To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Geary Theater, ACT held a giant open house, with demonstrations, discussions and -- best of all -- the chance to wander around nearly every corner of the building on a self-guided tour. How many times do we mere mortals get to stand upon the stage and, as Hamlet directed, "Speak the speech... trippingly on the tongue"...? More pictures here. more ›

San Francisco's resident, big-budget, repertory theater, The American Conservatory Theater, announced today that they have successfully completed their $30 million endowment campaign dubbed "The Next Generation Campaign." With the help of repertory company alumna Annette Bening, and trustees Nancy Livingston and Alan Stein, A.C.T. raised just under $31 million by year's end, including a significant grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fund for New Works. At the time of the campaign's launch in 2005, A.C.T. had no endowment funds at all. more ›

Noël Coward may have died thirty-six years ago, but his work remains as adaptable and relevant as ever, as proven in the second Bay Area production of a Coward play this year -- after CalShakes' Private Lives this summer. This show is Brief Encounter at the A.C.T., which is actually the name of the 1945 movie made from Coward's 1939 play Still Life, which he considered to be one of his best. The production comes direct from London and originated with the Kneehigh Theatre Company in Cornwall, who got their start in 1980 doing experimental children's theater and hence the name "kneehigh." It's directed and brilliantly adapted by Emma Rice, who brings to the show an incredible freshness of vision, complete with a number of experimental touches and a host of Noël Coward-penned songs which serve as interludes between scenes and which were never part of the original play or film. more ›

Today's cleanser comes to us via the American Conservatory Theater which has brought to town an acclaimed British production of Noël Coward's "Brief Encounter" directed by Emma Rice, which opened on Friday. We'll have a review for you soon, but first watch this trailer featuring the many multimedia effects that bring old-school, black-and-white-film melodrama to the live stage. Buy tickets here. more ›

ACT's latest production, War Music, which has its world premiere tonight (buy tickets here) is a modern retelling of The Illiad adapted from Christopher Logue's new translation of the epic poem. We spoke with director Lillian Groag, who previously directed ACT's The Rivals, and also adapted the poem for the stage. more ›

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. more ›

Wednesday night's production of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class at A.C.T. was top notch, with supurb acting, writing, directing, costumes, set design, and props. The packed audience was delighted to be there, and most of us were classy enough not to wear jeans. (Our spouse set us straight about wearing our "dressy" jeans, and it appeared that several audience members could have used that same advice.) more ›