SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2019
WHITE NOISE PAGE 23
PLUS Teen Night is trending Snapshots from The Ground Floor An interview with Suzan-Lori Parks
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WELCOME TO BERKELEY REP! To ensure the best experience for everyone: Food and drink: Beverages in cans, cartons, or plastic cups with lids are welcome in the house. Food is prohibited. Phones that make noise during the performance are disruptive to everyone. Ensure phones and electronic devices are turned off during the performance.
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Photography: Audience members may take photos in the theatre before and after the performance, and during intermission. Photos and video during the performance are not permitted. Photos posted on social media must credit the show’s designers. Late seating is not guaranteed. If you arrive late, the house manager will provide instructions about seating. If you leave during the performance, you will be reseated at an appropriate break. Smoking/Vaping: Berkeley Rep’s public spaces are smoke- and vape-free. One of the joys of live theatre is the collective experience. Remember that people respond in different ways, and we invite you to join with other audience members and enjoy the show!
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IN THIS ISSUE From the artistic director · 5 From the managing director · 6
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Teen Night is trending · 9 Signals to Noise · 10 Vignettes from The Ground Floor’s 2019 Summer Residency Lab · 12
FEATURES “I love you, so I’m going to show you”: An interview with Suzan-Lori Parks · 14 Stylistic interplay in Suzan-Lori Parks’ canon · 16 “A subterfuge of naturalism”: Director Jaki Bradley on tone and character in White Noise · 18 Making some noise: Writers of color and the contemporary theatrical landscape · 20
BERKELEY REP PRESENTS
THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE 2019–20 · ISSUE 2
White Noise · 23 Who’s Who · 24
The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published at least seven times per season. For local advertising inquiries, please contact Pamela Webster at 510 590-7091 or pwebster@ berkeleyrep.org. Editor Karen McKevitt Graphic Designers Cheshire Isaacs Haly Roy Writers Katie Craddock Charlie Dubach-Reinhold Katherine Gunn Sarah Rose Leonard Karen McKevitt Madeleine Oldham
CONTRIBUTORS Foundation, corporate, and in-kind sponsors · 30 Individual donors to the Annual Fund · 31 Michael Leibert Society · 32
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ABOUT BERKELEY REP Staff, board of trustees, and sustaining advisors · 33 On the cover Chris Herbie Holland
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September–November 2019 | Volume 52, No. 2
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premiere of White Noise last spring at The Public Theater in New York. By intermission, I knew this was a play that I wanted to have be part of this season at Berkeley Rep. I think Suzan-Lori Parks is one of our greatest living writers, whose gorgeous, muscular use of language, as evidenced in plays like Topdog/Underdog and Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), can evoke poetry and myth while never losing a contemporary urgency and availability. It is an honor to bring her work to Berkeley Rep for the first time. Suzan-Lori talks about this play coming from a place of love. But love is not always gentle — in fact, the revised draft of the play that she sent for our rehearsal process newly included on the cover page the James Baldwin quote “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” Which seems to be an apt metaphor for theatre itself. As an art form, it is uniquely crafted to give audiences access to the experiences and emotions of people who by choice, by birth, by circumstance experience the world differently than any one of us may do. And of course, in creating these empathic relationships between audience and character, it also implicates us in the actions of these fictionalized human beings. The quartet of characters that comprise White Noise are beautifully complicated individuals, and one of the deep pleasures of the play is that SuzanLori gives us an opportunity to sympathize with each of them, and to simultaneously find ourselves sitting in a place of judgement. To fall for them, and to be betrayed by them. Love is complicated… One of the great pleasures of my job is matchmaking — getting to introduce artists to each other, and seeing if there are sparks. What a delight to bring Suzan-Lori Parks and Jaki Bradley together — two powerhouse women of great vision, who didn’t know each other prior to this process. With this play, they get to begin a conversation that brings together each of their unique histories, experiences, and perspectives. Like all of Suzan-Lori’s plays, White Noise is not for the faint of heart. But it is for the bold, the curious, those willing to engage, to discuss, to debate. To feel, to think. To love. Sounds like a Berkeley Rep audience to me. Thank you for joining us.
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S E A S O N
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello & Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano Winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, artist-in-residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and a featured performer at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Dec 4 ZELLERBACH HALL
Jemele Hill Emmy-winning sports journalist Jemele Hill opens up about her career at the controversial intersection of sports and race in the United States. A staff writer at the Atlantic, Hill was formerly co-anchor of ESPN SportsCenter, and was chief correspondent to ESPN’s The Undefeated.
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Jan 23 ZELLERBACH HALL
We Shall Overcome A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. featuring Damien Sneed Composer and pianist Damien Sneed’s stirring tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrates a living lineage of African-American music and culture that ranges from gospel, spirituals, and classical music to jazz and Broadway.
SUZAN-LORI PARKS IS CLEARLY not shy. She
doesn’t run away from hard, difficult, squirmworthy conversations about race. She writes right into them, with a ferocity that can leave the viewer reeling...in the most wonderful, head-spinning way. That is why I am so thrilled to finally have a play by this amazing national treasure on our stage. Johanna promised to introduce new voices to our stages and here we are, with a new play by Francis Turnly in the Roda and Suzan-Lori Parks in the Peet’s. The two are going to be followed by Sarah Ruhl, a Berkeley Rep familiar who brings us a new play, Becky Nurse of Salem. Johanna included a reading of Becky Nurse in her final season as artistic director of New York Stage and Film, and I’m so pleased we’ll be sharing its world premiere with you in December. So our fall lineup of subscription plays is looking very promising! I did want to draw your attention, though, to a special event that we’re bringing to you in November for the holiday season. PigPen Theatre Co.’s The Tale of Despereaux is an utterly delightful adaptation of the much-loved Newbury Medal–winning book. It is Berkeley Rep’s gift to families who are in search of entertainment that is smart enough for the adults while being entirely accessible to younger audiences. Johanna and I first saw this musical at The Old Globe, surrounded by adults, who were transported by it. But what moved me so much about it was that the 10-year-old girl sitting next to me with her parents was completely entranced and on her feet the minute the curtain came down. It is rare to find entertainment of any kind these days that speaks across generational lines. The Tale of Despereaux is a special nonsubscription event. So, subscribers, be aware that it is not part of any subscription package. The only way you will see it is to order tickets – and, as a subscriber, you save $5 on full-price tickets to this show. I encourage you to order now as tickets will move quickly for this one. If you are not a subscriber, I do hope you join us for The Tale of Despereaux. And maybe even consider picking up a few tickets for our subscription season shows. Select just three or more shows to become a Berkeley Rep subscriber and enjoy a savings of up to 50 percent off single ticket prices, the best seats in the house, and a variety of other perks including free ticket exchanges. I bet you’ll be glad you did. Best regards,
Susie Medak
Feb 20 ZELLERBACH HALL
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DON’T MISS TEEN NIGHT! The Tale of Despereaux Friday, November 22 Becky Nurse of Salem Friday, December 13
TEEN NIGHT IS TRENDING BY K ATHERINE GUNN
WHAT IS TEEN NIGHT?
It’s our School of Theatre’s most popular event where, for ten dollars, high school students can see a Berkeley Rep show with their peers — and get dinner, hear from an artist involved with the production, and join a post-show discussion. Why go to Teen Night? Zohar, a current attendee, almost didn’t. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s gonna be that good, I don’t wanna go!’” But after some cajoling, she gave it a try. “The teens who work there are so welcoming. That was really awesome, and the atmosphere was really bright, and we talked, and there are activities. I really enjoy it, and it’s even better getting to be a part of it.” Now, less than a year later, Zohar is a part of Teen Council, the group of high school students who help organize the event. “We have adults in charge who make sure we don’t burn anything down,” she says reassuringly, “but a lot of the stuff that we’ve done has been just teens. I personally think that I’ve benefitted from this as an individual, it’s helped me grow.” Isabelle, former Teen Night attendee and Teen Council member, agrees that letting teenagers have a leadership role really makes a difference. “It makes you feel like you’re in charge, you’re in control, and they’re creating portals and ways in for you.” Teens are also the ones who get to interview the artists. “You get to see a fellow teen talking to them so it’s like ‘Oh, I can talk to these people.’ It just opens up theatre, for teens.” Artists who have presented at past Teen Nights include Sergio Trujillo (choreographer for Ain’t Too Proud), Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), and Jackie Sibblies Drury, now a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. There’s also a chance to discuss the show afterward. “I don’t want to say it’s better than the show, but it’s up there,” Zohar confides. “It’s really helpful because Berkeley Rep is really great at bringing in new works, and works that discuss issues that are currently in our community and our world and our life. I think that, if the plays don’t allow for every side to be seen, that every side gets to be seen when we have these post-show discussions.” They clearly aren’t the only ones who are excited to come to Teen Night. There are 80 to 100 tickets available for each show, plus a few season passes. Still, the events almost always sell out, so reserve your spot early if you want in on the fun. For Isabelle, her favorite part of Teen Night is the friends she made. “I know that sounds cheesy,” she laughs, “but I’m still really good friends with people that I met doing Teen Night.” Zohar summed it up best: “All for ten dollars, you can see a play, get food, have a discussion, meet artists, and meet new people too. All for ten dollars!”
