Berkeley Rep Blog
2010/11 sneak peek: The Composer Is Dead and Ruined
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Aug 19, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Our shows
Delving into the riches of the 2010/11 Berkeley Rep season, we've already talked about the season opener, Compulsion, starring Mandy Patinkin, and the epic play cycle The Great Game: Afghanistan and Mike Daisey's The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and The Last Cargo Cult.
Now it's time to explore Lemony Snicket's The Composer Is Dead and Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined.
Lemony Snicket's The Composer Is Dead
Check out the pedigree on this world premiere. It is written by Lemony Snicket (the bestselling author also known as San Francisco writer Daniel Handler, pictured at right in a photo by Meredith Heuer) with music by Nathaniel Stookey. Based on the children's book, it was originally conceived for the stage by Lemony Snicket and Phantom Limb Company, the amazing puppet troupe under the artistic leadership of Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko. The show was developed with Tony Taccone, who also directs, and Geoff Hoyle, who also stars.
That's a lot of genius piled into a show that will have audiences of all ages giddy with delight.
Earlier this summer, Mr. Snicket/Handler spoke to the Los Angeles Times about his work and mentioned that Lemony Snicket is writing a new four-book series. But he didn't want to say too much about it.
"It's in its first trimester, so you don't want to poke at it too much. It's early, so I don't want to go around bragging about it. That's actually a Jewish tradition, not to set up the baby's room while you're pregnant or even say the baby's name out loud. It's bad luck."
Daniel also talked about his San Francisco neighborhood in this charming New York Times article.
Nathaniel Stookey, the composer of Composer (who happens to be very much alive, thank you very much), has had a busy summer, including a stop in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he conducted The Composer Is Dead with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Read about the event here.
And finally, meet Jessica and Erik of Phantom Limb. This video is from late last year when they were working on a show called The Devil You Know with Ping Chong & Co.
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Carrie Fisher feels the force, films for HBO
posted by Chad Jones on Mon, Aug 16, 2010
in Backstage buzz , News , Our shows
We haven't reported on Carrie Fisher in a while, and there's a lot going on, so let's get up to (light) speed.
First of all, at the end of June, Carrie filmed several performances of Wishful Drinking, which, as you'll remember, had two runs here at Berkeley Rep. The live footage shot at the South Orange (New Jersey) Performing Arts Center will be combined with interview footage of Carrie and the people in her life — of course her mother, Debbie Reynolds, will feature prominently.
The Wishful Drinking documentary will air in December on HBO. Carrie talked to the Huffington Post about the movie. Read the interview.
On her ever-eccentric Twitter feed, Carrie announced that her sixth book is in the pipeline. It was also on Twitter that she posted the photo at right, undoubtedly a humorous plug for her recent keynote speech at the American Pyschiatric Association in New Orleans.
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Whetting your appetite for the 2010/11 season
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Aug 13, 2010
in At the theatre , Our shows
Rehearsals have begun for Compulsion, our season-opening show, which means the new season is officially under way.
There's buzz on an international scale for the shows of our 2010/11 season, so here's a little peek into what you can expect in the coming months.
You may remember playwright David Edgar for his work on the momentous two-play cycle known as Continental Divide, a co-production of Berkeley Rep and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2003 or from his extraordinary adaptation of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby (seen a few season ago at the California Shakespeare Theater). Well David will be back at Berkeley Rep as one of 12 playwrights addressing the complex history of Afghanistan in The Great Game: Afghanistan.
David recently wrote a fascinating piece about the play for The Guardian in London. He describes The Great Game as a "mosaic of fiction and faction," which is to say imagination and fact. He continues:
"The Great Game is thoroughly contemporary: a hybrid of hybrids. Nonetheless, unlike much postmodern drama, it retains a central, coherent theme: that western interventions in Afghanistan have almost always produced the opposite effect from that which was intended."
You can read David's essay in its entirety here (and also watch a very cool video about the show).
Above photo: (l to r) Jemma Redgrave, Tom McKay, and Nabil Elouahabi star in The Great Game: Afghanistan, an epic production from London receiving its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Rep. Photographer: John Haynes
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Arabian Nights returns for the holidays
posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Aug 11, 2010
in At the theatre , News
Get ready for another magic carpet ride.
Two seasons ago, The Arabian Nights inspired nightly standing ovations and whoops and hollers from Berkeley Rep audience members. Now the show returns for a special, ultra-limited holiday engagement December 11-30.
