NCTC Announces Melodious 40th Birthday Celebration In The Form Of A Musical Revue, ENCORE

In May, New Conservatory Theatre Center closes out their triumphant 40th Anniversary season with Encore. Featuring a cast of Bay Area favorites, this musical medley travels through NCTC's 40 years of living out loud - both on and off stage.

Celebrate NCTC's milestone 40th birthday with a magically melodious performance of iconic numbers from a songbook of over 50 musical productions that have lit up our stage. Featuring hit songs from blockbuster mega-musicals and hidden gems from indie darlings, Encore is sure to be the birthday party of the season.

Playing May 13 - June 12, 2022, Encore's Opening Night is Saturday, May 21 at 8pm. Tickets are $25-65 and are available at nctcsf.org, by emailing boxoffice@nctcsf.org, or by calling (415) 861-8972. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available for preview performances, May 13 - 20, and can be reserved starting one week before the first performance through the box office.

Audiences can enjoy these special events during the run of the show:

• Low-cost Previews: Friday, May 13 - Friday, May 20, 2022

• Opening Night will take place on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 8pm

• Onstage Insight, Post-Show Discussion featuring the cast, and moderated by the director will take place after the performance on Sunday, May 29 at 2pm.

• Additional special events to be announced!

Curator Ed Decker is the Founding Artistic Director of New Conservatory Theatre Center which opened its doors in 1981. NCTC is a San Francisco cornerstone institution leading in the fields of arts education as well as Queer and Allied theatre production. A graduate of the SFSU Theatre Department, he is extremely honored to continue his work with a wide array of artisans, administrators, activists, as well as his husband and writing partner Robert Leone with whom he collaborated on the world premiere of Rights of Passage - a love story set against the backdrop of the struggle for international human rights.

Director Dennis Lickteig returns to NCTC after directing their productions of Still at Risk, Sordid Lives, Avenue Q, The Nance, American Dream, The Lisbon Traviata, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Story of My Life, The Busy World is Hushed, Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins, The Sugar Witch, Act A Lady, Thrill Me, Farm Boys, Theatre District and Harvey Milk -The Musical. Other recent projects include: Company (Altarena Players), Diary of Anne Frank, Parade and The Heiress for Palo Alto Players, The Story of My Life (Contra Costa Civic), Thoroughly Modern Millie and The King and I (Broadway By the Bay), Forum, Sunday in the Park with George, Anything Goes (CCMT), The Full Monty, A Little Night Music, Closer Than Ever, Crimes of the Heart (Hillbarn Theater), Hello, Dolly! and The King and I (Diablo Theatre Company), Anyone Can Whistle, All My Sons, and Do I Hear a Waltz? (Masquers Playhouse), A Little Nigtht Music and Carousel (Lamplighter's Music Theatre) and The Boys from Syracuse and Redhead (42nd Street Moon).

Musical Director Joe Wicht is a San Francisco-based composer and arranger whose focus is cabaret and chamber musicals. For NCTC, he appeared in the first production of Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly in 2003, then served as Musical Director for the revival production in 2019. For Feinstein's, Wicht teamed up with Allen Sawyer to create concert versions of Hair, Mame, and Hello, Dolly! Wicht has worked extensively with local cabaret performer Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and has served as MD for local performers Darlene Popovic, Johnny Orenberg, Katrina McGraw, and Tom Reardon. As a composer, Wicht collaborates with lyricist Scott Hayes on specialty cabaret numbers. Wicht's song cycle, Trinity, features over 75 songs, several of which were featured in concert at St. Ignatius in May, 2021. As best as he can recollect, Wicht has been involved with 9 musicals at NCTC, including one where he was dressed as a banana. He has been a house pianist at Martuni's for the past 13 years, an honorary grand marshall at SF Pride, was sainted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 2006, and received a Bay Area Reporter Bestie Award for Best LGBT Musician in 2018.

The cast of Encore includes Jacqueline De Muro, McKay Elwood, William Giammona, Catalina Kumiski, and Anthony Rollins-Mullens. The live band will feature Tim Vaughan on drums and Joe Wicht on piano. The creative team includes technical direction by Carlos Aceves, production management & casting coordination by Stephanie Desnoyers, projection design by Isaac Fine, costume design by Jorge R. Hernández, choreography by Christina Lazo, set design by Kuo-Hao Lo, stage management by Emilio Racinez, lighting design by Weili Shi, sound design by Kalon Thibodeaux, and props design by Daniel Yelen.

New Conservatory Theatre Center has been San Francisco's premier LGBTQ+ 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 developing new plays to continue expanding the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

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