A.C.T.'s Master of Fine Arts Program Presents Orlando
Thursday, February 14, 2008

Tickets on Sale Now!

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, February 14, 2008—American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has announced casting and the design team for its upcoming production of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, adapted by Sarah Ruhl. The play, directed by A.C.T. alumnus and incoming managing director of the Marin Theatre Company Ryan Rilette, will be performed by members of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2008 will play at Zeum Theater February 28 through March 15. All tickets for Orlando are now on sale through A.C.T. Ticket Services, at 405 Geary Street, 415.749.2228, or via the A.C.T. website at www.act-sf.org.

“I’m especially pleased to welcome M.F.A. Program graduate Ryan Rilette back to A.C.T.,” says A.C.T. conservatory director Melissa Smith. “It makes us all very proud that, having been trained here, Ryan has gone out into the world to make his mark, and is coming back to share what he’s learned with our current students. I also couldn’t be happier that Ryan and our students will be working with this new, sparkling script from Sarah Ruhl, one of our most talented and accomplished young playwrights.”

Based on Virginia Woolf's masterpiece, Sarah Ruhl's Orlando poses serious questions about love, gender, and living history. Orlando tells the story of a cheeky, lecherous young man, born in Elizabethan England, brimming with curiosity. His trim legs catch the eyes of the aging queen, but Orlando favors the love of a beautiful Russian princess, Sasha. When Sasha is unfaithful, Orlando plunges headlong through centuries of time, relishing the attentions of adoring girls until his fate is altered when he emerges one morning as a Victorian maiden.

The remarkable cast of Orlando is drawn exclusively from the ranks of the graduating class of A.C.T.’s Master of Fine Arts Program. Appearing in the title role, Caitlin Talbot has acted in Fêtes de la Nuit (directed by Les Waters) and understudied roles in Honour (directed by Tony Taccone), Secret in the Wings (directed by Mary Zimmerman), and For Better or Worse at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She also understudied Ann and Violet in Man and Superman (California Shakespeare Theater, directed by Jonathan Moscone). Talbot recently appeared as Cecily Cardew in the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program production of The Importance of Being Earnest at Zeum.

Appearing as Clorinda and in the ensemble, Jeff Irwin was most recently seen in the A.C.T. production of A Christmas Carol and the M.F.A. Program production of The Importance of Being Earnest (as Lane and Merriman). Other roles for the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program include Monsieur de Sotenville in Molière’s George Dandin, Odysseus in Cassandra, and Starbuck in The Rainmaker. Tovah Suttle, who plays Orlando’s beloved Sasha, has appeared in the A.C.T. production of A Christmas Carol (Ruth) and A.C.T. M.F.A. Program productions of The Importance of Being Earnest (Gwendolyn), How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (various), David Copperfield (Mrs. Micawber), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), and many others.

In addition to his work in A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program, Dan Morrison, who appears as Favilla, Othello, and as a member of the ensemble, has also participated in the British American Drama Academy training program and was accepted into Prima del Teatro, a theater summer arts program in Italy. Favorite roles include Charlie in The Foreigner (Summer Repertory Theater) and Louis in Angels in America (Don Powell Theater). Morrison also appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past in A.C.T.’s 2007 production of A Christmas Carol. Erik Saxvik, appearing as Queen Elizabeth I, Desdemona, and as a member of the ensemble, has been featured in the A.C.T. production of A Christmas Carol (Alan) and A.C.T. M.F.A. Program productions of Candida (Lexy), David Copperfield (Steerforth), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander), among others. He also appeared in the A.C.T. First Look reading of Sean Cullen’s Safe Home at Stanford University.

