CURRENT EVENTS

February/March 2024

Manahatta, by Mary Kathryn Nagle - Aurora Theatre, Berkeley CA
Directed by Shannon Davis
Super-interesting play, helping to set the historical record straight regarding the Lenape people. I get to play two bad guys: Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Bros, and Peter Minuit, the man who “bought” Manhattan. Wonderful to be working with a majority-Native company under the committed and capable director Shannon Davis.

December 2023

A.C.T.’s current production of A Christmas Carol played its final performance on Dec 24th, ending a 17 year run. It has been a blast and an honor to be part of it for 16 years, sharing the role of Scrooge with the venerable Jim Carpenter. I’m sad to see it go, but grateful for all the memories and all the people who’ve worked on it with me over the years. Here’s a swell photo by cast member and “modern clicksmith” Tasi Alabastro, showing Scrooge and Mrs Dilber (the inimitable Sharon Lockwood, who also shows up on this website in photos of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) heading off stage right. Goodbye, Ebenezer, it’s been fun getting to know you!

July 2023 - Lunt-Fontanne Fellowships, 10 Chimneys Foundation
Honored to be one of ten actors from around the country to be named a 2023 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. Representing the American Conservatory Theater, who were kind enough to nominate me for the program, I spent a week at the Foundation in Wisconsin, working with and learning from the great Jerry Zaks, four time Tony Award winning director. His insights and anecdotes were priceless. Getting to know, work so closely with, and learn from the other Fellows was an experience I will never forget. Thank you to Randy Bryant, director of the Foundation, for dreaming up this singular honor for the journeyman actor, and for making our time at 10 Chimneys so pleasurable and meaningful.

February 2022 - A Great Last Minute Deal

The folks at A.C.T. were kind enough to include me in their “Make-a-Thing” commission project. The artists involved were given the writing prompt “Our destination is not a return.” Here’s my contribution, a little audio journey into “your” imagined past. Sound design by James Ard. Give it a listen!

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November 2021 - Very much enjoyed working with Pam McKinnon and the ACT MFA class of ‘22 in a staged reading of Cymbeline by William Shakespeare.

Little did we know at the time that ‘22 would be the final group to graduate from the now-terminated MFA program. Although the termination made sense, given the challenges induced by the pandemic as well as the near-impossibility of sustaining an MFA program not affiliated with any university, the news still made me very sad. So many gifted artists have passed through that program over the decades, both faculty and students. ACT has made a big impression on the American theatre, and I appreciated and enjoyed my opportunities to teach and direct there, as well as having the chance to act with the members of each class for more than a decade in ACT’s annual production of A Christmas Carol. Wishing good luck and Godspeed to everyone associated with the program in their careers to come!

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July 2021 -

Well, there’s been a noticeable gap in these updates. Not hard to guess why. These have been trying, transformational times for our nation and the theater. But now, as things begin to reopen, I thought I’d share some of the projects I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in through the kind ministrations of dear colleagues.

First up: Aurora Theatre, where artistic director Josh Costello invited me into the cast of The Flats, a specially commissioned three part audio drama co-written by a dynamic creative team of Lauren Gunderson, Cleavon Smith, and Jonathan Spector, directed by Costello, with sound design by Elton Bradman. Khary L. Moye and Lauren English rounded out the cast. It was a learning to fly while building the plane kind of experience as we all collaborated over Zoom, with the script sometimes actually changing before our eyes as we were recording it. Somehow the technical wizards at The Aurora pulled all together in a seamless production that is funny, touching and very timely. Head on over to The Aurora’s site to access the episodes.

Then my old friend and mentor Carrie Perloff asked me to collaborate with her and the amazing John Douglas Thompson for a Zoom-based exploration of a scene from The Bacchae, for the SFPlayhouse “Zoomlets” series. It was a short but sweet treat to be back in the virtual room with those two - I had last seen JDT when I was Horatio to his Hamlet at A.C.T. Here’s what the San Francisco Examiner made of it:

”For the rare opportunity to watch two master actors—Anthony Fusco and John Douglas Thompson—work and rework a short scene under the direction of equally inspired former American Conservatory Theater artistic director Carey Perloff, check out this San Francisco Playhouse “Zoomlet”: The actors explore a small section of Euripides’ “The Bacchae,” reading it three times (including switching roles) and, in between, discussing the various motivations and attributes of the two characters, the god Dionysius and Pentheus, the King of Thebes. It’s an eye-opening glimpse of actors and director (joined by SF Playhouse’s Bill English) in top creative form as they tackle a Greek classic.“

The fine folks at A.C.T. then had me back for a virtual staged reading of Alice Childress’ amazing play Trouble In Mind, directed by Awoye Timpo and featuring a really great cast of A.C.T. alums, current students, and internationally based guest artists including Dakin Matthews whose work I’ve admired since I first saw him perform when I was in high school. It was a delight and an honor to work with him. I was previously unaware of the existence of the play, which surely belongs in the pantheon of American theater. I have a feeling it is about to experience its due in the coming years.

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Feb 4, 2019: Back to the Bruns! Just got the word that I’ll be back at “CalShakes” - the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, CA - for two shows this season: Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechuan, directed by Artistic Director Eric Ting, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Tyne Rafaeli. Already looking forward to gazing at the stars from backstage… details to follow.

