Inside A.C.T.

By Taylor Steinbeck Each year, the Master of Fine Arts Program actors bring the studios of 30 Grant to life, with a week full of student-directed, student-written, student-acted performances called Sky Festival. This year’s Sky Festival was no different: everything from dramatic classics (Samuel Beckett's  Waiting for Godot and Stephen Sondheim's  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ) to contemporary comedies (Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherfucker with the Hat ) to student-devised projects (third-year M.F.A. actor Kadeem Ali Harris’s Black Masculinity )   were staged for A.C.T.’s staff and friends to enjoy.   Leonard A. Thomas and the cast of Kadeem Ali Harris's Black Masculinity.  A.C.T.'s 2018 Sky Festival. Photo by Jay Yamada. Harris’s moving piece featured six black actors—Jared C. Manders, LeRoy Smith Graham, Edward Neville Ewell, Joseph Givens II, and Leonard A. Thomas—including himself, exploring the different facets of black mascul...

By A.C.T. Publications Staff M.F.A. Program Actors  Akilah A. Walker and Adrianna Mitchel in Topdog/Underdog . A.C.T. Sky Festival 2017. Photo by Jay Yamada. Last week, the studios of 30 Grant were a hive of activity, as the Master of Fine Arts Program actors strutted their stuff during A.C.T.’s Sky Festival. In just four short days, they proved that you only need a good text and great actors to make a magical piece of theater. This year’s festival was a melting pot of artistic visions. American plays from such stalwarts as Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, John Patrick Shanley, and Suzan-Lori Parks were performed next door to classics like Faustus and Tartuffe and newly devised one-man shows, written by the M.F.A. Program actors. Sky Festival is a unique event in A.C.T.’s calendar. It is one of the few times where you can see actors perform so close to you that they are almost in your lap, where you can see Conservatory Director Melissa Smith act alongside first-y...

By A.C.T. Publications Staff There is drumming on the roof of A.C.T.’s administrative offices at 30 Grant Avenue. For seasoned A.C.T. staff, that sound means only one thing: Sky Festival. This annual festival of plays, one-man shows, and collaborative productions are put together by the Master of Fine Arts Program actors. Last year’s festival included Annie Baker’s The Aliens , a brand new work called 2.5 Asians , and a comic smorgasbord entitled 25 Plays in 50 Minutes . M.F.A. Program Actors Stephen Wattrus, Alan Littlehales, and Patrick Andrew Jones in The Aliens . Sky Festival 2016. Photo by Jay Yamada. For these hard-working actors, it is a unique opportunity. “Sky Festival gives us the opportunity to create art that we are truly passionate about,” says third-year M.F.A. Program actor Albert Rubio. “It provides us a space where we can—as Mrs. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus would say—‘take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!’” Sky Festival is not just an exciting...

Posted by Sharon Rietkerk, Marketing Project Manager Sky Festival scheduling = Excel jigsaw puzzle! The annual A.C.T. Sky Festival is a dynamic event that brings together the A.C.T. community in the creation, rehearsal, and performance of a vibrant and eclectic range of work. Each year A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program students and faculty, core acting company members, and artistic staff submit proposals for projects they are personally passionate about, offering students an opportunity to approach work from multiple angles, from directing to devising to performing. Ranging from self-written work to movement-based interpretations of printed texts and conventional explorations of "straight plays," the chosen projects (12 this year) are developed over two weeks of intense rehearsal and exploration, culminating in two days of studio presentations. But how do you get three classes of M.F.A. Program students, 12 projects, plus faculty and advisors sorted out to ...

posted the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2014 Our coverage of the 2012 Sky Festival concludes with musings from other members of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2014, who experienced this intense two-week period of rehearsal and performance for the first time. The festival brings together A.C.T. students, staff, and faculty in the high-speed creation of inventive new work. For many students, the festival also offered an opportunity to delve into something new, as they stepped into roles as writer and director. L to R: Cloud Tectonics director Jeffrey Crockett with Blair Busbee and Aaron Moreland. Photo by Kevin Berne. L to R: The Owl and the Pussycat directors Omozé Idehenre and Lateefah Holder. Photo by Kevin Berne. Blair Busbee Performer, Cloud Tectonics and No Man's Island I was once in an acting class where I had to practice juggling for the first 15 minutes of every class. The first day, I failed. Miserably. I took my frustration ...