Appearing as Shakespeare and as a member of the ensemble, James Wagner recently starred in A.C.T.’s A Christmas Carol (as Burt, Thomas, and Ignorance) and in the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program production of Candida (Rev. James Morrell). He has created and performed in two solo shows: Toll Roads and Where’s the Sense in That? Film credits include The Invisible Forest, Wondrous Woman, Dante’s Denouement, and Taste My Nine Iron You Son of a Bitch. Wagner holds a B.F.A. in acting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Director Ryan Rilette is the new managing director of the Marin Theatre Company. For the last six years, he has been the producing artistic director at the Southern Repertory Theater in New Orleans, where he directed the world premieres of The Breach, by Catherine Filloux, Tarell McCraney, and Joe Sutton; Rising Water and The Vulgar Soul, by John Biguenet; The Sunken Living Room, by David Caudle; and The House of Plunder, by Jim Fitzmorris. He has also directed at Soho Rep. and The Flea Theater in New York; New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida; and Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, Le Chat Noir, and Loyola University in New Orleans. Rilette is the founding artistic director of Rude Mechanicals Theatre Company in New York and the secretary of the executive board of the National New Play Network. He received an M.F.A. from A.C.T. in 1997.

One of America’s most significant young playwrights, Sarah Ruhl has written The Clean House (2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Pen Award), Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: A Cowboy Song, Demeter in the City (NAACP Image Award nomination), and Passion Play, A Cycle (Fourth Forum Freedom Award, Kennedy Center). Her plays have been performed at Lincoln Center Theater, Second Stage Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Wilma Theater, Cornerstone Theater Company, Madison Repertory Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, and the Piven Theatre Workshop, among others. Her plays have been translated into German, Polish, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, and have been produced in Britain (London), Canada, Germany, Latvia, and Poland. She received her M.F.A. from Brown University and is originally from Chicago. Ruhl is the recipient of a Helen Merrill award, Whiting Writers’ Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship. She is a proud member of New Dramatists and 13P.

The design team for this production blends A.C.T. veterans and Bay Area favorites, including scenic designer Rick Ortenblad and sound designer Matt Cowell (A.C.T.’s Red Scare on Sunset and Baby with the Bathwater). Finally, accomplished costume designer Callie Floor (Hysteria for the Aurora Theatre and Bill Pullman’s Expedition 6 for the Magic Theatre) is the costume rentals supervisor for A.C.T., while lighting designer Jeff Rowlings is A.C.T.’s long-time production manager.

Ranked as one of the top programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program was the first theater training program in the country not affiliated with a college or university accredited to award the master of fine arts degree. The M.F.A. Program functions as the cornerstone of the A.C.T. Conservatory, which also includes the Summer Training Congress, Studio A.C.T., and the Young Conservatory. The third and final year of the program is designed to give students the opportunity to focus primarily on performing for a public audience. Past M.F.A. Program third-year productions have included works by Christopher Durang, Charles Busch, Marc Blitzstein, Georg Büchner, Caryl Churchill, George Farquhar, Henrik Ibsen, Robert O’Hara, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Bertolt Brecht.

CALENDAR EDITORS, please note:
The A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts program presents

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando
Adapted by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Ryan Rilette

Performing at Zeum Theater
Yerba Buena Gardens (Fourth and Howard streets)
San Francisco
A.C.T. Ticket Services: 415.749.2228
www.act-sf.org.

Cast: Jeff Irwin (Clorinda, Ensemble), Tovah Suttle (Sasha), Dan Morrison (Favilla, Othello, Ensemble), Erik Saxvik (Queen Elizabeth, Desdemona, Ensemble), Caitlin Talbot (Orlando), James Wagner (Shakespeare, Ensemble)
Designers: Rick Ortenblad (sets), Callie Floor (costumes), Jeff Rowlings (lights), Matt Cowell (sound)
Previews: February 28-February 29
Press Night: March 1
Last Performance: March 15
Tickets: $15.50-$20.50. Tickets are available through A.C.T. Ticket Services, 405 Geary Street at Mason, 415.749.2228, and online at www.act-sf.org. Tickets are also available at Zeum Theater one hour before curtain.
Performance Times:
Thu.-Sat. @ 8 p.m.
Wed., Mar. 5 @ 8 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 8 and Mar. 15 @ 2 p.m.
Sun., Mar. 2 and Mar. 9 @ 2 p.m.

Contact:
Janette Gallegos, 415.439.2362 or jgallegos@act-sf.org.
Martin Schwartz, 415.439.2418 or mschwartz@act-sf.org.