Inside A.C.T.

By Elspeth Sweatman Walking backstage to interview Suzanna Bailey, A.C.T.’s Head of Sound, was like entering a living room on Christmas Eve. New microphones had just come in for A Night with Janis Joplin , and Bailey was excited. Janis is an opportunity for Bailey to return to her roots in sound design. While studying theater in college, she ran sound for a punk band that brought her to the Bay Area. As A.C.T. prepares to rock The Geary like it’s 1967, we caught up with Bailey to talk about running sound for a 1,000-seat theater, collaboration, and sweat-outs. Is there a typical sound setup or is sound different for every single show? For many productions, we use our rep system [the layout of a theater’s main microphones and speakers], and supplement it with specials [sound elements which are required to implement the design for a particular production]. The rep system is built around the idea that you need to be efficient with cost and time as you go from one show ...

“You can’t escape the beauty of San Francisco,” says Tales scenic designer Douglas W. Schmidt, in a recent interview in Words on Plays . “As a designer, it really infects you. You keep saying, ‘Oh, that vista, we’ve got to have that.’ By the time you’re done with that, you’ve got a whole picture-postcard collection that you’re trying to put onstage. Very early on, we decided that we didn’t want to go that route.” Instead of trying to pack all of San Francisco into his set, Schmidt drew inspiration from the iconic back staircases of Russian Hill to create a moving, shifting environment where the musical’s mysteries could slowly unfold. The Endup, Halcyon Ad Agency, and of course 28 Barbary Lane: all of these locales are created with quick changes to the same central structure. Check out the video below to see it built from the ground up. —The A.C.T. Intern Blog Quadrumvirate.

Meet recent M.F.A. Program graduate Patrick Lane, who plays Brian Hawkins . Click here to read his official bio. Thanks for joining us as we got to know more about the incredible cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical  over the last few weeks. Check back next week for more behind-the-scenes tidbits from the show! NAME Patrick Lane. CHARACTER Brian Hawkins. HOMETOWN Louisville, Kentucky. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Well, my father was a preacher and my mother directed the children's choirs, so my first experience performing was as one of the lions in Noah's ark. I suppose constantly performing in church, coupled with my middle-child syndrome, left me completely defenseless against the alluring theater. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE My favorite experience would have to be when I played Horace Robedaux in a college production of 1918 . It was my first experience delving into the deeply complex family relationships that are so common in plays...

Meet Alex Hsu, who plays Lionel . Click here to read his official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Alex Hsu. CHARACTER Lionel. HOMETOWN Born in Taipei, Taiwan; grew up in Hayward and Fremont, California. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE My mom took me to see a production of Promises, Promises! at the college where she worked, and I remember being absolutely mesmerized by Turkey Lurkey Time. I can probably trace many aspects of my personality to that experience, such as my love of musical theater, my affinity for mid-century design and fashion, and my appreciation of go-go dancing. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Seeing Les Misérables on Broadway in 1996. I basically wept for three hours. It was absolutely transcendent and spiritual. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Watching the TV miniseries on DVD many years ago. HOW ARE YOU LIKE LIONEL? We are both second-generation Bay Area Chinese...

Meet A.C.T. core acting company member Manoel Felciano, who plays Norman Neal Williams . Click here to read his official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Manoel Felciano. CHARACTER Norman Neal Williams. HOMETOWN San Francisco. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Playing Micaela’s gypsy guide in the San Francisco Opera production of Carmen with Placido Domingo. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Playing George in Sunday in the Park with George . FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Being cast in the production. HOW ARE YOU LIKE NORMAN? Hopefully very little! Though I’ve been known to rock the clip-on tie. FAVORITE MUSICAL Ooh, tough one . . . right now, Floyd Collins . FAVORITE SONG TO SING “Use Me,” by Bill Withers. EDUCATION B.A., Yale University; M.F.A., NYU; and lots of informal teachers along the way. PERFORMANCE RITUAL Pre-: vocal, physical warm-ups. Post-: walk the bat-pig, ak...

