Inside A.C.T.

Elke Janssen A Christmas Carol Showing Dec 6 - 28. Learn more about the production and order tickets. Meet Elke Janssen, who plays the role of Martha Cratchit in A Christmas Carol . How many times have you been in A Christmas Carol ? I was Belinda last year, and now I'm Martha Cratchit. I am really part of the family! What are your favorite holiday traditions? Saint Nicholas day, a German tradition, where we place a shoe in the window the evening of December 5th with a carrot or apple for Saint Nicholas' horse, and the next morning it's filled with old time candy and a wooden toy! I also love going downtown and looking at all the Christmas windows, especially the SPCA puppies, then picking out an ornament at Macy's. What's your favorite thing about the Bay Area during the holidays? Everyone is smiling and I love the smell of the air....you know Christmas is coming. What is your favorite moment in  A Christmas Carol ? When Christmas Past appear...

Campbell Zeigler A Christmas Carol Showing Dec 6 - 28. Learn more about the production and order tickets. Meet Campbell Zeigler, who plays the roles of Pickpocket Cousin, Boy Scrooge, and Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol . How many times have you been in A Christmas Carol ? This is my first year and I love it already. I'm really, really excited to be a part of it. What are your favorite holiday traditions? I like putting up the Christmas tree because it marks Christmastime to me. I have a few favorite ornaments like the German Pickle and this cool Spiderman ornament. I like waking up before anyone else and seeing my presents. And I LOVE hot chocolate. What's your favorite thing about the Bay Area during the holidays? I like going to see the Christmas tree here in Walnut Creek and the one in Union Square. And I really like seeing A Christmas Carol at ACT during the holidays! And now I'm in it! Campbell playing Boy Scrooge alongside ...

Blair Busbee A Christmas Carol Showing Dec 6 - 28. Learn more about the production and order tickets. Meet Blair Busbee, who plays the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol . How many times have you been in A Christmas Carol ? This is my first Christmas Carol extravaganza!   What are your favorite holiday traditions? I always get to open one present on Christmas Eve. And it's always pajamas. What's your favorite thing about the Bay Area during the holidays? I love to go to Macy's to watch the puppies and kittens that play in the display window on the corner of Stockton and O'Farrell. Then, I fantasize about adopting one of them. Then I cry, because I can't...and I go to the other side of Macy's where I oo and ah at the hundreds of reefs glowing in the windows. What is your favorite moment in  A Christmas Carol ? My favorite part of A Christmas Carol is the Ghost of Christmas Future sequence at the end. I especially love when the bu...

Cindy Goldfield A Christmas Carol Showing Dec 6 - 28. Learn more about the production and order tickets. Meet Cindy Goldfield, who plays the roles of Charitable 1, Ruth, Produce Seller, and Ghost of Christmas Future in  A Christmas Carol . How many times have you been in A Christmas Carol ? This is my 10th year!!! I originally was cast as Mrs. Fezziwig opposite Brian Keith Russell, in the previous version of CAROL, with direction by Craig Slaight   What are your favorite holiday traditions? Every year for the last 20, I have hosted a caroling party in my neighborhood. It's usually a party of about 20-40 people, gathering for a fantastic potluck dinner and then walking through my Glen Park neighborhood singing with candles in the dark. Kids, dogs, friends, laughing. It's a good tradition. What's your favorite thing about the Bay Area during the holidays? A Christmas Carol , obviously. And when I was a kid, the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker...

Rafael Karpa-Wilson A Christmas Carol Showing Dec 6 - 28. Learn more about the production and order tickets. Meet Rafael Karpa-Wilson, who plays Ned Cratchet and understudies for the role of Ian DeVaynes in A Christmas Carol . How many times have you been in A Christmas Carol ? I have never before acted in A Christmas Carol . I am really enjoying my first time being a part of it.   What are your favorite holiday traditions? Every year for Christmas we go to my aunt's house for 3 days, which I enjoy extremely. I always look forward to that. What's your favorite thing about the Bay Area during the holidays? I love all the Christmas lights at night - they look so beautiful. What is your favorite moment in  A Christmas Carol ? My favorite moment, or scene, is when Scrooge first comes home and Mrs. Dilber is there. I think both of Mrs. Dilber's scenes are hilarious. Who is your favorite character in  A Christmas Carol ? Mrs Dilber, of course. She is com...

Underneath the Lintel playwright Glen Berger came to A.C.T. on Nov 16 for a special discussion and Q&A with  Lintel  director Carey Perloff and star David Stratharin.  Click below to watch the recording. Click here to buy tickets and learn more about  Underneath the Lintel .