Director Mary Zimmerman, the remarkable Tony Award-winning creator of Argonautika and Metamorphoses, once again breathes new life into the legend of the 1,001 nights. To save her life, a beautiful bride must spin hypnotic tales of genies, jesters, thieves, and kings - winning her freedom by eventually winning her husband's heart. He falls under Scheherazade's spell, and Zimmerman enchants the audience as well with her signature style that transforms simplicity into the sublime. Amid a thousand tales of honor, revenge, and humor, only love emerges victorious.
Calling The Arabian Nights one of 2008's best shows, Robert Hurwitt raved in the San Francisco Chronicle, " Zimmerman and her cast transport the audience through hilarious and poignant tales of greed, sex and revenge, each tale opening into another and another, to a lingering, redemptive and provocative end."
Tickets for this non-subscription event are on sale now only by phone – and only to Berkeley Rep subscribers. Not a subscriber yet? Call the box office at 510 647-2949 between noon and 7pm Tuesday through Sunday and reserve your seats for any three or more subscription plays. Then you too can reserve your seats for The Arabian Nights. The show goes on sale to everyone else this fall. Be sure to sign up for email to guarantee that you are notified when they do.
Above photo: Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights returns for special, ultra-limited holiday run. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Mandy Patinkin to make Berkeley Rep debut
posted by Chad Jones on Mon, Aug 9, 2010
in At the theatre , Backstage buzz , News
Let's start off the new season with some exciting news. Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin (pictured above) will star in Rinne Groff's Compulsion, the first show of the 2010/11 season.
Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of The Public Theater, directs this co-production of Berkeley Rep, The Public, and Yale Repertory Theatre, where Compulsion debuted in January (also starring Mandy Patinkin).
Of course we love Mandy for his incredible body of stage, film, and TV work, not to mention his extraordinary albums and concerts. But he lives in cinema history forever with one of the most memorable lines of all time. You know the movie and the line I'm talking about.
The movie is The Princess Bride, a treasure from 1987. And the line, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," ranked 88 out of 100 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 years of great movie lines.
For this and for so many other reasons, we're thrilled that Mandy Patinkin will be making his Berkeley Rep debut alongside cast members Hannah Cabell, last seen here in Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), and Matte Osian, last seen at Berkeley Rep in Mad Forest.
Compulsion begins previews September 13 and opens September 16 on the Thrust Stage. The show continues through October 31.
What is your favorite Mandy Patinkin role? Leave your answer in the comments section.
Comments: 9 | Post a comment / Read comments
Toasting (and roasting) Susan Medak's 20th!
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Jul 22, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Events
This year we're celebrating Susan Medak's 20th anniversary as Berkeley Rep's managing director.
We asked some prominent community leaders to toast and roast her in honor of her remarkable tenure at the Theatre. This short video includes loving and humorous commentary from her partner in crime, Artistic Director Tony Taccone, as well as legendary performer Rita Moreno, renowned producer Tom Hulce, local politicians like Tom Bates and Loni Hancock, and philanthropists such as Marjorie Randolph of Walt Disney Studios and Bernard Beaudraux of Target® Corporation.
Read an interview with Susan Medak.
Above photo: Berkeley Rep Managing Director Susan Medak and her husband, Greg Murphy, at the 2010 ONSTAGE! Gala.
Comments: 1 | Post a comment / Read comments
Teens changing the face of American theatre
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Jul 20, 2010
in News , School of Theatre , Teen Council
In a previous post, we told you about how Berkeley Rep Teen Council members Ariele Scharff, Gareth Tidball, Taylor Greenthal, Matia Emsellem, Keisa Reynolds, and Christina Novakov-Ritchey (that's them above, from left to right, in downtown Chicago) were part of the first delegation of teens to attend the Theatre Communications Group Conference.
While at the Chicago conference, the teens took part in many sessions, including those that dealt with race and diversity in America, inclusion in the arts of people with disabilities, and, perhaps most notably, Fostering the Next Generation of American Theatre Audiences moderated by educators from Berkeley Rep, the Goodman Theatre , and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
We asked members of the Teen Council delegation to reflect on their experience in Chicago and describe what they took away from the TCG Conference.
