A Year in Our Life: A.C.T.'s 50th-Anniversary Season Highlights

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By A.C.T. Publications Staff

Thank you for playing your part in our 50th-anniversary season! Here are our top ten highlights from a year full of mainstage performances, visits from theater legends, new works, conservatory classes, and community days.

1. Kacee Clanton (Janis Joplin in A Night with Janis Joplin) singing the national anthem at a San Francisco Giants game.


2. Visits from theater legends Tom Stoppard and Peter Brook, M.F.A. Program alumni Annette Bening and Mark Harelik, and stars Georgia Engel and Darren Criss.

3. The Ma-Yi Theater Company's residency at the New Strands Festival. Ma-Yi playwrights included Lauren Yee (The Great Leap), Don Nguyen (The Man From Saigon), and Dustin Chinn (Snowflakes, or Rare White People).

4. Our 50th birthday party at The Geary, complete with our own ice cream flavor, courtesy of Humphry Slocombe.

5. The publication of A Five-Act Play: 50 Years of A.C.T. by our resident dramaturg Michael Paller.
Artwork for A Five-Act Play: 50 Years of A.C.T. by Michael Paller.
6. Incredible sets ranging from a neuroscience institute to the palace of Westminster and the streets of Kabul, from simplicity to a tchotchke-filled bed-and-breakfast and a rotating cube.

7. Reaching out to communities in the Bay Area through community days, play readings, and other events.

8. The launch of A.C.T.'s new podcast, Theaterology.

9. Introducing San Francisco audiences to work by international playwrights, including Ursula Rani Sarma, Robert Lepage, Mike Bartlett, and Lachlan Philpott.

10. Celebrating Craig Slaight, who stepped down as director of the Young Conservatory after 29 years.

What were your highlights of A.C.T.'s 2016–17 season? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter. To see the great shows coming up next season, click here.

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