Meet Mary Birdsong, who plays Mona Ramsey . Click here to read her official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Mary Birdsong. CHARACTER Mona Ramsey. HOMETOWN Long Beach Island, New Jersey. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Doing “the bump” while dressed as a turkey leg in a Thanksgiving recital in grade school because Mia Michenzi chickened out. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Accidentally peeing onstage during the tech for my last solo show. I’d love to say I was five years old at the time. I wasn’t. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Being asked to do a cold reading at 10 a.m. at [director] Jason Moore’s house two years ago on my one day off, and saying no because I thought it was for a musical version of A Tale of Two Cities . I hate Dickens. Okay, I don’t really hate Dickens. But still . . . the idea of doing anything involving bonnets just did not appeal to me at the time. Sleep appealed...

Meet Diane J. Findlay, who plays Mother Mucca . Click here to read her official bio. Check back next week to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Diane J. Findlay. CHARACTER Mother Mucca. HOMETOWN Suffern, New York. It’s about 25 miles north of New York City, up the Hudson River. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Hello, Dolly! on Broadway. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE That’s a hard one. There’s been soooooo many. You see, I love what I do and each project brings along something exciting and interesting and new; something to take home with me and remember, hopefully with laughter. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES My first audition for Tales of the City was a wonder. At first I thought perhaps I shouldn’t go to the audition because I felt our director Jason Moore would never buy me as Mother Mucca, and I knew I’d be disappointed, but my agent talked me into it. So I decided to go for broke and have myself a ba...

Meet Andrew Samonsky, who plays Beauchamp Day . Click here to read his official bio. Check back next week to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Andrew Samonsky. CHARACTER Beauchamp Day. HOMETOWN Ventura, California. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE My earliest theater memories are when my parents would take me to see musicals at PCPA Theaterfest’s outdoor theater in Solvang, California. Great memories. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE In Verona, Italy, I got to see Rigoletto in an ancient 35,000-seat coliseum. I can only compare it to a Yankees game. It was the grandest production I’ve ever witnessed, and the voices were unbelievable. Those Italians love their opera. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Honestly, the first time I heard of Tales of the City was when I got an audition for this production. Now, I constantly see Armistead Maupin’s books everywhere! HOW ARE YOU LIKE BEAUCHAMP? We’ve both lived in San Franci...

Meet Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, who plays DeDe Halcyon-Day . Click here to read her official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone. CHARACTER DeDe. HOMETOWN Portland, Oregon. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Best Christmas Pageant Ever in sixth grade. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Coming home to Portland with the national tour of Legally Blonde . I loved performing for my hometown. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Reading the script for the audition. HOW ARE YOU LIKE DEDE? I’m married :) and I would also eat donuts at a low point. FAVORITE MUSICAL Not a musical, but I love August: Osage County . FAVORITE SONG TO SING Anything country. Country music always makes it seem like its sunny outside. EDUCATION B.A. in acting with a minor in musical theater from Marymount Manhattan College. PERFORMANCE RITUAL Pre-: work out and steam (pretty normal). P...

Meet Richard Poe, who plays Edgar Halcyon . Click here to read his official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Richard Poe. CHARACTER Edgar Halcyon. HOMETOWN Pittsburg, California. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Playing Scrooge in the eighth grade (magnificent!). FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Hard to choose. Journey’s End on Broadway: nine guys in a dark World War I dugout talking for two and a half hours, and everyone dies . . . then winning every available award in New York, including the Easter bonnet competition. 1776 on Broadway: more guys, more talking, more light, same result. Cyrano de Bergerac at A.C.T. in 1973, playing Second Musician/Third Cadet, being a novice in the middle of all that wonderfulness. There’s more. Just ask me. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES I lived in San Francisco until about 1977 (graduated from the University of San Francisco [USF] and started acting ...

