Teddy Spencer News

Join PlayGround on November 20th at 7PM PT for an evening of original short plays inspired by 'The Legacy of the Land We Inhabit.' Don't miss this opportunity to experience thought-provoking performances that bring awareness to land acknowledgment. Reserve your tickets now!

PlayGround blasts into its 30th season of innovative new plays by taking you back to before the beginning! Join us for a new round of Monday Night PlayGround, featuring original short plays all inspired by the prompt 'Origin Story', Monday, October 16.

PlayGround, California's leading playwright incubator and theatre community hub, has announced its 29th season, including the return of the celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on third Mondays,* October - March, in-person this year at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage and live simulcast.

Eugène Ionesco's Rhinoceros is brought boisterously into the Trump era in this hilarious production directed by Frank Galati at A.C.T.'s Geary Theatre. Existentialist themes are explored through absurdity and a great deal of wit—if you've avoided avant-garde theatre in the past, Galati's version is strong enough to make you rethink the genre.

Below see brand-new production photos from Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, performing at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater now through Sunday, June 23, 2019.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and San Francisco Zoo & Gardens announced today a partnership during the run of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, performing at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater May 29-June 23, 2019. As part of this unique partnership, A.C.T. and San Francisco Zoo will host San Francisco Zoo Day at The Geary Theater following the 2 p.m. matinee performance of Rhinoceros on Sunday, June 9.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced the full cast and creative team for Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, closing out A.C.T.'s 2018-19 season.

PlayGround concludes the 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 5th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Monday, April 1, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The topic for the April 1 program (rescheduled from the previously announced March 18 date) is "BORDERS, ISLANDS & WALLS". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just five days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on April 1.

Aurora Theatre Company is pleased to announce that Jonathan Spector's EUREKA DAY--an Originate + Generate commission that made its world premiere in 2018--today received the Will Glickman Award, presented by Theatre Bay Area.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with the first 2019 Monday readings on Monday, January 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for January's round, announced last Friday, is "ADAPT A FAIRY TALE". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on January 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on January 14. Tickets are $15-$30 and 3-admission flex subscriptions are just $60 ($45 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on Monday, November 26, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for November's round, announced this morning, is "FALL DOWN, GET UP". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on November 26. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on November 12.  Tickets are $15-$30 and 5-admission series subscriptions are just $75 ($50 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.

"A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief." - William Shakespeare

Aurora Theatre Company will add seven performances to its world premiere commission of EUREKA DAY by Jonathan Spector.

Aurora Theatre Company presents the world premiere of EUREKA DAY by Jonathan Spector with Josh Costello to direct. Set in a Berkeley private school, a debate over child vaccinations hits home in this comedy of liberal manners, as the school community confronts the central question of our era: how do you find consensus when you can't agree on the facts?

The "Bad Boys of Abridgment" are back! Uproarious and rapid-fire, the Reduced Shakespeare Company makes sharp, short comedy in their latest sendup, William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). Discovered in a treasure-filled parking lot in Leicester, England (next to a pile of bones that didn't look that important), an ancient manuscript proves to be the literary holy grail-the long-lost first play written by none other than seventeen-year-old William Shakespeare! William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged) makes its off-Broadway premiere at The New Victory Theater, opening on March 2 and playing through March 11, 2018, as part of a 20-city tour throughout the United States.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) kicks off its 2017-18 season with William 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; Satchmo at the Waldorf, A.C.T.) John Douglas Thompson leads a stellar cast of beloved Bay Area actors in Shakespeare's ghostly tale of revenge, palace intrigue, and madness. Press night for Hamlet will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a first look at Thompson and the company in action below!

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) kicks off its 2017-18 season with Williams Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece, Hamlet (September 20-October 15, 2017).

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) kicks off its 2017-18 season with William 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; Satchmo at the Waldorf, A.C.T.) John Douglas Thompson leads a stellar cast of beloved Bay Area actors 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.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) kicks off its 2017-18 season with Williams Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece, Hamlet (September 20-October 15, 2017).

Since its pass-the-hat origins in 1981, the Reduced Shakespeare Company has created ten world-renowned stage shows, two television specials, several failed TV pilots, and numerous radio pieces, all of which have been performed, seen, and heard the world over. The company's itinerary has included stops off-Broadway, at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London's West End, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal's famed Just For Laughs Festival, as well as performances in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, Singapore and Bermuda, plus countless civic and university venues throughout the USA, the UK, and Europe.