Single Tickets Now Available for American Conservatory Theater's 2017-18 Season

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced today that single tickets for A.C.T.'s 2017-18 subscription season are now available. Filled with vital, brave, and imaginative storytelling that unites vigorous, highly theatrical works with a stunning gathering of contemporary artists, A.C.T.'s 2017-18 season features William Shakespeare's Hamlet, starring Obie Award winner and 2017 Tony Award nominee John Douglas Thompson in the title role, joined by stage and screen star Carl Lumbly; Bess Wohl's critically acclaimed comedy Small Mouth Sounds; Harold Pinter's classic drama The Birthday Party; Qui Nguyen's irreverent new comedy Vietgone; Simon Stephens's new hit play Heisenberg; and Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks's Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), an epic, music-infused take on the Odyssey set against the backdrop of the Civil War. Closing out the 2017-18 season will be the world-premiere musical A Walk on the Moon, based on the 1999 movie of the same name. Single tickets for all shows start at $15 and are available now by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org.

Says Perloff: "My final season as Artistic Director of A.C.T. is filled with everything I love the most: meaty classics performed by astonishing actors, hilarious and bold new writing about the world we live in now, the return of beloved colleagues like Marco Barricelli, Gregory Wallace, John Douglas Thompson, the introduction of major talent like Judith Ivey and Simon Stephens, and the chance to build community around complex cultural journeys like Vietgone. It is a season full of theatricality, ambition, and hope, giving voice to many kinds of stories from so many backgrounds. I can't wait to begin."

The 2017-18 season kicks off with Williams Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece Hamlet (September 20-October 15, 2017). Obie Award winner and 2017 Tony Award nominee (Best Featured Actor in a Play, Jitney) John Douglas Thompson heads a stellar cast of A.C.T. favorites, including stage and screen star Carl Lumbly, in Shakespeare's ghostly tale of revenge, palace intrigue, and madness. Shattered by the mysterious death of his father, the King, and shamed by the unnatural acts of his mother, Hamlet's despair has left him a devastated Prince. When visited by the ghost of his father, who tells of the treasonous acts by Hamlet's uncle, Hamlet vows to avenge the death that has brought a cloud of darkness over the castle. A classic tale of a family haunted by grief, power, and despair, Hamlet marks A.C.T.'s first production of Shakespeare in nearly two decades, and a thrilling start to the 2017-18 season. Performances of Hamlet will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Next, A.C.T. will present Bess Wohl's fresh, perceptive comedy Small Mouth Sounds (October 11-December 10, 2017). On a weeklong silent retreat in the woods, six wildly disparate souls looking for clarity find that staying quiet doesn't necessarily bring inner peace. An acclaimed new comedy from Drama Desk Award-winning playwright Bess Wohl, Small Mouth Sounds is a wickedly sharp look at mindfulness and the wellness industry. Under the eye of an unseen guru, these six have gathered to get away from it all. But as they listen to their leader's ruminations (and try to hook up while struggling to meditate without snacks), they learn that silence can indeed be golden. It can also be funny, frustrating, erotic, comforting, and profoundly passive-aggressive. Small Mouth Sounds will be directed by Rachel Chavkin, a 2017 Tony Award nominee for Best Direction of a Musical (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812). Performances of Small Mouth Sounds will take place at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater.

