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Photo by Kevin Berne
We saw “Quality of Life” at ACT the other night and can’t recommend it highly enough. The star-studded cast members each give exceptionally compelling performances. The play’s approach to contemporary themes involving belief, love, and death manages to make each perspective valid--- our head was reeling when we left the theater. Jane Anderson, a Bay Area native, wrote and directed the play. We caught up with her the other day, and the results are below. We love her take on what makes the Bay Area so innovative and unique. Buy tickets now and read on.
What is the Bay Area theater culture like?
You're talking to someone who lives in LA full time now. I'm nuts about San Francisco. It's like New York, but manageable. I find the diversity of the people just fascinating and wonderful. It's like a big giant Benetton catalogue. The neighborhoods blend. You get people of all colors all ages, all classes mingling together in one big soup, and I've really enjoy it. I was living on Sutter Street during the show. I loved that walk going to rehearsal, because I went through three different neighborhoods, it's a vital, beautiful city.
Where do you like to go after performances?
After the show to wind down, I like Wine Bar. It's in an alley next to Colonial. It's between Post and Sutter off of Taylor. It has the atmosphere of an elegant speakeasy. You go down these stairs, and it's like sitting in someone's living room with a bunch of hip people. The wine steward comes over to suggest a great glass of wine, and you unwind with actor and friends.
What makes the ACT distinctive?
It's one of the best run theatrical intuitions in the nation. They have a top scene shop. Top stage managing team. They have wonderful teachers that are training the young conservancy. During rehearsal when I need fights scenes figured out they were able to send me their fight coordinator. I worked with their dialect coach. It has incredible resources for the theater artist, especially for the director. The theater itself is just gorgeous, it has beautiful acoustics. It's a Broadway sized house. It's a great place to try an out of town production on the way to New York. I just found it a delightful place to work. It's the first time I’ve directed something on a stage that size.
How has the Bay Area influenced your writing?
I grew up in Los Altos Hills. I have a place in Marin. Point Reyes is my hometown. What I love about the Bay Area, it's been a place where subversive ideas have found homes. The 60's revolution started in bay area. My dad was one of the first engineers and businessmen to start company in Silicon Valley. Always innovations in the sciences. Because it is incredibly, diverse and liberal and open minded society I find it—it's like a warm bath for someone like me. Any idea I have feels welcome. There isn't the pressure I feel in Hollywood or New York to succeed in a traditional way. Succeeding in the Bay Area is all about innovation and thinking outside the box. That's why I live in Marin half the time. It's my place to escape to and renew when I've been beaten up in Hollywood.
Why should people see the show?
It's a roller coaster ride. Great drama takes you on an emotional thrill ride. First act I get everyone laughing their heads off, and then I drop a bomb. When I go to the theater I love to have my guts tickled and taken and thrown on up. I love to feel like my head is filled with ideas and my gut is filled with emotions and I have something to take me into the night the next day and the next year. It's a hell of a ride! The actors are brilliant and they give, every night a fresh performance and you never know where they're going to take you every night. They're consistent, yet like the area they're innovative.
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