Playbill News: San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater Sets 2006-2007 Calendar

San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater Sets 2006-2007 Calendar

By Ernio Hernandez
July 18, 2006

San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater has finalized dates for its upcoming 40th season with seven mainstage productions on the slate.

The company will also present the non-subscription presentation of Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Dec. 5-24) with new revisions and a new Scrooge: local actor James Carpenter (Aurora Theatre Company's The Master Builder and A.C.T.'s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof).

A.C.T.'s season lineup (subject to change) is as follows:

Travesties by Tom Stoppard (Sept. 14-Oct. 15)
Perloff directs the Zurich, Switzerland-set work where the lives of real-life characters including writer James Joyce, artist Tristan Tzara and revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) are connected by the show's narrator, British consul official Henry Wilfred Carr. A.C.T. core acting company members René Augesen and Gregory Wallace star.

The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman (Oct. 27-Nov. 26)
Laird Williamson directs the work that centers around the rich Southern family of Regina Giddens whom all conspire — against each other — to acquire more riches from a prospective business deal.

The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham (Jan. 4-Feb. 4, 2007)
Penned before his popular The Constant Wife, this work centers on a woman who left her husband for his best friend only to find herself back in town as her son is about to repeat history.

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (Feb. 9-March 11, 2007)
A.C.T. core acting company member René Augesen stars in the title role of the classic tale of one woman's struggle to find her own independence.

After the War by Philip Kan Gotanda (March 22-April 22, 2007)
Perloff directs A.C.T. member Steven Anthony Jones in the new work commissioned by the company about the struggle of San Francisco's Japantown to rebuild itself following the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Blackbird by David Harrower (April 27-May 27, 2007)
The British playwright pens a tale of a middle-aged office worker who is suddenly visited by a woman he knew 15 years earlier.

The Imaginary Invalid by Molière (June 7–July 8, 2007)
Founding A.C.T. company member René Auberjonois is joined by current members René Augesen, Steven Anthony Jones and Gregory Wallace for the actor's first turn on the Geary Theater stage since the company's take on Molière's Tartuffe 40 years ago. Ron Lagomarsino directs the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Boston Legal" actor in the title role of the classic story of an old hypochondriac who insists he is sick.

Tickets are available by subscription to the season at A.C.T., 415 Geary St. in San Francisco, CA, by calling (415) 749-2250. Single tickets will go on sale Aug. 6. For more information, visit www.act-sf.org.