ACT2025 | mrpeter

“The GOAT of Theater” a Pre-Show musical

To be performed before

“Comedy of Errors”

ACT

Thursday, April 24, 2025

11 a.m.

By Peter Sroka

Thanks to all of you! You have been working so hard.

We are in the final stretch now. Keep studying. It's important that you memorize your parts.

Our technical rehearsal will take place 10:00 - 10:30.

We plan to arrive at the theater before 9:45.

Bessie Carmichael will be a little late due to their start time.

When they arrive they should go straight to their seats in the theater first. We will line them up and bring them to join the others on stage.

After the rehearsal, we will move upstairs for a snack/bathroom before the performance.

Wardrode: Dark pants, preferably black, but blue okay.

If you have a bright colored SOLID shirt (no symbols or writing), please wear it (pink, yellow, orange, purple, red, light green, bright blue). Polo or nice T-shirt will do. A plain white polo will work if you don't have a different color.

Student performers may invite grown ups to view the show.

Grown ups planning to attend, come into the theater and ACT staff will show you to your seats. Tell them your with Bessie, Lick, or Carver.

The students will open the show promptly at 11:00.

Please arrive before 10:45.

Opening Song - "At ACT"

Welcome to the theater,

the Toni Rembe Theater.

Welcome to the theater at A.C.T.

Sit back and relate

to the stories we create,

Let the stage become your gate at A.C.T.

American Conservatory Theater

is the company that brought us here today,

to this 1910 one thousand forty seater.

It’s the place where you’re about to see "A Comedy of Errors.”

Welcome to the theater,

The Toni Rembe Theater.

Welcome to the theater at A.C.T.

The script is where we start,

then the process shapes the art.

Everybody plays a part at A.C.T.

American Conservatory Theater,

Imagination can become reality.

Words and sound and light trigger your feelings,

A kind of magic happens here, so enjoy the journey,

Welcome to the theater,

the Tony Rembe Theater!

Thank you for coming to A.C.T

SCENE 1

Markos: With all due respect, why are we thanking them?

We’re the ones up here on stage doing all the work.

KJ: Yeah, all they have to do is sit on their butts and enjoy the show.

Vivianna: Actually, the audience plays an important role in what we do.

KJ: Yeah right, look at them, half of them are already asleep.

Gaia: Maybe we’re not doing our job.

Mabel: Hey, speak for yourself up here. Theater is my life!

Do you know how much time I spent practicing this dialogue?

I have way more lines than you.

Namse: Divas please, Theater is a team art.

Without the audience, what would we be?

What would we be without lights, without sets, without costumes?

Mr. Peter: Without a director.

Namse: Of course, without a director. What would be be?

Song - “Why Do the Actors Get All the Attention?”

Critic (Chloe)

Stage Manager (Kuheli)

Soloist: (singing) So, why do the actors get all the attention?

All: What about those of us behind the scenes?

Hair Stylists: We do the hair.

Make Up Artists: We do the make up,

Lighting Team: We do the lighting,

Props Team: Who needs a prop?

Producers: And we finance the teams,

All: The producers so it seems.

So…

Why do the actors get all the attention?

What about those of us backstage as well?

Wardrobe: We dress the characters.

Sound Team: We do the sound effects,

Set Team: We build the set.

Director: The director directs.

Critic: And I write the reviews.

There is a collective gasp, then silence. The stage manager appears.

Stage Manager: (Singing) But, I call the cues.

She approaches the critic, clipboard in hand.

The critic is busy writing when the stage manager approaches.

Stage Manager:(Spoken) We’re not open yet.

Please exit the stage.

The critic stops writing and looks up.

Stage Manager: (Yelling) Now!

The critic drops their pad and runs off.

SM: (Singing) I’m the stage manager,

No one likes me,

‘cause I carry a check list, forget the charm.

If they’re late for their cue,

Tell me, what else can I do?

But raise my voice and sound the alarm.

The stage manager looks sad. Cast consoles, saying “We like you.”

Stage Manager: FINAL CALL!!!!!!! PLACES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cast scurries into positions for the kick line.

ALL: Why do the actors get all the attention?

Where would they be without us at their backs?

Naked and speechless,

Set-less and prop-less,

Directionless,

Lost in the darkness,

So why then does it go?

That the actors steal the show.

SCENE 2

After the applause, a student looks down and notices the pad that the critic dropped. They pick it up.

Cleo: Look, it’s the critic’s note pad.

Reilley: What’s it say? What’s it say?

Cleo: It says I was brilliant, but you were a flop.

Another student grabs the note pad.

Riley: No, it doesn’t. It says…

“The talented students of SFUSD dazzled the crowd with a preshow

performance, before ACT’s modern adaptation of a comedy classic

by the GOAT of theater.

KJ: A goat?!!! ma-a-a-a?

Cailyn: A goat wrote the play we’re about to see today?

Aariah/Kuheli: No, sillies.

(to audience) You know, don’t you?

You know what GOAT means? Right?

(Gives audience a chance to respond)

That’s right, The Greatest of All Time."