Culture Clash (Still) in America Friday, February 21 School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play Friday, March 20 Happy Days Friday, May 29 To learn more about Teen Night, visit berkeleyrep.org/ teennight. To register, email teencouncil@berkeleyrep.org or call 510 647-2984.
Thank you to the generous supporters of the School of Theatre who make events like Teen Night possible.
Top to bottom Jason Howland and Marcus Gardley (front, center) at Teen Night for Paradise Square; Marcus Gardley (right) with Core Council Members Anna Grannados and Fidela Bisseret Martinez; teens discussing a play 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 9
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a book written as a letter to his teenage son, provides an unflinching testimony of what it means to be Black in America. Inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Between the World and Me won the National Book Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
SIGNALS TO NOISE AS THE ARTISTIC TEAM AND CAST began to create this production, director Jaki Bradley, assistant director Nailah Harper-Malveaux, and literary/dramaturgy fellow Charlie Dubach-Reinhold assembled an incredibly rich list of books and other resources that help contextualize the world of the play. Here are some selections if you want to dig more deeply into the thorny issues of White Noise.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo Robin DiAngelo, an academic as well as a diversity and inclusion training educator, dissects the ways white people react when challenged about their notions about race that perpetuate systems of exclusion.
Faces at the Bottom of the Well by Derrick Bell This book is full of short allegorical stories that explore the way that racism operates, evolves, and cements itself in our world. Written by Derrick Bell, a founding thinker behind critical race theory, it uses simple, yet incisive myths/ fables to re-examine the quest for racial justice and argue that racism is an integral, permanent, and indestructible component of our society.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
The 1619 Project nytimes.com/1619 This New York Times interactive site, launched to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first slaves arriving in America, reexamines the way we think and talk about American history and the legacy of slavery in this country. It’s also an ongoing podcast series that you can listen to for free.
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In this novel, a woman gradually escalates her use of prescription medications in an attempt to sleep for an entire year, an experiment as radical in its own way as the one explored in White Noise.
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VIGNETTES FROM THE GROUND FLOOR’S 2019 SUMMER RESIDENCY LAB BY K ATIE CR ADDOCK
ONE COULD NEVER FULLY CAPTURE what it was to be at The Ground Floor’s eighth Summer Residency Lab within these pages. The program brings artists from across the country to Berkeley to make new plays with the support of local actors and directors, emerging theatre artist volunteers, and Berkeley Rep staff. From transforming our fitting room into a ’40s cocktail lounge, to vrooming Hot Wheels across the conference room, to creative breakthroughs over lasagna — at any given moment, there are at least seven interesting things happening at the Lab. Here are four vignettes from this summer to give you a taste of what it was like to be here in June. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org/groundfloor.
Julia Izumi
n summer Lab asks this questio cy en sid Re er m m or Su of theatrical play? The Ground Flo ert, confront, and explode traditions a e ak m to ke ta it oments of subv What does me of the holiest m pieces that stretch, So t g. af in cr in ts ag tis im ar ly as ive er ostly writllect after summ t their residency m thered together, co en ga sp le s op ha pe o is: wh er ht ig sw chairs into playwr form. One an aff. We pull folding at and little else. A st th d st an ju ts of tis up ar e w ad llo m took us to their fe the Lab are travel. Sanaz Toossi share material with d an to s, es er cid ad de re g ely llin av to wi led its dust, ing alone br and 1999 — we inha e draft, assign roles th 79 of 19 es of s pi er co m e m ut su rib own each ering a circle, dist lt the years they’d kn Tavern, Iran, during the blist j, fe ra d an Ka d, in t llie ur ra co is ely a dingy tenn r characters fierc e New Jerusalem ball on racket as he y welcomed us to th sk rin Bo ther to share ex Al e. heard the crack of gu their dialo growing, wings) ga of e t ar wi or d n, an ow ht gr ig we ’ve py yet allt they other in the and winced at a cam ople (just like us, bu pe ed gh lic ge lau , an er ns ay tra pr e in s d staving a dive wher ; we bowed our head the songs expressing love and rage an ity un m m co d an , ry wa himself, ned to music, poet ven by Akira Kurosa encounter, and liste gi e n lic tio po ta a t en ou es pr ab a it us imagine ce at too-true sk r people. Julia helped Berkeley Rep audien he a ot re of we h nc we bu en a Th . by g her reading then off despair which she ate durin iter Julia Izumi…and of t wr ou by p, ed cu ay rt pl s gu yo wa except he en had a real with yogurt — she ev an Akira obsessed oon. despite lacking a sp
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Shaun and Abigail Ben gson
hall — artists, ed in the rehearsal er th ga rly ge ea d ment in l crow Ohio, the final install A multigenerationa m fro ns io ct le se ar fore the piece to he staff, friends, fans — son’s quasi-autobiographical trilogy. Be Beng euvered her Abigail and Shaun teners; Abigail man lis e th th wi ip sh thanking the d a kin an improvised song began, they create in us d lea to d an ey were joined mic st ghingly obliged. Th way down from the lau we d an , or Flo d ing the Weird roun Blue on vocals, evok supporters of The G a Lil d an e an lb Ki ail’s. We were m Kate d discord with Abig by Summer Lab alu an y on rm ha in ed uie’s birth and s mov d about their son Lo Sisters as their voice ne oo cr an Se d an se, book writer owed e to a rapturous clo hushed as Abigail cr m ca g in ar sh e th life. As erant round fraught first days of eo, we sang an exub “stage” m ca lin vio e ris rp e a su mself rushed the Sarah Gancher mad ht in,” and Louie hi lig e th t le o made a beeto e im “t declaring it lbane’s daughter, wh Ki te Ka , el az H ot patri with his toddler com microphone. r’s he ot m r line for he
s, and props emerge Often, recognizable set pieces, costume (four summers in a from storage into Summer Lab rooms r’s The Intelligent row, the rolling stoop from Tony Kushne Socialism with a Key to the Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and shiny red tricycle from Scriptures has proven indispensable). A the Lab and our hearts Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice rolled its way into assadors, staff, and writers this year. Local actors, volunteer amb they cruised around alike broke into stupidly wide grins as Harrison Street campus. rehearsal and through the halls of our nt fan of the trike, so Writer Dave Harris was an especially arde n it made an outrageous we shouldn’t have been surprised whe and accompanied by appearance, ridden by multiple actors Watch Me. Dave gleefully music, during the reading of his piece our seats, delighted to cackled from the back as we fell out of see our trike making its star turn. Mina Morita and Dave Harris
Matt and Ezra
By the time Ezra ar rived, the Tony Tacc one Rehearsal Hall dancers. Sam Pinkle had met all kinds of ton, nicHi douglas, and Pig Iron Theatre open the doors to Company had thro everyone to help en wn vision their new piec from self-identified e House of Victory — dancers, like the Ap ril Follies Queer Pa tion, to Berkeley Re rtner Dance Compe p’s own docents an tid development depa particularly surpris rtment. So nobody ed to see our associa was te technical director his wee, wide-eyed , Matt Rohner, carry baby Ezra in for a da ing nce. Some of the le entered the space wi ss experienced danc th goodwill and curio er s sity, but also some ness; all seemed to nerves and tentative exit they’d danced. As M feeling relaxed, joyful, and connected to those with whom att put it, “Though we can’t know for su mind at 11 weeks, I re what goes on in believe I can safely the say Ezra and I both had a blast.”
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“I LOVE YOU, SO I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU”
AN INTERVIEW WITH SUZAN-LORI PARKS BY SAR AH ROSE LEONARD
TALKING WITH PLAYWRIGHT SUZAN-LORI PARKS is joyous.
P H OTO BY TA M MY S H EL L
Her sentences spool out into a large paragraph punctuated with laughs and “ya knows?” Her phrases seem to bounce as she plays out a thought. It’s enough to make you forget that her plays tackle some of the heaviest, darkest realities in our world. Then you remember that’s how she gets away with it: her love for her characters permeates the darkness of every situation they climb into. Suzan-Lori spoke with Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard a month before rehearsals began for White Noise. They discussed what she learned from the first production in New York, and what she’s still thinking about as this second production approaches.
