American Conservatory Theater’s new play “II: Girls :II: Chance :II: Music :II” is all about music, from the audience-provided piano notes that kick off the show with a musical improvisation to the instruments played on stage.
The characters, four teen girls at a summer music program in Berkeley, speak the language of music, riffing about composers and jazz musicians, and musing over what music means to each of them.
But just as much, playwright Eisa Davis speaks the language of teen girls. While the play showcases the transformative power of arts education, with the music program as its backdrop, it is just as much about the lives of teenage girls – their relationships, their sense of self, their place in the world and their futures.
Anyone who has a teen girl or has spent any time with one will alternatively chuckle and wince at the spot-on dialogue that captures their boundless energy, their insecurities, mood swings from elation to despair and the ways in which they can alternatively endear and wound with words.
East Bay Native Playwright
The work by playwright Eisa Davis, an East Bay native and Pulitzer finalist who is also an actor and musician, is based on her summers spent at a similar music program for low-income students in Berkeley. It was commissioned by Pam MacKinnon as one of her first acts as A.C.T.’s artistic director in 2018, and it’s the last show she’ll direct there before stepping down from the role.
“II: Girls :II: Chance :II: Music :II”, a world premiere co-produced with the Vineyard Theater Company of New York, opened March 18 at A.C.T’s Strand Theater in San Francisco.
Four Talented Musicians
It features a diverse cast of actresses from the Bay Area and New York who are also talented musicians who show off their musical prowess on stage as they rehearse and jam. There’s Hillary Fisher as Fax, a fast-talking classically trained singer who struggles with relinquishing control; Yeena Sung as Rile, an attention-seeking, self-medicating pianist with frenetic energy; Naomi Latta as Margot, a brilliant but troubled percussionist with a dark secret; and Gianna DiGregorio Rivera as Clementine, a nerdy and unbothered multi-instrumentalist.
The story follows the girls as they prepare for their final concert, and the bonds and conflicts that arise as they hone their craft and begin to shape their futures. It’s alternatively funny, sad, heartbreaking and hopeful – just like the lives of teen girls, and like life itself.
If you go:
While the show is recommended for ages 12 and up, it does cover some heavy material, including teen drug and alcohol use, an eating disorder and the depiction of an earthquake and injury-causing explosion, as well as having occasional mature language. It runs for one hour and 50 minutes without an intermission.
In conjunction with the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra, the successor to the music program Davis attended, A.C.T. is hosting “girls play music” free pre-show performances on Fridays during the run from 7-8 pm outside the theater on Market Street.
“II: Girls :II: Chance :II: Music :II” plays through April 19 at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater, 1127 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets, $25-58, are available at act-sf.org.
Janine DeFao is an associate editor at Bay Area Parent.
