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Geary Theater
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
San Francisco Designated Landmark No. 82
(2017)
Location	415 Geary Street San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°47′13″N 122°24′37″W / 37.787017°N 122.410286°W / 37.787017; -122.410286
Built	1910
Architect	Walter D. Bliss & William B. Faville
Architectural style	Classical Revival Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.	75000472
SFDL No.	82
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 27, 1975
Designated SFDL	July 11, 1976

The American Conservatory Theater (ACT) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school.

History

The American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by theatre and opera director William Ball in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Mellon University. Ball presented twenty-seven fully staged productions in rotating repertory, in two different theaters – the Geary Theater and the Marines Memorial Theatre – during the first 40-week season.

A.C.T.'s original twenty-seven member acting company featured René Auberjonois, Peter Donat, Richard Dysart, Michael Learned, Ruth Kobart, Paul Shenar, Charles Siebert, Ken Ruta, and Kitty Winn among others. Ball's mid-1970s productions of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, starring Marc Singer, and Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Peter Donat and Marsha Mason, were televised by PBS.

In the mid-1980s, Ball, suffering from exhaustion and under accusations of financial mismanagement, was forced to relinquish his post as artistic director. He was succeeded by A.C.T. founding member and stage director Edward Hastings, who revived the company's fortunes until the Geary Theater was severely damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The company continued performing in a number of San Francisco venues.

Carey Perloff served as A.C.T.'s artistic director from 1992 to 2018. In 2007, A.C.T. released a cast album of Perloff's production of the Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill musical Happy End, produced by LucasArts studios. It includes the full score and is the first English-language recording of this musical. Pam MacKinnon was appointed to succeed Perloff as artistic director, effective with the end of the 2017–2018 season.

Theaters

A.C.T.'s primary home in San Francisco is the Toni Rembe Theater (formerly the Geary Theater, located at 415 Geary Street near the corner of Mason Street in the Theatre District of San Francisco. Built in 1910 and designed by Walter D. Bliss and William B. Faville in the Classical Revival and Late Victorian styles, it was previously known as the Columbia Theater. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1975, under the name "Geary Theater", and was designated an official San Francisco Designated Landmark on July 11, 1976, under the name "Geary Theater".

In 2015, A.C.T. opened the Strand Theater at 1127 Market Street between 7th and 8th Streets, across from the U.N. Plaza in the Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco. The building has a 283-seat theater as well as a 120-seat event and performance space. A.C.T. uses the theater to present educational workshops, cabaret performances and specially commissioned new works, as well as productions connected to their M.F.A. and Young Conservatory programs.

Acting school

A.C.T.'s was WASC accredited to grant Master of Fine Arts degrees for actors, 1984–2022. However, due to lack of funding, A.C.T. discontinued that program in June 2022.

A.C.T. offers training through the Studio A.C.T., the Summer Training Congress, and Young Conservatory programs.

Young Conservatory

A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory is a theater training program for youth through the ages of 19. It was founded by Luanne and Ross Graham in 1971. Successive YC directors include Candace Birk, Sharon Newman, Linda Aldrich, and Susan Stauter. The program has been led since 1988 by Craig Slaight. The Young Conservatory is geared toward performing new works specifically for young actors, and has premiered plays and musicals by playwrights such as Horton Foote and Paul Zindel. The conservatory members are also offered roles in the main stage productions, most frequently A Christmas Carol, which is performed every winter.

Sound design

The first person to be given the title sound designer in regional theater was Dan Dugan at A.C.T. in the late 1960s. The term sound design was introduced to the film world when Francis Ford Coppola directed a production of Private Lives at A.C.T. for which his father, Carmine Coppola, arranged the music and Charlie Richmond was the sound designer while the final cut of the film The Godfather was being edited in 1972.