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What prompted you to write this play? It started with a gesture. I was watching my play Father Comes Home from the Wars — Part 2 specifically — and there’s a moment where our hero, the slave, the man of African descent, wonders what it’s gonna be like in the future when he’s coming home from work: will the law officer allow him to go about his business? His friend Smith says, “I don’t know.” I sat there watching the play night after night and I thought, “I could write a play about that moment.” That moment is taking place right now — I was watching Father Comes Home back in 2014, before the election. Then I thought, who’s in the play? Oh, some friends just like us. Look in the mirror, it’s you, it’s me, it’s the people we used to know in high school, our spouses, our children — it’s us. I followed the people, I don’t follow the money. I keep saying that because a lot of people are thinking about what’s going to be marketable — how can I make a buck off of this mess that we’re in right now? I’m not thinking that; I’m thinking how can I help, how can I help, how can I help? You’ve said that this is the hardest play you’ve ever written. Do you still feel that? Yeah I do, because it’s really hard to tell the truth about people you love. It was hard to embody or love Dawn, and yet also totally agree with Misha. Or love Misha, but totally agree with Ralph. You know what I mean? Love Ralph, totally agree with Leo! You know the phrase “drawn and quartered?” I felt quartered! It was like the four parts of myself were being pulled in four different directions at the same time. It’s so difficult to hold four points of view. Some people have expressed feeling like the play was fueled by rage at what’s happening today. Does that ring true, or not? It doesn’t come from rage; no, it comes from love. I love you, so I’m going to show you. I was talking to this class the other day and I was saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘me’ in enemy.” Like shit, what are we gonna do, people? ’Cause hate don’t work, okay? I guess we’re too busy or too important or too connected to our device to remember that we’re connected. Your love for these characters really comes across in their solo moments with the audience. They are called solos because Misha, Dawn, Ralph, and Leo had a band back in the day when things were good. I have
a band, and it’s a beautiful thing when you solo. That is your time when you step out into the light and are supported by the rest of the band. In this case, when the friends had a band it didn’t go very far, they didn’t make any money, but it was joyous. Then the band was replaced by bowling. Do you write thinking about music? Yes! The first thing I wrote as an artist was songs. Then I fell in love with libraries and books and theatre. I’m always thinking about rhythm, timing. White Noise has a song that they wrote together which I composed. What’s fun is to write scenes with the rhythm of bowling! How did you choose bowling? My parents used to bowl. My dad was in the service, we moved around a lot. Everywhere we moved there was a bowling alley. Imagine you’re an adult, you move, and you don’t know anybody, but there’s a bowling group — you can go and bowl! It was a lovely thing that my parents would do to create community. There were varying levels of skill and you didn’t have to be really good to participate. I would go with my parents, sit in the back, and watch them bowl. It was lovely! Writing scenes to the rhythm of bowling is really fun because the scene’s timed out. I just had the timing way deep in my head from watching my parents in the bowling alley. What made you decide to not place the friends in a specific city? The exact coordinates of where they are is not important to me. I’m just trying to include what’s important, and I leave the rest out. It’s a broad, big, thriving urban city. It could be New York or Chicago or San Francisco or Cleveland or Houston or Austin or Boston — it’s a city where people of different ethnic backgrounds would congregate. The names Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn come from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello). How did that happen? ’Cause it made me laugh! People read or see the play and they’re filled with feelings — maybe joy, anger, despair, happiness, whatever feelings they have, right? — but what’s weird is that they assume the feelings that they have are the feelings I had writing it. That’s not always true. I write from a very intense and joyous place. A lot of times I include things that are just funny! I was just sitting at my desk going, “Bluhbluhbluh I CO NTIN U E D O N PAG E 21
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STYLISTIC INTERPLAY IN SUZAN-LORI PARKS’ CANON BY CHARLIE DUBACH-REINHOLD
TO CATEGORIZE THE WORK
of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is a nearly impossible task. Parks catapulted into nationwide fame when she won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for her drama Topdog/ Underdog, though she had been steadily rising in the theatre world during the previous decade for her poetic, metaphysical plays. Her professional playwriting career spans over 35 years, and one could write 35 essays to encapsulate the myriad styles, characters, and genres in her work. Luckily, she’s provided a guide: Parks’ 1995 essay “From the Elements of Style” outlines her process and the essential features of her early writing. Critics call the work discussed in her essay “dreamlike,” “hermetically surreal,” and “phantasmagorical;” those descriptors may not automatically fit what you will see in White Noise. Over the years, Parks’ style has transformed significantly. But elements like the musicality of her language and the layering of character as she defines it in her essay still appear even as she explores more linear, realistic genres. One of Parks’ most well-known stylistic elements is what she called “Repetition and Revision.” “Rep & Rev” is a device inspired by jazz. It requires that as words, ideas, and even plot devices are repeated throughout a play, each is revised as it reappears. In her early work, Parks used Rep & Rev as a principal device. At the top of her 1996 play Venus, many of the characters repeat the words, “I regret to inform you that thuh Venus Hottentot is dead. There won’t be inny show tuhnight.” In the world of the play, this is untrue; Venus is alive and present, there is a show, and the audience will watch it
unfold. The effect is musical; the phrase repeats throughout the play, a lyrical reminder of the myriad exploitations of the title character. It punctuates a story following a relatively linear path with jazz-style refrains. By the final scene, the phrase marks the death of the show itself, and has taken on various shades of meaning. Hints of Parks’ Rep & Rev show up throughout her canon, even as she experiments with form and character. In her 1990 piece The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Rep & Rev influences more than the language — it permeates the entire plot. A striking repetition is the death of the main character, Black Man With Watermelon. He dies over and over in ways invoking the American history of racial violence, including a lynching. This technique conjures mourning and remembrance and creates a maelstrom that at once shocks and laments. In contrast, the naturalistic characters of her play Topdog/Underdog exist inside a linear, psychologically motivated plot. But they repeat a spoken card game refrain that differentiates their characters and adds a musical, heightened reality to this down-to-earth play. Similarly, the rhythmic interruption of bowling is an echoed refrain in White Noise, and each character repeats a personal mantra throughout their journey. Rep & Rev in Parks’ later works supports the parts of her plays that live in heightened reality rather than defining the entire structure or use of language. The device may go unnoticed in her less overtly symbolic works, but its rhythm still resounds.
A SUZAN-LORI PARKS PRODUCTION TIMELINE
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1989
1990
THE DEATH OF THE IMPERCEPTIBLE MUTABILITIES IN THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE THIRD KINGDOM WORLD A dreamlike, fragmented meditation on Black experience in the United States. Presented as a series of non-chronological, thematically related scenes played in front of projected photographs.
A nonlinear, poetic, jazz-inspired exploration of the various forms of violence enacted against Black male bodies, featuring characters constructed of historical reference, stereotype, and the Christian Bible.
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1994
1996
THE AMERICA PLAY
VENUS
A reckoning with the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and the Great Hole that is the lack of African-American and Black history in the United States, conveyed through a Black gravedigger and Lincoln impersonator, and his wife and son.
A Brechtian, fictional chronicling of the real-life story of Saartjie Baartman, a South African Black woman displayed in 19th century London as a freak called the “Hottentot Venus,” set alongside a recitation from her autopsy.
1999
IN THE BLOOD The first of two “Red Letter Plays” based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hester, the Medea-like, homeless mother of five children, searches for a leg up in life and struggles with her children’s mostly absent fathers.
THE DEVICE MAY GO UNNOTICED IN HER LESS OVERTLY SYMBOLIC WORKS, BUT ITS RHYTHM STILL RESOUNDS.” Similarly, Parks’ characters run the gamut from purely symbolic to psychologically realistic. One of her most recent works, Father Comes Home from the Wars (2014), follows the slave Hero during the Civil War. Hero’s journey is modeled on The Odyssey, and while he speaks in realistic language, the characters around him utilize repetitive language and function allegorically. At the center of Parks’ career are her Red Letter Plays: In the Blood (1999) and Fucking A (2000). Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, both plays feature a Black female protagonist named Hester, after Hawthorne’s heroine, and grapple with the theme of motherhood. These two works sit at a stylistic and chronological middle ground for Parks. Both plays juxtapose the abstract, symbolist, stereotype-influenced characters of her early career with characters like the more psychologically realistic group of friends you’ll encounter in White Noise. Characters with names like The Mayor, Butcher, and Freedom Fund Lady populate the world of Fucking A. Unlike the main character, Hester, they do not function as dynamic characters. Instead, as stand-ins for larger, unchanging social forces, these characters interrogate the audience’s understanding of the relationship between the play’s fictional dystopia and today’s social order. In the Blood features similar characters, but they also speak soliloquies that allow psychological insight into their motivations. Much like the card game practice in Topdog/Underdog and the monologues in White Noise, the soliloquies of In the Blood function like solos
in jazz. They add moments of individuality to the musical construction of the drama, time to ruminate on one point of view before diving back into the cacophony. Although the characters in White Noise can seem like a departure from symbolic characters, each character functions as both a lifelike, relatable human being and analogue for familiar, troubling social beliefs and dynamics. Parks has an astonishing ability to weave allegoric characters and the music of Rep & Rev into any genre, and she has experimented with many. Death of the Last Black Man is a postmodern amalgamation of symbols. Venus disrupts and interrogates the audience’s spectatorship in the manner of Brechtian epic theatre. In the Blood and Fucking A both feature Medea-like figures in classical tragic situations set in dystopian futures. Topdog/Underdog is a naturalist drama set in a city somewhere in the United States, and Father Comes Home from the Wars combines Homeric epic with Greek drama. Though of a completely different tone, the realistic dramedy about four friends in 2019 that is White Noise manifests the same ability to combine the everyday with the fantastic, the lyrical with the colloquial, and the theatrical with the pedestrian. Parks can hide layers of reference and understanding inside relationships, craft poetry into what sounds like normal speech, and create characters that transcend their immediate realities. The genre of her acclaimed Topdog/Underdog, for instance, is naturalism, but its brothers metaphorically (and later, literally) stand in for the historical Abraham Lincoln and his assassin. Parks weaves together a story that allows for the simultaneous realism in their relationship and invocation of social themes such as the legacy of slavery and reenactment of violence as catharsis. The characters in White Noise also invite this kind of scrutiny. This group of friends offers us opportunities to connect with each as both individuals and representatives of larger conversations. Suzan-Lori Parks expertly gives to multilayered situations the multilayered characters that they deserve.
