A.C.T. Announces Northern California Premiere of BLACK WATCH

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced today that The National Theatre of Scotland's internationally acclaimed production of Black Watch will make its Northern California premiere at The Drill Court at the Armory Community Center, located in San Francisco's Mission District, a space used as a National Guard facility from 1914 until 1976.

Arriving in San Francisco after soldout performances in South Korea, Chicago, and Seattle, Black Watch is directed by John Tiffany (who recently won the Tony Award for the acclaimed Broadway musical Once) and is based on interviews conducted by playwright Gregory Burke with former soldiers of the legendary Scottish regiment who served in Iraq. Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch hurtles from a pool room in Fife to an armored wagon in Iraq and reveals what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again.

This thrilling production incorporates video sequences, traditional Scottish song, and expressive choreography from Olivier Award winner Steven Hoggett, artistic director of Frantic Assembly, one of the UK's leading physical dance companies. Through unique uses of multimedia effects, music, movement, and staging that puts the audience on either side of the ground-level stage with "stadium style seating," Black Watch creates a visceral, complex, and urgent piece of theater told from the point of view of the soldiers that has been called "one of the most richly human works of art to have emerged from this long-lived war" (The New York Times). The National Theatre of Scotland's acclaimed production of Black Watch has played to more than 200,000 people across three continents and has garnered 22 awards, including four 2009 Laurence Olivier Awards. This groundbreaking and intensely physical production runs May 9-June 9, 2013 at The Drill Court at the Armory Community Center, located in San Francisco's Mission District (333 14th Street, between Mission and Valencia). Press night is Sunday, May 12, 2013. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.

Says Perloff: "The minute I saw Black Watch I knew A.C.T. had to be part of bringing this monumental piece of majestic theater to San Francisco, but its demands of setting and size truly had us searching high and low for the right venue. The Armory, a building with a rich history of its own, was the perfect fit to set the stage and enhance the audiences' experience and understanding of what happened to the Black Watch soldiers."

A.C.T. will offer numerous InterACT events-many of which are presented free of charge-in association with Black Watch that will give patrons opportunities to get closer to the action while making a whole night out of their evening at the theater.

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