Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Events
Girlfriend's Todd Almond in concert
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Mar 16, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Events
Though he's immersed in rehearsals for Girlfriend, Berkeley Rep's world-premiere stage adaptation of Matthew Sweet's classic album of the same name, playwright Todd Almond is going to give us a taste of his other artistic talents.
Todd is part of a dazzling lineup this Friday night, March 19, at San Francisco's Cafe du Nord. The show is Tingel Tangel's second-anniversary blow-out hosted by Joey Arrias and Veronica Klaus. In addition to Todd, you can also expect to see Holcombe Waller, the Winsome Griffles, Trauma Flinstone, Fauxnique, Harlem Shake, Allan Herrera & Terry T., Keith Hennessy, and Marga Gomez. Doors open at 8, and the show begins at 9. Tickets are $16 in advance and $20 at the door. Click here or here for info.
A composer, lyricist, and playwright, Todd has written a number of musicals and has released an album of original songs called Mexico City.
As a performer, Todd describes himself as "a singer/songwriter with a real theatrical inclination." That doesn't mean he wears outrageous costumes or tap dances on the piano. Rather, he sits at the piano to play and sing songs. "By theatrical, I mean the live-ness," Todd explains. "I love the storytelling and the humor of performance."
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Berkeley Rep audiences raise thousands for Haiti
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Feb 9, 2010
in Events , News
Tremendous thanks to Berkeley Rep’s generous audiences for donating to Haiti earthquake relief efforts through a small-change campaign in our Theatre lobbies.
Audiences at Aurélia’s Oratorio in the Roda Theatre and Coming Home on the Thrust Stage donated $7,835 to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian group that, to quote the website, “works in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.”
Since the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Doctors Without Borders has treated more than 11,000 patients in Haiti, and there’s so much more to be done. You can make a donation to Doctors Without Borders here.
Again, our thanks to Berkeley Rep audience members for their generosity.
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Congrats to our first lobby photo contest winner!
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Dec 15, 2009
in At the theatre , Events , News
Because it's the holidays and because we're having so much fun with Aurélia's Oratorio, the extraordinarily unique show running through January 24 in the Roda Theatre, we decided to have some fun in the lobby.
After setting up some decorations along with a trunk of robes and hats and other costume pieces, we invited our audience members to dress up and take a photo or two of themselves. If they send us the lobby photo (to contest@berkeleyrep.org) or post it on our Facebook page, they're automatically entered into a contest to win four tickets to an upcoming Berkeley Rep show along with a pre-show drink for you and your three guests.
We'll conduct random drawings throughout the Aurélia run, and we're delighted to report that our first winner is Laurel Scheinman (seen above in the gold hat with her friend Mindy Geminder in the black hat). Congratulations, Laurel, and many thanks for playing.
Below are a few more festive lobby photos. You can see the entire collection in our Facebook photo album.
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Tower tour benefits Berkeley Rep
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Nov 5, 2009
in Events
Take a peek inside some of San Francisco's most beautiful high-altitude homes this weekend and raise money for Berkeley Rep.
You are invited to an exclusive viewing of the Millennium Towers Condos in San Francisco during their Icons of Design event, which features 25 of the Bay Area’s finest interior designers decorating the four homes on the 52nd floor of the Towers. Each weekend benefits various Bay Area charities, and all proceeds for this weekend — November 7 and 8 — will be donated to Berkeley Rep! Touring is open to the public, and tickets are $25.
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about some of the designers and their designs. Read the article.
For more information, visit iconsofdesignsf.comor contact Sarah Nowicki at snowicki@berkeleyrep.org or 510 647-2901. No RSVP is required for this event
Photo by Robert Whitworth
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Punk pulsating around the Bay
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Sep 22, 2009
in Events
Green Day’s American Idiot, now on stage at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, wears its punk heart on its sleeve, and Green Day’s local punk roots have been celebrated and analyzed in many discussions about the show.
If your Bay Area punk knowledge isn’t quite what it should be, never fear. The San Francisco Public Library has a free exhibition through Dec. 6 that focuses in on the San Francisco punk scene of the 1970s through the photographs of Ruby Ray, who first began documenting the local punk scene in the magazine Search and Destroy.
The exhibition, Punk Passage San Francisco First Wave Punk, is in the Main Library’s Jewett Gallery and includes 45 black-and-white portraits as well as concert and performance photographs of local punk innovators. Also included in the exhibit are punk rock ‘zines, fliers, posters, and ephemera documenting the years 1977 to 1981.
Here’s part of the official show description: “Bands such as The Avengers, the Dead Kennedys, the Dils, Crime, Sleepers, the Mutants, and others are represented, placing them within the historic context as an important part of San Francisco’s counter-cultural history, as innovative for its time as the beat and hippie movements were.”
The exhibit also includes special events and related programming. Here’s a sampling:
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We have a winner!
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Aug 21, 2009
in Events
This morning, we asked you to send us a 60-word email telling us why you'd like to win tickets to see Green Day live at Sacramento's Arco Arena and to the show of your choice this season at Berkeley Rep.
We received nearly 200 entries in a matter of hours, and they were all filled with a palpable passion for Green Day's music and an equally palpable excitement to see American Idiot, one of Green Day's greatest albums, become a piece of rock theatre on the stage of Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre.
It would have been way too hard to pick a winner ourselves, so we let fate take a hand. We reached into the hopper and out came....
Aron of Berkeley!
Aron submitted her entry in "modern haiku," and in only 58 words (we set the limit at 60 words). With her kind permission, we'd like to share her fine work.
