"The Tosca Project" by ACT's Carey Perloff and SF Ballet's Val Caniparoli--world premiere

The world premiere of The Tosca Project runs June third through 27 at ACT in San Francisco, starring San Francisco ballet's Pascal Molat and Lorena Feijoo.  This original production set in North Beach's historic Tosca Cafe comes from Carey Perloff and Val Caniparoli.  Slideshow below.

Lorena also starred as an ill-fated nightclub singer with Andy Garcia in the film The Lost City from 2005.  Here is her IMDB page:  Lorena.

June 15, 16 and 17 Audience Exchanges mean the audience has a chance to ask questions of the cast.  Click here for info:  Calendar.

Meanwhile.  Here's the real Tosca Cafe on Columbus in the spring of 2009.  Photo:  Cindy Warner

Step Up to the Bar on Tosca Tuesdays
Visit the legendary Tosca Cafe (located at 242 Columbus Avenue) and save $1 on a house cappuccino when you present your ticket stub on any Tuesday during the run (June 3–27). Drink in the ambiance, and do your part to add to the Tosca legend. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caniparoli's Tosca Project with Molat and Allemann

Tosca Cafe drinks to doomed lovers

Tosca Cafe preview in celebration of ACT landmark

Public celebration featuring Caniparoli ballet/theater hybrid

A Christmas Carol opens with quirky choreography by Val Caniparoli

Historical note:  Although Muriel Maffre (second from left with cigarette) is not in the world premiere of The Tosca Project, she performed in the workshop at Yerba Buena Gardens after she retired from San Francisco Ballet.  That's Pascal on the right.

Beatrice Basso the artistic consultant comments on the Tosca Project:

Whether it is a piece of theater or real estate, one knows when they have encountered a place of depth, history, and meaning. The Tosca Cafe was one of the first places I walked into after moving from Italy to San Francisco over a decade ago. I knew nothing about it, but I felt that the red sign, the big window, the magical jukebox, the drinks, and those pictures on the walls told a long story. It is that story we are putting on the stage. 

If you walked into the rehearsal room of The Tosca Project, you would see a wall covered with images of San Francisco through the decades; a mock-up of our stage; a long line of chairs for three stage managers, two cocreators, and an array of helpers, donors, and guests; and ten wonderful performers, including both actors and dancers. You would see these artists repeat steps, try out new moments, drink tea, stretch in the corners, discuss, then try again. This room is also filled with the invisible echoes of all of the anecdotes, information, poems, and ideas that we have received throughout this long developmental process—the voices of divas singing Puccini opera, the insights of Tosca Cafe regulars, and the memories of North Beach locals. 

What this large group of people is working on in this crowded rehearsal hall is a journey that is as direct or as layered as you want it to be. In the simplest terms, it's a sketch of an iconic San Francisco café through the decades. At its most complex, it's much, much more. 

Using a language that is a marriage of dance and theater, characters in this café fall in love, are abandoned, depart, regret, hope, drink, yearn . . . They are all affected by the moments they find themselves in—moments of history, as well as moments from their inner lives. The constant figures in this environment are a bartender who left Italy with a broken heart, a Russian immigrant woman who frequents the bar, and a musician on the run from the law. 

Immigrants, artists, and outsiders—all looking for a safe haven—populate our piece, as they have truly created the history, reputation, and quiet glamour of North Beach's Tosca Cafe. The Tosca Project embodies all of that, and, as it celebrates a particular place in our particular city (and what that place has come to represent over time), it also becomes symbolic of any bar in any city to which we return as regulars. 

As you experience The Tosca Project, I wonder if you'll be reminded of similar places that belong to your own story: the coffee shops and bars that accompanied your youth; the first place you went to with a lover (or the last place you went to before you broke up with a lover); that familiar spot where you can always find a certain kind of peace; and the bars that no longer exist. 

Thank you for coming into the Tosca Cafe of our imagination tonight. We hope that you'll have a chance to revisit all of the Tosca Cafes of your mind. 
 

Tickets run $10 to $87.

For promotional ticket prices, click here:  Promotions.

For more info: www.ACT-SF.com

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