Pam MacKinnon Named New Artistic Director for ACT

Pam MacKinnon, the New York-based, Tony-winning theatre director, has been named the new artistic director for A.C.T., the organization announced today.

MacKinnon replaces longtime artistic director Carey Perloff, who will step down after the 2017–18 season after 25 years with A.C.T.

A director proficient in the plays of Edward Albee, MacKinnon won the Tony Award for best director for the 2012-13 run of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Booth Theatre. MacKinnon also directed the 2011 Broadway production of Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris, garnering a Tony Award nomination for best director yet again.

MacKinnon, also an OBIE and Drama Desk award recipient, is known for her unflinching portrayals of the human experience.

“I look for fully rounded characters,” MacKinnon told Broadway Direct in 2017. “I want women and men to be portrayed as messy human beings, because that’s the way we go through life.”

MacKinnon will plan the 2018-2019 season side-by-side with Perloff. “I am eager to build on the company’s rich legacy of artistic excellence and expand the vision and achievements of Carey Perloff, Edward Hastings, and founder William Ball to ensure that A.C.T. remains at the forefront of American theater,” MacKinnon said in a statement. “I look forward to furthering A.C.T. as a creative home for world-class artists and a place of rigorous artistic exploration and commitment in the Bay Area.”

MacKinnon will also partner with the heads of A.C.T.’s actor training programs and community programs.

Uma Thurman, who is currently starring in Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman on Broadway, directed by MacKinnon, praised A.C.T.’s choice in a short, simple statement.

“New York’s loss,” Thurman said in a statement. “Pure gold, Pam MacKinnon, to whom I am forever grateful. Congratulations, San Francisco!”