SCENE 3

Transition, perhaps indicated with lighting.

Namse: Can we break the ice?

Charlotte: This is a wild goose chase.

Leon: I’m really in a pickle

Cleo: It’s all Greek to Me

KJ: The world is my oyster.

Vivianna: Love Is Blind

Cailyn: I’m waiting with baited breath.

Markos: It’s dead as a doornail.

Cielo: Shh, mum’s the word.

Chloe: It's a brave new world.

Gaia: They have a heart of gold.

Mabel: All the world's a stage!

Kuheli: These are just a few common phrases first found in the plays by this man.

But who exactly are we talking about?

Song “The G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) of Theater”

Note - Mistake in the recording, should be "Born in Stratford upon Avon" not "Born in Straton"

All: Can you guess what English playwright is the Greatest of all time?

After centuries he’s still the rave today,

A master of iambic pentameter and rhyme,

Who wove human behavior for display.

His comedies and tragedies have often been performed,

To audiences all around the earth,

Many would agree the world of theater was transformed,

With the advent of this poet’s birth.

Some call him the “GOAT” of Theatre,

Some call him “The Bard,”

Most everyone knows his name,

William Shakespeare

Kuheli: Born in Stratford upon Avon,

In April, 1564,

His father was a glove maker who later became mayor,

But some business trouble dashed his score.

Chloe: William was the eldest of 6 siblings,

His parents’ first two babies passed away,

He likely attended the local school,

Where he would’ve learned the classics of the day.

Kuhelii +: Will married an older woman,

Vivianna When he was eighteen years of age,

They had kids, a daughter, then twins,

But how did Shakespeare end up on the stage?

Kuheli + Scholars refer to “The Lost Years,”

Chloe Between 1585 and ’92,

There are theories that explain how he found himself in London,

But it’s hard to know which one is true.

Some call him the “GOAT” of Theatre,

Some call him “The Bard,”

Most everyone knows his name,

William Shakespeare

Mabel: He may have joined “The Queen’s Men,”

a traveling troupe sponsored by the crown.

Then he and some friends formed “Lord Chamberlain’s Men,”

Their shows were the talk of the town.

Kuheli and : In ’99 they opened “The Globe Theater,”

Chloe The queen died and James became the king.

Shakespeare wrote the plays that were performed.

The King took the men under his wing.

Mabel and : “The Globe” was home to heroes and villains,

Cleo in most of Shakespeare’s 37 plays,

A cannon misfired during Henry VIII,

It brought the theater down in a blaze.

All : Shakespeare likely suffered a depression,

Like the time when his son had passed away,

He returned to Stratford after the fire,

And there is where he'd stay.

slow down music

All: Shakespeare’s cause of death is also unknown,

But one fact can not be denied,

At the age of 52 in April 1616

William Shakespeare died.

Some call him the “GOAT” of Theatre,

Some call him “The Bard,”

Most everyone knows his name,

William Shakespeare.

SCENE 4

Markos: Well friends, we’ve come to the end of our little preshow.

It's almost time for "A Comedy of Errors"

Cailyn: But before we take our seats we have some people to thank.

Jeh'Leana/Chloe: Thanks to ACT for inviting us here today.

Vivianna: Thanks to SFUSD for providing Arts Education.

Cielo: Thanks to our teachers and parents for their support.

Reilley/KJ: Thanks to you, the audience, for without you there would be no show.

Mabel: And thanks to The Bard,

Who by the way celebrated his 461st birthday yesterday.

So without further delay…

song reprise "At ACT"

All: Sit back and relate

to the stories we create.

Thank you for coming to ACT!

The End - actors take a bow or two

Song - "Time Machine"

Maybe someday you will invent a time machine

and it will take us through the years,

If we want to go visit our older selves,

We will travel to the future.

Maybe someday you will invent a time machine,

The present day will disappear.

If we want to revisit our younger selves,

We will travel to the past.

What was San Francisco like 100 years ago?

How was it different? How was it the same?

What will San Francisco be like when I’m grandma’s age?

Time flies, so they claim…

Maybe someday I will invent a time machine

and it will take us through the years,

If we want to go visit our older selves,

We will travel to the future.

Maybe someday I will invent a time machine,

The present day will disappear,

If we want to revisit our younger selves,

We will travel to the past.

But for now, let’s make the most of present moments,

While they last…

Maja: True, an actual time machine has not yet been invented.

Elyse: But we can rely on good old-fashioned theater to transport

us back to 19th Century London.

Maja: So it's time for us to clear the stage for the fabulous ACT

company.

Gerard: Before we go, we'd like to thank some people.

Jasai: Thanks to our friends at ACT for inviting here today.

Jasay: Thanks to the teachers who helped us get ready.

Arisha: Thanks to our families and friends for their love and support.

Dominic: And thanks to you the audience, for without you there would

be no show.

EVERYONE: Ready, Set, Action!

"At ACT" Reprise

Sit back and relate to the stories we create,

Thank you for coming to ACT!