Augesen, Felciano & More Set For ACT's ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN, Opens 5/5

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2009-10 season with famed British theater maker Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious rumination on love and marriage, Round and Round the Garden, directed by Tony Award winner John Rando (Urinetown, The Musical, The Wedding Singer on Broadway; Urinetown, Rich and Famous at A.C.T.). In this third installment of Ayckbourn's "explosively hilarious" (London's Guardian) trilogy The Norman Conquests, librarian Norman channels Casanova in his fervent attempts to seduce his two sisters-in-law as well as his estranged wife during a weekend family gathering. In Round and Round the Garden, hailed as "uproarious . . . hilarious and heartbreaking" (Variety), Ayckbourn applies his rollicking wit and charmed affection to a cast of disastrously imperfect characters who expose the tensions and desires that simmer beneath the surface. Featuring an all-local ensemble that includes A.C.T. core Acting Company members René Augesen, Manoel Felciano, and Anthony Fusco, Round and Round the Garden plays April 29-May 23, 2010, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Opening night is Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at 8 p.m.

Tickets-starting at $10-are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228 or at www.act-sf.org.

"Alan Ayckbourn's sense of humor is extraordinary. Yet what I really love about his craft is his ability to create such wonderful characters that are so delicious for actors to perform," says Rando, who directed John Guare's Rich and Famous at A.C.T. last season. "Most of his plays are truly exceptional showcases for talented comic actors. It is no secret that Ayckbourn's work has been noted for its efficient stagecraft. His plays are built like a Swiss clock; well timed, well constructed, with intricate plots, splendid rising action, and fun surprises. They are both challenging and delightful for a director. But his characters, with their foibles, their humor, their libidos and, in a word, their humanness, are the real stuff that makes Ayckbourn's plays so fun to perform and so intoxicating for an audience."

Ayckbourn is best known for finding humor and true emotion in the unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and, at times, desperation of his all-too-recognizable middle-class British characters. Ben Brantley of the New York Times exclaimed that Ayckbourn's plays are "built on one of the wonderful paradoxes of theater: deeply unhappy people can generate profound happiness in audiences allowed to eavesdrop on their lives." Ayckbourn is one of the most prolific and most often-performed writers in the English-speaking world. Most recently, the Broadway production of The Norman Conquests in 2009 received seven Tony Award nominations and won for "Best Revival of a Play." Over the course of his career, which spans more than 50 years, he has written 74 plays and won numerous Olivier, Tony, and Molière awards. His contributions to the theater were recognized with a Special Laurence Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009.

Written specifically for the company of actors at Scarborough Theatre Company, like most of Ayckbourn's plays, Round and Round the Garden is an apt choice for the A.C.T. core Acting Company. Artistic Director Carey Perloff says: "Round and Round the Garden feels tailor-made for A.C.T.'s resident company and is filled with the kind of wit, sexuality, surprise, and pathos that is catnip for any actor. I can't wait to see our astonishing company of actors get their hands on this material!" Acclaimed San Francisco actors Dan Hiatt, Delia MacDougall, and Marcia Pizzo join A.C.T. core Acting Company members René Augesen, Manoel Felciano, and Anthony Fusco in the cast. Set in an overrun garden in the British countryside realized by Tony-nominated scenic designer Ralph Funicello, Round and Round the Garden features the design talents of lighting designer Alexander V. Nichols, costume designer Lydia Tanji, and sound designer Jake Rodriguez.

A.C.T. offers numerous InterACT events in association with Round and Round the Garden that allow patrons to get closer to the action and save big while making a whole night of their evening at the theater:

• 10UP: World-Class Theater at Happy Hour Prices: Thu., Apr. 29, through Sun., May 9

Get in on 10UP and enjoy the Bay Area's best theater at only $10 a ticket for our second-balcony seats. Bar opens one hour before curtain time-sip discount specialty cocktails, beer, and wine, and then enjoy world-class entertainment in one of the most beautiful theaters in the world. It's theater, only different. Cheers.

• Audience Prologue Featuring Director John Rando: Tue., May 4, at 5:30 p.m.

Get inside the artistic process. Join us for this half-hour discussion with the director introducing the production. FREE and open to the public (no tickets required).

• Bring What You Can/Pay What You Wish: Thu., May 6, 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., May 7, at 8 p.m.

