Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Our shows
"In Paris" lands on Wednesday!
posted by Karen McKevitt on Thu, Apr 19, 2012
in Our shows
Mikhail Baryshnikov and company are en route -- ready to open one of our most anticipated shows of the season. That's right: In Paris starts next Wednesday!
The show made its U.S. premiere in Southern California, and the reviews are in. Here's a bit of what people are saying:
“Sophisticated and often haunting…The piece has continued to resonate inside me, not unlike the memory of past loves, long extinguished though never completely forgotten.”—Los Angeles Times
“Intoxicated with beauty, brains and culture…A theatrical rough and tumble, half commedia dell’arte and half vaudeville, in which the genius lies less in the risky concept and edgy execution than in the play’s commitment to getting the emotion out to the audience through the tone, color and rhythmic flow that lies beyond mere words and gestures.”—Huffington Post
“While it’s a treat to see the master move, which he does toward the end of the 80-minute performance, it would be a mistake to come solely for him. This well-paced and quietly beautiful play, based on a story by Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin, is a dark, moving labor of love.”—Entertainment Weekly
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Life imitating art
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Apr 18, 2012
in Our shows
David Henry Hwang's new hit comedy Chinglish had its last Broadway performance in January -- so why's it making news now?
Well, it appears the scandel in China involving party leader Bo Xilai, whose wife is being investigated in the mysterious death of a British businessman, bears an uncanny resemblance to Hwang's play, where an American businessman gets involved with the wife of a Communist official.
In his article for Newsweek magazine (which we found at the Daily Beast), Hwang says that Chinese nationals had a quibble with his script. "This, they said, might make for good drama, but couldn’t actually happen in China. Such a woman would never enter into a close relationship with a foreign man." Well, until now, apparently. Tina Brown also has a few words to say about all this too.
Life imitating art? Decide for yourself in August, when Chinglish kicks off Berkeley Rep's exhilarating 2012-13 season!
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A groundbreaking baker's dozen
posted by Kyle Sircus on Mon, Apr 9, 2012
in At the theatre , General theatre talk , News , Our shows
Get ready for some news that's going to really rock the foundation. This past September, we announced plans for the launch of The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. Today, we're happy to announce the full list of participants (nearly 40 writers, directors, and composers) and their respective projects (a full baker's dozen of them) for the Summer Residency Lab, set to take off this July.
Some of the names are familiar ones to Berkeley Rep fans -- Lynn Nottage, Itamar Moses, Leigh Silverman, and Greg Pierotti will all return to the Bay Area to take part in various projects, ranging from food politics to apology lines. What's particularly exciting is the addition of several names that are new to our audience members -- Dan LeFranc, whose Troublemaker will have its world premiere at Berkeley Rep in 2013, will workshop his play here this summer with director Dexter Bullard; considering The Ground Floor doesn't require a formal presentation of the work, playwrights like Amelia Roper can take full advantage of the Summer Residency Lab to continue to develop their work. It's a fascinating list and we're already gearing up to welcome them in just a few short months.
To read what the press is saying about The Ground Floor, check out articles in today's New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and on Playbill.com. If you're a Berkeley resident, it's almost time to break out your binoculars -- you may just spot one of these talented artists around town!
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John Logan talks "Red"
posted by Kathleen Martinelli on Wed, Apr 4, 2012
in At the theatre , Events , Our shows
As someone who’s dreamed about going to the Oscars since I was 4 years old, I was pretty star-struck when I heard a rumor that John Logan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and Tony award-winning playwright of Red (which just extended, by the way!), would be doing a talkback at Berkeley Rep. I mean, this is the guy that Scorsese calls when he needs a good script. Martin Scorsese. And Berkeley felt a little bit like Hollywood last Saturday night when Logan showed up for a post-show discussion with dramaturg Julie McCormick.
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Can't get enough of Les?
posted by Karen McKevitt on Thu, Mar 29, 2012
in General theatre talk , Our shows
A brief stint as a print model, a stop by Berkeley Rep to direct Red...so, what's Les Waters up to next?
Well, as the new artistic director of Actors Theatre of Louisville, he already has big plans. He'll direct not only the wildly popular Girlfriend (which had its world premiere at the Rep with Les at the helm) there, but also the classic epic Long Day's Journey into Night.
On top of that, he and playwright Sarah Ruhl reunite for the world premiere of her new play, Dear Elizabeth, based on the letters poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell wrote to each other. Dear Elizabeth plays at Yale Rep, where their production of Three Sisters landed after its run here at Berkeley Rep.
Rock on, Les!
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Hey, we announced our new season
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Mar 28, 2012
in News , Our shows
Well, we announced five of seven plays, that is. But, they are awesome!
CHINGLISH
Written by David Henry Hwang
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Main Season | Roda Theatre
August 24–October 7, 2012
West Coast premiere
AN ILIAD
Adapted from Homer
By Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare
Translation by Robert Fagles
Directed by Lisa Peterson
Limited Season | Thrust Stage
October 12–November 11, 2012
Read an interview with Denis O'Hare
THE WHITE SNAKE
Written and directed by Mary Zimmerman
A co-production with Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Main Season | Roda Theatre
November 9–December 23, 2012
World-premiere production
TROUBLEMAKER, OR THE FREAKIN KICK-A ADVENTURES OF BRADLEY BOATRIGHT
Written by Dan LeFranc
Limited Season | Thrust Stage
January 4–February 3, 2013
World Premiere
Get a glimpse at Dan LeFranc's process
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
Main Season | Thrust Stage
April 12–May 26, 2013
Stay tuned: we'll announce more soon!
