Theater News

Albee, Guare, Kaye, Metcalf, Stoppard, et al. Set for A.C.T Season

Judy Kaye in Souvenir
(© Carol Rosegg)
Judy Kaye in Souvenir
(© Carol Rosegg)

American Conservatory Theater has announced the lineup of the company’s 2008-2009 season.

The season will kick off Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll (September 11-October 12), to be followed by Jane Anderson’s The Quality of Life (October 24-November 23), featuring Dennis Boutsikaris, Laurie Metcalf and JoBeth Williams as cousins confronting loss and survival in the face of explosive circumstances in the aftermath of the fires in the Oakland hills. The play will be seen in a newly revised version following its world premiere production last year at Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse.

Next up will be a rare revival of John Guare’s Rich and Famous (January 8-February 8), which focuses on the disturbed unconscious of an ambitious playwright as he struggles against hilarious odds to make his 844th play a success. Judy Kaye will then reprise her Tony Award-nominated role as Florence Foster Jenkins in Steven Temperley’s Souvenir (February 13-March 15).

In the spring, A.C.T. will stage Lillian Groag’s adaptation of Homer’s timeless tale of the conquest of Troy with the world premiere of War Music (March 26-April 26), followed by José Rivera’s newest play, Boleros for the Disenchanted (May 7-June 7), and the West Coast premiere of Edward Albee’s Peter and Jerry, which adds a prequel to the playwright’s landmark work The Zoo Story (June 12-July 12).

In addition, A.C.T. will once again present Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (December 4-December 27), with James Carpenter reprising his role as Ebenezer Scrooge.

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