The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program presents Anton Chekhov's masterpiece The Three Sisters, translated by Carol Rocamora and directed by Shakespeare Santa Cruz Artistic Director Marco Barricelli, a longtime member of the A.C.T. artistic family. Barricelli was a core Acting Company member at A.C.T. for more than a decade and most recently received favorable notices for his appearance in last season's Vigil at A.C.T. alongside Olympia Dukakis. One of Chekhov's most popular and accessible plays, The Three Sisters explores the decay of Russia's privileged class in the haunting story of the Prozorov family. Trapped in a small provincial town with few prospects, the sisters dream of returning to urban Moscow. Along with facilitating smaller class sizes, the appointment of a full-time faculty, and extended opportunities for financial aid, the new curriculum of the three-year A.C.T. M.F.A. Program (launched last season with the incoming class of 2012) creates opportunities for collaboration among the three classes in their education and performance; The Three Sisters features members of the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program classes of 2011 and 2012. The Three Sisters runs October 13-23, 2010, at Hastings Studio Theater (77 Geary Street, San Francisco). Tickets are $10 and are available at www.act-sf.org or by calling the A.C.T. Box Office at 415.749.2228. Press is welcome to attend the production, but reviews are not allowed for The Three Sisters.
Barricelli, who was a memorable Vershinin in the 2002 production of The Three Sisters on the A.C.T. mainstage, says: "This is one of the greatest plays in dramatic literature and provides actors with a profound opportunity to work on characters that will demand the deepest kind of revelation of their own souls as people and artists. It is my hope that every actor involved in this piece closes this production a slightly better actor than they were at the first read-through." A.C.T. Conservatory Director
Melissa Smith agrees: "This is a great play of character. I know that in the capable hands of
Marco Barricelli, this production will give a great opportunity to both our second- and third-year students to delve into these three-dimensional characters with full and complete arcs."
The Three Sisters is made possible by a generous grant from The Bernard Osher Foundation. Additional support is provided by The William G. Gilmore Foundation and donors to A.C.T.'s season gala.
Ranked as one of the top programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts 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 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,
Maxim Gorky, and
Bertolt Brecht.
