Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: News
In the next Room wins the Glickman Award!
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Jan 29, 2010
in News , Our shows
Congratulations to Sarah Ruhl! Her In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) has been selected as the winner of the annual Will Glickman Award, which is chosen by a panel of top Bay Area theatre critics and given to the author of the best play to have its world premiere in the Bay Area.
“I'm very honored,” Sarah remarked. “And I'm thrilled to have a home like Berkeley Rep in the Bay Area. I was extremely proud of In the Next Room's premiere.”
“I’m pleased that Sarah and I had another opportunity to collaborate, and delighted that her scripts continue to receive the recognition they so richly deserve,” added Associate Artistic Director Les Waters, who staged the show in Berkeley and on Broadway. “I’ve devoted my career to developing and directing new plays, so I’m particularly proud of In the Next Room and the other work coming out of Berkeley Rep’s commissioning program.”
The Will Glickman Award has been given annually since 1984. Created to honor playwright and screenwriter Will Glickman, the goal of the award is to encourage new plays and their production as invaluable investments in American theatre. Theatre Bay Area, the nation’s largest regional theatre service organization, has administered the award since 2004.
Berkeley Rep debuted three previous winners: Hurricane / Mauvais Temps by Anne Galjour; The People’s Temple by Leigh Fondakowski with Greg Pierotti, Stephen Wangh, and Margo Hall; and Yankee Dawg You Die by Philip Kan Gotanda. Before becoming artistic director of Berkeley Rep, Tony Taccone also worked on another winning script at the Eureka Theatre: Tony Kushner’s legendary Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. Other playwrights who have been honored include Liz Duffy Adams, Adam Bock, John Fisher, Brian Freeman, Doug Holsclaw, Dan Hoyle, Denis Johnson, Cherrie Moraga, Brighde Mullins, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Octavio Solis, Charlie Varon, and Erin Cressida Wilson.
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American Idiot cast announced, Grammy appearance set
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Jan 28, 2010
in Backstage buzz , News , Our shows
Lots of news in the world of American Idiot on Broadway!
The cast has been announced, and in addition to the folks we saw last fall at Berkeley Rep — John Gallagher, Jr., Michael Esper, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous, Mary Faber, Tony Vincent, Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Joshua Henry, Brian Charles Johnson, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Chase Peacock, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, and Libby Winter — the Broadway company is welcoming Tony Award-nominee Stark Sands, Van Hughes, Joshua Kobak, Leslie McDonel, and Aspen Vincent.
"This wildly gifted company takes my breath away," director Michael Mayer said in a statement. "They bring such depth and passion to the material. It is a rare honor to be blessed with such spectacularly imaginative performers."
Green Day, along with the entire cast of American Idiot will perform the two-time Grammy-nominated song "21 Guns" at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards this Sunday, January 31. The awards are broadcast on CBS beginning at 8pm.
The website for American Idiot (as seen above) is now live, and tickets are now available exclusively to American Express cardholders through February 13. Tickets go on sale to everyone on February 14. Performances begin March 24 at the St. James Theatre, and opening is set for April 20.
You can now follow American Idiot on Twitter at AmericanIdiotNY and on Facebook.
There's also a whole new line of American Idiot merchandise available at Green Day's web store, including work shorts (seen at right) for $75.
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The magic of Aurelia extends! And Aurelia's on the radio!
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Jan 8, 2010
in At the theatre , News , Our shows
Aurélia's Oratorio has been such a hit with Berkeley Rep audiences that the show will extend for FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY January 28 through 31 in the Roda Theatre.
The show that has ignited imaginations and delighted Bay Area audiences must close January 31. The final performances are:
- Thursday, January 28 at 8pm
- Friday, January 29 at 8pm
- Saturday, January 30 at 2pm
- Saturday, January 30 at 8pm
- Sunday, January 31 at 2pm
Experience this unique theatrical event or make a gift of tickets to friends and family. Tickets start at $33 (half that if you're under 30!). Visit our online box office or call the box office at 510 647-2949. Box office hours are noon to 7pm Tuesday through Sunday.
And be sure to catch Aurélia Thierrée interviewed on Sedge Thompson's West Coast Live this Saturday, January 9. The show is carried live on KALW 97.1 FM from 10am to noon. The show is also streamed live kalw.org at 10am and on jeffnet.org at 11am.
Above photo: Aurélia Thierrée in Aurélia's Oratorio. Photo by Richard Haughton
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American Idiot heading to Broadway!
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Jan 5, 2010
in Backstage buzz , News , Our shows
Looks like St. Jimmy is heading for the St. James.
Yes, Green Day's American Idiot, which had its world premiere last September at Berkeley Rep, is going to Broadway.
Producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman, in association with Berkeley Rep, announced today that American Idiot will begin performances in March at the St. James Theatre, former home of the long-running The Producers and the soon-to-close revival of Finian's Rainbow.
As in Berkeley, Michael Mayer directs and collaborates on the book with
Billie Joe Armstrong. Steven Hoggett choreographs and Tom Kitt serves
as orchestrator, arranger, and musical supervisor. The design team
includes Christine Jones (set), Andrea Lauer (costumes), Kevin Adams
(lights), Brian Ronan (sound), and Darrel Maloney (video and
projection).
"Experiencing American Idiot on stage in Berkeley was incredible," said Green Day's guitarist and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. " We have really enjoyed working with Michael, Steven, Tom, and the cast. The energy and chemistry of the group is contagious. Michael Mayer was able to bring life to the characters of American Idiot, and Tom Kitt's musical arrangements are breathtaking. We're s proud that the show is coming to Broadway!"
No casting has been announced, but the previews will begin March 24 with an opening night scheduled for April 20.
In the last five years, five shows have moved from Berkeley to Broadway: Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel (2006), Stew's Passing Strange (2008), Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking (2009), Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) (2009), and now American Idiot.
Visit AmericanIdiotOnBroadway.com to sign up for updates about the show..
Here's Green Day ringing in the New Year, performing "21 Guns" on New Year's Eve with Carson Daly.
Top photo: John Gallagher, Jr. as Johnny and Tony Vincent as St. Jimmy in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of Green Day's American Idiot. Photo courtesy of mellopix.com.
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Berkeley Rep named best of the decade
posted by Terence Keane on Mon, Dec 28, 2009
in News
Happy New Year to you and yours! It certainly has been quite a year here at Berkeley Rep:
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Another two shows developed at Berkeley Rep landed on Broadway: Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking and Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room (or the vibrator play).
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Wishful Drinking also became a bestseller – and earned its author a Grammy nomination for her audio book!
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Spike Lee released his film of Passing Strange, and Green Day released a new version of the song "21 Guns" featuring the cast from our blockbuster production of American Idiot.
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With a daring array of plays, we continued to break box-office records in Berkeley even as our shows toured to Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and other cities.
We’re grateful for your support in 2009, and thrilled to share with you the accolades we’ve received as the decade draws to a close:
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In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt asserts that “the rise of Berkeley Repertory Theatre” was the Top Theatre Story of the Decade! “The Rep opened its new Roda Theatre in ’01, allowing it longer runs and greater flexibility with two mainstages, and has quickly risen in local and national prestige. Under the leadership of Tony Taccone and his associate artistic director Les Waters, it’s become one of the region’s two flagship companies and a primary source of new work for Broadway (where Taccone and Waters each opened a show this fall) and the rest of the country.”
In 2009, we were proud to premiere an unconventional comedy called In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) – and even prouder when Les made his Broadway debut with Sarah’s script this fall. The play that we commissioned proved popular with the nation’s most prominent theatre critics:
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Elysa Gardner named it Best Play of the Year in USA Today: “Broadway newbie Sarah Ruhl defied gender and genre orthodoxy to give us a hilarious and moving meditation on the many factors that complicate communication between (and within) the sexes.”
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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 [email protected]) 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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Broadway is buzzing about Berkeley Rep's Vibrator (and I'm still thinking 'bout those brownies)
posted by Terence Keane on Fri, Nov 20, 2009
in News
Once again, the national media is buzzing about a play born at Berkeley Rep. Last night our associate artistic director, Les Waters, opened In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) at Broadway's Lyceum Theater. Berkeley Rep commissioned this script from MacArthur genius Sarah Ruhl and staged its world premiere earlier this year. Now Lincoln Center Theater has given it new life in New York, where both Sarah and Les are making their Broadway debuts.
This is the fourth show that Berkeley Rep has helped send to Broadway in the last four years. (One of them – Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking – is still running only a few blocks away!) The reviews for In the Next Room are out – and I'm proud to share the good vibrations. Here is a quote from the great review in the New York Times:
"INSPIRED... In the Next Room is a true novelty: a sex comedy designed not for sniggering teenage boys – or grown men who wish they were still sniggering teenage boys – but for adults with open hearts and minds... The ideas underpinning the play, about the fundamental lack of sympathy between men and women of the period, and the dubious scientific theories that sometimes reinforced women’s subjugation, are serious. In the Next Room illuminates with a light touch – a soft, flickering light rather than a moralizing glare – how much control men had over women’s lives, bodies and thoughts, even their most intimate sensations. [It] is directed by Les Waters with a fine sensitivity to its varied textures. Insightful, fresh and funny, the play is as rich in thought as it is in feeling."
