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SF Chronicle spotlights Laramie

posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Oct 14, 2009
in Backstage buzz

If you were fortunate to be in the sold-out Roda Theatre last Monday night for Berkeley Rep's staged reading of Tectonic Theater Project's The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, you experienced a remarkable piece of documentary theatre. They were also part of an international event, with similar staged readings occurring in 150 cities around the world. Via internet hook-up, the Berkeley Rep audience was able to watch the pre-show introduction from Tectonic's staged reading at Lincoln Center in New York.

Directed by Mina Morita, Berkeley Rep's Bret C. Harte Director's Fellow, the reading, which lasted a little more than two hours, featured some extraordinary performances by a fantastic cast of local actors, several of whom appeared in the 2001 Berkeley Rep production of The Laramie Project.

Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle captured the evening nicely for a piece in today's paper. Robert writes that the show "combined unexpected rewards in the script and of actors creating fully formed characters almost on the spot with the partisan passion of a gay rights rally and the sensation of being part of a historic international event. All of which it was."

Read Robert's feature story.

Today's Chronicle also features two more Berkeley Rep-related mentions, both on the back page of the Datebook section. In his column, Jon Carroll mentions Passing Strange The Movie and the final days of its run at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. And right next door in her column, Leah Garchik mentions the Berkeley Rep screening of Passing Strange, which featured an appearance by original cast member Rebecca Naomi Jones, who is now starring in American Idiot.