R E P ORT
Berkeley Rep’s Company Manager Jean-Paul Gressieux and Company Management Fellow Emilie Pass P H OTO BY I T ZEL O R T U Ñ O
Home away from home Welcoming artists to Berkeley Rep B Y E M I L I E PA S S
Playwright Sarah Ruhl points out in her essay
“Mothers on Stage” that from Medea to Mama Rose the maternal experience in theatre has “been told from the point of view of sons, written by sons.” While theatre history has given us plenty of charming matriarchs, she notes that it has not given us much of the mother’s perspective on stage. Why is this the case? The most persuasive explanation Sarah offers is that theatre “lags behind the other literary arts in terms of what can be told, because its medium is embodied, subject to all kinds of material concerns that make it slower to change.” Another explanation may be that while writing fiction might require a room of one’s own, making a play requires being in the room during rehearsals. For Berkeley Rep to produce works like For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday, a play inspired by a mother and artist written by a mother and artist, we must help theatremakers set aside some of their material concerns to create magic on our stages. This is where the company management department comes in. Once the artistic department selects scripts, assembles creative teams, and casts actors, the company management department tries to make it possible for artists from all over the world and at various moments in their personal lives to come to Berkeley Rep and create. As Jean-Paul Gressieux, Berkeley Rep’s company manager, says, “We tend to hire people who reflect our values.” Because Berkeley Rep values representing a diversity of experiences for our audiences, the needs of our artists shift and change from production to production. 1 0 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 5 –1 6 · I S S U E 7
A company manager encompasses the jobs of personal assistant, medical advisor, landlord, FedEx worker, interior decorator, party planner, and hotel concierge. That said, the title
A company manager encompasses the jobs of personal assistant, medical advisor, landlord, FedEx worker, interior decorator, party planner, and hotel concierge. encapsulates the job description—to help a group of actors and artists feel at home in our community, to become a part of the Berkeley Rep company. Enabling artists to reach a place of comfort in their personal lives so that they may be vulnerable and daring in their artistic work can be as simple as locating a new blender, recommending a good Thai restaurant, or providing a ride to a doctor’s appointment. It’s often more complicated, and quite often the most important duty of a company manager is listening. Jean-Paul says, “Being a company manager is a people job. It’s all conversations, all interactions.” In my time as Berkeley Rep’s company management fellow I have memorized the aisles of Ikea, learned how to draft Actors’ Equity Association contracts, and successfully operated a fax CO N TIN U E D O N PAG E 12