2014 2000
FUCKING A The second of two “Red Letter Plays” based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. In a dystopic world, Hester the Abortionist awaits the return of her son, and must reckon with disappointments of motherhood.
2001
2011 2006
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG 365 DAYS/ A linear, naturalistic 365 PLAYS play about two brothers — named for Abraham Lincoln (Link) and his assassin, Booth — and their fortunes in love, Lincoln impersonation, and running Threecard Monte.
365 coordinated productions across the United States of 365 plays Parks wrote over the course of a year in 2002–03. The plays vary in length, theme, and cast size.
THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS (BOOK) A Broadway musical adaptation of the Gershwin and Heyward opera Porgy and Bess, a tragic love story set in a Black tenement in South Carolina in the 1930s.
FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS PARTS 1, 2, AND 3 A Homeric epic following the slave Hero as he must join the Confederacy in the Civil War. A realistic story interspersed with poetic interludes by the Greekstyle Chorus.
2019
WHITE NOISE A dramedy about four friends — two interracial couples — who deal with the fallout of a radical experiment that explores the legacy of slavery and violence against Black bodies in the 21st century United States.
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BY SAR AH ROSE LEONARD
“A SUBTERFUGE OF NATURALISM”
DIRECTOR JAKI BRADLEY ON TONE AND CHARACTER IN WHITE NOISE BRINGING JAKI BRADLEY IN as the director of White Noise is exactly the type of move that thrills us at Berkeley Rep: pairing a gifted up-and-coming director with a legendary playwright sparks a partnership rife with possibility. Johanna Pfaelzer brought Jaki to New York Stage and Film — where Johanna was the artistic director before coming to Berkeley Rep — to direct a number of projects over the years. Now, Johanna brings Jaki to Berkeley to direct her first regional theatre production.
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How did the play find you? Johanna sent me the play and asked if I wanted to get coffee with Suzan-Lori to chat about it. Having coffee with Suzan-Lori Parks is the dream for most theatre-makers, so I was already honored to be considered and to be able to sit down with her. Suzan-Lori and I had a two-plus hour coffee and went really deep talking about the play, the characters, and what she’s interested in exploring. It’s an incredible honor to work on a play of hers. What draws you to White Noise? I tend to be interested in work that has an incredibly specific sense of world, and to writers who are asking big questions in their work — whether or not they are coming up with big answers. I’m drawn to plays that are willing to wrestle with thorny topics, and this play typifies that. It’s a play that feels like it has 16 characters because its scope is so big and it talks about so many giant issues. But actually, it’s this epic that exists in the space between four people. Suzan-Lori is a master of blending classical and contemporary references and mixing together individuals and archetype in her character work. How do you plan to build characters that are at once real people and also allegorical? In the space of the rehearsal room, we are treating these characters as complicated, three dimensional, empathetic humans. If you let too much air out of that balloon and talk about it in the rehearsal room as a parable, then you can end up with flattened characters and miss a lot of Suzan-Lori’s nuance. On the other hand, a lot of the conversations I’ve had with designers are about just what you mentioned: the allegorical nature of the piece, and how it functions like a myth. We’ve been talking about large theme, large iconography — its vocabulary is heightened in terms of how design manifests. But it serves the actors to treat it like psychological realism, even though you’re exactly right: White Noise is a subterfuge of naturalism. How would you describe the overall tone of the play? It’s very sneaky! It’s asking giant, uncomfortable, unsettling questions, but wrapping them up in a package of witty dialogue and friends from college. It’s sort of banter-y, and I think it contains comedy in order to access some of those deeper, darker things. If it started in a cynical place it would be hard to get an audience on board. Suzan-Lori excels at making something really fun…until it’s not. She lulls you into feeling like you know these people and understand how they behave, and then she has them do something that’s really beyond the pale.
How do you approach character work? It’s really about finding out what each of the characters needs and making sure that is thoroughly investigated and deeply felt. With the character of Leo, for instance, I think it’s essential we understand that he’s operating with this deep agita. On the surface, that agita is caused by lifelong insomnia, and then hearing white noise in his head all the time. But in a lot of ways, these operate as metaphors for anxiety, particularly the anxiety of being a Black man in America. If you understand the anxiety he’s dealing with the moment we start the play, it’ll help you connect to his need to propose something really radical, something that seems so extreme. It’s four intelligent, self-aware characters, and almost everything filters through their acknowledgement of what is and is not problematic about what they think and say. Which is really rare. Every time Dawn talks about herself as a do-gooder, and every time Misha talks about her show, they’re very aware of the things they say that are good or well-intentioned versus the things that are problematic or condescending. In the personal monologues that punctuate the play, each character gets a chance to make direct eye contact with the audience. Why do you think those moments are meant to distinctly break the fourth wall? In each of those four solos I find things that I relate to on a deeply personal level, whether or not the character voicing them shares any part of my life experience. Some of the events of the play are heightened enough that you might start to distance yourself from them. You might start to say, “I am different from the people in this world, I would never find myself in these situations, or if I did, I would never behave this way.” I think the direct address in those solos serves to confront that distancing and paint a more complicated portrayal of what’s going on. The play is so much about interracial relationships. Why do you think that is a primary focus of this story? I’ve thought a lot about the relationships in the play in terms of how the pairings of the four people get together. Some of the most complicated questions the play asks are, “What are the dynamics between all of these people who think of themselves as really woke, who imagine that they behave exactly the same around all of their friends? Who imagine that between the four of them their race is not an issue?” When of course it is. It’s inextricably linked to the way they interact with each other, the privileges they have. I think the friendships and the romantic relationships and the sexual relationships are all asking: Who are we in each other’s presences and in each other’s absences?
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Waves of change Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury, is part of a growing new canon of plays by Black writers. A co-commission from Berkeley Rep and Soho Rep, Fairview was developed as part of The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Shown here: Natalie Venetia Belcon, Monique Robinson, and Charles Browning in Berkeley Rep’s production (photo by Kevin Berne).
MAKING SOME NOISE
WRITERS OF COLOR AND THE CONTEMPORARY THEATRICAL LANDSCAPE BY MADELEINE OLDHAM
HISTORICALLY, THE AMERICAN THEATRE has largely excluded
Black writers from its canon. August Wilson’s work received a rare exception, as did one play by Lorraine Hansberry… and that’s about it. For decades, common parlance posited that production-worthy writing by Black authors didn’t exist. Artistic directors insisted that they just simply “chose the best plays.” We are finally as a field beginning to see this for the bias it is, and recognizing that our culture demands and deserves a more expansive ideology, particularly when it comes to our storytelling. For so long, western societies have assumed the white male experience as the baseline; and the people holding the power, wealth, and influence drove the choices about what stories got told. This hierarchical structure assumes a tacit agreement among the culture at large, and handily dismisses work that fails to fall in line. Important Black playwrights have written seminal texts for a very long time, and yet plays by Adrienne Kennedy, Alice Childress, Ed Bullins, or Amiri Baraka rarely receive productions on our stages. Literary giants Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin all wrote for the theatre. It’s not that Black writers didn’t exist; the mainstream decision-makers just weren’t paying attention.
