No less than a playwright Tom Stoppard will introduce the American Conservatory Theatre's Young Conservatory company to the International Connections Festival at London's Royal National Theatre July 13, making the San Francisco-based group the first American company to perform at the festival. The annual event features youth theatres from around the United Kingdom, Europe and now, the United States.

The multi-award winning Stoppard has strong connections with American Conservatory Theatre. The company hosted the West Coast premiere of his hit Arcadia as well as the American premieres of Indian Ink and the recently Tony-nominated The Invention of Love.

The Young Conservatory presents Timothy Mason's Time on Fire for the festival. This first play in a series of London and San Francisco exchanges over the next three years takes place during the Revolutionary War when wealthy, poor and enslaved Americans felt divided between liberty and loyalty.

Time on Fire stars Jonathan Sanders (ACT's recent Master Harold...and the boys), young English actor Tom Mison as a British spy, tamisha Corry, Charles Filipov, David Jacobs, Andrew Kelsey, Lillian Lange, Jonah Meadows, Kate Painter, Andrew Perez and Caitlin Talbot.

Following the London engagement, Time on Fire will play the Magic Theatre's July 26-Aug. 5. Tickets in San Francisco are $15. For reservations, call (415) 792-2ACT. — By Christine Ehren