Inside A.C.T.

By Joy Meads There is a strange alchemy in Will Eno’s plays that draws us away from the anxious, racing world outside and into a quiet communion with one another and those solid, undeniable realities that connect us. Almost imperceptibly, he makes us more conscious of the world and more connected to those around us. Eno’s play The Realistic Joneses was performed at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater in 2016, and now his work is back at the Geary with  Wakey, Wakey . We are grateful we have the opportunity to share this play with you.  Wakey, Wakey playwright Will Eno. Photo courtesy Will Eno.  What is it about the Geary that makes it the right home for this piece?   The play, I hope, makes spaces for us to have a human connection, to come together as a group of humans and sit with one another in the experience of larger, maybe scary or sad things. I love the potential ramifications of an audience using that entire space. I love the frank connection that Guy has with...

By Joy Meads As The Geary Theater prepares for the opening night of Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap , we caught up with Lauren (and her father Larry!) to learn more about the stories that inspired her. Lauren, how did you take Larry's basketball stories and turn them into a story for the stage? Lauren: Those basketball stories were a part of the family lore I never really investigated. It was only when I was thinking about what I might write for Denver Center for the Performing Arts that I really dug into these stories. And in going back to talk to my dad, I’ve discovered that I wrote some of these things in without even knowing it was in his story. Lauren Yee, award-winning playwright of The Great Leap . Larry, how did your relationship with basketball begin? Larry: When I was about seven years old, I started playing at a playground in Chinatown. Then I played pick-up basketball at the local rec center , which is now called the Betty Ong Rec Center. They used to put...

By Joy Meads  Dramaturg Joy Meads and Director Tamilla Woodard laugh together at the first rehearsal for Men on Boats. On the first day of rehearsal for Men on Boats , sound designer Kate Marvin played a sample of the music she was creating for the show. She had vividly captured the iconic sound of western adventure familiar from a thousand movies and television shows. The stirring rhythms and soaring strains called up memories I didn’t know I still held inside me: tales of audacity, strength, courage, and the heroic acts of rugged men. These stories helped shape my earliest ideas of leadership, tenacity, and the indomitable American spirit. I suspect many of you can relate. The heroes of these stories were, of course, inevitably male and relentlessly white, and I later came to understand the narrow and contorted view of reality they offered. With a few, notable exceptions, people of color were erased, flattened, or vilified, and rigid, binary gender roles were scrupulousl...