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However, perhaps as a result of this glaring blind spot, generations of people of color and women learned how to see the world through the eyes of characters who didn’t necessarily look like them. From Willy Loman’s everyman struggles to Stanley Kowalski’s tragic brutality, these iconic stories encouraged audiences to ponder big questions about human nature, and their narratives were considered universal. Maybe, ironically, that’s why it took so long to invite a more inclusive conversation: the people with the power rarely had to imagine themselves in the shoes of someone “other.” This seems to have finally begun to shift: critics, artists, and audiences alike have recognized that we are living through a significant moment in the American Theatre, where artists of color are being embraced. Many large theatres program plays by Black playwrights regularly, and not just in February for Black History Month. Names like Lynn Nottage, Dominique Morisseau, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, and Suzan-Lori Parks appear regularly on year-end lists of the most produced playwrights. Another wave of successful writers is following hot on their heels, with Jocelyn Bioh, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Michael R. Jackson, and Ngozi Anyanwu gaining nationwide attention and acclaim for their work. Their
INTERVIEW WITH SUZAN-LORI PARKS CO NTIN U E D FROM PAG E 15
don’t know what their names are!” And there’s my son playing with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines, and I just started laughing. A couple days before, I had made up a little song for him because he couldn’t remember their names — “Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael.” So I had them in my head and I was like, “Ha, that would be so funny!” One of the keys to my work is to remember there’s a lot of joy in there. If we just reduce it down to a Black woman playwright who’s angry at you and shaking her finger, you miss 98 percent of my work. Just, boom: it’s gone, you miss it because actually I’m going, “Hey let’s all hang out and ruminate on this shit right? Let’s have a few laughs along the way because it’s deeply disturbing!”
plays, as well as those of a long list of peers, tell both American and international stories; work about the United States might focus on the African American experience, and it also might not. The New York Times ran a series of recent articles on what some people are considering a new Black canon, and what the nyt calls “a generation of Black playwrights whose fiercely political and formally inventive works are challenging audiences, critics, and the culture at large to think about race, and racism, in new ways.” Perhaps the next step involves eroding the expectation that Black playwrights always write about race, and imagining a world where the same license afforded to white writers applies to writers of color: the liberty to write the story they want to write, whatever that happens to be. In the meantime, despite there being more work to do, we can take a moment to acknowledge that progress has been made. It’s impossible to predict which of today’s plays will stand the test of time, but it’s a good bet that our future canon will look very different from the one behind us.
One of the constants we’ve noticed about the Peet’s Theatre is that laughter ripples in a distinctive way since we can all see each other in the audience. It was the same at The Public Theater — we were also in a thrust space and you could never tell who was gonna be laughing. Sometimes when Black people were laughing some of the other Black people were not laughing. Or some of the white people were laughing and looking at other white people like, “Hey should we laugh?” Or they were sitting with Black people who were like, “Yeah yeah let’s laugh!” Sometimes all the young people were not laughing and the older people were totally laughing. It’s generation! It’s racial! It’s income level! It’s very interesting how it all divides and hopefully you’re embracing it. The jokes open up the body to receive: here we are! Great, now that we got you warmed up we’re gonna talk about some shit. You’re ready. We’re all in this together. We can’t get away with pointing a finger at that one, because that one is just as culpable and just as innocent as you are, and what are we gonna do about it?
LISTEN TO THESE FEATURES AND HEAR EXTENDED INTERVIEWS ON REPISODES: THE BERKELEY REP PODCAST AT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BERKELEYREP 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 1
A BEGUILING MUSICAL HOLIDAY TREAT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY PIGPEN THEATRE CO. BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KATE DICAMILLO AND THE UNIVERSAL PICTURES ANIMATED FILM DIRECTED BY MARC BRUNI AND PIGPEN THEATRE CO. SPECIAL EVENT · RODA THEATRE NOV 21, 2019–JAN 5, 2020
SEASON SPONSORS
The original cast of The Tale of Despereaux at The Old Globe (photo by Jim Cox)
PRESENTS THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
WHITE NOISE BY
CAST
SUZAN-LORI PARKS
Dawn Therese Barbato Ralph Nick Dillenburg
DIREC TED BY
Leo Chris Herbie Holland
JAKI BRADLEY
Misha Aimé Donna Kelly
SEP TEM B ER 26- NOVEM B ER 10, 2019 PEE T ’ S THE ATRE · M AIN SE A SON
PRODUCTION STAFF
This show has a 15-minute intermission.
Scenic Design Adam Rigg Costume Design Tilly Grimes
White Noise is made possible thanks to the generous support of SEASON SPONSORS Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & Sue Steinberg The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Lighting and Video Design Alexander V. Nichols Sound Design Mikaal Sulaiman Casting Caparelliotis Casting Stage Manager Chris Waters The actors and stage manager are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
BERKELEY REP PRESENTS
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
JOHANNA PFAELZER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR · SUSAN MEDAK, MANAGING DIRECTOR
World Premiere Production by The Public Theater Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director Patrick Willingham, Executive Director
LE A D S P O N S O R S Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S Gail & Arne Wagner SPONSORS Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R Fred Karren
Affiliations The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union. The Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Designers in lort Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local usa-829, iatse.
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WHO’S WHO
THERESE BARBATO
AIMÉ DONNA KELLY
Therese is delighted to be at Berkeley Rep for the first time. She made her Broadway debut this year in King Lear with Glenda Jackson. Her off-Broadway credits include Prometheus Bound (Classic Stage Company), Mourning Becomes Electra (The New Group), and numerous productions with Slant Theatre Project. She has worked regionally with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, the Huntington Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theater, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Geva Theatre Center, and Olney Theatre Center. Film: Prom King, 2010. Therese trained at Boston University and the Juilliard School and is the host of “that’s what she said” podcast: thatswhatshesaidpod.com.
Aimé is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut. She has appeared off Broadway in Exit Strategy (Primary Stages) and Macbeth (Epic Theatre), in major regional productions of Byhalia, Mississippi (The Kennedy Center), Father Comes Home from the Wars (Goodman Theatre), and The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), and in the world premieres of James Ijames’ Moon Walk Man, Applied Mechanics’ We Are Bandits, and Jen Silverman’s The Dangerous House of Pretty Mbane. Film: Out of Order. TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Marvel’s Iron Fist. Three-time Barrymore nominee.
DAW N
NICK DILLENBURG R ALPH
Nick is thrilled to make his Berkeley Rep debut. Previous credits include The Real Thing (Broadway) with Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Off-Broadway credits include Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts (New York premiere at Second Stage), Teenage Dick (The Public Theater), Henry V in Into the Hazard: Henry V (Walkerspace), Hater with Merritt Wever (Ohio Theatre), and Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More. He has been seen at the Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Berkshire Theatre Group, Portland Stage, and many more. He is perhaps best known for playing CO Ryder Blake on Orange Is the New Black. Other TV credits include: Law & Order, Elementary, Person of Interest, and Blue Bloods. He is a proud alum of the University of Connecticut where he holds an mfa in Acting.
CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND LEO
Chris is making his Berkeley Rep debut in White Noise. Regional: The Box (Z Space), 12 Angry Men (Northern Stage), Six Degrees of Separation (Theatre Workshop of Nantucket). Williamstown Theatre Festival: Tempo, Soft. nyu: Zooman and the Sign, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Othello, Hamlet, Animal Farm. BA: Dartmouth College. mfa: nyu Grad Acting.
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MISHA
SUZAN-LORI PARKS P L AY W R I G H T
Suzan-Lori Parks was named one of time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” and is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. She is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” prize recipient and she’s also received The Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts. Broadway credits include The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which was awarded the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, and Topdog/ Underdog, which starred Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def and was directed by George C. Wolfe. The play received a Tony nomination and recently was named by the New York Times as the most important American play within the last 25 years. Other plays include In the Blood (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Fucking A, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World aka The Negro Book of the Dead, and, more recently, Father Comes Home from the Wars (parts 1,2&3) (Pulitzer Prize finalist). In 2003 Parks wrote a play a day culminating in 365 Days/365 Plays; the plays were produced globally in over 700 theatres, which, at the time, was said to be the largest theatrical grassroots undertaking of its kind. More recently, to reflect on the current presidential administration, Parks wrote 100 Plays for the First Hundred Days. Parks has authored a novel: Getting Mother’s Body, which is published by Random House. Her screenplays include Girl6 (directed by Spike Lee), Their Eyes Were Watching God (produced by Oprah Winfrey), Anemone Me (produced by Christine Vachon and Todd Haynes), and an adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son (directed by Rashid Johnson), which opened the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. New work includes The United States vs Billie Holiday (directed by Lee Daniels), a stage-musical adaptation of the film The Harder They Come, and she’s currently the show-runner for genius: Aretha Franklin for The National Geographic Channel. A former writing student of James Baldwin, Parks is now The Public Theater’s Master Writer Chair, where she performs Watch Me Work, a weekly writing perfor-
mance/class free of charge and open to all. She also writes songs and fronts her band: Suzan-Lori Parks & The Band.
