Inside A.C.T.

By Annie Sears Obie Award–winning designer David Israel Reynoso has done a bit of everything: costume design and scenic design, regional theaters and dance companies, shows for stages and immersive experiences for museums. Last season, he brought his expansive toolkit to The Geary, designing costumes and set for Hamlet . This year, he returns to A.C.T. as scenic designer for Mfoniso Udofia’s Her Portmanteau at The Strand. We sat down with Reynoso to hear more about infusing this thoughtful, intimate drama with subtle psychological cues.   David Israel Reynoso's scenic model for A.C.T.'s production of Her Portmanteau . Which aspect of the Her Portmanteau design was your favorite to conceptualize? The entire stage is framed by a beautiful fretwork, a filigree design that’s inspired by a hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. I was struck by its basket-like, woven quality. Yet it felt very contemporary, industrial, and New York–like as well. There’s a duality there, looking through the ...

By Aaron Higareda The coffee is hot, the bagels are warm, and the cast and crew of Her Portmanteau are meeting and greeting inside The Rueff at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater. Every show here at A.C.T. begins with a meet and greet, where designers share their vision for the show and the cast completes an initial read before diving into rehearsals. To begin a journey, you have to leave home. But what exactly is home? Is it a location? A sensation? A memory? After you’ve left, what is it like to come back? This is a theme explored in Her Portmanteau , and it’s also a theme in the playwright’s life. Mfoniso Udofia, a graduate of A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program (class of 2009), returns home to A.C.T. with Her Portmanteau , an independent chapter from her sweeping nine-part saga about a family of Nigerian immigrants and their American-born children. “It’s about what it means to be an immigrant in America,” said Udofia during the meet and greet. “Specifically, an immigrant who has aspirations of goin...