Stoppard's ROCK N ROLL Opens 10/9 At ACT

From October 9 through November 8, 2009, Seattle audiences will revel in the passion, politics, and classic rock music that together power Tom Stoppard's brilliant play Rock n' Roll.

Spanning two countries and three decades, this sweeping drama about love, music, and revolution explores the relationship of self to state and of body to mind, with a little help from Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, and many others.

In 1968, when the Soviet hammer falls on Prague Spring, Jan, the Rolling Stones-obsessed protégé of a Marxist professor, returns to his native city to rescue two things - socialism and his mother. His only luggage: a suitcase full of rock albums. Rock n' Roll follows Jan's impassioned fight against censorship, leading up to the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when the tanks roll out and the Stones roll in.

Producing Rock n' Roll at ACT holds special historical significance as the theatre is home to the Eagles Auditorium, where 60s rock luminaries such as Grateful Dead, The Doors, Cream, Chamber Brothers, Steppenwolf, Pink Floyd, Canned Heat, Steve Miller Band, Muddy Waters, Joe Cocker, and Jethro Tull, among many others, played in concert in the very space where Rock n' Roll will be performed.

Tickets for Rock n' Roll are on sale now through the ACT Ticket Office at 700 Union Street, via phone (206) 292-7676 or online at www.acttheatre.org. In addition to pre- and post-show discussions, additional presentations in conjunction with Rock n' Roll include a series of three unique events co-produced in collaboration with EMP. The Central Heating Lab at ACT will present a Rock n' Roll Symposium to address issues such as: how rock n' roll served as a rallying cry for a cultural revolution and what role ACT's Allen Theatre played in the cultural landscape of Seattle before 1980. Sessions are $10 ($7 with the purchase of a Rock n' Roll ticket) or included as part of ACT's Basic monthly membership - the ACT all access pass:

October 19: Rock n' Roll & The Revolution

October 26: The Birth of the Post Modern Media Edge

November 2: Seattle Rock: 1960s to Now

Photo credit Walter McBride