Berkeley Rep Blog
New American Idiot cast videos now online
posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Sep 1, 2010
in Our shows
The cast of Broadway's American Idiot headed over to AOL's Sessions recently to perform a bunch of songs from the show, all of which were captured on video and are now streaming here.
Happily, we can share a few of those videos with you. Here's "Letterbomb."
And here's "Whatsername":
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Tony Taccone talks shop with Butler and Moscone
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz
Though he's off in London directing the Tricycle Theatre's re-mount of Tiny Kushner opening Sept. 1, Artistic Director Tony Taccone's words are echoing through the Bay Area.
Tony sat down with a round-table discussion with fellow East Bay artistic directors Michael Butler of Center Repertory Company and Jonathan Moscone of California Shakespeare Theater, and their thoughts were recorded by writer Robert Taylor for the September issue of Diablo magazine.
Among the myriad topics covered by the ADs is what excites them in their upcoming seasons. Here's Tony's response:
We’re part of a tour of this piece called The Great Game, a 12-play cycle about Afghanistan. It’s a marathon day: You start at 11 o’clock in the morning and end at about 10 o’clock at night. Basically, Nicolas Kent of the Tricycle Theatre was watching television one night and he was sick of talking heads talking about Afghanistan. He thought, What would it be like if my friends responded to Afghanistan in an artistic way? Because it’s the major issue of our time. Then, we’re going to do The Composer Is Dead, a Lemony Snicket project. It’s got a puppet theater about 35 feet wide and a movie we’ve filmed backstage with Geoff Hoyle.
Above photo of Tony Taccone by Mike Thompson for Diablo magazine.
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Mandy Patinkin on West Coast Live Saturday
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
in At the theatre
Tony and Emmy award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin will take a break from Compulsion rehearsals this weekend to make an appearance on West Coast Live.
The show will be broadcasting live from Freight & Salvage Coffee House, right across the street from Berkeley Rep. The show airs from 10am to noon Saturday morning and is broadcast on KALW 91.7 FM. You can also catch up with the show online.
Other guests slated for Saturday's broadcast include authors Neal Pollock and Joyce Maynard and Bay Area actress Margo Hall, who is making her Aurora Theatre Company debut in Trouble in Mind, the just-opened drama by Alice Childress.
When we announced that Mandy would be making his Berkeley Rep debut, we asked our blog friends to share their favorite Mandy performances. We got some nice responses. Some were just bursts of enthusiasm from fans, but we love those, too!
Below you'll find what some of our blog readers had to say.
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The curtain rises on 2010/11: what will you see?
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
in At the theatre
Single tickets for Berkeley Rep's 2010/11 season are available now, online only, to friends of Berkeley Rep — and you're reading the blog, so that makes you a friend. Check out the extraordinary shows of the new season, which kicks off in only two weeks with Mandy Patinkin starring in Rinne Groff's Compulsion! Then visit our new-and-improved online box office to order your tickets. This Sunday, August 29, tickets go on sale to everyone, so seize the moment to secure the best seats at the best prices.
You should also check out this video and see what makes a Berkeley Rep season so special.
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Meet Compulsion puppeteer Emily DeCola
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
in At the theatre
From our offices we can look down into the rehearsal hall, where actors Mandy Patinkin, Hannah Cabell, and Matte Osian, along with director Oskar Eustis and puppeteers Emily DeCola, Daniel Fay, and Eric Wright are working their way through Rinne Groff's Compulsion, our season opener.
Perhaps more than with other plays that have rehearsed below us, we keep getting distracted by the Compulsion rehearsals because the puppeteers are performing atop a scaffolding that makes them eye level with our desks. And also there's the simple fact that puppets &8212; marionettes in this case &8212; are absolutely fascinating to watch.
Why look at a computer screen when you can see puppet representations of Anne Frank and Otto Frank being put through their motions. Talk about compulsive observation!
The American Theatre Wing, the people who, among other things, bring us the Tony Awards, also features theatre artists on its website in a feature called "In the Wings." And it just so happens that earlier this month, they focused their cameras on Emily DeCola, one of our very own puppeteers.
Emily, along with fellow Compulsion puppeteer Eric Wright, is a founder of The Puppet Kitchen, a full-service puppet studio on New York's East Village. She is charming and talented, as you'll see in this video.