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SF Chronicle editorial praises Berkeley Rep

posted by Chad Jones on Thu, May 6, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Our shows

In the wake of this week's Tony Award nominations, the San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial in this morning's paper that made people around here feel proud and happy to be part of the extraordinary Bay Area theatre community.

Here's some of what the editorial, with the headline "The amazing Rep," had to say:

Theatergoers in the Bay Area are well aware of the treasure they have in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which has been an incubator for innovation and talent since 1968. Still, was gratifying to see the rest of the cultural world take notice in the form of Tony award nominations for two plays that premiered at the Rep.

One of the plays, American Idiot, was a rock opera based on the album by Green Day, a band with East Bay origins. It was nominated for best musical. The other nominee that came out of the Berkeley Rep was In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play). It was nominated for best play.

Kudos are also in order for Best of Broadway producer Carole Shorenstein Hays, whose revival of Fences claimed 10 nominations - including best revival.

In yet another local Tony connection, the musical Memphis, which workshopped at TheatreWorks festival in 2002, received a best musical nomination.

The nominations were well deserved and a reminder of the cultural excellence in our own backyard.

Here's some more coverage of our Tony nominations.

• NPR/KQED-FM interview with Artistic Director Tony Taccone
• The cover story of the Datebook section in the San Francisco Chronicle
• The front-page story from the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times
• And one from from SFist