Relationships Take Center Stage at The Geary and The Strand

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By Elspeth Sweatman

Ah, young love! This Valentine’s Day, A.C.T. brings you productions that explore both sides of love: the bliss and the madness.

Childhood friends Tariq (Pomme Koch) and Laila (Nadine Malouf) in
A.C.T.'s 2017 production of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Photo by Kevin Berne.
In the world-premiere adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, running through February 26 at The Geary Theater, childhood sweethearts Laila and Tariq are torn apart by the violence of the Afghan Civil War. Is their friendship and love enough to keep them safe during these turbulent years and bring them together again?
Actors Stacey Yen (Jenny) and Joe Paulik (Elias) at a rehearsal
for A.C.T.'s 2017 production of John. Photo by Shannon Stockwell.
The couple at the center of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Annie Baker’s John, which opens at The Strand Theater on February 22, have the opposite problem; they are trying to save their relationship. At the beginning of the play, Jenny and Elias have just arrived at a bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. They are on their way home to New York after spending time with Jenny’s parents in Ohio. But as soon as they are shown to their room, the bickering begins. Will this trip bring them closer together, or tear them apart?

A Thousand Splendid Suns runs through February 26 at The Geary Theater. Click here to purchase tickets through our website. John opens February 22 and runs through April 23 at The Strand Theater. Click here to purchase tickets through our website.

Want to know more about these two shows? Click here to purchase Words on Plays, A.C.T.’s in-depth performance guide series.

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