Alumni

Directors

Young conservatory actors

• Darren Criss
• Brie Larson
• Milo Ventimiglia
• Zendaya

Actors

• Elizabeth Banks
• Anna Belknap
• Annette Bening
• Sarayu Blue
• Benjamin Bratt
• Christopher Fitzgerald
• Danny Glover
• Harry Hamlin
• Teri Hatcher
• Amy Irving
• Don Johnson
• Lauren Lane
• Sacheen Littlefeather
• Elizabeth McGovern
• Omar Metwally
• Dileep Rao
• Jean Rasey
• Anika Noni Rose
• Winona Ryder
• Douglas Sills
• Morgan Spector
• Mfoniso Udofia
• Denzel Washington
• Gedde Watanabe
• Justin Whalin
• Sharr White
• Dane Witherspoon

Sound design

• Dan Dugan

See also

• List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks
• American Musical Theatre of San Jose

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. "City of San Francisco Designated Landmarks". City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
3. ^ "San Francisco Preservation Bulletin No. 9: San Francisco Landmarks".
4. Staff (January 23, 2018) "Tony, OBIE, and Drama Desk Award Winner Pam Mackinnon Named New Artistic Director At American Conservatory Theater", BroadwayWorld
5. "THE TONI REMBE THEATER (formerly the Geary Theater)". American Conservatory Theater. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
6. "The Strand Theater", A.C.T. website.
7. "MFA Program". American Conservatory Theater. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
8. American Conservatory Theater (2011). "YC Auditions for A Christmas Carol". American Conservatory Theater. American Conservatory Theater. Archived from the original on October 19, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
9. Kaye, Deena; LeBrecht, James (2009). Sound and music for the theatre: the art and technique of design. Focal Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-240-81011-9.

External links

• American Conservatory Theater official website
• American Conservatory Theater at the Internet Broadway Database
• View a 1969 documentary film about A.C.T., made by KQED (TV)

v t e Education in San Francisco
San Francisco USD
Comp. high schools	Balboa Burton Galileo Academy of Science and Technology Abraham Lincoln Marshall Academic Mission O'Connell of Technology Wallenberg Traditional George Washington
Alt/magnet high schools	Asawa School of the Arts Lowell
Charter high schools	Leadership
Elementary schools	Chinese Immersion School at De Avila
Superintendents	William Langdon Ramón C. Cortines Bill Rojas Richard Carranza
Independent schools
Secular private schools	La Scuola Int'l Bay Katherine Delmar Burke Chinese American Int'l French American Int'l German Int'l of Silicon Valley (S.F. campus) Int'l H.S. of S.F. Lycée Français San Francisco Pacific Academy Town School for Boys San Francisco University High School
Religious private schools	Archbishop Riordan J.S. Cathedral School for Boys Convent of the Sacred Heart H.S. Immaculate Conception Acad Jewish Community High School of the Bay Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. S.F. Waldorf St. Ignatius College prep. Stuart Hall for Boys Stuart Hall H.S.
Closed	Mercy H.S.
Tertiary education
Undergraduate	City College of S.F. Golden Gate U. S.F. State U. U. of San Francisco Minerva U.
Creative and culinary arts	Academy of Art U American Conservatory Theater Art Institute of Calif. S.F. Calif. College of the Arts Calif. Culinary Acad. S.F. Conservatory of Music S.F. Art Institute
Graduate	Alliant Int'l U Calif. Inst. of Integral Studies Golden Gate U. U. of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry S.F. Law School Saybrook University U. of Calif., S.F. S.F. State U. U. of Calif. College of Law, S.F. U. of S.F.
Other
Public libraries	San Francisco Public Library Main Library
Supplementary schools	Japanese School of San Francisco
State schools	California School for the Deaf (moved to Berkeley in 1869)

• Theatres in San Francisco
• Theatre companies in San Francisco
• Drama schools in the United States
• League of Resident Theatres
• Regional theatre in the United States
• Schools in San Francisco
• Tony Award winners
• National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco
• San Francisco Designated Landmarks
• Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in California
• Performing groups established in 1965
• 1910 establishments in California
• Theatres completed in 1910
• Bliss and Faville buildings
• Neoclassical architecture in California
• Victorian architecture in California