A. Phi Beta Kappa in classics and comparative literature from Stanford University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford. She was on the faculty of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for seven years and teaches and directs in the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program. She is the proud mother of Lexie and Nicholas.

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