SAN FRANCISCO: American Conservatory Theater has announced updates to their 2021-22 season, reflecting ongoing COVID-19 protocols.
“As we look forward to the return of in-person performances, I am encouraged and heartened by the messages of support we have received from the community,” executive director Jennifer Bielstein said in a statement. “We applaud the artists, staff, donors, subscribers, and single-ticket buyers who have graciously supported ACT over the past year, and look forward to sharing in a collective experience together soon.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the West Coast premiere of Obie-winning playwright Christopher Chen’s The Headlands, originally scheduled to run May 27-June 20, will be replaced with a world-premiere virtual play by Chen. Directed by ACT artistic director Pam MacKinnon, the play will invite audiences to connect with a celebrated Bay Area actor looking to commune via Zoom. The play will be performed live May 28-June 27, with the title to be announced at a later date.
ACT will kick off 2022 with the hip-hop sensation Freestyle Love Supreme, Jan. 21-February 13. The acclaimed Broadway hit from Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Bay Area artist Anthony Veneziale will launch its American tour at ACT, taking audiences on a freestyle hip-hop comedy ride.
Next, MacKinnon will direct María Irene Fornés’s Fefu and Her Friends (March 24-May 1, 2022). The production will use the Strand Theater as a non-traditional theatre space, breaking up the audience into four groups to tour Fefu’s New England country home in 1935.
ACT will also present the National Theatre and Neal Street Productions’s The Lehman Trilogy April 20-May 22, 2022. Written by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, The Lehman Trilogy is the epic story of a family and company that changed the world, told in three parts over one evening. The production will be directed by Olivier, Tony, and Oscar winner Sam Mendes.
The season will close with the world premiere of the musical Soul Train, intended as a pre-Broadway run, featuring a creative team made up of all Black women. Written by Dominique Morisseau and based on the iconic TV show, the musical journeys to 1971 Chicago, where Black entrepreneur and radio DJ Don Cornelius transformed pop culture. Soul Train will run Sept. 16-Oct. 23, choreographed by Camille A. Brown and directed by Kamilah Forbes.
COVID-19 protocols will be in place for all in-person productions, in accordance with the City and County of San Francisco’s regulations.
American Conservatory Theater aims to engage the spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area by activating stories that resonate, promoting a diversity of voices and points of view, and empowering theatremakers and audiences to celebrate liveness.