Prom night in Berkeley --
I buy lemonade from
Billie Joe's children.The disenfranchised suburbanite
Hears American Idiot on the radio:
She knows it's her voice.Hoping to win this contest,
I wonder how Tony winners
Might dance to rock music.
To all who entered the contest, thank you for sharing your passion. We're just sorry we can't give you all tickets!
For information about Green Day's concert at the Arco Arena on Monday, August 24, visit livenation.com.
For information about American Idiot at Berkeley Rep, visit berkeleyrep.org
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Win tickets to a Green Day concert and a Berkeley Rep show!
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Aug 21, 2009
in Events
You can enter to win two tickets to see Green Day in concert on Monday, August 24 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento along with two tickets to see any Berkeley Rep show in our 2009-10 season, which opens with Green Day’s American Idiot September 4-October 11.
In 60 words or less, tell us why you want to see both shows and email us at contest@berkeleyrep.org.
Be sure to include your contact information, and act fast: you have until 4pm today, Friday, August 21.
The winner will be selected and notified at 4:30pm today.
Monday's concert begins at 7:30pm with opening act Franz Ferdinand. For more information, click greenday.com.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
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First we eat and drink...
posted by Elissa Dunn on Tue, Jun 30, 2009
in Events
If you happened to attend a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evening performance this past season you may have had the pleasure of experiencing a Berkeley Rep Tasting night. This is a fairly new program at Berkeley Rep, one that works well for us, for our tasting partners and for you, the oh-so-lucky recipient of a stellar taste of wine, gelato, chocolate, salumi, or countless other offerings. We hosted 90 tasting events throughout last season, serving over 13,500 patrons.
Now we’re ramping up for the 09/10 season, and I’m reaching out to our past tasting partners and also some new ones to bring them into the theatre and onto your plate. I have a few favorite places in mind to reach out to, but I’m interested in hearing from all of you. Please leave a comment and let me know who or what would you like to see in our Tasting Series this season. If you have some ideas or have a local business and would like to participate, we want to know! Here are just a few of the tasting partners who have confirmed for Green Day’s American Idiot in September:
- Kokomo Wines– September 19
- Venus Restaurant– September 20
- Raymond Vineyards– September 25
- Amanda’s Restaurant– September 26
- Berkeley Farmer’s Market– October 2
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...and SOLD!
posted by Lynn Eve Komaromi on Tue, Apr 7, 2009
in Events
On Friday night, we mounted what I affectionately call our “8th production.” The Narsai Toast, our gourmet gala fundraiser, might not be a play or have an extended rehearsal period, but it is certainly a production. Everyone in the theatre is involved in some way, and instead of emanating from the Artistic Department, this production is rooted in Development.
This was the 17th year of The Narsai Toast and a bit bittersweet as our host, Narsai David, decided this was the year to retire from all the toasting. Narsai was one of the founding board members of the Theatre and is an elder statesman of sorts. For the past 17 years, he has corralled teams of celebrity chefs to create one spectacular dinner, and our fundraising gala has become known as one of the finest in town--no rubber chickens served here!
This year, we introduced something new. Inspired by the rise in popularity of shows on the Food Network (personally, I am a die-hard fan of Top Chef, as is our art director Cheshire), we took video cameras into the kitchen at The Ritz-Carlton to see this year’s team at work. Guests got a backstage view of Michael Chiarello prepping his asparagus, Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani searing their black cod, Jean-Pierre Dubray trimming artichokes for his barigoule, and Gerald Hirogoyen macerating some strawberries for his dessert.
While the food is what draws many to the event, raising money for Berkeley Rep is what it’s really all about. In this down economy, paying $600 a head is tough to swallow, but we were thrilled that we had nearly 350 guests in attendance. Tony Taccone spoke eloquently about the times we are living in. When the global crisis hit six months ago, many of us were forced to re-evaluate what was important in our lives. Of course, family comes first---but to see that the folks who came to The Narsai Toast placed value on Berkeley Rep, that this theatre is important to them and worth supporting, was deeply meaningful for all of us who work in the theatre.
That sense of value was particularly evident when the live auction got off to a rousing start. First up for bid was a VIP trip to Washington, DC, which included a private tour of the White House and Supreme Court with a DC insider. The bidding was fast and furious, and came to a crescendo when the last paddle was raised for $11,000. The auctioneer’s proclamation of “SOLD!” sent the crowd into cheers. Everyone wanted Berkeley Rep to win.
All told, more than $440,000 was raised to benefit the Theatre. It wasn’t as much as we have raised in other years, but it is demonstrative of the incredible generosity of hundreds of people who believe in the power of theatre. It was a great night.
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Night/OUT! had a blast!!!
posted by Joan Anderson on Thu, Feb 12, 2009
in Events
If these pictures are not enough to demonstrate all the fun and excitment that was had at Berkeley Rep's night/OUT party for our LGBT friends, I will try and explain.
Drinks + Free Food + Pumping Music = Awesome.
The evening started off with DJ rrrus spinning great music as patrons flowed into the upper Roda lobby where they were met by a bountiful and tasty spread courtesy of Bistro Liaison. As the night and music carried on, people mingled with one another, and the ladies of Twilight Vixen Revue took over the lobby to perform scintilating (and sexy) burlesque dance numbers for the the happy crowd.
To sum up the evening, it was a blast and a great time all around. Were you there? What did you think--about the show or the party?
Mark your calendars -- the next night/OUT is Thursday, April 24 for Lieutenant of Inishmore. Hope to see you there.
Photos courtesy of Cheshire Isaacs
Top photo -- patron services manager, John Gay, and me
Middle photo -- The ladies of Twilight Vixen Review
Bottom photo -- theatre fans chat about the show beneath the night/OUT disco ball