To read all the wonderful reviews, check out the press release I sent this morning. Or you can take a stroll down "Hysteria Lane" with Maria Dizzia, the woman who originated the role of Mrs. Daldry on our stage and is now reprising it on Broadway. (She also played the title role in our Berkeley and off-Broadway productions of Eurydice.) The Times posted a slideshow of In the Next Room alongside its review that features charming commentary from Maria.
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Passing Strange hits the big screen
posted by Chad Jones on Mon, Aug 24, 2009
in News
From the stage of Berkeley Rep to the big screen, Passing Strange continues its epic journey.
After having its world premiere on Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, Passing Strange, an intoxicating musical theater experience created by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, headed to The Public Theater and then to Broadway, where it won Stew a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
The show ran for six months, and just when it looked like Passing Strange had come to the end of its road, director Spike Lee arranged to film the show. As Lee told the New York Daily News: “I am a big, big, big lover of creative genius, and when I saw Passing Strange for the first time at the Public Theater, I was swept away — the creativity, the artistry, the vision, the musicality, the humor.”
Passing Strange: The Movie – an artfully filmed version of the Broadway production – opened in New York last weekend and will launch the Sundance Channel’s first video-on-demand service on Aug. 26. The movie will then air as part of PBS’ Great Performances series in 2010.
New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott was “blown away” by the movie. “The members of the small cast, several of whom take on multiple roles, are shown in the full, sweaty glory of self-transformation. (The band, present onstage and led by Ms. Rodewald, works pretty hard too.) And as Stew, a stout man in a red shirt and a dark suit, narrates and comments on the doings and dreamings of his younger, angrier, thinner and similarly dressed self (the excellent Daniel Breaker), changes of angle and focus illuminate the emotional distance between hotheaded youth and rueful middle age.”
Scott also gave a shout-out to cast member Rebecca Naomi Jones (above right) – “terrific in these and a handful of other roles” – who returns to Berkeley Rep in the world premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot.
Lou Lemenick of the New York Post writes, “…this is one Tony-winning Broadway show that's well worth preserving and seeing.” And Christy Lemire of the Associated Press raves about the film: “The result is so crisp and intimate, it makes you feel as if you're on stage with Stew (who narrates) and the rest of his formidable cast.
Rebecca Naomi Jones in rehearsal
for American Idiot
Photo by Doug Hamilton
Here’s the official movie trailer:
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It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
posted by A Susskind on Wed, Aug 5, 2009
in At the theatre , News
Last week we announced the creative team for Green Day's American Idiot (you can read about it in Rolling Stone). This week, we announced the cast, a group of extremely talented performers, all of whom bring tremendous abilities to our stage (Playbill.com, Variety and the LA Times are among those who've picked up the story).
Berkeley Rep is a great place to work because we not only endeavor to maintain an environment in which talented artists can do their best work, but we also have a fantastic corporate culture for our full-time and seasonal staff that provides them with opportunities to interact with our visiting artists and to spend time working cross-departmentally on special projects.
Last week, a group of us helped our Company Management Department with a very special project... Meeting the cast of American Idiot at the Oakland Airport and driving them to their local housing.
Euphrates, Andrew, Jamie, Jonny, John and Megan waiting at the airport for the cast to arrive
I had five of the actors in my van: Matt Caplan, Mary Faber, Chase Peacock, Libby Winters, and Brian Charles Johnson. We made a quick stop-off at In-N-Out (for a few, it was their first time eating at the California favorite) and made it to their apartment building just as the luggage van was rolling up (we had so many people we needed a van just for their luggage!). After a brief break we went to Whole Foods and Safeway so the new Bay Area residents could pick up some essentials.
During our drive they sang with the radio and we talked about San Francisco, Berkeley, New York, musical theatre, and Green Day. They talked about how great it was to work on this project and how awesome it was to hang out with Billie Joe, Tre Cool, and Mike Dirnt after a concert over the weekend.
This is a wonderful group of people -- this show is going to totally kick ass.
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What's in Tony's fridge? (and other thoughts from the artistic director)
posted by Bert Reptile on Thu, Jul 2, 2009
in News
The answer to the above question is: "Pickles, Italian salami, wheat germ, which is really strange, and all kinds of hot sauces."
That's Artistic Director Tony Taccone answering one of many interesting questions from his interview with San Francisco Chronicle theatre critic Rob Hurwitt.
The interview is in today's Datebook section, and the Q&A topics range from what it's like to work with Carrie Fisher to the people Tony would most like to invite to dinner. Be sure to note his thoughts on cats.
It's a fun read. Check it out here.
Photo by Kevin Berne