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The "Red" playlist
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Mar 28, 2012
in Our shows
The second-most-popular audience question after "What's happening to the canvases?" is, "What are the musical selections you use in Red?"
Wonder no more! Mixing rousing classical music with a bit of Chet Baker, the playlist is as follows:
SCENE 1:
• Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C Minor for Strings, K. 546
• Mozart: String Quartet in D Major, K. 499 (Hoffmeister) – Allegretto
SCENE 2:
• Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B Flat, Op. 99 D. 898_ II. Andante un poco mosso
SCENE 3:
• Bach: French Suite No 1 in D Minor
• Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 Vedrai, carino
• Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 Di molte faci il lume
• Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 Sola, sola in buio loco
• Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, Jupiter I. Allegro vivace
SCENE 4:
• Chet Baker: Cheryl Blues (Chet Baker in Milan)
SCENE 5:
• Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor
• Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759, Unfinished II. Andante con moto, Part I
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Paint, splatter, and Rothko, oh my!
posted by Amy Bobeda on Mon, Mar 26, 2012
in Costume shop , Our shows
Two men (other than Justin Beiber) pull at my heart strings: Jackson Pollock and Dexter Morgan. Once I got kicked out of the MoMA for standing too close to the Pollock they had on display, and I’ve seen every episode of the first two seasons (my fave) of Dexter five times. It wasn’t until our production of Red got underway that I realized just why Jackson and Dexter were the men of my dreams: splatter. Whether it is blood or paint or paint that looks like blood, I love me some splatter, making the Red costumage my favorite of the season.
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Love blossoms at Berkeley Rep
posted by Karen McKevitt on Fri, Mar 23, 2012
in News , Our shows
By Lynn Eve Komaromi, director of development
There’s a special thrill knowing that you played a hand in Cupid’s quest to bring two lovers together. I take pride in the fact that I seated two single guests together at our gala years ago which budded into a relationship that lives on today. Or that the photographer I hired for another gala would have never met the chef in the kitchen that night, leading to nuptials just a couple of years later. Love blossoms at Berkeley Rep.
So imagine the joy I’m feeling now that Berkeley Rep set the stage for Cupid’s quiver and arrow…this time for my nephew! It was 2009, and we were preparing for the world premiere of American Idiot. My nephew Ryan, a huge theatre fan who was known to make weekend trips to New York solely to take in a show, called me up to see if he could purchase a block of tickets for his friends. No problem -- 10 tickets would be held at will-call that Labor Day weekend.
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The shirt that dressed Yale
posted by Amy Bobeda on Thu, Mar 22, 2012
in General theatre talk , Our shows
Only Les Waters goes to New Haven an Obie-winning director and comes back a male model.
Allow me to extrapolate. Our story begins in the August of 2010, my first day at Berkeley Rep, and my first encounter with a staff member, who just happened to be the Les Waters. Knowing nothing about Les at the time, other than his working relationship with Sarah Ruhl, I will never forget the day we met. What he said in conversation may contain a few too many four-letter words to write here — though if you follow my personal blog, the quote can be found. From that day forward, I knew Les would be my favorite member of the Reptile family.
I soon learned that Les and I have common loves for expensive sweaters, orange snack foods, vintage clothing, vulgarity, and this industry that we refer to as “playing pretend.” Therefore, we have spent most of our time at work talking about man sweaters he can’t afford, and man sweaters I dream of my fictitious future husband wearing. Perhaps our best clothing conversation occurred in the fall, the day after his return from restaging Sarah Ruhl's Three Sisters at Yale Rep.
One night in New Haven, Les was at dinner with his wife Annie and Sarah Ruhl, when a gentleman approached their table asking if Les was a professor at Yale.
He replied in his charming accent, “No.”
The man thought that was unfortunate because Les had “just the look he was looking for.”
After further conversation where Les revealed he was directing a show at Yale, he was, within minutes, booked for his first modeling gig.
The next day, he went to Gant clothing — a shi shi Connecticut-based clothier that was once the official clothier of Yale. Think Ralph Lauren meets Tommy Hilfiger, but four times the price. Les spent the day posing moodily in beautiful sweaters, and took home a stash of merch at the end of the day.
When he returned to Berkeley, he immediately told me the story in his witty dry accent as he revealed the outrageously expensive additions to his wardrobe.
Fast forward to February, and Les’ return to the Reptiles to direct Red after beginning his new life in Louisville. After a production meeting he pulls me aside, busts out his iPad, and reveals that his model shot has gone viral. There he is, the Les Waters, moody as ever, with a caption reading “the shirt that dressed Yale.”
My response?
“Wow. Your children must think you’re so cool now!”
Les disagreed, but within 24 hours, his daughter Maddie had blogged the photo. But, that, my dear readers, is part of Les’ charm that captivates the camera: he has no idea just how cool people, including his teenage daughter, think he is.
So, dearest Les, here is to your future as a male model, your life ahead of you in Louisville, and many more wonderfully overpriced sweaters that will undoubtedly find their way into your life.
And Happy Opening!
xoxo
Amy