San Francisco native Christopher Chen, the 7 Fingers and “Vietgone” playwright Qui Nguyen are among the highlights of American Conservatory Theater’s 2022-23 season, announced Friday, April 15.
The lineup begins with “Passengers” (Sept. 15-Oct. 9) from the Montreal circus troupe the 7 Fingers, two of whose founders — Bay Area natives Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider — created the wildly successful“Dear San Francisco,”which has an open-ended run atClub Fugazi.“Passengers” uses juggling, aerial work, the tightrope and other acts to explore characters, all strangers, who are united in being on a train together.
Up next is modern-day noir “The Headlands” (Feb. 9-March 5) byChen,who’s among American theater’s foremost frame breakers. His shows atCrowded Fire Theater,Shotgun Players,San Francisco Playhouseandonline with ACT last yearstep outside the structures they set up, blurring the boundary between real and theatrical. Now with “The Headlands,” directed by Artistic DirectorPam MacKinnon,Chen tells the story of a cold-case murder mystery that begets further mysteries, from how main character Henry’s parents actually met to what’s concealed by the Marin Headlands.
Fans of “Vietgone,” which ACTpresented in 2018,can rejoice in the company’s next offering. “Poor Yella Rednecks” (March 30-May 7) is Nguyen’s sequel to his story of his parents’ meeting as Vietnam War refugees in Arkansas; now they’re trying to build a life together in a new country. Jaime Castañeda, who like Nguyen is a first-generation American, returns to direct this rap- and martial-arts-infused play.
“The Wizard of Oz” (June 1-25) follows, directed by Sam Pinkleton, who had been scheduled to direct ACT’s“The Rocky Horror Show,”a pandemic casualty.
The new musical “Soul Train,” originally set for 2021, has now been postponed a second time, now set to play Aug. 25-Oct. 1 in 2023. Chronicling the rise of the TV show documenting decades of peerless Black style, cool and rhythm, this pre-Broadway run features a book by Detroit nativeDominique Morisseau,choreography by Tony nominee Camille A. Brown and direction by Kamilah Forbes, executive producer of the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Add-on offerings in 2022 include the return of Tony winner, Pickle Family Circus legend and Bay Area homeboy Bill Irwin, in“On Beckett”(Oct. 19-23), in which the performer shares insights from his career-long immersion into the oeuvre of Irish novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett (“Waiting for Godot,” “Endgame”), as well as the return ofCarey Perloff and Paul Walsh’s adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” (Nov. 30-Dec. 24), with direction by Peter J. Kuo, based on the original direction by Perloff, who served asACT’s artistic director for 25 years.
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