Meet Josh Breckenridge, who plays Jon Fielding . Click here to read his official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Joshua Breckenridge. CHARACTER Jon Fielding. HOMETOWN Fallbrook, California. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at Circle Bar B Ranch Theatre in Santa Barbara, California . . . at age 14! FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE The Scottsboro Boys . From our very first reading to our closing night on Broadway . . . what a journey! FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Being cast in the original workshop at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. HOW ARE YOU LIKE JON? I’m very focused and career driven, much like Jon . . . oh yeah, and I’m a hopeless romantic. FAVORITE MUSICAL Crazy for You . FAVORITE SONG TO SING “On the Wings of Love” (I sang it for my Tales of the City audition). EDUCATION B.F.A. in musical theater at the Universit...

Meet Wesley Taylor, who plays Michael “Mouse” Tolliver . Click here to read his official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Wesley Taylor. CHARACTER Michael Tolliver. HOMETOWN Orlando, Florida. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE I did a lot of theater when I was a child, but it’s hard to remember. My first professional experience in the theater was when I was 11 and played Kurt in The Sound of Music at this little Equity playhouse. It was an eight-week run, and when it was over, I was devastated and cried for days. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Playing Falstaff in Henry IV my last year at drama school. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES I was in the dark until I was cast, but then immediately read the books, watched the miniseries, and got hooked! HOW ARE YOU LIKE MOUSE? Unfortunately, I’m also a hopeless romantic. FAVORITE MUSICAL Floyd Collins . FAVORITE SONG TO SING Sheesh, I don...

Meet Betsy Wolfe, our Mary Ann Singleton . Click here to read her official bio. Check back next week to meet another member of the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! NAME Betsy Wolfe. CHARACTER Mary Ann Singleton. HOMETOWN Visalia, California. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE At ten I played Kenickie in my church’s basement production of Grease , and Artful Dodger in Oliver! the following year. Apparently I played smooth-talking boys really well. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE Having the rain pour down on me at the end of Act II in 110 in the Shade . It was freeing, healing, and my first time on Broadway. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES Two years ago the casting director for Tales of the City came up to me at an opening night party and said, “There is this part that is perfect for you, but no one knows who the hell you are. You read the books and I’ll get you in the room.” HOW ARE YOU LIKE MARY ANN? Let me count the ways . . . BUT I will say I...

We know you’re counting the days until Tales of the City  officially opens on June 1, so to hold you over till then (and to whet your appetite) . . . We are pleased to introduce to you the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical ! Today, meet Judy Kaye , who plays Anna Madrigal . Click here to read her official bio. Check back tomorrow to meet another Tales cast member! —The A.C.T. Intern Blog Quadrumvirate NAME Judy Kaye. CHARACTER Anna Madrigal. HOMETOWN Phoenix, Arizona. FIRST THEATER EXPERIENCE Seeing Damn Yankees with Gwen Verdon on Broadway. FAVORITE THEATER EXPERIENCE The first night I went on as the understudy for Madeline Kahn in On the 20th Century . I don’t remember every detail, but it was a magical night. An out-of-body experience. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH TALES When my cell phone rang as I was about to tee off on a golf course in Phoenix, barely a month before rehearsals started! HOW ARE YOU LIKE ANNA MADRIGAL? I...

Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City: A New Musical has brought a real cast of characters to A.C.T. this month. There’s Mary Ann, Mrs. Madrigal, Mouse, and Mona, of course; but there’s also Betsy Wolfe, Judy Kaye, Wesley Taylor, and Mary Birdsong (to name but a few), the characters behind the characters. Click here to check out what our Mona, Mary Birdsong, has to say on her personal blog about baring her, um, soul on the American Conservatory Theater Stage. Mary Birdsong (right) with Betsy Wolfe in a music rehearsal for Tales of the City at A.C.T. Photo by David Allen Studio.