A.C.T. Presents WILD KATE 10/21-11/6

The A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program and Young Conservatory present the world premiere production of award-winning playwright Karen Hartman's Wild Kate, directed by W. D. Keith. In Wild Kate, a brainy teen with a chip on her shoulder enrolls in a high school on the high seas to escape her past, only to be swept up in an extracurricular chase spurred by the boat's leader, Kate, an environmental activist with a secret, deadly plan. At sea in more ways than one, the students and crew wrestle to save the ocean without destroying each other. (If this reminds you of a famous book about a whale, you're in the right boat.) This brand-new play was commissioned by A.C.T. for this exciting world premiere production. Wild Kate plays October 21-November 6, 2010, at Zeum Theater, located at Yerba Buena Gardens (Fourth and Howard streets). Tickets are $20.50 and are available by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org. A.C.T. subscriber, senior, student, and teacher discounts are available. Please call for details.

An acclaimed theater training institution for young people ages 8 to 19, A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory focuses on the creation of high-quality new works for young actors by celebrated playwrights. Hartman is the newest addition to a long list of professional playwrights who have been commissioned by A.C.T. to create new works for young actors, including Ursula Rani Sarma, Timothy Mason, Constance Congdon, Sarah Daniels, and Mark Ravenhill. Playwright Hartman speaks about her first experience writing for a young cast: "I've been worrying the question about why young people don't go outside. Specifically, why my teenage stepson doesn't go outside (except to get from place to place, of course). I originally set Wild Kate in an Outward Bound-type environment, but the story didn't pop until I found Moby Dick, so I switched it to a boat. These young actors have been a delight." The metaphorical connection between BP and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Herman Melville's iconic novel was first made by the New York Times. Hartman puts the metaphor of a hubristic human expedition and nature's deadly response at the heart of her new play.

A talented group of young actors comprises the cast of Wild Kate, including A.C.T. M.F.A. Program students Stephanie DeMott, Jenna Johnson, Joshua Roberts, and Max Rosenak, all members of the graduating class of 2011. Joining them are Young Conservatory actors Liza Bock (Woodside High School, Woodside), Lucie Fleming (Marin Academy, San Rafael), Christopher Garber (Crystal Springs Uplands School, Hillsborough), Owen Keith (The Drew School, San Francisco), Naomi Kunstler (Convent of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco), Anya Richkind (Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco), and Sarah Yarkin (Piedmont High School, Piedmont). The creative team for Wild Kate includes scenic designer Liliana Duque-Pineiro, lighting designer Benjamin Wilhelm, costume designer Callie Floor, and sound designer Ted Crimer.

Ranked as one of the top programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program was the first theater training program in the country not affiliated with a college or university accredited to award the master of fine arts degree. The A.C.T. M.F.A. Program functions as the cornerstone of the A.C.T. Conservatory, which also includes the Summer Training Congress, Studio A.C.T., and the Young Conservatory. The third and final year of the program is designed to give students the opportunity to focus primarily on performing for a public audience. Past A.C.T. M.F.A. Program third-year productions have included works by Christopher Durang, Charles Busch, Marc Blitzstein, Georg Büchner, Caryl Churchill, George Farquhar, Henrik Ibsen, Robert O'Hara, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Bertolt Brecht.

The A.C.T. Young Conservatory offers a broad range of theater training for young people ages 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 experience. Working professional actors and directors lead students in a spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, musical theater, auditioning, and improvisation. Call 415.439.2444 or visit act-sf.org/conservatory for applications and information.
A.C.T.'s stage at Zeum Theater is dedicated to the development of new works, new forms, and new artists. A.C.T.@Zeum was launched in October 2001 with the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program's world premiere staging of Marc Blitzstein's No for an Answer, directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. Zeum Theater is the current home of the Young Conservatory New Plays Program and gives A.C.T. an additional stage for readings, workshops, rehearsals, and other aspects of new play and production development.

Wild Kate is made possible by a generous grant from The Bernard Osher Foundation. Additional support is provided by The William G. Gilmore Foundation; The Craig Slaight Young Conservatory New Plays Fund, an endowed fund of The Next Generation Campaign; and donors to A.C.T.'s season gala.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Karen Hartman (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright and librettist whose work has been supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, a Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship, a Fulbright scholarship to Jerusalem, a New Dramatists residency, and Core Writer Program membership at The Playwrights' Center. Her plays Goliath, Donna Wants, Gum, Going Gone, Anatomy 1968, Troy Women, ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl, Leah's Train, and others have been commissioned and staged by dozens of theaters, including Women's Project, NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company), McCarter Theatre Center, A.C.T., centerstage, Magic Theatre, and Dallas Theater Center, and are published by Theatre Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Backstage, Inc., NoPassport Press, and Playscripts, Inc. Recent projects include Goldie, Max, and Milk, a comedy that has had readings at Lincoln Center, New Dramatists, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and The Playwrights' Center, and the book of the musical A Sea Change, which features a score by AnnMarie Milazzo and was workshopped in 2009, directed by Leigh Silverman. Hartman holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. She has taught playwriting in a wide range of settings, including four years at Yale School of Drama, and currently leads independent writing workshops in New York.

W. D. Keith (Director) has taught and directed in the Young Conservatory (YC) and Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program at A.C.T. Most recently he directed last spring's M.F.A. Program/YC collaboration, the world premiere of Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls. Previous YC productions include The Cripple of Inishmaan, Charley's Aunt, The Butter and Egg Man, Our Town, War Daddy, Albert's Bridge, Jack, or the Submission, and Five by Ives. He has served on the faculties of A.C.T., University of San Francisco, UC Davis, Solano Community College, Barnard College, The New School, and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. He is also a professional actor with credits at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theatre, and TheatreWorks. His film credits include Haiku Tunnel, Stephanie's Image, Moonlight Sonata, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and A Serious Man. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Yale School of Drama.