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

• Audience Exchanges: Tue., May 11, at 7 p.m. / Sun., May 16, at 2 p.m. /
Wed., May 19, at 2 p.m.

Join us for lively Q&A sessions with the actors and A.C.T. artistic staff members after these performances.

• OUT with A.C.T.: Wed., May 12, at 8 p.m.

A dynamic series for LGBT theater lovers that includes a catered afterparty with complimentary wine and desserts and a cast meet and greet. Visit www.act-sf.org/out for more information about subscribing to OUT nights.

A.C.T.'s production of Round and Round the Garden is made possible by BNY Mellon Wealth Management and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; executive producers Chris and Leslie Johnson and Joan Lane; producers Jane Bernstein and Robert Ellis, Marcia and Geoffrey Green, Nion McEvoy, J. Dietrich Stroeh, and Olga and Ian Thomson; and associate producers Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Johson and David and Vicki Fleishhacker. A.C.T. would also like to acknowledge its company sponsors: Priscilla and Keith Geeslin, Joan Lane, Nancy Livingston and Fred Levin, The Shenson Foundation, Burt and Deedee McMurtry, Kathleen Scutchfield, Mr. and Mrs. Steven L. Swig, Jeff and Laurie Ubben, and Susan Van Wagner.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Alan Ayckbourn (Playwright) was born in London in 1939 and has worked in theater all his life. Before establishing himself as a writer and director, Ayckbourn worked in roles as various as stage manager, sound technician, lighting technician, scene painter, prop maker, and actor. He always claims that most of these talents he developed with the help of Stephen Joseph, his mentor and founder of the Library Theatre in Scarborough, who first encouraged him to write. One of Ayckbourn's greatest achievements was the establishment of a permanent home for the company of which he was the artistic director between 1972 and 2008-the Stephen Joseph Theatre, a splendid two-auditoria arts complex that opened in 1996. Probably one of the nation's most-performed living playwrights, Ayckbourn has written 74 plays, almost all of which received their first performance in Scarborough. Among his successes are: How the Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves, A Chorus of Disapproval, Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business, and Comic Potential. More than 35 have been produced in the West End or at the National Theatre since his first hit, Relatively Speaking, opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. His plays have been translated into 35 languages, have won numerous national and international awards, and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. They have been filmed in English and French, the most recent, Coeurs, Alain Resnais's adaptation of Private Fears in Public Places, winning that great film director the Silver Lion Award at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. Ayckbourn's book, The Crafty Art of Playmaking, published by Faber and Faber in 2002, has to date been published in Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The holder of a number of honorary degrees, he is also the recipient of a Montblanc de la Culture Award for Europe, a Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, and an Olivier Special Award for his contribution to theater. A Fellow of the RSA, he was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987 and in 1997 was knighted for services to the theater. Ayckbourn stepped down as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre at the climax of the 2008 autumn season.

John Rando (Director) is the Tony Award- and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director of Urinetown, The Musical (also at A.C.T. and Canadian premiere, six Dora Awards). Last season at A.C.T. he directed John Guare's Rich and Famous. Other Broadway credits include The Wedding Singer, A Thousand Clowns, Dance of the Vampires, and Neil Simon's The Dinner Party. With New York City Center's Encores!®, he has directed On the Town, Damn Yankees, Face the Music, Of Thee I Sing, The Pajama Game, Do Re Mi, and Strike Up the Band. Off-Broadway credits include The Toxic Avenger (2009 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical); The Downtown Plays (Tribeca Theatre Festival/Drama Dept.); Pig Farm (Roundabout Theatre Company); Bright Ideas (MCC Theater); Polish Joke (Manhattan Theatre Club); Mere Mortals (Primary Stages); Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight (Promenade Theatre); The Comedy of Errors (The Acting Company); and The Venetian Twins, When Ladies Battle, and Twelfth Night (The Pearl Theatre Company). Regional credits include productions at The Old Globe, the Alley Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, the Geffen Playhouse, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Cleveland Play House, and Syracuse Stage. Upcoming projects include The Guardsman at Berkshire Theatre Festival and A Fox on the Fairway (world premiere) at Signature Theatre. Rando was a Drama League directing fellow and in 2004 received an Outstanding Young Texas Exes Award from The University of Texas.

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