Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Encyclopedia
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California
. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley
. The company won the Regional Theatre Tony Award
in 1997. The theater added the 600-seat proscenium
Roda Theatre next door to its existing 400-seat asymmetrical thrust stage
in 2001, as well as opening its Berkeley Rep School of Theatre the same year. Its current artistic director is Tony Taccone
who has been the artistic director since 1997. Managing Director Susan Medak is the current president of the League of Resident Theatres
.
Productions are a mix of classic modern plays such as Henrik Ibsen
's Ghosts
and Terrence McNally
's Master Class, the latter featuring Rita Moreno
as opera diva Maria Callas
, significant recent plays with many West Coast premieres such as Moisés Kaufman
's The Laramie Project
and Tony Kushner
's Homebody/Kabul and even world premieres such as Kushner's Hydriotaphia and Charles Mee's Fetes De La Nuit.
In the past decade alone, Berkeley Rep has premiered new works by Culture Clash
, David Edgar
, Francesca Faridany, Leigh Fondakowski, Lillian Groag, Jordan Harrison, Geoff Hoyle
, Naomi Iizuka
, Charles Mee, and Stew
. The Theatre has recently created a string of successes that transferred from Berkeley to Manhattan: Artistic Director Tony Taccone staged Sarah Jones’ Tony Award-winning Bridge & Tunnel on Broadway in 2006, and helmed Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak’s Brundibar
in 2007. That summer, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice
and Stew's Passing Strange
both enjoyed extended off-Broadway runs. Passing Strange opened on Broadway in March 2008.
In 2001, the Theatre opened Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, which offers training in various theatrical disciplines for all ages and abilities. Located next door to Berkeley Rep’s two stages, the School of Theatre also provides a home base for the company’s outreach education programs with local teachers and classes. The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre also has a Teen Council made for bay area high school students interested in theatre. The Berkeley Rep Teen Council is most noted for its annual Target Teen One Acts Festival, completely written, directed, produced, and acted by students.
Recently, the theater opened their 2009/10 season with the first stage production of Green Day
's 2004 rock opera
American Idiot
. The hugely popular show was originally scheduled to run from September 4 through October 11, but was extended twice, finally ending on November 15, 2009. The show subsequently opened on Broadway
at the St. James Theatre
on April 20, 2010.
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley
Downtown Berkeley, California
Downtown Berkeley is the central business district of the city of Berkeley, California, United States, around the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, and extending north to Hearst Avenue, south to Dwight Way, west to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and east to Oxford Street...
. The company won the Regional Theatre Tony Award
Regional Theatre Tony Award
The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special non-competitive Tony Award given annually to a regional theatre company in the United States. Initially presented in 1948 to Robert Porterfield of the Virginia Barter Theatre for their Contribution To Development Of Regional Theatre, the Regional Theatre...
in 1997. The theater added the 600-seat proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
Roda Theatre next door to its existing 400-seat asymmetrical thrust stage
Thrust stage
In theatre, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its up stage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the audience than a proscenium, while retaining the utility of a backstage area...
in 2001, as well as opening its Berkeley Rep School of Theatre the same year. Its current artistic director is Tony Taccone
Tony Taccone
Tony Taccone is an American theater director, and currently the artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California.-Early life:...
who has been the artistic director since 1997. Managing Director Susan Medak is the current president of the League of Resident Theatres
League of Resident Theatres
The League of Resident Theaters is the largest professional theater association of its kind in the United States, with 76 member Theaters located in every major market in the U.S., including 29 states and the District of Columbia...
.
Productions are a mix of classic modern plays such as Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Ghosts
Ghosts (play)
Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882.Like many of Ibsen's better-known plays, Ghosts is a scathing commentary on 19th century morality....
and Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
's Master Class, the latter featuring Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
as opera diva Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
, significant recent plays with many West Coast premieres such as Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman is a playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project. He is the author of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations and is perhaps best known for writing The Laramie Project with other members of Tectonic Theater Project...
's The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie,...
and Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
's Homebody/Kabul and even world premieres such as Kushner's Hydriotaphia and Charles Mee's Fetes De La Nuit.
In the past decade alone, Berkeley Rep has premiered new works by Culture Clash
Culture Clash
Culture Clash may refer to:* Culture Clash , American performance troupe* Culture Clash , British band which plays Harare Jit music...
, David Edgar
David Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
, Francesca Faridany, Leigh Fondakowski, Lillian Groag, Jordan Harrison, Geoff Hoyle
Geoff Hoyle
Geoff Hoyle is a British performer who originated the role of Zazu in the Broadway theatre production of The Lion King. Hoyle has also performed in vaudeville shows, worked with Bill Irwin in "The Pickle Family Circus", performed with Cirque Du Soleil's Nouvelle Expérience, and performed with the...
, Naomi Iizuka
Naomi Iizuka
Naomi Iizuka is a playwright. Iizuka's works often have a non-linear storyline and are influenced by her multicultural background.Iizuka's mother is an American Latina and her father is a Japanese banker. Born in Tokyo, Iizuka grew up in Japan, Indonesia, Holland, and Washington, D.C., United...
, Charles Mee, and Stew
Stew
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...
. The Theatre has recently created a string of successes that transferred from Berkeley to Manhattan: Artistic Director Tony Taccone staged Sarah Jones’ Tony Award-winning Bridge & Tunnel on Broadway in 2006, and helmed Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak’s Brundibar
Brundibár
Brundibár is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, originally performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia...
in 2007. That summer, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
and Stew's Passing Strange
Passing Strange
Passing Strange is a rock musical about a young African American's artistic journey of self-discovery in Europe, drawing on heavy elements of existentialism, metafictional comedy, and the Künstlerroman. The musical's lyrics and book are by Stew with music and orchestrations by Heidi Rodewald and Stew...
both enjoyed extended off-Broadway runs. Passing Strange opened on Broadway in March 2008.
In 2001, the Theatre opened Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, which offers training in various theatrical disciplines for all ages and abilities. Located next door to Berkeley Rep’s two stages, the School of Theatre also provides a home base for the company’s outreach education programs with local teachers and classes. The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre also has a Teen Council made for bay area high school students interested in theatre. The Berkeley Rep Teen Council is most noted for its annual Target Teen One Acts Festival, completely written, directed, produced, and acted by students.
Recently, the theater opened their 2009/10 season with the first stage production of Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's 2004 rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
American Idiot
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
. The hugely popular show was originally scheduled to run from September 4 through October 11, but was extended twice, finally ending on November 15, 2009. The show subsequently opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the St. James Theatre
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre is located at 246 W. 44th St. Broadway, New York City, New York. It was built by Abraham L. Erlanger, theatrical producer and a founding member of the Theatrical Syndicate, on the site of the original Sardi's restaurant. It opened in 1927 as The Erlanger...
on April 20, 2010.
See also
- American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco
- Marin Theatre CompanyMarin Theatre CompanyThe Marin Theatre Company is a professional regional theatre located in Mill Valley, California.It was founded as the Mill Valley Center for the Performing Arts by Sali Lieberman and Al White in 1966, with its first twenty seasons produced at the Mill Valley Golf Club...
, Mill Valley, CaliforniaMill Valley, CaliforniaMill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay... - San Jose Repertory TheatreSan Jose Repertory TheatreThe San Jose Repertory Theatre was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California, and is currently the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay...
- TheatreWorksTheatreWorks (Silicon Valley)TheatreWorks is a non-profit, professional theater company based in Menlo Park, California and founded in July, 1970. The company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres and employs some 300 artists annually, including Equity and non-Equity actors, directors, designers and specialty artists...
, Palo Alto, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...