ACTs Young Conservatory Presents 'I'm Still Standing'

Fifteen young actors from across the Bay Area join musicians from San Francisco's Bird School of Music for the world premiere of the A.C.T. Young Conservatory's I'M STILL STANDING: A Celebration of the Music of Elton John, created and directed by A.C.T. Young Conservatory (YC) director Craig Slaight. This dynamic musical tribute features hit songs popularized by the famed Grammy, Academy, and Tony Award winner and plays at Zeum Theater, located at Yerba Buena Gardens (Fourth and Howard streets), May 31 through June 21. Tickets are $15.50–$20.50 and are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org.

This energetic, music-filled take on Elton John's greatest hits follows Bennie, a 17-year-old pop phenom who trades in Hollywood fame, a movie star boyfriend, and her outrageous diva agent Crystal Shine for the simple life at a Wisconsin high school, where she learns who she really is. The cast features a talented ensemble of young actors, including Alex Akin, Caleb Alexander, Julia Belanoff, Haley Best, Taylor Bostwick, Carrie Brandon, Rachel Cunningham, Gabriel Kenney, Courtney Lundeen, Elvin McRae, Marcelo Pereira, Emma Reese, Ryan Semmelmayer, Maranda Seney, and Katie Yeilding.

The design team for I'M STILL STANDINGincludes set designer Dean Shibuya and costume designer Jessica Peter. The production's choreographer is Christine Mattison. Music direction is by Jane Hammett with musical arrangement and piano accompaniment by Robert Rutt.

I'M STILL STANDING: A Celebration of the Music of Elton John continues an annual series of YC productions paying tribute to music from the great singer/songwriters of our time. Other artists previously highlighted by the YC are Sting, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I'm Still Standing is the YC's third collaboration with Bird in an ongoing exploration shared between two of the Bay Area's most acclaimed teaching centers for children and young adults.

Elton John's career has spanned more than four decades, and he has created some of the most revered pop and rock music of the '70s and '80s to today, selling over 250 million albums and over 100 million singles. He's won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award (Best Original Song for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King), and a Tony Award (Best Original Score for his Broadway musical Aida). His acclaimed musical based on the hit British film Billy Elliot opens this fall on Broadway. In 1998, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in a response to his worldwide charitable efforts in raising money for AIDS research.

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 wide spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, musical theater, audition, and improvisation. Call 415.439.2444 for applications and information.

Bird provides instrumental instruction and band supervision to children and young adults. Areas of study include guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, free-form jamming, songwriting, singing technique/backing vocals, stage presence, and engineering live and recorded sound. Bird is a school of music, an art space, a performance venue, a recording facility, and a yoga studio. More information on Bird is available at http://bird-sf.com.

A.C.T.'s second 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. Master of Fine Arts 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 YC New Plays Program and gives A.C.T. an additional stage for readings, workshops, rehearsals, and other aspects of new play and production development.

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