A Bill Irwin Tour De Force

by Molière
Adapted by Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell
Directed by Bill Irwin

Two-time Tony Award winner—and A.C.T. favorite—Bill Irwin (A.C.T.'s Fool Moon, Texts for Nothing) returns to the Bay Area in Molière's chaotic classic. In this lively baggy-pants comedy, the rascally title character balances his penchant for mayhem and mischief with a promise to help two pairs of wide-eyed lovers. Irwin uses commedia dell'arte, live music, and his trademark sophisticated clowning to turn this 17th-century farce of mistaken identities and mishaps into a sparkling theatrical event perfect for all ages.

"The entire world is Mr. Irwin's straight man." —The New York Times

"Actor, playwright, director, choreographer, clown—the remarkable Bill Irwin defies categorization." —PBS Great Performances

West Coast Premiere

by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Mark Rucker

"The greatest piece of writing by an American playwright under 30 in a generation or more." —Chicago Tribune

"These are spiritual works that thrum with vitality, whether it's joyous or melancholy, told in vigorous language that artfully folds together slangy vernacular with bursts of haunting poetry." —Variety

"McCraney's plays [are] pumped full of a senses-heightening oxygen that leaves you tingling." —The New York Times

Days before Hurricane Katrina strikes, the barometer rises and the air below sea level closes in on a young black man, passionately seeking out his sexual and personal identity on a cultural landscape infused with mysterious family creeds. Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet, with its warmth, myth, humor, and Louisiana argot, is the finale of the West Coast premiere productions of Tarell Alvin McCraney's internationally acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays—presented in partnership with Marin Theatre Company and Magic Theatre. This magical coming-of-age play prompted the New York Times to call McCraney's work "a new, authentically original vision. . . . It's what people must have felt during productions of the early works of Eugene O'Neill in the 1920s or of Sam Shepard in the 1960s."

Don't miss the other two installments of The Brother/Sister Plays:

Part I: In the Red and Brown Water at Marin Theatre Company
A young track star fearlessly confronts her unsteady future while grappling with multiple suitors and her mother’s death

Part II: The Brothers Size at Magic Theatre
Two astoundingly different—yet profoundly connected—brothers struggle to discover identity and to unearth a new sense of freedom

To experience the complete internationally acclaimed trilogy, visit www.brothersisterplays.org.

by Charles Dickens
Adapted by Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh
Directed by Domenique Lozano

The Bay Area's favorite holiday tradition returns to A.C.T. with a sparkling, music-infused production of A Christmas Carol. Featuring mean ol' Scrooge, adorable Tiny Tim, those deliciously spooky Christmas ghosts, and a multigenerational cast of dozens, A Christmas Carol is a celebration of goodwill that you'll never forget. Bring your family, bring your friends, and check your "humbugs" at the door!

"A holiday treat for the entire family! More lavish and enjoyable than ever . . . contains all of the ingredients of what Christmas is all about." —KGO Radio

"This is a Carol built to banish 'bah humbugs' for years to come!"
—Oakland Tribune

West Coast Premiere

by Bruce Norris
Directed by Jonathan Moscone

Home is where the heart—and history—is in Clybourne Park, which cleverly spins the events of the incendiary 1959 drama A Raisin in the Sun to reveal fresh perspectives on the politics of race in America. Act I opens in 1959, as a white couple sells their home in a middle-class Chicago neighborhood to a black family, causing uproar in their all-white community. Act II transports us to 2009, when the stakes are different, but the debate is eerily familiar, as negotiations about a white couple's gentrification plans for the house—in what has become a historic black neighborhood—whirl into lightning-quick and uncomfortably revealing repartee. A "buzz-saw sharp new comedy" (The Washington Post) from an adamant provocateur, Clybourne Park stirs up the divisive ghosts of race and class that lurk beneath the contemporary veneer of political correctness.

"A spiky and damningly insightful new comedy" —The New York Times

"A completely audacious, architecturally ingenious entertainment" —Entertainment Weekly

"A lively, darkly humorous affair . . . remarkably perceptive, hilarious, and surprisingly poignant" —Associated Press

"Goes for the jugular of P.C. liberals" —New York Magazine

A Harold Pinter Tribute

by Harold Pinter
Directed by Carey Perloff

A.C.T. celebrates Nobel Prize–winning playwright Harold Pinter's legacy with his most sexually provocative play. A long-absent son and his attractive wife, Ruth, return to his contentious childhood home in London's East End. Caught in a grueling power struggle, father and sons vie for Ruth's attention and affection with outrageous consequences in a play that changed the face of 20th-century drama. Longtime Pinter collaborator and A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff directs this brilliant classic, which features A.C.T.'s acclaimed core acting company along with A.C.T. favorite Andrew Polk (A.C.T.'s November).

"[Pinter is] a writer in love with the evanescence of truth."
—Los Angeles Times

"Pinter's masterpiece" —The New York Times

U.S. Premiere

A.C.T. presents
The Virtual Stage & Electric Company Theatre's production of

by Jean-Paul Sartre
Adapted from the French by Paul Bowles
Conceived and directed by Kim Collier

Fresh from sold-out performances across Canada, Jean-Paul Sartre's redefined classic makes its U.S. debut at A.C.T. A mysterious valet ushers three people into a shabby hotel room, and they soon discover that hell isn't fire and brimstone at all—it's other people arguing about their lives. Sartre's 1944 existential classic, skillfully reimagined through the perspective of a series of hidden cameras, turns the stage into a cinema, and the audience into voyeurs, as a thrillingly staged "live film" takes place before your eyes. A.C.T. continues its tradition of welcoming the work of innovative international artists to the Bay Area with this riveting multimedia event.

"A benchmark of brilliance" —The Vancouver Sun

"A riveting theatrical event . . . diabolically inventive" —Georgia Straight

"Freakishly potent" —Chicago Tribune

World Premiere

Based on Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City and More Tales of the City
Libretto by Jeff Whitty
Music and lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden
Directed by Jason Moore

On the bustling streets of 1970s San Francisco, neon lights pierce through the fog-drenched skies, disco music explodes from crowded nightclubs, and a wide-eyed Midwestern girl finds a new home—and creates a new kind of family—with the characters at 28 Barbary Lane. Three decades after Armistead Maupin mesmerized millions with his daily column in the city's newspapers, detailing the lives and (multiple) loves of Mary Ann, Mouse, Mona, Brian, and their beloved but mysterious landlady Mrs. Madrigal, his iconic San Francisco saga comes home as a momentous new musical from the Tony Award–winning creators of Avenue Q and the musical minds behind the glam-rock phenomenon Scissor Sisters. The capstone of the 2010–11 season, A.C.T.'s world premiere musical adaptation of Tales of the City unleashes an exuberant celebration of the irrepressible spirit that continues to define our City by the Bay.

"An extended love letter to a magical San Francisco" —The New York Times

"The most sublime piece of popular literature America has ever produced." —Salon.com

Save the date for A.C.T.'s opening night gala celebrating Tales of the City:
Wednesday, June 1, 2011.

Visit Armistead Maupin's official website.

Check out the official website for the Scissor Sisters.