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Student Matinees

Request Student Matinee Tickets for Fall 2024 Semester

The deadline for first-priority requests for performances during the Fall 2024 semester is Monday, September 2, 2024. 

Requests for Spring Semester 2025 Student Matinees will be accepted beginning in December 2024, and the deadline for Spring first-priority requests is Wednesday, January 15, 2025. 

All requests received by the priority deadline will be considered at the same time. If we cannot accommodate your request, we will maintain a waiting list for each performance. We will continue to accept requests after the deadline and reply to all requests in the order in which they were received. 

A.C.T.’s Student Matinee program—one of the oldest in the United States—brings the highest-quality theatrical productions to your students. At A.C.T., students can experience theatrical storytelling that engages the spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area, activates stories that resonate, promotes a diversity of voices and points of view, and empowers theater makers and audiences to celebrate liveness. From epic dramatic spectacles in our 1,000-seat theater to up-close performances in our more intimate venues, we’re committed to bringing you rich, thrilling productions that will engage your students and spark conversation in the classroom.   

We offer free tickets to all SFUSD schools and Title 1 schools outside of San Francisco. If your school doesn’t qualify, low-cost tickets are available ($15 for most shows, $20 for A Whynot Christmas Carol). For every 10 tickets purchased, you will receive 1 complimentary ticket.  

All confirmed Student Matinee orders include the following options, at no additional cost:

Bring Shakespeare to your school! The A.C.T. OUT Tour takes theater offstage into diverse communities throughout the Bay Area on a two-week tour. In the Spring semester of 2025 we'll kick off our tour with two Student Matinee performances in the intimate Rueff at the Strand Theater. We’ll be accepting requests for these performances later in the year, but we’re planning our school and community tour right now. Learn more about hosting the tour at your school.

“Aside from being completely overtaken by how amazing the show was, I loved that my students were engaged. It was nice to see other schools in the building and a lot of familiar faces. The staff were patient and kind. A warm welcome and a great experience.”

Oakland School of the Arts, 2023

“I loved having the workshop before the show with a guest, and I loved the high energy of the show from beginning to end that really captivated my students the entire time."

Lincoln High School, 2023

Fall 2024 Semester Student Matinees

The deadline for first-priority requests for performances during the Fall 2024 semester is Monday, September 2, 2024. 

Noël Coward’s Private Lives

Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 11 a.m.

Toni Rembe Theater

Recommended Grades 8-12

Noël Coward’s hysterical comedy of manners about the tempestuous dance that is marriage is reset to 1930s Argentina and features steamy tango dancing and Coward’s iconic spiky repartee. When an explosive divorced couple and their new spouses inadvertently honeymoon in adjacent rooms at the same hotel, combustible chemistry reignites, strong passions and stronger personalities take over, and mayhem ensues.

A Whynot Christmas Carol

Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 11 a.m.
Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 11 a.m.
Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 1 p.m. (Sensory-friendly Performance)*

Toni Rembe Theater

Recommended Grades 2-12

A brand-new, joyous, and puckishly funny adaptation of Charles Dickens’s beloved classic. A small theater troupe in the town of Whynot has gathered to put up their director’s new version of A Christmas Carol. With festive music, magical ghosts, an effervescent cast of kids, and ample hijinks, this fresh telling amplifies Dickens’s moving and evergreen call for true generosity all through the year.

*A Whynot Christmas Carol Sensory-friendly Performance

We are able to offer Student Matinee prices to school groups at this public performance, which includes special sensory-friendly adaptations. At this show, audience members are free to be themselves! Expectations about audience etiquette are relaxed; talking or vocalizing during the performance is accepted and there will be designated spaces in the theater should audience members want to move around during the performance. For more specifics about sensory-friendly performances at A.C.T., please visit our Accessibility page.

Request Student Matinee Tickets for Fall 2024 Semester

Spring 2025 Semester Student Matinees

Requests for Spring Semester 2025 Student Matinees will be accepted beginning in December 2024, and the deadline for Spring first-priority requests is Wednesday, January 15, 2025. 

The A.C.T. OUT Tour

Presenting a modern verse translation of Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR

Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 11 a.m.
Thur, Mar 13, 2025 at 11 a.m.

The Rueff at the Strand Theater

A no-frills, bare-bones, honest, and modern performance of a classic tale; performed by an extraordinary cast of local actors; reimagined in, with, and for our local communities.

NOBODY LOVES YOU

Friday, March 14, 2025, 11:00 AM

Toni Rembe Theater

Recommended Grades 9-12

The game of love is on! In this madcap musical comedy with an uproarious book, witty lyrics, and a winsome pop score, “Nobody Loves You” is a wildly popular reality dating show where eager contestants compete for love—and social media stardom. When every kiss comes at the end of a selfie stick, can two people really connect?

Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Thursday, April 24, 2025, 11:00 AM

Toni Rembe Theater

Recommended Grades 6-12

Shakespeare’s quintessential comedy, this farcical tale of separated families and mistaken identities delights audiences young and old. Antipholus and his servant, Dromio, travel in search of a long-lost family member, only to get mixed up in a madcap race against the clock, love-at-first-double-take, run-ins with local law enforcement, and double trouble—times two. This modern verse adaptation, presented by the New York–based Acting Company, maintains all we love about Shakespeare’s language even as it updates the jokes and wordplay, breathing new life into the double (and triple) entendres.

Summer 2025 Student Matinees

If you know any summer camps or year-round schools that should see this show, please let us know! Education@act-sf.org 

Co-Founders

Friday, June 27, 2025, 11:00 AM

Strand Theater

Witness the launch of the next great hip-hop musical, born in the heart of the Bay! An underrated young Oakland coder hacks her way into the most competitive startup accelerator in San Francisco. Determined to save her house as an influx of wealth threatens to push her community out, she forms an unlikely partnership with a prep-school dropout. Created by three extraordinary Bay Area voices, the show features a score that draws from the Bay’s rich hip-hop traditions, as well as soul, gospel, funk, jazz, R&B, and more. Co-Founders is a sharply funny, deeply felt, exuberant celebration of the Bay and the dreamers, hustlers, and innovators that make it magical.

“When you say "this is your theater" you really mean it! From really well-trained ushers and production staff to making sure our students are taken care of and welcomed every step of the way.”

AccessSFUSD: The Arc, 2023

“The Student Matinee supported my curriculum... They all found inspiration in the show.”

El Cerrito High School, 2023

Can't make it to a student matinee? Discounted tickets to all regular performances are available for school groups. 

Questions? Contact smat@act-sf.org.