Come One, Come All: A.C.T. Opens its Doors to the Public for "A Landmark Celebration"
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Free open house to celebrate the 100th birthday of A.C.T.'s historic home on Saturday, January 9, 2010. Free backstage tours, theatrical craft demonstrations, and special guests.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 14, 2009—The historic home of American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) celebrates its 100th birthday in January 2010, and A.C.T. is proud to announce a free open house party, "A Landmark Celebration: A.C.T.'s Home . . . 100 Years and Counting," honoring a century of craft, design, and performance. The Bay Area community is invited to experience the American Conservatory Theater (previously known as the Columbia Theatre and the Geary Theater) from behind the scenes on Saturday, January 9, 2010, with free backstage tours, theatrical craft demonstrations (make-up, stage combat, and more), and rare live performances. The doors will open for A.C.T. subscribers and donors only 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the celebration continues for the general public starting at 2 p.m. The performances include a reading of an excerpt from George Ade's Father and the Boys, the first play to be performed on the American Conservatory Theater (then known as the Columbia) stage, which opened on January 10, 1910. The subscriber and donor preview will also feature a short excerpt from the upcoming world premiere production of The Tosca Project, a movement-theater piece inspired by the legacy of the famed North Beach café and featuring dancers from the San Francisco Ballet. For more information about "A Landmark Celebration" and to RSVP, please visit the A.C.T. website at www.act-sf.org/landmark.

"I'm excited to share the celebration of this amazing building with the Bay Area community," says A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. "There's something about the American Conservatory Theater—its beauty, acoustics, shape, grandeur, and warmth—that has pushed generations of artists to go beyond what they thought they could do. Its original designers and builders seemed to believe that theater is a sacred art form and that a theater building should be as inspiring as a cathedral. They don't build theaters like this anymore."

The special relationship of the American Conservatory Theater to the city it was built for is most beautifully explained in "New Theater Is Approved by All," an article covering the opening of the theater that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 11, 1910: "First nighters listened with pride when the Mayor, in his address of dedication, pointed out that the whole undertaking, from foundation to dome, was a monument to the future as well as to the past, erected for and by San Francisco. In all artistry and appointments [the Columbia Theatre] equaled the splendor of the East; in all sentiment it throbbed with the spirit of the West. . . . More than any other institution [a theater] reflects the life and character of a city and perhaps this is peculiarly true of San Francisco, most joyous of all the sister cities, the one who always wears flowers in her hair, although her tired feet trail through hot ashes."

The American Conservatory Theater opened as the Columbia Theatre on January 10, 1910—built in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, which destroyed all eight of San Francisco's downtown theaters—with the generous support of the San Francisco community. Designed by acclaimed architects Bliss and Faville, who also designed such well-known San Francisco landmarks as the St. Francis Hotel and the Bank of California, the building has since been at the heart of San Francisco's thriving arts scene, home to extraordinary presentations of theater, dance, film, and music. The theater has hosted the nation's most distinguished performers, from Sarah Bernhardt to Isadora Duncan; was the scene for an infamous premiere of Orson Welles's groundbreaking masterpiece, Citizen Kane; and for the last 43 years has been home to A.C.T., a Tony Award–winning theater company. This "perfect playhouse" (San Francisco Chronicle, 1910) has served the larger Bay Area community for 100 years, and the community has generously given back, most recently with an unparalleled fundraising drive that allowed A.C.T. to reopen the theater's doors after the devastation of the 1989 earthquake. The open house, "A Landmark Celebration," is A.C.T.'s way to thank the Bay Area for a century of support and patronage of this unique building.

Perloff speaks to the importance of this theater to the Bay Area: "It is a fantastic reminder that we live in a city in which culture is a beacon and for which communal gathering places are essential to civic engagement. As a producing organization that is also a school, A.C.T. is deeply invested in the craft of theater-making, so it is only appropriate that we are housed in a building in which craft and artistry are celebrated in every detail and in every corner."

As part of the centennial celebration, A.C.T. has undertaken a restoration project for the preservation and the revitalization of the major architectural elements of the façade at the main entrance of the American Conservatory Theater, to be completed in time for "A Landmark Celebration." A.C.T. would like to thank American Express for the $50,000 matching grant that has made this restoration project possible.

"A Landmark Celebration: A.C.T.'s Home . . . 100 Years and Counting"

Fact Sheet

Join A.C.T. in celebrating our historic theater's 100th birthday with an open house honoring a century of craft, design, and performance. Experience San Francisco's crown jewel from behind the scenes with free backstage tours, theatrical demonstrations, and live performances.

Date: Saturday, January 9, 2010

Times: A.C.T. subscribers and donors: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
General public: 2 p.m.–5 p.m.

Location: The American Conservatory Theater
415 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Pricing: Free

Info and RSVP: www.act-sf.org/landmark

The American Conservatory Theater
(Formerly known as the Columbia Theatre and the Geary Theater)

Fact Sheet

• Eight new theaters were built in downtown San Francisco in the five years following the devastation caused by the 1906 earthquake. Only the American Conservatory Theater (originally known as the Columbia Theatre, later renamed the Wilkes, the Lurie, and the Geary Theater) remained in full-time operation as a professional theater until 1989.

• The building's original architects, Bliss and Faville, also designed such well-known San Francisco landmarks as the St. Francis Hotel and the Bank of California.

• The American Conservatory Theater opened as the Columbia Theatre in 1910 with George Ade's Father and the Boys.

• Sarah Bernhardt, Nazimova, Isadora Duncan, George Arliss, Edward G. Robinson, Basil Rathbone, Frederic March, Ethel Barrymore, Paul Muni, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Clark Gable, Ethel Waters, Boris Karloff, Paul Robeson, Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fontanne, Katherine Cornell, and Judith Anderson are but a few of the many theatrical legends who performed on the theater's stage.

• Two beloved film classics—Walt Disney's Fantasia and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane—had notable premieres at the theater.

• American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved to San Francisco two years later under the direction of William Ball. Among the prominent Bay Area patrons and supporters who helped A.C.T. relocate to San Francisco were Cyril Magnin, Melvin Swig, Mortimer Fleishhacker, and Joan Sadler.

• In January 1967, the theater (then known as the Geary) became the permanent home of American Conservatory Theater. Since then, A.C.T has presented more than 300 major productions to an audience of more than seven million people.

• The Geary Theater was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

• The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severely damaged the theater, but no personal injuries were sustained.

  • A.C.T.'s $27.5 million capital campaign to reopen the building was the largest in the history of the American theater.

  • Work on the renovation began in June 1994.

  • The architectural firm of Gensler and Associates/Architects was engaged to oversee the reconstruction of the theater, while Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, and Davis served as the conceptual and schematic design architects.

  • The theater renovation used 150 miles of electrical wire, 365 tons of reinforcing steel, 4,000 tons (200 trucks) of concrete, and 400 dumpsters to contain debris and rubble.

  • The theater reopened in January 1996 with a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, directed by Carey Perloff, featuring David Strathairn, and was renamed The American Conservatory Theater in 2006.

  • The renovated and refurbished American Conservatory Theater features:

• A seating capacity of 1,024

• State-of-the-art theatrical equipment, including a new mechanically operated stage

• Greatly enhanced seismic bracing and additional shear walls

• Improved sight lines and roomier, more comfortable seats

• Expansive new lobby spaces

• Modern heating, air conditioning, and listening systems for the hearing impaired

• New enlarged restrooms (the number of women's toilets increased from 9 to 25)

• Elevators and wheelchair seating on every level, making the new building accessible to everyone