Carey Perloff News

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic Theatre Ensemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Founding Executive Directors)

Heather M. Kitchen, now in her 14th season as executive director at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), will step down from her position at the end of August 2009. Ms. Kitchen will remain available to the company through the end of this year as a consultant and adviser during the transition process. The A.C.T. Board of Trustees is forming a search committee to conduct a comprehensive search for Ms. Kitchen's successor.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) launches its exciting 2009-10 season with the U.S. premiere of the runaway U.K. hit, Kneehigh Theatre's groundbreaking production of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, adapted for the stage by Emma Rice from the words and music of Coward.

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic TheatreEnsemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Founding Executive Directors) has announced its 9 th Anniversary Season of new works: the world premiere of Mahida's Extra Key To Heaven by Russell Davis, and the New York Premiere of Passion Play by Sarah Ruhl. Also scheduled is Shakespeare Remix MacBeth a collaboration with Epic's unrivaled After School Shakespeare Program at Chelsea High School.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has been awarded a $1 million grant over three years by The James Irvine Foundation to develop a new program of study as part of its Master of Fine Arts program. A.C.T. was one of four organizations to receive funding as part of the Irvine Foundation's Arts Innovation Fund (AIF), which helps the state's premiere arts institutions to develop innovative ways to deepen audience engagement in the arts in California.

Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon, announced last night the three Bay Area high school winners of The Steve Silver Foundation & Beach Blanket Babylon 'Scholarship for the Arts.' The event featured an opening performance from several past recipients of the 'Scholarship' as well as the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon.

Marker Seven, an award-winning boutique interactive agency proudly announced it received an Award of Excellence in the 15th Annual Communicator Awards for its work managing the organization and design of San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) website.

San Francisco's cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater closes its 2008-09 season with one of Samuel Beckett's funniest and most personal works for the stage, KRAPP'S LAST TAPE. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms this witty, poignant look at the choices one man makes and how the paths left untaken come back to haunt him.

The Elliot Norton Awards, which recognize excellence in Greater Boston theater, celebrated their 27th anniversary on Monday, May 11, at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The awards honored the season's best work in Boston's theaters (from April 2008 to March 2009).

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announces the final show of its 2008-09 season: Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, staged by acclaimed director Rebecca Bayla Taichman (world premieres of Theresa Rebeck's The Scene and Mauritius and Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone). This new spellbinder by the master playwright who also penned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A.C.T.'s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, is a meticulously calibrated and dangerously brutal look at relationships intimate and unexpected. The story opens with Peter, a tweedy book editor, and his wife, Ann, whose everyday conversation takes an unexpected turn into dangerously personal territory. It's the kind of conversation that can drive a husband out for a walk-to Central Park, where Jerry, a desperate outcast, awaits. An unforgettable pairing of Albee's original The Zoo Story with a freshly penned prequel, At Home at the Zoo (formerly titled Peter and Jerry) bares its teeth to threaten the delicately balanced world its characters inhabit. Artistic Director Carey Perloff has put together an all-star artistic team on this production, featuring Tony Award-nominated actor Manoel Felciano (Ragtime at The Kennedy Center, A.C.T.'s Rock 'n' Roll, and Sweeney Todd on Broadway) as Jerry and scenic designer Robert Brill, who received a Tony Award nomination last week for his work on Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Hailed by critics as 'a thoroughly satisfying package of jagged-edged provocation' (Newsday) and 'an essential and heartening experience' (The New York Times), Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo plays at A.C.T. June 5-July 5, 2009. Opening night is Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 8 p.m. Tickets-starting at $14-are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228, or at www.act-sf.org.

Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon, announced today the selection of nine Bay Area finalists for the Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket Babylon 'Scholarship for the Arts.' One winner in each category will be presented with a check for $10,000 towards their college education.

The Elliot Norton Awards, which honor excellence in Greater Boston theater, celebrate their 27th anniversary on Monday, May 11 at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The awards spotlight the season's best work in Boston's theaters (from April 2008 to March 2009).

A.C.T. Young Conservatory proudly presents Bright Young People: The Words and Music of Noël Coward, a brilliant, buoyant tribute to one of the greatest theater artists of all time. This world premiere revue showcases everything you love about Noël Coward-the songs, the wit, the style-with scenes and music from his greatest hits, such as The Vortex, Design for Living, and Hay Fever, as well as lesser known gems, some of which haven't been produced since the 1920s.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season with Boleros for the Disenchanted, the brilliant new work by José Rivera (A.C.T.'s Brainpeople, Marisol), the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Motorcycle Diaries. One of Rivera's most personal plays, Boleros for the Disenchanted explodes with pungent humor and visceral longing and desire, filtered through his unique poetic language.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is proud to announce that A.C.T.?s 2008?09 season gala, Illuminate the Night, raised $715,000 to benefit A.C.T?s acclaimed conservatory programs. The elegant gala event, co-chaired by Carla Crane and Chandra Geiger Gordon, was attended by over 300 of San Francisco?s cultural, corporate, and philanthropic communities, as well as alumni of A.C.T.?s Master of Fine Arts Program such as Tony Award?winning actor Anika Noni Rose. The black tie event took place Sunday, April 19, 2009, at San Francisco?s Four Seasons Hotel and featured an exclusive performance by Judy Kaye, Tony Award?winning star of A.C.T.?s Sweeney Todd and Souvenir. Students from A.C.T.?s own Master of Fine Arts Program and Young Conservatory also performed in musical numbers directed by John Carrafa, the Tony Award?nominated choreographer of Urinetown, the Musical. Along with a cocktail hour and elegant dinner, Illuminate the Night featured a live auction, a paddle raise, and a special raffle drawing for a Smart Car with an exclusive parking spot in front of the American Conservatory Theater all year long.

San Francisco's cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater closes its 2008-09 season with one of Samuel Beckett's funniest and most personal works for the stage, KRAPP'S LAST TAPE. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms this witty, poignant look at the choices one man makes and how the paths left untaken come back to haunt him.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and gala co-chairs Carla Crane and Chandra Geiger Gordon are proud to announce A.C.T.'s 2008-09 season gala, Illuminate the Night, featuring an exclusive performance by Judy Kaye, Tony Award-winning star of A.C.T.'s Sweeney Todd and Souvenir. The entertainment for this wonderful evening also includes performances by A.C.T.'s own Master of Fine Arts Program and Young Conservatory students, created and directed by John Carrafa, the Tony Award-nominated choreographer of Urinetown, the Musical on Broadway and at A.C.T.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season Koret Visiting Artist Series with a conversation with Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and OBIE Award-winning playwright José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries, Marisol, and A.C.T.'s Brainpeople), whose Boleros for the Disenchanted will take the A.C.T. stage in May.

The Elliot Norton Awards, which honor excellence in Greater Boston theater, celebrate their 27th anniversary on Monday, May 11 at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The awards spotlight the season's best work in Boston's theaters (from April 2008 to March 2009).

A.C.T. Young Conservatory proudly presents Bright Young People: The Words and Music of Noël Coward, a brilliant, buoyant tribute to one of the greatest theater artists of all time. This world premiere revue showcases everything you love about Noël Coward-the songs, the wit, the style-with scenes and music from his greatest hits, such as The Vortex, Design for Living, and Hay Fever, as well as lesser known gems, some of which haven't been produced since the 1920s.