A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory Collaborates With Scotland's Aberdeen Performing Arts Young Person Company for Exchange Program

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Young Conservatory (YC) Director Craig Slaight announced today a collaboration with Scotland's Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA) Young Persons Company as part of a two-year summer international exchange program. The purpose of the program is to explore actor training for both companies in unique residencies in Aberdeen and San Francisco. At the conclusion of each year, the companies will present a co-commissioned work at their respective theaters.

Says Slaight: "This exciting new collaboration continues the Young Conservatory's international reach, begun in 2000 in the United Kingdom with London's National Theatre and continued with Theatre Royal Bath. Our union with Aberdeen Performing Arts combines the important development of new plays by professional playwrights for intergenerational and international young actors and audiences with a deeply human exchange of culture and passion for the arts between two countries. Living in a foreign community while engaged in a sophisticated artistic exchange is among the most exciting opportunities offered to young artists both here and abroad."

For the inaugural year, the YC and APA Young Persons Company co-commissionEd Scottish playwright DC Jackson to write a new work, [untitled] Reality Project, which was created to be performed to an intergenerational audience by young actors ages 16–25. Students from the YC traveled to Aberdeen, Scotland, over the summer of 2012 for two weeks of acting and cultural immersion, workshopping the new play with the playwright and taking part in classes and extracurricular experiences with the APA Young Persons Company. At the conclusion of the two weeks, the new work was presented by the American company in a rehearsed staged reading. During the 2012–13 season, both companies will present a fully staged version of the new work in their respective theaters. The YC will present [untitled] Reality Project at A.C.T.'s Hastings Studio Theater November 2–10, 2012. Tickets are $15 and available by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org.

In [untitled] Reality Project, when a group of teens audition for a new reality television show, none of them has any idea what to expect. This world premiere play gives us a behind-the-scenes look at media sensationalism that reveals the sublime and the ridiculous. Are the actors really who they say they are-or are they just playing their roles?     

During the second year of the program, the YC and APA Young Persons Company will co-commission American playwright Wendy MacLeod to create a new work. During the summer of 2013, the APA Young Persons Company will travel to San Francisco for two weeks, working on the new play with the playwright and participating in intensive classes as part of A.C.T.'s Summer Session with YC students. At the conclusion of the two weeks, the new work will be presented by the APA Young Persons Company in a rehearsed staged reading. During the 2013–14 season, both companies will present MacLeod's creation in their respective theaters. The title of the co-commissioned work will be announced at a later date.

"In just those two weeks, I grew as an actor, made lifelong friends, and was exposed to people, arts, and cultures I would never have learned about otherwise," said Meg Nakamura, one of the eight YC actors who went to Aberdeen over the summer. "I wish every teen could have an experience like this one. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am so thankful to have been able to represent A.C.T. and the United States."

The A.C.T. Young Conservatory offers a broad range of theater training for young people aged 8 to 19. The ten sessions and four public productions offered throughout the year are designed to develop talent and creativity, as well as communication and cooperation skills, for young people with all levels of theater background. Working professional actors and directors lead students in a spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, musical theater, audition, and improvisation. Call 415.439.2444 or visit act-sf.org/conservatory for applications and information.

CRAIG SLAIGHT (Resident Artist/Young Conservatory Director) joined A.C.T. in 1988 and has since taught in all of the conservatory programs and served as a resident director on A.C.T. mainstage productions and as a member of the artistic team of the company. Slaight began the Young Conservatory's New Plays Program in 1989 with the mission to develop plays by outstanding professional playwrights who view the world through the eyes of the young. This program was expanded in 2008 to include the development of new work featuring both young actors and M.F.A. Program actors in coproductions. To date, more than 40 new plays by leading American and British playwrights have been developed and produced. Before coming to A.C.T., Slaight was an award-winning professional director in Los Angeles.

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