posted by Elyse Price, member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2014 Our coverage of the 2012 Sky Festival continues with a post from Elyse Price, whose original work Noncents is one of the selected pieces to come to life over this vibrant two-week festival. L to R: Maggie Leigh and Elyse Price in Noncents . Photo by Kevin Berne. L to R: Noncents performers Maggie Leigh and Elyse Price, assistant director Lisa Kitchens, and director Domenique Lozano. Photo by Kevin Berne. The idea of The Sky Festival is such a fabulous one—its title mantra, "the sky is the limit," mixed with about 50 daring, creative, and energized artists, is dangerously exciting. And it takes place at A.C.T., no less, a theater company that pushes boundaries and wants to challenge its audience. When I found out about this festival during callback weekend for the M.F.A. Program, I was hooked, and already had ideas brewing . . . but when it came to proposal time, after spending m...

posted by Dillon Heape, member of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2014 Each year, the A.C.T. community gathers for The Sky Festival—the creation, rehearsal, and performance of a vibrant and eclectic range of work. Students, faculty, core acting company members, and artistic staff submit proposals for projects they are personally passionate about, from self-written work to movement-based interpretations of classic texts. The chosen projects are developed over two weeks of intense rehearsal and exploration, culminating in two days of lively in-house presentations. This year, one production Thieves , a raucous spin on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2— will be presented as a full production at The Costume Shop. The first-year Master of Fine Arts Program students were thrown into the creative chaos of the Sky Festival for the first time, and Dillon Heape stole away from rehearsal for a few moments to reflect on his experiences as part of the cast of Thieves...

posted by Dan Rubin, Publications and Literary Associate What happens when you give talented people access to other talented people, space, and time? If you’re dealing with 38 theater folk and give them two and a half weeks, seven studios, and $25 per project, the result might look something like the Sky Festival, which recently culminated in two days filled with 13 fully (well, mostly) staged, one-hour productions. It was a magical whirlwind event (“Isn’t this like Edinburgh?” people were saying in the hallway, “Isn’t it sort of like Cannes?”), leaving us awestruck by the amazing people we have the fortune to interact with on a daily basis. We were there to support A.C.T.’s Master of Fine Arts Program students and faculty, but we were also there for ourselves to witness examples of what theater looks like when its makers are at their most raw and passionate. While the directors had to negotiate with next-to-no budget and competing demands for actors and space, they did not have to c...

posted by Dan Rubin, Publications and Literary Associate Last week, Publications and Literary Associate Dan Rubin introduced us to three of the projects in A.C.T.’s brand-new Sky Festival. During the month of January, an eclectic array of A.C.T. M.F.A. Program students, faculty, and core company actors have been collaborating on passion projects of their choosing, putting together fully realized productions in just two weeks. Midway through the intensive rehearsal process, Dan checks in with three of these extraordinary ventures. —The A.C.T. Intern Blog Quadrumvirate Day 7 • 10 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. • Project: The Wild Goose Director: Marisa Duchowny (M.F.A. Program Class of 2011) “I like the messier shirt. The shaggier one,” Marisa tells second-year student Alex Crowther. “I want both men to be in whites and blacks—neutrals—so that she’s the splash of color.” The color comes from first-year Rebekah Brockman’s flamenco skirt, which she’s borrowing from the costume shop. She’s...

posted by Dan Rubin, Publications and Literary Associate  For most of January, all of our students and faculty are in one place, creatively speaking. This may not seem all that notable (we are a school, after all), but consider: the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program is divided into three years, and each year has its own densely packed, carefully constructed curriculum. Although there is some overlap, for the most part the students in each year take different classes with different teachers, and perform in different shows in different venues. They even have different vacation schedules. And every minute of every day (okay, they’re allowed a few hours to sleep each night) is dedicated to some pedagogical activity intended to make master theater artists out of these young actors, leaving little time for personal creative expression. But this month, the entire A.C.T. faculty and student body are deeply engaged in one theatrical endeavor: the Sky Festival. The Sky Festival is a lo...