ACT’s “to be announced” play this season is MAKASSAR REEF, by noted Australian playwright Alexander Buzo. ACT’s American Premiere of this production will be the second production, following its World Premiere with the Melbourne Theatre Company last March 21. MAKASSAR REEF will be directed by Bill Ludel, the director of TRAVESTIES at ACT Theatre last season.

Makassar is an Indonesian coastal resort, about 350 miles from Bali. The play gathers together an assortment of tourists—from Australia, Geneva and more questionable origins—whose lives become entwined in passion, desperation and intrigue. Against this background of holiday atmosphere, Buzo has woven his tale of loves and losses, smuggling and adventure. The contemporary characters include Weeks, the Australian economist whose career and emotional survival are at the crossroads as he and his roommate, Beth, of nine years are on their “pre-marriage honeymoon”; Wendy, the forty year old mother who finds respite from her lonely life through an intense love affair; the mysterious Perry, whose endless search for adventure leads him into romantic involvements and drug running; Silver, an aging Dutch hippie thief; a radical Indonesian journalist and a powerful immigration official.

Buzo’s ironic wit and perception illuminate the characters “searching for values and identity in today’s footloose and disoriented society,” says Buzo.