American Conservatory Theater's 2007-08 New Season

The San Francisco American Conservatory Theaterhas announced the line-up of the company's 41st subscription season.

Running from August 2007 to July 2008, the season is marked by some of the most distinct voices currently at work in the American theater, bold new takes on rarely-produced classics from the canon, and dynamic collaborations with some of the best-known and most beloved artists in A.C.T.'s history.

Opening of Sweeney Todd

A.C.T.'s 41st season opens in August with John Doyle's Tony Award winning re-imagining of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical about the infamous barber of Fleet Street: Sweeney Todd.

A West Coast premiere of the production that won Tony Awards for Doyle (best director of a musical) and orchestrator and music supervisor Sarah Travis (best orchestrations), Sweeney Todd features a multitalented cast of actors playing all the instruments onstage.

The Rainmaker and Speed-the-Plow

The season continues in October with N. Richard Nash's radiantly hopeful heartland fable The Rainmaker, featuring A.C.T. core company actor René Augesen and directed by Mark Rucker.

A.C.T. continues its strong recent track record with David Mamet with a revival of his bitingly funny Hollywood satire Speed-the-Plow.

The 41st anniversary season also features two very different explorations into the areas of politics and identity. February brings Athol Fugard's brave and masterful The Blood Knot to centerstage.

And Carey Perloff directs Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, an outrageous political satire about a small town's desperate government.

As attentions turn toward the spring harvest, A.C.T. presents the 30th anniversary revival of the darkly funny tale about the extreme measures taken by one farming family in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class.

'Tis Pity She's A Whore

And the 41st season closes with a rare and boldly interpreted revival in Perloff's vigorous re-imagining of John Ford's poetic and potent Jacobean drama 'Tis Pity She's A Whore.

The season also features two non-subscription presentations of works first seen in A.C.T. First Look 2007 series: The Tosca Project-a dynamic blend of movement, poetry, and music toasting the rich history of Tosca's Café, the famed nightspot located in San Francisco's North Beach district-and José Rivera's surreal fable Brainpeople.

Tosca Project at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Created by Carey Perloff and the SF Ballet's Val Caniparoli and directed by Perloff, the next work-in-progress presentation of The Tosca Project will be presented at the Forum at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts October 26, 27, and 28. Brainpeople will be presented as a full production at Zeum Theater January 26 through February 16.

The nonsubscription presentation of Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh's adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (December 5 through 23) returns during the holiday season, featuring new revisions and actor James Carpenter reprising his role as Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Season subscriptions are now available via the A.C.T. subscriptions office. For a season brochure, call A.C.T. Ticket Services at (415) 749.2250 or visit www.act-sf.org. Single tickets for all of A.C.T.'s productions in the 2007-08 season will be available beginning August 5, 2007.

The theater is located at 415 Geary Street in San Francisco.