Inside A.C.T.

By Annie Sears

In Lagos, we name our girls
Darling, Sincere, Precious, because
A name is a stake in the grave
—Omotara James
Names hold power. Our name is the word that will be connected to us for our entire existence, the word that shapes us the most, the word most explicitly tied to our identities. For that reason, the characters in Her Portmanteau—playing through March 31 at The Strand—don’t take the act of naming lightly. “One of the greatest things I ever did in this life was name you,” says Abasiama to her daughter Iniabasi. “You have that skill from me. How to name children. . . I am the most proud of the name I gave because when your father wanted to call you freedom? You were even more than that to me. You were right on time. In God’s Time. And if I named you, In God’s Time? . . . Then I too must understand my time.” Abasiama (whose name means “God’s love”) is careful when she names her daughter because she knows what a tremendous privilege it is.


Inabasi also n…

By A.C.T. Publications Staff

Born in Kenmore, Ohio, as one of seven children, Roy Ortopan was a bookworm from the start. His Serbian-born father worked on the railroads, and his mother was a homemaker. Roy served as a radioman in the US Navy during World War II; as soon as he got out, he signed up for college, earning a BA in humanities at the University of Akron, along with an MA in English and a master’s degree in liberal arts from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.


From the day Roy graduated, he never had a single day of unemployment. Although Roy was known by generations of A.C.T. acting students seeking plays or monologues, his career spanned employment at several other high-ranking educational institutions, including Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and UC Berkeley, from which he retired in 1992.

His specializations include the bibliography of African Studies, and he worked in multiple languages, including French, German, Italian, Norwe…

By Joy Meads

As The Geary Theater prepares for the opening night of Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap, we caught up with Lauren (and her father Larry!) to learn more about the stories that inspired her.

Lauren, how did you take Larry's basketball stories and turn them into a story for the stage?
Lauren: Those basketball stories were a part of the family lore I never really investigated. It was only when I was thinking about what I might write for Denver Center for the Performing Arts that I really dug into these stories. And in going back to talk to my dad, I’ve discovered that I wrote some of these things in without even knowing it was in his story.


Larry, how did your relationship with basketball begin?
Larry: When I was about seven years old, I started playing at a playground in Chinatown. Then I played pick-up basketball at the local rec center , which is now called the Betty Ong Rec Center. They used to put on a Chinese New Year tournament. Well, I won a few tournaments, so …

By Mads Leigh-Faire

Everyone knows the old adage “rules are meant to be broken” . . . but when? And by whom?

Welcome to American Conservatory Theater’s 2019–20 mainstage season, where we’re exploring ideas of “rules of play.”

“What dictates how we behave?” “Who makes the rules?” “When are rules meant to be broken?” “Is the playing field ever level?”
Curtains up!

The season starts off on the Geary stage with a modern classic: Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls. Directed by returning A.C.T. veteran Tamilla Woodard (Men on Boats), Top Girls celebrates and challenges powerful women while examining power, gender dynamics, and what we are willing to do for “success.”


First at The Strand will be a world premiere (directed by our very own Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon) of Testmatch by exciting, rising writer Kate Attwell. Fresh as a summer mango, this plays dissects Britain's colonization of India through the lens of a rained-out cricket match, where tensions are quickly rising.


Describe…

By Annie Sears

The Great Leap takes us from 1971 Beijing to 1989 San Francisco, where USF basketball coach Saul is whipping his players into shape to face the University of Beijing on their home court. Saul is running drills when he’s interrupted by Manford, a scrappy, 17-year-old Chinese American who wants to join the USF team on their tour to Beijing. Manford learned everything he knows on the asphalt courts in Chinatown.

Playwright Lauren Yee’s father, Larry Yee, grew up playing at the Betty Ong Rec Center in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and Lauren grew up hearing the stories. “Even today,” says Lauren, “people still stop me on the street and try to explain what a legend he was. They tell me his nickname (Spider), his position (center), and his signature move (the reverse jump shot).” Larry was a part of an American team that traveled to China in the 1970s to play Chinese professional teams. The Great Leap isn’t his story, but it’s similar.

William D. Wong—father of actor BD Wong, who…