COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY to Play NCTC

This Spring at New Conservatory Theatre Center, it's the end of an era and a battle of the sexes, with the San Francisco Premiere of a sumptuous and wildly theatrical comedic drama, Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Founder & Artistic Director Ed Decker. In 1661, London's most renowned leading lady is a man named Edward Kynaston. He's the toast of the town until one night, when an unknown woman illegally takes the stage. Instead of stopping the show, King Charles II changes the law and allows women to act. By the stroke of a pen, Kynaston discovers his world is turned upside-down.

Compleat Female Stage Beauty runs May 15 - June 14, 2015 in NCTC's Decker Theater. Opening Night is Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 8pm. Tickets are $25 - $45 and available at nctcsf.org or by calling (415) 861-8972.

Compleat Female Stage Beauty was the basis for the 2004 film Stage Beauty, directed by Richard Eyre, and has been hailed as a "world class, clever" comedy by Variety and an "intimate psycho-sexual backstage historical comedy. Splendidly theatrical, it's a witty allusive game with some feeling payoff, to boot" by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter, who also wrote the screenplay for Stage Beauty. Other plays include the book to the Broadway dance musical, Never Gonna Dance; the stage adaptation of Tuesdays With Morrie (with Mitch Albom); Three Viewings and A Picasso at Manhattan Theatre Club; Scotland Road and The Turn of the Screw at Primary Stages; Murder by Poe, The Turn of the Screw, and The Spy at The Acting Company; Neddy at American Place; and Fellow Travelers at Manhattan Punchline, as well as Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Mercy of a Storm, Smash, Armadale, Korczak's Children, To Fool the Eye, The Falls, A Piece of the Rope, All the Way with LBJ, The Government Inspector, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and others at The Guthrie, Old Globe, Yale Rep, The Geffen, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theater Company, San Jose Rep, The Empty Space, Indiana Rep, Children's Theater Company, History Theater, Madison Rep, Intiman, Illusion, Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Actors Theater of Louisville, Philadelphia Theater Company, Asolo, City Theater, Studio Arena and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad.

Director Ed Decker is the Founder & Artistic Director of New Conservatory Theatre Center, where he oversees NCTC's mainstage season, Emerging Artist Program artist residencies, New Play Lab commissions, Conservatory and YouthAware touring theatre-in-education program. Decker is a graduate of San Francisco State University and a former Director of the American Conservatory Theatre Young Conservatory. Since 1981, Decker has produced and/or directed several hundred plays, musicals and special events for NCTC. He and his husband Robert Leone also co-wrote their first play Rights of Passage, which had its world premiere at NCTC in August 2012.

The cast of Compleat Female Stage Beauty features Colleen Egan, Ali Haas, Jeffrey Hoffman, Sam Jackson, Justin Lizansckie, Stephen McFarland, Christopher Morrell, Patrick Ross, Elisa Beth Stebbins, and Matt Weimer.

The full creative team of Compleat Female Stage Beauty includes scenic design by Giulio Cesare Perrone, lighting design by Christian Mejia, costume design by Keri Fitch, sound design by Steve Abts, prop design by J. Conrad Frank, fight choreography by Mark Gabriel Kenney, and stage management by Stephanie Desnoyers.

Special Engagements:

During the run of the show, theatre lovers can enjoy many special events:

• Onstage Insight, Post-Show Discussion after the following performance:

• • Sunday, May 31, 2015 at 2pm- Panel discussion featuring the cast.

• Low-cost Previews take place Friday, May 15 - Friday, May 22, 2015.

• Community Pay What You Wish Tickets: A limited number of tickets are held for each preview performance for our Pay-What-You-Wish program. These tickets cannot be reserved or purchased in advance and are only available for walkup sales beginning 1 hour before the performance. These tickets must be purchased in person.

• Opening Night will take place on Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 8pm. The performance will be followed by a reception with the cast, designers and director.

New Conservatory Theatre Center is San Francisco's premier LGBTQIA and allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative, high quality productions, touring productions and shows for young audiences; its foundational anti-bullying work with youth and educators through YouthAware; and its commitment to nurturing emerging artists and playwrights to expand the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

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