American Conservatory Theater - ACT

Where
405 Geary St, San Francisco , CA
Call
415 7492228
Tags
Theater

About

American Conservatory Theater nurtures the art of live theater through dynamic productions, intensive actor training in our conservatory, and an ongoing dialogue with our audience and our community. We embrace our responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent the rich theatrical traditions that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities.

The 2009-10 season has been announced! We're celebrating the 100th anniversary of A.C.T.'s magical, historical stage with a season as inspiring and unabashedly theatrical as the theater itself. The stage will be filled with great masters, unbridled passion, phenomenal acting, and big ideas, along with a host of free events, parties, and discussions—and we hope you'll join us for the adventure.

Visit www.act-sf.org/season to learn more!

Articles

  • War Music

    A Brave Attempt, But Not Quite There
    04/03/2009, by Ann Taylor

    Honor. Glory. Bloodshed. These are the words that come to mind at the mention of Homer’s Iliad, the famous epic poem about the wrath of Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. While ...  More »

  • The Quality of Life

    A Brilliant Meditation
    11/07/2008, by Nirmala Nataraj

    Playwright Jane Anderson’s “The Quality of Life", currently at the American Conservatory Theater, is a brilliant meditation on a morass of issues: love, loss, grief, Red State v. Blue State, spiritual...  More »

  • 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore

    From Parody to Powerhouse Performance
    06/28/2008, by Nirmala Nataraj

    John Ford’s “’Tis Pity She’s a Whore", is one of the most gruesome morality plays in Jacobean literature. With its turgid sensationalism, brusquely candid treatment of incest, and unrelenting presenta...  More »

  • Waiting For Godot

    Golden Anniversary
    10/13/2006, by Ryan Wiederkehr

    If you graduated from high school, chances are very good that you've had at least one encounter with Samuel Beckett's sparse, riddling play Waiting for Godot. This year Godot, which ...  More »

  • Travesties at A.C.T.

    Who’s Your Dada?
    09/22/2006, by Clifton Lemon

    The first ten minutes of "Travesties", written by Tom Stoppard, is particularly disorienting, but in a way that turns out to make sense later (if that makes any sense). The main character, Henry Carr,...  More »

  • A Number at A.C.T.

    The Uniqueness of Being(s)
    05/11/2006, by Nirmala Nataraj

    If you stop to closely consider all the elements that constitute an individual -- core beliefs, relationships, ideals, a fate largely dictated by the convergence of social and economic conditions -- t...  More »

  • Gem of the Ocean

    Standing in the Light
    02/24/2006, by Clifton Lemon

    This complex, mystical, and powerful work is the ninth in August Wilson's ten play cycle about the twentieth century African-American experience. Gem of the Ocean's setting, Pittsburg...  More »

  • The Overcoat at A.C.T.

    If You've Got It, Flaunt It
    09/16/2005, by Nirmala Nataraj

    Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat" is a cautionary tale of mystical and fantastic proportions, centered on the dreary life of a low-class man. In keeping with the naturalist ...  More »

  • The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

    Shockingly Appropriate
    06/30/2005, by Nirmala Nataraj

    Shockworthy theatre is somewhat outmoded. Since the ancient Greeks produced high dramas and low comedies chronicling the prurient histories of gods and heroes -- adultery, orgies, and incest have been...  More »

  • The Black Rider

    Innovative Musical Theater with Hipster Credentials
    09/04/2004, by Suzanne Kleid

    Based on a 19th century German tale, The Black Rider tells the story of Wilhelm, a clerk who will not be allowed to marry his love, Kathchen, unless he learns to hunt. Unable to kill anything...  More »

  • Eve Ensler's The Good Body

    More Body, Less Vagina
    07/02/2004, by Nirmala Nataraj

    Five years ago, the word "vagina" kaboomed itself out of stagey whispers and into the very heart of the American milieu. With that, Eve Ensler went from being a theater nobody to a feminist playwright...  More »

  • American Buffalo: The Patriot Act at A.C.T.

    By Melissa Broder
    03/02/2003, by SFS Staff

    Inspired by confessional neurotics such as Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol and Woody Allen, the postmodern arts have come to resemble private diary entries; yet the finest playwright is still able to tran...  More »

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