By Dramaturgical Publications Fellow Shannon Stockwell Outside a closed American Red Cross in London, 1946, Mr. Chad asks, "Wot, no Yanks?" In Underneath the Lintel , playwright Glen Berger emphasizes the singularly human need inside all of us to leave a mark on the world, something that will endure long after our inevitable deaths. One of the ways in which he discusses this need is through graffiti—the unsanctioned, uncensored defacement of public property—and few examples of graffiti have ever reached quite such a memetic status as a little man called Kilroy. Kilroy is a simple cartoon drawing, a man seen peeking over what appears to be a wall with the words "Kilroy was here" next to it. He seems to have originated and became popular during World War II, appearing in unusual places, including the top of the Statue of Liberty. A famous tale claims that in July 1945, during the Potsdam Conference to discuss the end of World War II, Stalin had the us...

By Publications Manager Dan Rubin Playwright Glen Berger writes, "Though we rarely recognize the place, underneath the lintel is where we stand every day, every moment, of our life." In this passage, the wordsmith is exploring the idea of the lintel in relationship to the word sublime, which means a sense of awe in the presence of vastness and can be broken down into sub ("under") and limen (which is derived from "lintel"). Accordingly, we are emotionally "underneath the lintel" whenever we are overcome with a sense of the sublime. The Temple of Horus at Edfu is an example of Egyptian architecture, including the post-and-lintel doorway seen at the center of the photo. But in a more literal sense, we pass underneath lintels every day. Lintels are the top beams of most entryways, although they have become less structurally essential in modern architecture. Lintels are the limit of the threshold, which is defined not only as the space...

Posted by Catherine Hendel, Marketing/PR Fellow Teacher Peter Stroka and A.C.T.'s special SMAT helped Bessie Carmichael students find joy in history, music and theater. "It's as beautiful as I remember," an enthusiastic fifth grader from Bessie Carmichael Elementary School commented as she walked into A.C.T.'s Geary Theater, excited to perform there for the second time. Thursday, October 3, marked a very special date on A.C.T.'s 2013–14 season calendar. The entire fifth grade of Bessie Carmichael—almost 70 students—performed Voice of the People , a mini musical created just for the occasion by San Francisco Unified School District Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) instructor Peter Sroka, on the Geary stage immediately before the Student Matinee ("SMAT") performance of 1776 , the popular Revolutionary War musical that opened A.C.T.'s mainstage season. Following the success of last spring's Stuck Elevator SMAT event , this is t...

1776 begins on September 11. Learn more about the production and order tickets. The beginning of our thrilling 2013–14 season is so close we can see it! Or, perhaps, it’s just Russell Metheny’s breathtaking set design for our season opener, Frank Galati’s revival of 1776 , we are seeing. We were curious how true Metheny’s recreation was to the historic Independence Hall in the Pennsylvania State House, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and ratified by the Second Continental Congress 237 years ago. This is what he had to say when we asked him: For Frank Galati the set was all about the muscularity of the show and the environment. He wanted it to be masculine so that when Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson entered this world there would be a strong contrasting energy. And he also wanted it to be about that summer and the oppressive heat. I researched the Philadelphia Independence Hall, as well as the House and Senate halls in the capital of today...

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Name: Adam O'Byrne Role: Valentine Coverly Adam O'Byrne Arcadia  runs through June 16. Learn more about the production and order tickets. What are your preshow/postshow rituals? I like to have a cup of Lady Grey tea before the show and a chat with my dressing room roommate, Nick Pelczar [who plays Ezra Chater], after the show . . . occasionally we toast our work with an adult refreshment. What is your favorite thing about San Francisco? Walking to work. I live in L.A., so just being able to walk this city is wonderful. If you could live during a different cultural period, what period would it be and why? I'd like to visit a lot of different periods: Elizabethan England and Ancient Greece, to name a couple. But I like living in the here and now! What was your favorite discovery during the rehearsal process for Arcadia ? I was happy to discover the nuances of the Val/Hannah relationship. How they communicate, the depth of the feelings between them,...

Name: Rebekah Brockman Role: Thomasina Coverly Rebekah Brockman Arcadia  runs through June 16. Learn more about the production and order tickets. What are your preshow/postshow rituals? Preshow: I never step foot onstage without a splash of my mum's perfume (it reminds me of home), but this show I am wearing a perfume Allegra Edwards [who plays Chloë Coverly] gave me since it is our last show together.
Postshow: A nice cold drink . . . lately it has been a Black & Tan. What is your favorite thing about San Francisco? When I am able to go home and watch the sun set and hear the fog horns from the ships coming in. If you could live during a different cultural period, what period would it be and why? I think I would choose sometime in the distant future. I am curious to see what is built upon the foundation we are creating today. What was your favorite discovery during the rehearsal process for Arcadia ? Honestly, my favorite discoveries come from being with...