American Conservatory Theater

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It was founded in Pittsburgh in 1965 by the theatre and opera director William Ball. In response to an invitation from San Francisco philanthropists and officials, Ball relocated the company to San Francisco and astonished the theatre world by presenting twenty-seven fully staged productions in rotating repertory, in two different theatres, during the first 40-week season. San Francisco Chronicle critic Paine Knickerbocker acclaimed Mr. Ball's opening performance of Molière's Tartuffe as "a screaming, bellowing unbelievable triumph". A.C.T.'s original twenty-seven member acting company featured the talents of Rene Auberjonois, Peter Donat, Richard Dysart, Michael Learned, Ruth Kobart, Paul Shenar, Ken Ruta, Kitty Winn among many others. Mr. Ball's mid-1970s productions of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, starring... full article at wikipedia