This winter, A.C.T. is happy to welcome back the Bay Area's favorite holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol (December 1-24, 2017), after another successful run last season. Featuring a multigenerational ensemble cast, delightful music, gorgeous costumes, and deliciously spooky ghosts, this version of A Christmas Carol, adapted by Paul Walsh and Carey Perloff, stays true to the heart of Dickens's timeless story of redemption and brings a playful sensibility to his rich language. A Christmas Carol-now in its 41st year-is a cornerstone of the A.C.T. repertory and has become a holiday tradition for families around the Bay Area. Performances of A Christmas Carol will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Ringing in 2018, A.C.T. returns to the world of Harold Pinter for its first staging of his iconic thriller The Birthday Party (January 10-February 4, 2018), featuring A.C.T. favorite Marco Barricelli, Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, and Tony and Olivier Award nominee Scott Wentworth. In an undisturbEd English seaside town, the inhabitants of a ramshackle boarding house react to the arrival of two unsettling strangers. Where do they come from? Who sent them? And why do they keep asking about the sole boarder, piano player Stanley? As the party guests gather for Stanley's birthday, the desperate pianist is forced to confront a surreal interrogation. Seething with mystery, danger, and surprising humor, this is signature Pinter, a play of "tantalizing theatricality" (The New York Times). Performances of The Birthday Party will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Next, A.C.T. will present Qui Nguyen's irreverent road-trip comedy Vietgone (February 21-April 22, 2018). A hit off Broadway and at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Vietgone is a modern twist on the classic story of boy meets girl. In this irreverent new comedy, three young Vietnamese immigrants leave a war-torn country for an eye-opening journey across the bewildering and foreign landscape of 1970s America. A vibrant mash-up of pop culture references, audacious dialogue, and an action-packed road trip that instantaneously moves from hilarity to heart-wrenching drama, Vietgone played to sold-out houses at 2016's Oregon Shakespeare Festival and New York's Manhattan Theatre Club. This sexy, sassy, freewheeling ride, backed by its hip-hop and Motown rhythms, will roll into The Strand in an all-new production. Performances of Vietgone will take place at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater.

In spring 2018, A.C.T. will present Simon Stephens's hit play Heisenberg (March 14-April 8, 2018). In a bustling London train station, free-spirited American Georgie unexpectedly kisses mid-70s British butcher Alex, and sets his world reeling. When she turns up in his shop a few days later, he is suspicious. Is she really attracted to him or is there a longer con game in the cards? As Alex is drawn into Georgie's anarchic world, his conventional life becomes chaotic, uncertain, and undeniably richer. In this "vibrant and emotionally charged" (The New York Times) new play, Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) crafts a comedy that rethinks the polar magnetism of opposites attracting, as well as the conventions of modern-day playwriting. With its perfect collision of strangers and strangeness, Heisenberg was an electric hit on Broadway from one of theater's most original voices. Performances of Heisenberg will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Hailed as a "masterpiece," by New York Magazine, A.C.T. will next present Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (April 25-May 20, 2018), Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks's (Topdog/Underdog) explosively powerful and lyrical new play set against the backdrop of the Civil War. In this epic take on the Odyssey, Southern slave Hero faces a terrible choice: to earn his freedom by fighting for the Confederacy alongside his master or to stay home with the woman and family he loves but remain a slave. This poignant and music-infused journey mixes contemporary wit, folk ballads, and classical traditions to tell a timeless story of freedom, heroism, and belonging. By turns comic and heartbreaking, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) is a mythic journey through the American soul from one of our most accomplished contemporary playwrights. Performances of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Closing out the 2017-18 season, A.C.T. will present the world-premiere musical A Walk on the Moon (June 5-July 1, 2018), based on the 1999 movie of the same name. In the final summer of the '60s, America is aching for change. In the cities, crowds are protesting the Vietnam War. In the skies, Apollo 11 is speeding towards man's first encounter with the moon. And at a Catskills resort near Woodstock, housewife Pearl Kantrowitz is busy balancing her rebellious teenage daughter, her overworked television repairman husband, and keeping her head in the daily mah-jongg game. But a chance meeting with a free-spirited traveling salesman awakens a newfound spirit of exploration and sexuality-and the realization of lost opportunities. Based on the award-winning film, this stunning new musical weds the landscape of Borscht Belt comedy, the radical spirit of sixties revolution, and the passion of two breathtaking love stories with a soaring and original rock 'n' roll score. Performances of A Walk on the Moon will take place at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater.

Subscribers save as much as 45% off single-ticket prices. Students and educators are eligible to save up to half price on subscriptions, and senior discounts are available for certain series. To make subscriptions more affordable, A.C.T. also offers all subscribers an extended-payment plan that allows payment in two easy installments. A.C.T.'s competitive subscriber benefits include free ticket exchanges up to the day of your scheduled performance, guaranteed best seating, ticket insurance, access to convenient prepaid parking one block away from the theater, discounts for neighborhood restaurants, and the opportunity to subscribe to Words on Plays, A.C.T.'s in-depth theater guide for each show.

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