Artistic Director Carey Perloff directs the co-production with Kansas City Repertory Theatre to play at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater, starting March 18. The new work opens March 23 for a run through April 17. (The work will later play at the Missouri stage, April 29-May 22, 2005.)
The 1905 classic, The Voysey Inheritance, follows the title family who for many years have lived in the lap of luxury thanks to the family business. When the young Edward, who plans to take over the company from his aging father, uncovers that embezzlement has kept his relatives pampered all these years, he must decide whether to continue the tradition or reveal the firm's tarnished history.
Anthony Fusco (A.C.T.'s The Gamester) portrays the tormented son Edward opposite René Augesen as his longtime fiancée Alice. Ken Ruta takes on the role of the father, Barbara Oliver plays the matriarch with Andy Murray, Stephen Caffrey and Lauren Grace as siblings Major Booth, Hugh and Ethel Voysey. Mark Robbins, Gary Neal Johnson and Cheryl Weaver fill out the rest of the cast in various roles.
The design team for The Voysey Inheritance features Ralph Funicello (sets), Deb Dryden (costumes), Russell Champa (lights) and Garth Hemphill (sound).
According to a release, Mamet's adaptation maintains the time period set by Barker, streamlining much of the action and adding his own dramatic hand to the original — eliminating several minor characters and accelerating the story's pacing. The scribe will continue revisions on his adaptation in the coming months. The Pulitzer winner for Glengarry Glen Ross (which will be revived on Broadway this season) is also enjoying his new play Romance running Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company — which he co-founded with actor William H. Macy. Mamet has also penned Speed the-Plow, American Buffalo, Oleanna, Cryptogram, The Old Neighborhood, Boston Marriage and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. His screenplays include "State and Main," "The Spanish Prisoner" and "Heist."
Tickets to The Voysey Inheritance at A.C.T., 415 Geary St. in San Francisco, CA, are available by calling (415) 749-2228. For more information, visit www.act sf.org.
