Spring 2006

With the Koret Visiting Artist Series, American Conservatory Theater (ACT) is celebrating the great artists who have been a part of its work for decades, and paying tribute to its audience members for their long-standing commitment to live theater in San Francisco.

The first in the series, entitled “In Good Company,” brought together 350 audience members and theater professionals on January 28 to discuss the joys and challenges of working in theater. “In Good Company” featured current and former members of ACT’s core acting company, including Ken Ruta (recently seen as Mr. Voysey in The Voysey Inheritance), Marco Barricelli (James Tyrone in A Moon for the Misbegotten), Steven Anthony Jones (Gem of the Ocean, The Three Sisters, A Christmas Carol), Joy Carlin (an original ACT company member and former associate artistic director), and the youngest addition to the company, Allison Jean White (Travesties, The Circle). The discussion was moderated by artistic director Carey Perloff.

Creating a core acting company has been one of Perloff’s goals since her return as ACT artistic director in 2001, and the panel discussion and audience interaction were spirited.

“I know that the idea of an ‘acting company’ is one of the reasons the Bay Area first fell in love with ACT,” says Perloff, “and a return to that principle has had a transformational effect on ACT’s artistic work and ongoing dialogue with our audience, which has reveled in these actors’ portrayals of radically different characters from one season to the next.”

The Koret Visiting Artist Series will continue throughout ACT’s 40th anniversary season. On March 3, many of the great artists who have been important in ACT’s history—including Stephen Bailey (Grey’s Anatomy) and Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls)—spoke about “making it after ACT.” In future discussions, artistic directors from the country’s leading regional theaters will discuss how communities and theaters interact, and new playwrights like Philip Kan Gotanda will describe the process of bringing plays to the stage.

In addition to the artist panel discussions, a series of audience exchanges will be held before and after select performances. Featuring those playwrights, directors, and actors whose work is presented at ACT, the exchanges will enable audience members to learn firsthand from the artists about their creative process, while gaining insights into each play.