Inside A.C.T.

By Claire L. Wong Would you choose your friends over your country? It’s a question the third-year MFA students in the class of 2020 grapple with in Passage , directed by Victor Malana Maog and written by Obie Award–winning local playwright Christopher Chen. Drawing on E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India , Chen explores biases, blurred lines, and bigotry—issues affecting communities right here in the Bay Area and across the globe—and asks if friendships can survive in this imbalanced world. A.C.T.'s MFA class of 2020. Photo by Kevin Berne. Passage  received a five-star review in  Time Out New York , calling it “an extraordinary new play . . . unashamedly political yet deeply humane . . . dares to raise questions that make the audience profoundly uncomfortable, but simultaneously creates a welcoming space to which everyone is invited.” “It’s a fantastical examination of colonialism and xenophobia,” says Associate Producer Ken Savage, “and it’s in conversatio...

By Claire L. Wong For the next two weekends, the MFA class of 2021 springs back to turn of the 19th century Germany with Spring Awakening: The Play , directed by Christine Adaire. “The main crux of the show relies on a culture where people struggle to communicate,” says MFA Program actor Allen Darby, who plays Moritz. “ Spring Awakening asks us questions about tricky concepts that we have done our best to answer, but leave open for the audience to ponder after the show.” The class of 2020 kicked off the MFA Program season with Derek Walcott’s  Ti Jean and His Brothers , directed by Dawn Monique Williams. Catch the same actors this winter in A.C.T.’s seasonal favorite  A Christmas Carol , which runs November 29–December 24. The third-years are onstage again February 20–29 for  Passage  by Christopher Chen, an Obie Award–winning Bay Area playwright. “It’s a fantastical examination of colonialism and xenophobia,” says Associate Producer Ken Savage, “and it’s i...