SAN FRANCISCO: American Conservatory Theater artistic director Carey Perloff announced today three of the seven productions that will comprise the lineup of the company’s 2017-18 subscription season: The company’s first staging of Harold Pinter’s classic drama The Birthday Party, Qui Nguyen’s irreverent new comedy Vietgone, and Suzan-Lori Parks’s Father Comes Home from the War (Parts 1, 2 & 3), her epic American take on The Odyssey set against the backdrop of the Civil War. An additional four productions—along with performances order and run dates—will be announced in late April.

In a statement, Perloff said, “At this moment, there is an urgent need for joy, for big ideas, for nuanced language and global perspectives,” calling the season so far a group of “plays that ask questions about justice and democracy, that expose the underbelly of terror, that reinvent our language and that celebrate love stories…These are stories that echo our universal hopes, challenges, and dreams, and affirm ACT’s commitment to uniting modern classics with the most vigorous contemporary artists.”

In addition to announcing three shows from the seven-play subscription season, ACT is happy to welcome back the Bay Area’s favorite holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol, after another successful run last season, in an adaptation by Perloff and Paul Walsh.