JAKI BRADLEY DIREC TOR
Jaki is a Brooklyn-based director. Recent projects: Radio Island and Good Men Wanted (New York Stage and Film), Playing Hot (Ars Nova/Pipeline), 1969: The Second Man (New York Theatre Workshop), and Breeders (Tony Critic’s Pick). She has developed and presented work with The Public Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Denver Center, Clubbed Thumb, Goodspeed Musicals, Arena Stage, and the O’Neill Theater Center. She has been a member of the Civilians R&D Group, an artist-in-residence at Ars Nova, a Drama League artist-in-residence and TV/Film directing fellow, a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. Her second feature film, Detox, is currently in development with xyz Films. jakibradley.com
ADAM RIGG
SCENIC DESIGNER
Adam is a New York–based set and costume designer. Credits include Soho Rep, Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, New York Theatre Workshop, LA Opera, Theater An Der Wien in Austria, Signature Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, Teatro Municipal in Brazil, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Kennedy Center, and Theatre For A New Audience. Adam has been a resident artist with their performance collective I Am A Boys Choir at The Public Theater (Devised Theater Working Group) and Mabou Mines. Adam is a Princess Grace Award winner, a two-time American Theatre Wing Henry Hewes Design Award nominee, a Connecticut Critics Circle Award nominee, and a multiple Ovation Award nominee. They were a recipient of the Donald Oenslager Fellowship in 2012 and the Pierre Cardin Fellowship in 2015. BA, ucla. mfa, Yale School of Drama.
TILLY GRIMES
COSTUME DESIGNER
Tilly is an English set/costume designer based in New York. New York: Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre Company, The Atlantic, Ars Nova, WP Theatre, Red Bull, La MaMa, Clubbed Thumb. Regionally: American Repertory Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Wilma, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodspeed Opera, Alley Theatre, Two Rivers, Trinity Repertory, Pittsburgh Public, Boston Lyric Opera, and Philadelphia Opera. Recent recognition: Lucille Lortel nomination for Underground Railroad Game and The Government Inspector, Balsamo Grant for Immigrant Artists,
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WHO’S WHO
Outer Critics Circle Award, Irish Design Award, Irish Times Theatre Award, and Onstage Critics Award. Guest teacher: nyu Abu Dhabi, Duke, University of Rochester, nyu, Brown-Trinity Graduate Directing, and Trinity College Dublin. mfa: nyu. Instagram: missTgrimes tillygrimes.com
ALEXANDER V. NICHOLS
LIGHTING & VIDEO DESIGNER
Alexander’s design work extends from lighting, video, and projections to scenery, props, and performance environments, and spans from dance, theatre, music, and opera to architectural lighting and art installations. He returns to Berkeley Rep for his 45th production after most recently designing Angels in America (projections), The Good Book (lighting and projections), and Kiss My Aztec! (lighting). His work has been seen on Broadway, off Broadway, and in opera houses, concert halls, theatres, warehouses, and vacant lots throughout the world. Upcoming projects in the Bay Area include Fidelio at San Francisco Opera, Rocky Horror Picture Show at American Conservatory Theater, Harvey Milk at Opera Parallèle, and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Co. 45th Anniversary Season Premiere.
MIKAAL SULAIMAN
SOUND DESIGNER
Off-Broadway: Continuity (Manhattan Theatre Club); Passage, Fairview (Soho Rep; Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations); Recent Alien Abductions, Time’s Journey Through a Room (Play Co.); Meet Vera Stark (Signature Theatre); Blue Ridge (Atlantic Theatre); The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); Rags Parkland (Ars Nova; Drama Desk Award nomination); Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (New York Theatre Workshop); Master (Foundry Theatre Co.); Skittles: The Broadway Musical. Regional: Berkeley Rep (Fairview), Alley Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Trinity Rep, Pig Iron, Arden Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Early Morning Opera. mikaal.com
CAPARELLIOTIS CASTING CASTING
Recent and select Broadway: King Lear; Hillary and Clinton; The Nap; The Waverly Gallery; The Boys in the Band; Three Tall Women; Meteor Shower; A Doll’s House, Part 2; Jitney; The Glass Menagerie; The Front Page; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; It’s Only a Play; Blackbird; Fish in the Dark; Disgraced; Fences. Also: Signature, Atlantic, Ars Nova, Old Globe, McCarter, Goodman, and others. Film/TV: New Amsterdam (nbc), American Odyssey (nbc), How to Get Away with Murder pilot (abc), Ironside pilot (nbc), Steel Magnolias (Sony for Lifetime).
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CHRIS WATERS
S TAG E M A N AG E R
Chris was the stage manager for Berkeley Rep’s production of Paradise Square last season. He has worked internationally at the Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre, off Broadway at The Public Theater, and locally at American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theatre, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, and Z Space. Favorite past productions include The Great Leap, Office Hour, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, Hand to God, Orlando, and A House Tour of the Infamous Porter Family Mansion with Tour Guide Weston Ludlow Londonderry. Chris holds an MA in theatre management from University of California, Santa Cruz.
JOHANNA PFAELZER
ARTISTIC DIREC TOR
Johanna is delighted to join Berkeley Rep, and honored to serve as its fourth artistic director. She recently spent 12 years as the artistic director of New York Stage and Film (nysaf), a New York City–based organization dedicated to the development of new works for theatre, film, and television. nysaf is known for providing a rigorous and nurturing environment for writers, directors, and other artists to realize work that has gone on to production at the highest levels of the profession. Notable works that were developed under Johanna’s leadership include the 2016 Tony Award winners Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and The Humans by Stephen Karam, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, Junk and The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac, Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu, The Great Leap by Lauren Yee, John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer- and Tony Award–winning Doubt, The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses, The Jacksonian by Beth Henley, and Green Day’s American Idiot.
SUSAN MEDAK
M A N AG I N G D I R E C T O R
Susan has served as Berkeley Rep’s managing director since 1990, leading the administration and operations of the Theatre. She has served as president of the League of Resident Theatres (lort) and treasurer of Theatre Communications Group (tcg), organizations that represent the interests of nonprofit theatres across the nation. Susan chaired panels for the Massachusetts Arts Council and has also served on program panels for Arts Midwest, the Joyce Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Closer to home, she is the founding chair of the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee for Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Cultural Trust, and served on the board
of the Downtown Berkeley Association. Susan serves on the faculty of Yale School of Drama and is a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Mont Blanc Ladies’ Literary Guild and Trekking Society. She was awarded the 2012 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal by the Berkeley Community Fund and the 2017 Visionary Leadership Award by tcg. During her time in Berkeley, Susan has been instrumental in the construction of the Roda Theatre, the Nevo Education Center, the renovation of the Peet’s Theatre, and in the acquisition of the Harrison Street campus. She also worked with three consecutive mayors to help create Berkeley’s Downtown Arts District.
THERESA VON KLUG
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R
Theresa is excited to begin her fifth season at Berkeley Rep. Previously, she had over 20 years of experience in the New York not-for-profit performing arts sector where she has planned and executed events for dance, theatre, music, television, and film. Her previous positions include the interim general manager for The Public Theater; general manager/line producer for Theatre for a New Audience, where she opened its new state-of-the-art theatre in Brooklyn and filmed a major motion picture of the inaugural production of Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, released June 2015; production manager at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and New York City Center, including the famous Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert; and field representative/lead negotiator for the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. She holds a MS in Labor Relations and Human Resources Management from Baruch College.
AUDREY HOO
P R O D U C T I O N M A N AG E R
Audrey fell in love with the wild people and power of storytelling in theatre when she was 18 and has never looked back. With over 20 years of experience in production management, Audrey has worked with a wide range of international artists across all performance arts genres such as Paul Simon, Elaine Stritch, William Kentridge, Sam Mendes, Catherine Martin, and Bill T. Jones, and with institutions such as bam, Esplanade Singapore, La Jolla Playhouse, and American Conservatory Theater. Always loving a new story to tell and another “impossible” technical puzzle to solve, Audrey is grateful to be part of the Berkeley Rep family and is particularly proud to work alongside the immensely talented and dedicated production staff and artisans. Audrey holds a mfa in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
AMY POTOZKIN
D I R E C T O R O F C A S T I N G/ A R T I S T I C A S S O C I AT E
Amy begins her 30th season with Berkeley Rep. Through the years she has also had the pleasure of casting plays for act (Seattle), Arizona Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, B Street Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Marin Theatre Company, the Marsh, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Social Impact Productions Inc., and Traveling Jewish Theatre. She worked on various independent films, including Conceiving Ada, starring Tilda Swinton; The 8th Year of the Emergency by Maureen Towey; Haiku Tunnel and Love & Taxes, both by Josh Kornbluth; and Beyond Redemption by Britta Sjogren. Amy received her mfa from Brandeis University, where she was also an artist in residence. She has been an audition coach to hundreds of actors and a presentation/communication coach to many businesspeople. She taught acting at Mills College and audition technique at Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre, and has led workshops at numerous other venues in the Bay Area. Amy is a member of csa, the Casting Society of America, and received an Artios Award for Excellence in Casting for Angels in America.
