A.C.T. Announces 2008 Gala, Illuminate the Night!
Benefit Celebration, Featuring Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch

A.C.T.’s 2007-2008 season gala, Illuminate the Night: A Spotlight on Our Shining Stars. At this benefit for A.C.T.’s actor-training programs, two-time Tony Award-winner Christine Ebersole, Billy Stritch, and A.C.T.’s own Master of Fine Arts Program and Young Conservatory students will entertain San Francisco’s most prominent community leaders on Sunday, April 6, 2008, at San Francisco’s Four Seasons Hotel.

“Chris Ebersole represents the standard to which our students aspire every day, and I am so delighted that she and the incomparable Billy Stritch will be lending their enormous talents to celebrate and nurture the training programs at A.C.T., which are such a huge part of our mission and of the future of the American theater. After the wild success of last year’s 40th anniversary gala, we are anticipating a truly joyful, sold-out event-a time when A.C.T. artists, audience members and supporters can come together to ensure the ongoing success of the Conservatory at A.C.T,” Says A.C.T. artistic director Carey Perloff.

Illuminate the Night will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown San Francisco, and will feature a cocktail hour and an elegant dinner in the hotel’s Veranda Ballroom. The gala entertainment offerings include a musical performance starring Young Conservatory and M.F.A. Program students, created and directed by John Carrafa, whose Broadway credits have earned him two Tony Award nominations and who choreographed A.C.T.’s Happy End and Urinetown as well as Broadway’s Urinetown. Headlining the evening's events are performances by special guests Christine Ebersole, Tony Award-winning star of the Broadway hit Grey Gardens, and jazz and cabaret star Billy Stritch.

Now in its 41st season, American Conservatory Theater is a Tony Award-winning theater and educational institution dedicated to nurturing the art of live theater through dynamic productions, intensive actor training in its conservatory, and an ongoing dialogue with its community.
Proceeds from the gala benefit A.C.T.’s acclaimed conservatory, which annually serves over 3,000 students through its heralded actor-training programs, and represents an integral part of A.C.T.’s mission. act-sf.org/gala