Ebersole & Stritch 'Illuminate the Night' at ACT Season Gala April 6

American Conservatory Theater officially announced A.C.T.'s 2007-2008 season gala, Illuminate the Night: A Spotlight on Our Shining Stars. At this benefit for A.C.T.'s actor-training programs, two-time Tony Award-winner Christine Ebersole, Billy Stritch, and A.C.T.'s own Master of Fine Arts Program and Young Conservatory students will entertain San Francisco's most prominent community leaders on Sunday, April 6, 2008, at San Francisco's Four Seasons Hotel. Tickets, at individual and table sponsorship levels, are now available. For more information on the gala, please visit A.C.T.'s website at www.act-sf.org.

Illuminate the Night will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown San Francisco, and will feature a cocktail hour and an elegant dinner in the hotel's Veranda Ballroom. The gala entertainment offerings include a musical performance starring Young Conservatory and M.F.A. Program students, created and directed by John Carrafa, whose Broadway credits have earned him two Tony Award nominations and who choreographed A.C.T.'s Happy End and Urinetown as well as Broadway's Urinetown. Headlining the evening's events are performances by special guests Christine Ebersole, Tony Award-winning star of the Broadway hit Grey Gardens, and jazz and cabaret star Billy Stritch.

Proceeds from the gala benefit A.C.T.'s acclaimed conservatory, which annually serves over 3,000 students through its heralded actor-training programs, and represents an integral part of A.C.T.'s mission. Now in its 41st season, American Conservatory Theater is a Tony Award-winning theater and educational institution dedicated to nurturing the art of live theater through dynamic productions, intensive actor training in its conservatory, and an ongoing dialogue with its community. Under the leadership of artistic director Carey Perloff and executive director Heather Kitchen, A.C.T. embraces its responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent its relationship to the rich theatrical traditions and literatures that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities. For more information www.act-sf.org/gala

Christine Ebersole: Photo by Melanie Dunea/CPi