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MADELEINE OLDHAM
D R A M AT U R G/ R E S I D E N T D R A M AT U R G/ D I R E C T O R , T H E G R O U N D F LO O R
Madeleine is the director of The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work and the Theatre’s resident dramaturg. She oversees commissioning and new play development, and dramaturged the world premiere productions of Fairview, Aubergine, The House that will not Stand, Passing Strange, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), among others. As literary manager and associate dramaturg at Center Stage in Baltimore, she produced the First Look reading series and headed up its young audience initiative. Before moving to Baltimore, she was the literary manager at Seattle Children’s Theatre, where she oversaw an extensive commissioning program. She also acted as assistant and interim literary manager at Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Madeleine served for four years on the executive committee of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and has also worked with act (Seattle), Austin Scriptworks, Crowded Fire, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Kennedy Center, New Dramatists, Playwrights Center, and Portland Center Stage.
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AURORATHEATRE.ORG | 510.843.4822 2081 ADDISON STREET, BERKELEY
MICHAEL SUENKEL
P R O D U C T I O N S TAG E M A N AG E R
Michael began his association with Berkeley Rep as the stage management intern for the 1984–85 season and is now in his 26th season as production stage manager. He has also worked with the Huntington Theatre (Boston), The Public Theater and New Victory Theatre (New York), La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, and many others. Internationally he has stage managed shows in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 7
WHO’S WHO
Canada. Among his favorite Berkeley Rep productions are Angels in America, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Eurydice, Endgame, The Beaux’ Stratagem, and Mad Forest.
BRUCE GOLDEN & MICHELLE MERCER SEASON SPONSORS
Michelle and Bruce have been ardent supporters of Berkeley Rep since 1993, when they moved with two young children in tow to Berkeley. Their favorite evenings at Berkeley Rep were usually the discussion nights, where often friends would join them for an early dinner, an evening of great theatre, followed by a lively discussion with members of the cast. Over the past 25+ years, Michelle and Bruce have recognized Berkeley Rep’s almost singular role in the Bay Area in promoting courageous new works and nurturing innovative, diverse playwrights. According to Michelle and Bruce, “There’s never been a more vital time in our lives when the power of theatre to transform, compel, inspire and energize has been more necessary. We are honored to be Season Sponsors, and especially proud to do so during Johanna Pfaelzer’s first year as artistic director.”
Additional staff Associate costume designer Caity Mulkearns Bowling coaches Irene Wilson & Tim Cagle II Casting associate Joe Gery Costume shop Alea Gonzales Deck crew Julia Formanek Sofie Miller Electricians Desiree Alcocer Gabriel Holman Miranda Caleigh Ketchum David Lynch Kathleen Parsons Melissa Ramirez Corey Schaeffer Nathanael C. Schiffbauer Meghan Schultz Kourtney Snow Caitlin Steinmann Matthew James Sykes Joshua van Eyken Fight consultant Dave Maier Intimacy consultant Maya Herbsman Production assistant Tait Adams Props Erin Gallagher Zoe Gopnik-McManus Sofie Miller 2 8 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2
JACK & BETTY SCHAFER
THE STRAUCH KULHANJIAN FAMILY
Betty and Jack are proud to support Berkeley Rep. Jack is a sustaining advisor of the Theatre, having served on the board for many years, and is now on the board of San Francisco Opera. He is an emeritus board chair of the San Francisco Art Institute and the Oxbow School. In San Francisco, Betty is involved with Wise Aging, a program for adults addressing the challenges of growing older. They have three daughters and eight grandchildren.
Roger Strauch has served on the Berkeley Rep board of trustees for the last 22 years and as an executive officer, including president. He is chair of The Roda Group (rodagroup.com), a high technology venture development company based in Berkeley. Roda incubated the search engine Ask.com, now located in Oakland and Cool systems (gameready.com), a medical technology company recently acquired by Avanos Medical. He is currently on the board of three cleantech companies, including a carbon capture company, Inventys (inventysinc. com), in which Roda is a major investor. Roger has served on the board of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute for 20 years and as an executive officer, including chair. He leads the Mosse Art Restitution Project which searches for family art illegally confiscated during Germany’s Third Reich. He is a board member of the Northside Center, a mental health services agency based in Harlem, NY and a member of UC Berkeley Engineering Dean’s college advisory board. His wife, Julie Kulhanjian, is an attending physician at Benioff ucsf Children’s Hospital, Oakland. They have three adult children.
SEASON SPONSORS
MICHAEL & SUE STEINBERG SEASON SPONSORS
Michael and Sue have been interested in the arts since they met and enjoy music, ballet, and live theatre. Michael, who recently retired as chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s West, served on Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees from 1999 to 2006 and currently serves on the board of directors of the Jewish Museum. Sue serves on the board of the World of Children. The Steinbergs have always enjoyed regional theatre and are delighted to sponsor Berkeley Rep this season.
Garner Takahashi Morris Andrew Thiels Samantha Visbal Scene shop Quinnton Barringer Jennifer Costley Bradley Hopper Isaac Jacobs Carl Martin Sean Miller Henry Perkins Lauren Williams Scenic artists Chrissy Curl Lassen Hines Serena Yau Sound Dutch Worthington Stage carpenter Gabriel Holman Sound operator Courtney Jean Video programmers Ahren Buhmann Haley Miller Wardrobe Eric Hiro Anna Slotterback Medical consultation for Berkeley Rep provided by Agi E. Ban DC, John Carrigg MD, Cindy J. Chang MD, Christina Corey MD, Neil Claveria PT, Patricia I. Commer DPT, Brenton Dowdy DPT, Kathy Fang MD PhD, Steven Fugaro MD, Whitney R. Johnson DDS, Olivia Lang MD, Allen Ling PT, and Christina S. Wilmer OD.
SEASON SPONSORS
FRANCES HELLMAN & WARREN BRESLAU LEAD SPONSORS
Warren and Frances are avid watchers of live theatre, which includes Berkeley Rep and an annual pilgrimage to London’s West End. Having loved Berkeley Rep for years, they are thrilled to sign on as sponsors of White Noise. They are very proud of the cutting edge, exceptional theatre that Berkeley Rep continuously produces. Frances’ day job is as professor of physics at UC Berkeley and Warren is a machinist and welder at 5th Street Machine Arts.
GAIL & ARNE WAGNER
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
Gail has been a Berkeley Rep trustee for seven years and now serves as board president. She retired from Kaiser in San Leandro where she was a hematologist and oncologist. She is the founder of Tiba Foundation (tibafoundation.org), an organization investing in community healthcare in an underprivileged district of western Kenya, in partnership with Matibabu. Arne is a retired lawyer. In his retirement, he teaches and tutors high school math part time, and serves as treasurer for Tiba Foundation. Gail and Arne have been attending the Theatre since they were students in 1972.
LEONARD X & ARLENE B. ROSENBERG SPONSORS
Len is a partner and co-head of the West Coast real estate at Mayer Brown llp. He is a member of Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees and is currently secretary of the board. Len also heads the local alumni chapter of his alma mater, Brandeis
University, and serves on the Alumni Association board of directors. Arlene, a recovering lawyer, serves on the board of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame and chairs its social justice and social action initiatives. Len and Arlene have two fantastic sons. Len and Arlene have enjoyed deepening their attachment to Berkeley Rep over the years, and are delighted to be sponsoring White Noise.
BART
SEASON SPONSOR
Bay Area Rapid Transit (bart) is the backbone of the Bay Area transit network and serves more than 100 million passengers annually. bart’s all-electric trains make it one of the greenest and most energy-efficient transit systems in the world. Visit bart.gov/bartable to learn more about great destinations and events that are easy to get to on bart (like Berkeley Rep!). At bart.gov/bartable, you can find discounts, enter sweepstakes offering fantastic prizes, and find unique and exciting things to do just a bart ride away. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for bartable This Week, a free, weekly email filled with the latest and greatest bartable fun!
PEET’S COFFEE
SEASON SPONSOR
Peet’s Coffee is proud to be the exclusive coffee of Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the namesake of Berkeley Rep’s state-of-the-art Peet’s Theatre. In 1966, Alfred Peet opened his first store on Vine and Walnut in Berkeley and Peet’s has been committed to the community ever since. Supporting Berkeley Rep’s high artistic standards and diverse programming is an extension of this mission. As the pioneer of the craft coffee movement in America, Peet’s is dedicated to smallbatch roasting, superior quality beans, freshness, and a darker roasting style that produces a rich, flavorful cup. Peet’s is locally roasted in the first leed® Gold certified roaster in the nation.
