John Doyle, Olympia Dukakis, Manoel Felciano, and More Set for ACT’s 2009-2010 Season

The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco has announced selections for its 2009-2010 season.

Among the highlights is Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis and Marco Barricelli starring in writer/director Morris Panych’s Vigil, March 25-April 18. The play concerns a self-involved bachelor who is summoned to care for an elderly aunt, whom he hasn’t seen since childhood. As their relationship evolves in unexpected ways, this dark comedy explores complex emotions of family, friendship, and the human condition.

Tony Award winner John Doyle will direct and design Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle (February 18-March 14), in a translation by Domenique Lozano. Manoel Felciano will star in Alan Ayckbourn’s Round and Round the Garden (April 29-May 23), the third installment of the prolific British playwright’s trilogy Norman Conquests.

ACT’s season will also include Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter (September 11-October 11) in a critically acclaimed blend of theater and film by Britain’s acclaimed Kneehigh Theatre, adapted for the stage by Emma Rice; the West Coast premiere of David Mamet’s November (October 23-November 22), directed by Ron Lagomarsino; Jean Racine’s Phèdre (January 15-February 7) in a world premiere translation by Timberlake Wertenbaker, starring Seana McKenna in the title role with direction by Carey Perloff; and The Tosca Project (June 3-27), a world premiere fusion event featuring lead dancers from the San Francisco Ballet inspired by North Beach’s Tosca Café, created and staged by Perloff and Val Caniparoli.

Finally, ACT will also offer its annual production of Perloff and Paul Walsh’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (December 4-27), featuring James Carpenter as Ebenezer Scrooge under Domenique Lozano’s direction.

For more information, visit www.act-sf.org.