The run opens Jan. 11 for a run through Feb. 5 at the California company's Geary Theater.
Sexual Perversity in Chicago centers on two coworkers who discuss the romantic lives they wish they had until one falls for a young woman and the other does everything to prevent the burgeoning relationship.
"Though this piece is a snapshot of a specific period and place (Chicago in the 1970s), the play is as biting and incisive today as it was when I first read and rehearsed it for its premiere Off-Broadway," said Riegert in a release. "So much of the action of the play-which hinges on the ways in which men and women use language to mask their feelings for one another—is embedded in its exhilarating dialogue. It's a real gift for any group of actors-and we happen to have a dynamite group who will truly make these words sing."
Riegert — who played the show's central character opposite F. Murray Abraham Off-Broadway — now directs a quartet of young actors including David Jenkins, Gareth Saxe, Marjan Neshat and Elizabeth Kaplow.
The design team for Sexual Perversity in Chicago features Kent Dorsey (scenic), Catherine Dougherty (costumes), Alexander V. Nichols (lighting) and Lindsay Jones (sound). Last seen on the Geary Stage in 2001's Pinter double-bill Celebration and The Room, director Riegert has appeared as an actor on stage in Minnie's Boys, Road to Nirvana, The Birthday Party, Isn't It Romantic, Dance with Me, The Nerd, An American Daughter and Mamet's The Old Neighborhood. Film and television credits include "National Lampoon's Animal House," "Local Hero," "Crossing Delancey," "Traffic" and "The Sopranos." He directed the Academy Award-nominated live action short "By Courier" and his full length feature film "King of the Corner."
Playwright Mamet earned the Pulitzer Prize for his Glengarry Glen Ross. Other works he has penned include Speed the-Plow, American Buffalo, Oleanna, Cryptogram, The Old Neighborhood, Boston Marriage and Romance. His screenplays include "State and Main," "The Spanish Prisoner" and "Heist."
A.C.T.'s 39th anniversary season continues with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean (Feb. 10-March 12), Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals (March 23-April 23), Caryl Churchill's A Number (April 28-May 28) and Michael Feingold's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Happy End (June 8-July 9).
Tickets to Sexual Perversity in Chicago 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.
