American Conservatory Theatre Premieres Program By Sarah Daniels

The program plays at Zeum Theater, located at Yerba Buena Gardens (Fourth and Howard streets), November 9 through November 17. Sarah Daniels will be present for an audience exchange, free for ticket holders, directly following the November 10 2 p.m. show. Tickets are $15.50-$20.50 and are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228 or online at act-sf.org.

A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory presents two remarkable plays by Sarah Daniels, one of England's most celebrated contemporary playwrights. Broken Wings, co-commissioned by A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory and Theatre Royal Bath, poignantly and honestly depicts young adults dealing with the loss of a parent. As the young people seek purpose and stability, they uncover betrayal and manipulation on the part of the adults in their lives.

Much like Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Broken Wings moves backwards in time, towards the root of the trauma the young people face. Director Slaight comments: “Far from being banal ‘children’s theater,’ Broken Wings exhibits the kind of bold ideas and adult, muscular language that made Daniels a playwright celebrity in the U.K. The play highlights the ways in which young people absorb tragedy and try to move on. In Broken Wings, we see kids who have had to step into adulthood-who have had to accept problems without the skills to cope with them-come together for support. The work is moving, and it rings very true.”

The evening will be rounded out by Daniels’ Soldiers’ Wives. Originally a radio play commissioned by the BBC, Soldiers’ Wives, the moving story of five young British women married to soldiers now fighting in Iraq, will be performed by the Young Conservatory in a world-premiere stage production. As Slaight points out, “We hear so much so often about the conflict in Iraq, but almost always from an outsider’s perspective, or from the perspective of the troops on the ground. We seldom have the opportunity to think about what it must be like to make plans and keep a family together amid all the uncertainty of war. Soldiers’ Wives confronts us with the reality of conflict through the eyes of five very different women left waiting at home.”

Since 1999, A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory has nurtured uniquely successful international programs, working with organizations including London’s Royal National Theatre, Zurich’s Hochschule Musik und Theater, and Theatre Royal Bath. The programs, which have facilitated international exchange programs and new play development, have resulted in commissions or co-commissions of new works from world-renowned playwrights including Constance Congdon and Mark Ravenhill, as well as Sarah Daniels. Broken Wings represents the Young Conservatory’s third co-commission with Theatre Royal Bath. In preparation for this production, Young Conservatory actors had the opportunity to travel to Bath this past summer to workshop the play with Daniels herself, fostering an intimate relationship among the author, the Young Conservatory ensemble, and this production.

A talented group of young Bay Area actors makes up the cast of Broken Wings . . .And More, including Chase Baldocchi, Rachel Cunningham, Charlotte Locke, Amy Munz, Spencer O’Karma, Ryan Rohtla, Hallie Sekoff, Ryan Semmelmayer, and Keelin Woodell.

Joining the design team for Broken Wings. . . And More are lighting designer Jared Hirsch and sound designer Ryan Kleeman.

Playwright Sarah Daniels lives in London. Her first play, Ripen Our Darkness, was produced at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in 1981. The following year, Neaptide won the George Devine Award and opened in the Cottesloe at the Royal National Theatre in 1986. Her 1983 play Masterpieces, which premiered at the Royal Exchange Manchester and the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, earned Daniels Most Promising Playwright Awards from the London Critics’ Circle and Drama magazine. Masterpieces has subsequently been produced around the world and in 1999 was selected by the National Theatre as one of the plays of the century. Broken Wings is her second play for the A.C.T. Young Conservatory, following Dust (2002), which was a co-commission with the Connections season at the National Theatre. She has also written for television and radio, including The Long Wait-Friday, a play commissioned for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and Cross My Heart and Hope to Fly, winner of the 2003 Sony Bronze. Soldiers’ Wives was commissioned by BBC Radio and is based on interviews with women married to servicemen based in Basra.

The A.C.T. Young Conservatory offers a broad range of theater training for young people aged 8 to 19. The ten sessions and four public productions offered throughout the year are designed to develop talent and creativity, as well as communication and cooperation skills, for young people with all levels of theater background. Working professional actors and directors lead students in a spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, musical theater, audition, and improvisation.

A.C.T.’s stage at Zeum Theater is dedicated to the development of new works, new forms, and new artists. A.C.T. Zeum was launched in October 2001 with the American Conservatory Theatre Master of Fine Arts Program’s world-premiere staging of Marc Blitzstein’s No for an Answer, directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. Zeum Theater is the current home of the Young Conservatory New Plays Program and gives A.C.T. an additional stage for readings, workshops, rehearsals, and other aspects of new play and production development. -- www.act-sf.org