A.C.T.'s Fellowship Program To Present Caryl Churchill's FAR AWAY And José Rivera's BRAINPEOPLE

This month, 13 members of A.C.T.'s Fellowship Program will present Caryl Churchill's Far Away and José Rivera's Brainpeople as part of The Fellowship Project 2018. Performances will take place April 19-22, 2018, at A.C.T.'s Costume Shop Theater (1117 Market Street). Each year, the A.C.T. fellows have the opportunity to come together and, with the guidance of professional A.C.T. mentors, produce a project entirely on their own. The project is designed to exercise the skills developed throughout each fellowship and encourage fellows to take on supporting roles outside of their regular assignments, ultimately culminating in a work each fellow can proudly add to their professional experience. This will be the fifth consecutive year that a fellowship class has produced The Fellowship Project.

The fellows involved with this year's project are (in alphabetical order): Miranda Ashland, Mia Carey, Tessanella DeFrisco, Bree Dills, Ilyssa Ernsteen, Nailah Harper-Malveaux, Spencer Jorgensen, Olga Korolev, Lealani Drew Manuta, Taylor Steinbeck, Rachel Stuart, Bree Willard, and Nora Zahn. Tickets to both productions are free to the public and are available now for reservation at the A.C.T. Box Office online at act-sf.org/fellows2018.

Far Away brings audiences into a world stricken by paranoia and restrictive governmental control. All of Earth is at war and no one can be trusted-especially not the crocodiles or the car salesmen or the children under five. Obie Award-winning writer Caryl Churchill gives us an unnerving look at the consequences of tyranny through a futuristic era that feels simultaneously far away and eerily familiar. Far Away will be directed by Artistic Fellow Nora Zahn. The performance schedule for Far Away is as follows: Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m.; Friday, April 20, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 21, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m.

Brainpeople, by award-winning playwright José Rivera, is a lyrical rumination on the ways in which humans seek connection when war is your everyday backdrop, hunger is your constant pang, and trauma is your collective psyche. In an almost-apocalyptic Los Angeles, an orphaned heiress invites two strangers into her penthouse apartment for an eccentric feast. What begins as an odd evening devolves into chaos as the splintering minds of these three women begin to show their cracks. Brainpeople will be directed by Community Producing Fellow Nailah Harper-Malveaux. The performance schedule for Brainpeople is as follows: Thursday, April 19, at 8 p.m.; Friday, April 20, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, April 21, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, April 22, at 3 p.m.

Actors Miia Ashley, Laura Espino, Andrea Guidry, Kaitlyn Ortega, and Jeunee Simon Will appear in one or both plays. The creative team for both shows includes Graphic Design Fellow Bree Willard (Set Designer) and Costume Fellow Bree Dills (Costume Designer), as well as Heather Kenyon (Lighting Designer) and Jaren Feeley (Sound Designer).

The fellows are entirely responsible for financing the project. Recent fundraising efforts included a holiday candy-gram fundraiser, a California Pizza Kitchen fundraiser, a bake sale, an email campaign, and a mailing campaign. The Fellowship Project 2018 is also made possible by generous contributions from numerous donors over a four-month period.

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