American Conservatory Theater to Participate in SHINSAI: THEATERS FOR JAPAN , 3/11

On March 11, 2012-the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Japan-American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will join over 65 theaters across the country in presenting SHINSAI ("great quake" in Japanese), a benefit reading to support fellow theater artists on the other side of the world. Selections will be drawn from a menu of 10-minute plays and songs that were commissioned from major American and Japanese artists, who have donated their work for this one-night only event.  Performance takes place at 7 p.m. at The Garret at the American Conservatory Theater.  Tickets are $5 and can be ordered online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228. All proceeds will benefit the Japan Playwrights Association.  

Yoki Sakate, President of Japan Playwrights Association, says, "Theater artists in Japan, centered around those living in the Tohoku region that was devastated by the great earthquake and nuclear accident, extend our hand to theater artists around the world to rebuild Tohoku and Japanese society . . . We seek to work with our international peers to demonstrate the potential of human beings and the theater to overcome adversity as well as the primordial power of expression on stage."  

SHINSAI was created and developed by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theater.  Contributing artists for the evening may include: Edward Albee, Philip Kan Gotanda, Richard Greenberg, John Guare, Oriza Hirata, Naomi Iizuka, Shoji Kokami, Tony Kushner, Toshiki Okada, Yoji Sakate, Kumiko Shinohara, Toshiro Suzue, Suzan-Lori Parks, Doug Wright, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, and John Weidman. 

For more information about SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan, visit tcg.org/shinsai.