Christina Novakov-Ritchey
Miramonte High School
Fall 2010: Freshman at the University of California, Davis
The chief reason we, as teenagers, went to the TCG Conference was to let people know that we exist, that we have a voice, and that arts education is vital to keeping the theatre alive and relevant. This is easier said than done. On our plane ride over my mind was racing with thoughts like, “Will everyone dismiss us?” “What are we even supposed to talk to people about?” and “I really really don’t want to mess up,” so I tried to prepare questions, topics of discussion, and brush up on my theatre knowledge. However, the funny thing is that none of that really mattered once I got there and started to attend sessions. Intuitively I knew if I agreed with what someone was saying or not, and how that related to me as a young person. Matia, Taylor, Keisa, Gareth, and Ariele seemed to have a similar reaction as I learned during our first late-night meeting, and I was impressed with their ability to articulate themselves clearly and engage in intelligent conversations with the other conference participants. We managed to get people thinking about our role in the theatre, and many people came to our side in defense of arts education, such as Brava! Artistic Director Raelle Myrick-Hodges and New York University’s Daniel Banks.
As we went to more and more sessions and continued to talk to people, a theme was becoming apparent in our answers: the best way to attract young people to theatre is to offer them an opportunity to see shows that speak to their emotions on a very fundamental level. Our recurring example of this was Berkeley Rep’s production of Girlfriend last season, which moved us all so much that we couldn’t get it out of our heads for months (I mean, we were singing its songs on the bus ride to the airport). People kept bringing up marketing strategies such as big fonts and bright colors as ways to get teenagers to buy tickets, but we couldn’t help but disagree and say that it’s the programming that matters. If you produce a show that is honest and easily relatable and make it accessible to a younger audience that has fewer financial resources than the average patron, you will create a lifelong theatregoer. Attending this conference certainly has raised more questions than it has answered, but it has left us all feeling much more confident about the importance of our voice in theatre as well as opening up doors for us to continue discussing the issue of arts education.
Comments: 3 | Post a comment / Read comments
Idiots on rampage in Central Park
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Jul 16, 2010
in News , Our shows
In case you didn't happen to be in Central Park this morning or were not watching Good Morning America, here are some highlights from the cast of American Idiot performing in concert.
You can see the whole concert at the Good Morning America website.
Top photo: The cast of American Idiot performs in Central Park. Photo courtesy of ABC News
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Berkeley Rep + Tres Agaves = Acclaim
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Jul 15, 2010
in News
A toast to Tres Agaves Tequila, Berkeley's own tequila makers for being named Best Locally Made Liquor in the East Bay Express' Best of the East Bay issue.
The recognition couldn't have gone to a better company, but then again, we've loved Tres Agaves since they made our In the Wake and Fireworks patrons so very happy with free pre-show tastings. In fact, it was at one of those tastings that the folks at the Express first brought a glass of Tres Agaves tequila to their lips.
Here's what the East Bay Express had to say:
Tres Agaves may not be the very best tequila on the planet for snooty-snoots. But if you're a righteous margarita fan — if nothing tastes better on a late afternoon in warm July than a long thwick of the sour-sweet stuff through a salty glass rim — then hometown Tres Agaves, formulated especially for mixing, should be your go-to brand. Leave it to a Berkeley tequila and mix-maker to come up with the first margarita mix that uses only organic agave nectar as a sweetener. The Express first sampled the Tres Agaves blend in the courtyard of the Berkeley Rep prior to John Leguizamo's recent one-man show there. Was it him, or was it the delectable medley of ingredients that made the evening such a memorable event? Who knows? But one thing is for sure: Where Tres Agaves goes, we will follow.
Check out the rest of the Express' Best of the East Bay listings.
Visit the Tres Agaves Tequila website.
Comments: 0 | Post a comment / Read comments
Free American Idiot park concert!
posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Jul 14, 2010
in Events , Our shows
What could possibly be better than spending a beautiful summer morning watching the Broadway cast of American Idiot performing a free concert in one of the world's most gorgeous parks?
Well, the park in question is Central Park, so it's not exactly accessible to those of us living somewhere other than the island of Manhattan. But that's where our bad luck ends. When the cast performs songs from the hit rock musical this Friday, July 16, the good folks at Good Morning America will be there to broadcast the concert coast to coast between 7and 9am on ABC.
While we're on the subject of American Idiot, the website Thrillist, purveyor of cool places and events in cities around the country, is sponsoring a contest. Sign up for a Thrillist newsletter (there's one for San Francisco), and you're entered into a contest to win tickets to American Idiot and a VIP package.