{"product_id":"9781931404167","title":"Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater","description":"\"\u003ci\u003eBeautiful Chaos\u003c\/i\u003e is an extraordinary journey of Carey Perloff and her theatre, ACT. Their continued evolution and ability to define and re-define themselves with courage, tenacity, and bravery allow them to confront what seem like insurmountable odds. This continues to shape and inspire Carey and those who work with her.\"--Olympia Dukakis, Academy Award-winning actress\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Carey Perloff's lively, outspoken memoir of adventures in running and directing theatre will be a key document in the story of playmaking in America.\"--Tom Stoppard, Playwright\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Carey Perloff, quite literally, raised a vibrant new theater from the rubble of an old one. This refreshingly honest account of her triumphs and misfires over the past two decades is both a fascinating read and an invaluable handbook for anyone attempting such a labor of love.\"--Armistead Maupin, author of \u003ci\u003eTales of the City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Carey Perloff's marvel of a book is part memoir of a working mother, a passionate artist, a woman flourishing in a male-dominated craft- and part lavish love letter to theater. It is as lively, thoughtful, and insightful an account I have ever read about the art form. This one is for any person who has ever sat in the dark and been spellbound by the transformative power of theater.\"--Khaled Hosseini, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Kite Runner\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Carey Perloff is a veteran of the regional theatre wars. \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Chaos\u003c\/i\u003e is her vivacious account of her ambitious work commanding San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre (ACT). The book exudes Perloff's trademark brio: smart, outspoken, full of fun and ferment.\"--John Lahr, author of \u003ci\u003eTennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is an engaged, engaging, deeply intelligent, and passionate account of why the theatre matters and how it works in a city and in a society. It is also a fascinating and essential chapter in the history of San Francisco itself, as well as the story of a committed theatre artist's determination and vision.\"--Colm Toibin, author of \u003ci\u003eNora Webster\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCarey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her twenty-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerloff's personal and professional journey—her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change—is a compelling, entertaining story for anyone interested in how theater gets made. She offers a behind-the-scenes perspective, including her intimate working experiences with well-known actors, directors, and writers, including Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Robert Wilson, David Strathairn, and Olympia Dukakis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhether reminiscing about her turbulent first years as a young woman taking over an insolvent theater in crisis and transforming it into a thriving, world-class performance space, or ruminating on the potential for its future, Perloff takes on critical questions about arts education, cultural literacy, gender disparity, leadership, and power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarey Perloff\u003c\/b\u003e is an award-winning playwright, theater director, and the artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater of San Francisco since 1992.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"City Lights Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47178777755888,"sku":"9781931404167","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781931404167_p0.jpg?v=1763640292","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781931404167","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}