Inside A.C.T.

By Annie Sears Edward Albee’s Seascape —playing through February 17 at The Geary—is a story of transition. Nancy and Charlie have recently retired. Energized by the possibility of change, Nancy wants to explore the world, but her husband Charlie is reluctant. As a character, Charlie is fearful of the unfamiliar. The same is not true of the actor playing Charlie. If you’ve seen a show at A.C.T. in the last 20 years, it ’ s likely you’ve caught actor James Carpenter. In addition to 12 years as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol , Carpenter has performed in A.C.T.’s Heisenberg (2018), Rock ’n’ Roll (2008),  ’ Tis Pity She’s a Whore (2008), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2005), A Doll’s House (2004), and Glengarry Glen Ross (2001). Now, he’s back as Charlie in Seascape . This familiar face is excited to be collaborating with the newest face of A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon is making her A.C.T. directorial debut with Seascape , exploring this story of transition as she transitio...

By Annie Sears For actors Seann Gallagher and Sarah Nina Hayon, getting into character involves more than putting on a costume; it involves putting on the entire physical life of a lizard. Edward Albee’s Seascape —playing through February 17 at The Geary—features two couples. One is human; the other is lizard. Portraying an animal presents unique challenges, which is where A.C.T.’s head of movement Danyon Davis offers his expertise. Davis comes to A.C.T. after serving as head of movement at Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and he’s a former faculty member at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and HB Studio’s Hagen Core Training program. Davis also assisted Moni Yakim, founding faculty member and head of movement at the Julliard Drama Division, for many years. We recently sat down with Davis to learn about bypassing one’s human physicality to access something more reptilian. Actor Sarah Nina Hayon, wearing her rehearsal tail, listens to director Pam M...

By Elspeth Sweatman Born on March 12, 1928, and adopted by Reed A. and Frances C. Albee—two members of the elite in Larchmont, New York—Edward Franklin Albee III had a coddled but lonely childhood. His parents bought him everything he could have ever wanted: Grenadier Guard toy soldiers, electric trains, a smoking jacket. He went to see Broadway shows and spent the winter months in Palm Beach, Florida. But material possessions and a lavish lifestyle could not hide the fact that his parents were unloving. “Whenever his mother became angry with him, she reminded him that he was adopted,” says biographer Mel Gussow. “The inference was in the air that, if he did not behave, if he did not measure up, he could be returned to the orphanage, like an unwanted possession.” Edward Albee in 1971. Photo courtesy Cleveland State University. From an early age, Albee knew he wanted to be a writer. He began drafting poems at six, plays at 12, and novels in his teens. Albee’s dedication to his ...

By Elspeth Sweatman “You either affect people or you leave them indifferent,” said playwright Edward Albee (1928–2016). “And I would loathe to leave an audience indifferent. I don’t care whether they like or hate, so long as they’re not indifferent.” They weren’t. Albee’s unique, provocative brand of truth-telling did not always sit well with audiences and critics, but it secured his place in the American theatrical pantheon. In fact, Albee earned three—or as he was fond of saying, three and a half —Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Playwright Edward Albee. Photo courtesy University of Houston Photographs Collection. 1963: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee made a splash with his first full-length play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and its iconic, warring couple: George and Martha. Showing off Albee’s wit and bite, the games that George and Martha play to entertain their guests are amusing at first, but we quickly see that they are designed to put everyone on edge, incl...

By Kayla Minton Kaufman Gato prowls around William Ball Studio during Seascape rehearsals. Photo by Beryl Baker. The cast of Edward Albee’s Seascape slowly filters in to A.C.T.’s William Ball Studio as the morning sun starts to warm the space. Cups of coffee or tea from the green room in hand, their hellos and good mornings fill the room as pages of the script turn for last minute review. All of this is classic rehearsal room sights and sounds—until the elevator dings, and a meow emerges from the lobby. Enter award-winning playwright Winter Miller, who is shadowing our Seascape rehearsal process from first read to opening night. She rocks a front-wearing, kangaroo-style backpack. Nestled inside is the star of our rehearsal room: her cat, Gato. For a production where tuning into animal instinct is key, having this creature prowling around is surprisingly valuable. “It’s such a collaborative room, it makes sense to draw inspiration from a cat,” says Sarah Nina Hayon, who plays ...

By A.C.T. Publications Staff “ Sweat was political,” says A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon, “ Men on Boats was playful, now we’re going personal with Seascape .” As MacKinnon prepared for her Geary debut, she spoke with cast, creatives, producers, and A.C.T. staff about Edward Albee's Seascape and was both optimistic and reflective. Sarah Nina Hayon, Seann Gallagher, Ellen MacLaughlin, and James Carpenter—the cast of Edward Albee's Seascape , directed by Pam MacKinnon. “The Albee project is very dear to me,” said MacKinnon. The director was a thirtysomething theater-maker in New York when she first spoke with Albee about directing The Play About the Baby at Philadelphia Theatre Company. That production in 2002 was the first of many— Seascape will be her 11th production of an Albee play. MacKinnon has become the foremost contemporary interpreter of the great American playwright’s work, winning a Tony Award for her direction of Who's Afraid of Virginia ...