Tom Stoppard in ACT-SF Panel Discussion, Jan.5

Internationally renowned playwright Sir Tom Stoppard will visit The American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) of San Francisco to take part in a Koret panel discussion on the A.C.T. stage. The one-hour conversation, part of the Koret Visiting Artists Series, takes place Saturday, January 5, 2008, at 10AM. Limited tickets will be made available to the public on Monday, December 31 at noon. Contact A.C.T. Ticket Services for more information at www.act-sf.org, or at 415.749.2228.

Stoppard shares a long and rich history of creative collaboration with Carey Perloff (ACT Artistic Director) and ACT. The partnership between playwright and theater has traversed six productions directed by Perloff, including last season's Travesties and the American premieres of Indian Ink and The Invention of Love.

The conversation is expected to focus on Stoppard's latest hit play, Rock 'n' Roll, a powerful look at music, culture, and politics in the Czechoslovakia of the Prague Spring and beyond. The play opened last year to rave reviews in London and is currently playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. Stoppard last spoke at A.C.T. during the 2000 run of The Invention of Love. The event sold out in three hours and housed a packed theater, as well as crowds of people watching and listening via closed circuit television from Fred's Columbia Room in the lower level of the American Conservatory Theater.

In a generous three-year partnership with A.C.T., Koret is now supporting the theater's popular audience exchange discussions. As part of its commitment to promoting organizations that contribute to the Bay Area's diverse cultural landscape, Koret is sponsoring an exciting series of talks with acclaimed theater artists, as well as A.C.T.'s regularly scheduled Audience Exchanges and Prologues.

American Conservatory Theater and Koret present Koret Visiting Artist Series, featuring Tom Stoppard is Saturday, Januray 5, 2008 at 10AM at ACT (415 Geary Street, San Francisco).

Ticket information: Tickets are free but required for entry. Tickets are available starting Monday, December 31 in person at the American Conservatory Theater Box Office, 405 Geary Street (at Mason), by phone at 415.749.2228, or online at www.act-sf.org.  

Tom Stoppard (photo by Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.)