American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced that A.C.T. core acting company member Gregory Wallace has accepted a much-coveted tenured associate professor of acting position at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and will step down from his position at A.C.T. He will continue to be a part of the A.C.T. artistic family as an associate artist. Wallace first appeared on the A.C.T. stage in his award-winning turn as Belize in the iconic 1995 production of Angels in America. He was asked to join the A.C.T. core acting company as one of its four original members (along with René Augesen, Marco Barricelli, and Steven Anthony Jones) in 1999, when Perloff relaunched the program that had been an integral part of A.C.T.'s institutional identity during its founding. He has been a core acting company member for 12 years and has appeared in more than 30 productions at A.C.T., including memorable performances in "Master Harold" . . . and the Boys, Waiting for Godot, Insurrection: Holding History, The Tosca Project, and Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet. Along with his appearances on A.C.T.'s stages, Wallace has been a faculty member in A.C.T.'s celebrated Master of Fine Arts Program, teaching and mentoring hundreds of young actors for more than a decade.
"It means a great deal to me that Gregory's remarkable record as a teacher and actor in A.C.T.'s core acting company for the past decade is being recognized by this prestigious hire," said Perloff, who has directed Wallace in more than a dozen productions at A.C.T. "What a thrilling next step for Gregory-we know he will have an enormous impact on UCSD's entire program, as he has had on ours. I personally am particularly delighted that before he begins his new job, Gregory will once again star in The Tosca Cafe [the newly revised version of last season's A.C.T. production The Tosca Project] across Canada this fall, and that he will continue to be an associate artist at A.C.T." Wallace added: "My 12 years as a core acting company member and faculty member at A.C.T. have been profoundly fulfilling, both professionally and personally. I am especially grateful to Carey for giving me the opportunity to share in her vision of a world-class theater supported by a company of extraordinary artists. Though I am moving on to a new and exciting position at UCSD, I look forward to continuing my long-term creative relationship with A.C.T." Allyson Green, Chair of the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, adds: "We are thrilled to have Gregory joining our faculty, and look forward to strengthening our ties with A.C.T. through his association there."
In his new post, Wallace will be teaching acting in the master of fine arts program in UCSD's acclaimed theater and dance department, as well as directing and teaching in the undergraduate program. Along with his teaching duties at UCSD, he will continue to act and direct on professional stages around the country, including at A.C.T.
Gregory Wallace received his B.F.A. from the Stella Adler Conservatory at New York University and his M.F.A from Yale University in 1987. His field of creative research is acting and directing for theater, with a broad range of experience from classical to diverse contemporary texts. Wallace's profile as a professional actor and teacher is considerable. He has received strong critical acclaim over many years for his work as an actor and received three Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle awards for performance for Angels in America (1995), Insurrection: Holding History (1999), and The Tosca Project (2010), and received the Back Stage West Garland Award for his 2001 performance in The Misanthrope. Wallace is also the recipient of the Fox Fellowship from 2005-07 to study corporeal mime and movement in the U.S., Paris, and London. He has been a leading actor in many plays, including recent productions of Clybourne Park, Scapin, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and The Government Inspector, working with such luminary directors as John Doyle, Carey Perloff, Israel Hicks, Bill Irwin, John Rando, Mark Wing-Davey, and Laird Williamson. He has appeared on Broadway in Our Country's Good directed by Mark Lamos, in other major New York theaters including the New York Shakespeare Festival and New York Theatre Workshop, and worked periodically at such leading regional theaters as the Guthrie Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre. He has also worked in film and television in Los Angeles and has extensive experience in the performance of contemporary new plays as well as classical texts. Wallace has demonstrated a continuing commitment to diversity, especially during his time at A.C.T. He has been a primary recruiter and mentor to A.C.T.'s African American students, a consultant to the artistic director on diversity issues in season planning, and served as a member of A.C.T.'s Diversity Council.
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