American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced the first of its 2008–09 season Koret Visiting Artist Series in association with the West Coast premiere of Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll. Artistic Director Carey Perloff moderates "Velvet Underground to Velvet Revolution: Culture, Politics, and Change in Rock 'n' Roll," a panel discussion featuring world-renowned Eastern European political expert Timothy Garton Ash (author of History of the Present and The Magic Lantern) and former editor of Rolling Stone Greil Marcus (author of Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces). The panelists will discuss the explosive relationship between art and politics in the late '60s and beyond as it is reflected in the West Coast premiere of Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, playing at A.C.T. through October 18, 2008.
"We are delighted to welcome these two distinguished minds to A.C.T. to discuss the momentous period of history the play evokes and the music that helped bring down a government," says Artistic Director
Carey Perloff. "Much of the basis of our exploration of Stoppard's gorgeous and complicated play stems from both Garton Ash's and Marcus's work. For instance, Garton Ash's seminal book The Magic Lantern chronicling the stunning events of the Velvet Revolution in Prague has been at our side during the whole rehearsal process." The event is free and open to the public and takes place on the A.C.T. stage on Sunday, September 28, 2008, at 4 p.m., following the 1 p.m. matinee. For further information, please visit www.act-sf.org/koret.
The panelists featured in "Velvet Underground to Velvet Revolution" are two of the world's leading experts in the significant themes in Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll: the breakdown of communism in Eastern Europe over the last quarter-century and the political and social impact of rock-and-roll music. Garton Ash has had a celebrated career as both an academic and a journalist with eight books exploring what he has termed the "history of the present," charting transformation of Europe since the '70s. He is currently a professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His weekly column for The Guardian is syndicated in leading newspapers across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2005, he was featured on Time magazine's list of world's 100 most influential people. Marcus was the editor at Rolling Stone and Creem, and his 1975 tome Mystery Train redefined the parameters of rock music criticism. Author of nine books including 1989's Lipstick Traces, which posited punk rock as a historical cultural phenomenon, Marcus is one of the first writers to contextualize rock-and-roll music as part of the international political and social landscape.
As part of a generous partnership with A.C.T., the Koret Foundation has made a three-year commitment to support A.C.T.'s audience programs, including artist panel discussions and A.C.T.'s regularly scheduled Audience Exchange and Prologue discussions. The Koret Visiting Artist Series, in its third season, features exciting talks with acclaimed artists from the American theatrical community, moderated by A.C.T. artistic staff. Held at the
American Conservatory Theater before and after select performances throughout the season, the discussions are designed to illuminate the ways in which a theater affects and strengthens a community, the responsibilities of the artist in modern society, and the challenges of the creative process.
About the Koret Foundation: An entrepreneurial spirit guides Koret in addressing societal challenges and strengthening Bay Area life. Investing in strategic, local solutions, Koret helps to inspire a multiplier effect-encouraging collaborative funding and developing model initiatives. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Koret adds to the region's vitality by promoting educational opportunity, contributing to a diverse cultural landscape, and bolstering organizations that are innovative in their approaches to meeting community needs. With roots in the Jewish community, Koret embraces the community of Israel, especially through Koret Israel Economic Development Funds (KIEDF). Koret believes that economic stability and free market expansion offer the best hope for a prosperous future. At Koret, we understand our responsibility to make an impact-to honor the legacy of our founders, and to find long-lasting solutions that improve people's lives.
Koret Visiting Artist Series will continue with four more panel discussions in association with A.C.T.'s 2008–09 season. Visit
www.-act-sf.org/koret for more information.
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