The decade of the 2020s started with ACT being dark for the entire 2020 mainstage season. While closed
for the pandemic, there was a change in leadership as Anita Shah moved in as Managing Director. The
first play after the pandemic closure was Hotter Than Egypt, written by Core Company member Yussef el Guindi
- a world premiere.
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In White America (1966)
A powerful, challenging play about America's most dynamic problem of the moment, the New York Times called IN WHITE AMERICA "a flaming editorial, a record of the Negro's agony through American history and a witness to his aspirations". The play won a Vernon Rice award for its author and was performed in London in 1965 with resounding success.
The Typists/The Tiger (1966)
Walter Kerr called this pair of dry-witted comedies “a perfectly delightful evening” and the one question asked most often during the successful New York run was “which is the funnier play?” Mr. Schisgal’s most recent Broadway success is the generally acclaimed LUV. Both productions are due to be made into Hollywood films within the next year.
Tiny Alice (1966)
What does it mean? Nobody has answered that, but everybody agrees it touches the heart and stirs the mind. Like a Chinese box-within-a-box, like a series of mirrors reflecting images of mirrors down a long hall, no matter how you describe it, there’s a puzzle at the center of this suspenseful play. It’s the show that threw New York theatre buffs into the greatest frenzy of arguments in years. And it will probably be as thoroughly discussed here.
A Thurber Carnival (1966)
During its New York run the New York Journal American critic said, “The Thurber world is a heady one…In sum, it’s a joyously rewarding evening with a great humorist.” A sort of a revue, but not exactly, it is, like everything else by the great humorist, unclassifiable. Time Magazine probably hit it on the head when they stated, it’s an “animated anthology” and we add – with music?
The Physicists (1966)
This is a thunderbolt of a play by the man who wrote THE VISIT. The New York Times wrote, “The meat of this play’s thesis is raw and acrid, difficult to swallow, but imperative to be chewed”. And all in one show you have a drama of searching ideas, a melodrama dealing with murder, suspense, surprises, and comedy. In other words, on for your must-see list.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1966)
“Let’s not exaggerate. At some time there may have been a funnier murder charade, but the supposition is purely academic”. Thus Brooks Atkinson wrote in his original 1941 review. And this hilarious comedy kept New Howling for three and a half years! In line with its policy of each year presenting a revival of an outstanding American play from the past, A Contemporary Theatre offers this Kesselring classic.
The Collection/The Room (1966)
The London Sunday Times calls Pinter “the most original, disturbing and arresting talent in theatrical London.” THE COLLECTION was first produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962, and in America two years ago. THE ROOM was Pinter’s first play and has been seen in most of the capitals of Europe. Duncan Ross, formerly of the Old Vic, directed the first Pinter play ever reviewed, and will direct these two plays as a fitting finale to our season.