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Very excited to be on the cusp of a new endeavor: actor/director/teacher Alyson Rutter, late of The Barrow Group School is now living in the Bay Area. I’ve convinced her to lead a bi-weekly workshop for Bay Area professionals, and our first class convenes on November 19th! A great group has signed on. Should be several weeks of good acting in a small space. My favorites!

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Such a great experience performing Marjorie Prime with the Marin Theater Company a few weeks ago, directed by Ken Russ Schmoll and featuring the great Joy Carlin as Marjorie. A beautiful production of a beautiful play, simple, moving, and thought-provoking. Getting to work with my long-time friend and colleague Julie Eccles, and my new-found friend and colleague Tommy Gorrebeek were delightful perks. “…the play charts new frontiers in human love and human sadness. To watch Fusco’s Jon hesitate as he unfolds the piece of paper that lists the characteristics he wants an avatar to embody is to absorb, for just a moment, grief’s eternal triumph over everything we might devise to stave it off.“ - Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle.

Interesting article on Backstage.com: 7 actors who play Scrooge!

Horatio is very worried about his friend Hamlet:

Nice photo by Kevin Berne. "JDT" was indefatigable and inspiring.

First week of Tech complete for Hamlet at ACT! The remarkable John Douglas Thompson undertaking the title role. A gracious, immensely talented, tasteful, and rigorous artist. Learning so much working with him as his Horatio (yeah, I know... maybe next up Benvolio! Valentine! ... Mamillius?) The show looks fab: great big ol' creepy set, eerie atmospheric sound/music, strong cast, and Carey Perloff leaving no stone unturned. EXCITED TO PUT IT IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE! Get thee to the Geary. Here's a nice article about it in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Huge news!  Carey Perloff to step down after 25 years as Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater. Carey has been a provocative and illuminating collaborator with me on dozens of shows over the years. I am forever indebted to her for the many opportunities she and ACT have given me. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors. Her departure will be part of what's becoming a sea-change in Bay Area theater, after Eric Ting taking the helm at CalShakes, and with Tony Taccone set to step away from BerkeleyRep after the '18-'19 season. 

Just closed Lucas Hnath's brilliant The Christians at SF Playouse, under the sharp and sensitive direction of Bill English. What a privilege it was to inhabit the role of Pastor Paul, along with a splendid company of Bay Area actors working at the top of their game! Sad to see this one go. I've added some photos from it to the Gallery page of this site. Enjoy!

Had the great pleasure of working on Tom Stoppard's mind-bender The Hard Problem, directed by Carey Perloff. I managed to get a trophy: 

Summer 2016: I ended up in Jackson Gay's wild reimagining of Much Ado About Nothing (Dogberry and Leonato), and got my Shaw on again as Finch McComas in You Never Can Tell directed by Lisa Peterson who I enjoyed working with so much on King Lear all those years ago. She re-set the play in Santa Cruz circa 1897 and it worked very well! Here's a shot of me and the inimitable Danny Schie (as Walter the waiter):

The California Shakespeare Theater, under the new artistic directorship of Eric Ting, has an exciting season lined up for 2016.  I'm pleased to announce that I'll be in two of the four shows! First will be Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Jackson Gay. I don't know yet which role(s) I may find myself playing; it's going to be an ensemble piece, with some of the Bay Area's best actors playing multiple roles... maybe even sharing roles... stay tuned. Second, I'm excited to be part of the cast of Shaw's You Never Can Tell, to be directed by Lisa Peterson. I had a great time working with Peterson on King Lear a few seasons back, so I'm really looking forward to getting back in the room with her to feed my Shaw addiction. More details to come...

• Ah, Wilderness, which just recently closed at ACT, was a wonderful experience, and my first in a play by Eugene O'Neill. I fervently hope it will not be the last! It was great to share the stage with so many students I had the pleasure of teaching earlier in the year, and to work with the wonderful Rachel Ticotin who played Nat's wife Essie. I was interviewed by Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle for this production, and if you like you can read it here.

• Love and Information opened ACT's beautiful new Strand Theater last week! So excited to be part of this long-awaited event. Here is a photo from the show, with myself and the terrific Dan Hiatt as former lovers who can't quite square their memories.

• Sister Play is up and running, and it's a beautiful show. In this picture with me (as Malcolm) are the amazingly talented Lisa Brescia (as Anna) and Jessi Campbell (as Lilly). I'm one lucky actor.

• Rehearsals start soon for John Kolvenbach's Sister Play at SF's fabled Magic Theater. Favorite line, so far: "I don't wish I believed in the things that people who believe in things believe in? but I envy people their belief."

• Beautiful shot by Kevin Berne of Indian Ink. Eldon Pike, in an English garden circa 1982, while in the background Nirad Das and Flora Crewe make art in Jummapur, India, in 1930.

• Meet E. Cooper Pike ("call me Eldon"), globe-trotting biographer from Tom Stoppard's "Indian Ink."

DECEMBER 2014
I'm Srooging it up in the American Conservatory Theater's annual production of A Christmas Carol.
I alternate in the role with the great Jim Carpenter, who's been Mr. Humbug for nine years now.
12 years ago, I played Bob Cratchit!

Catch me at it matinees Dec 23rd 26th and 27th, and evening performances Dec 17th and 20th.

Next up: Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink, also at A.C.T. Performances begin Jan 14th.