Who couldn’t use a little more drama? Be a Rep. Share the gift of live theatre. berkeleyrep.org/giftcert
WELLS FARGO
SEASON SPONSOR
Wells Fargo is proud to support the award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre as a season sponsor for the last 14 years because of its dedication to artistic excellence and community engagement. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance. The bank is committed to building better every day to meet our customers’ financial goals. For more information, please visit wellsfargo.com.
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THANKS TO OUR INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
We thank the many institutional partners who enrich our community by championing Berkeley Rep’s artistic and community outreach programs. We gratefully recognize these donors to Berkeley Rep, who made their gifts between May 2018 and August 2019.
FOUNDATION AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS G IF T S O F $ 10 0,0 0 0 A N D A B OV E The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The Shubert Foundation G IF T S O F $50,0 0 0 –9 9,9 9 9 Edgerton Foundation Jonathan Logan Family Foundation S Koret Foundation S National Endowment for the Arts The Bernard Osher Foundation The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust The Tournesol Project Woodlawn Foundation S
G IF T S O F $2 5,0 0 0 –49,9 9 9 Anonymous The Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Walter & Elise Haas Fund S
G IF T S O F $5,0 0 0 –9,9 9 9 Anonymous The Reva and David Logan Foundation Kenneth Rainin Foundation Reinhold Foundation
S
G IF T S O F $ 1,0 0 0 –4,9 9 9 Joyce & William Brantman Foundation Civic Foundation S Davis/Dauray Family Fund Karl & Alice Ruppenthal Foundation for the Arts rhe Charitable Foundation S
G IF T S O F $ 10,0 0 0 –24,9 9 9 Berkeley Civic Arts Program California Arts Council jec Foundation Miranda Lux Foundation S Ramsay Family Foundation S
CORPORATE SPONSORS SEASON SPONSORS
E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
American Express
SPONSORS The Andreason Group at Morgan Stanley Charles Schwab + Co., Inc. Mechanics Bank Wealth Management The Morrison & Foerster Foundation S
PE R FO R M A N CE S P O N S O R S Bayer S BluesCruise.com Gallagher Risk Management Services Is your company a corporate sponsor? Berkeley Rep’s Corporate Partnership program offers excellent opportunities to network, entertain clients, reward employees, increase visibility, and support the arts and arts education in the community. For details visit berkeleyrep.org/ support or call Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904.
CO R P O R AT E PA R T N E R S Armanino llp Deloitte hdr Remodeling S Panoramic Interests Schoenberg Family Law Group ubs
IN-KIND SPONSORS E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
SPONSORS Farella Braun + Martell llp Hugh Groman Catering Latham & Watkins llp Mayer Brown llp Rhoades Planning Group Semifreddi’s
Hotel Shattuck Plaza is the official hotel of Berkeley Rep.
PA R T N E R S Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen Ann’s Catering Aurora Catering Autumn Press Babette at bampfa César Comal Donkey & Goat Winery
Eureka! Fonda Gather Restaurant Hafner Vineyard La Note ocho Candy Picante Revival Bar + Kitchen zino
MATCHING GIFTS The following companies have matched their employees’ contributions to Berkeley Rep. Please contact your company’s HR office to find out if your company matches gifts. Accenture · Adobe Systems Inc. · Apple · Applied Materials · Autodesk Inc. · Bank of America · Chevron Corporation · Clorox · Dolby · Electronic Arts Outreach · Farallon Capital Mangement · Fremont Group Foundation · Gap Foundation · Genentech · GE Foundation · Google · ibm Corporation · Intel Corporation · John & Maria Goldman Foundation · Johnson & Johnson · Kresge Foundation · Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory · Levi Strauss & Co. · Microsoft · Morrison & Foerster · norcal Mutual Insurance Company · Oracle Corporation · Pixar Animation Studios · Salesforce · S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation · Shell Oil · Sidley Austin llp, San Francisco · Union Bank, The Private Bank · Varian Medical System · visa u.s.a., Inc. · The Walt Disney Company · Workday
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LEGEND
Ground Floor donor
S
School of Theatre donor
K
in-kind gift
M
matching gift
SPONSOR CIRCLE SEASON SPONSORS Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & Sue Steinberg The Strauch Kulhanjian Family LE A D S P O N S O R S Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau Casey Keller / Peet’s Coffee Ken & Gisele Miller S Stewart & Rachelle Owen Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S Barbara Bass Bakar S Susan Chamberlin Bill Falik & Diana Cohen Kerry Francis & John Jimerson Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney Jean & Michael Strunsky Gail & Arne Wagner
SPONSORS Anonymous Edward D. Baker Maria Cardamone & Paul Matthews David & Vicki Cox Anne & Anuj Dhanda Robin & Rich Edwards David & Vicki Fleishhacker Paul Friedman & Diane Manley Jill & Steve Fugaro Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff Paul Haahr & Susan Karp Scott & Sherry Haber Jerry & Julie Kline Jack Klingelhofer Michael H. Kossman Suzanne LaFetra Collier Ken Lamb Sandra & Ross McCandless Ed Messerly & Sudha Pennathur S Marianne Mills Pam & Mitch Nichter Norman & Janet Pease Marjorie Randolph Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro
Ed & Liliane Schneider Laura & Nicholas Severino M Stephen & Cindy Snow Barry Lawson Williams & Lalita Tademy Linda & Steven Wolan Felicia Woytak & Steven Rasmussen A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R S Anonymous Shelley & Jonathan Bagg Edith Barschi Neil & Gene Barth Valerie Barth Michelle Branch & Dale Cook Brook & Shawn Byers Lynne Carmichael Cindy Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson K John Dains Paul Daniels, in honor of Peter Yonka Narsai & Venus David K Cynthia A. Farner Tracy & Mark Ferron Steven Goldin Ms. Wendy E. Jordan
Fred Karren, in memory of Beth Karren Seymour Kaufman & Kerstin Edgerton Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim Eileen & Hank Lewis S Susan & Moses Libitzky Helen M. Marcus in memory of David J. Williamson Martin & Janis McNair Steven & Patrece Mills M Dugan Moore & Philippe Lamoise Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel Barbara L. Peterson Gary & Noni Robinson Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman Cynthia & William Schaff Pat & Merrill Shanks Shirlen Fund, in memory of Shirley & Philip Schild Vickie Soulier Foundation Lisa Taylor Dave & Cindy Trummer M Susan West S Wendy Williams Martin & Margaret Zankel
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE PA R T N E R S Anonymous Tarang & Hirni Amin Berit Ashla & Aron Cramer Ed Brakeman Jennifer Chaiken & Sam Hamilton Constance Crawford Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards Nancy & Jerry Falk Lily Fan Karen Grove & Julian Cortella Ms. Teresa Burns Gunther & Dr. Andrew Gunther Richard & Lois Halliday K Earl & Bonnie Hamlin Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley Kathleen & Chris Jackson Barbara E. Jones, in memory of William E. Jones Duke & Daisy Kiehn Dixon Long Peter & Melanie Maier Dale & Don Marshall Sumner & Hermine Marshall Charles Marston & Rosa Luevano Susan Medak & Greg Murphy Pure Dana Fund Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich Jaimie Sanford & Ted Storey Beth & David Sawi Linda & Nathan Schultz Ed & Ellen Smith Audrey & Bob Sockolov Sheila Wishek
B E N E FAC TO R S Anonymous (4) Norman Abramson, in memory of David Beery Martha & Bruce Atwater Nina Auerbach Anne M. Baele Linda & Mike Baker Michelle L. Barbour BluesCruise.com Broitman-Basri Foundation Ben Brown & Louise Rankin Don & Carol Anne Brown Tracy Brown & Greg Holland Italo & Susan Calpestri Ronnie Caplane Terrence & Deborah Carlin K Leslie Chatham & Sunny St. Pierre Betsey & Ken Cheitlin Barbara & Rodgin Cohen Julie & Darren Cooke Karen & David Crommie Dr. Jim Cuthbertson Barbara & Tim Daniels David Deutscher Corinne & Mike Doyle James Emery & P. Irving Merle & Michael Fajans Lisa & Dave Finer Thomas & Sharon Francis Lisa Franzel & Rod Mickels Herb & Marianne Friedman Mary & Stan Friedman Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi Daniel & Hilary B. Goldstine Nelson Goodman Garrett Gruener & Amy Slater Migsy & Jim Hamasaki Bob & Linda Harris
Vera & David Hartford Dan & Shawna Hartman Brotsky Ruth Hennigar Bonnie & Tom Herman Richard N. Hill & Nancy Lundeen Elaine Hitchcock Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling M James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen, in honor of Rita Moreno Paula Hughmanick & Steven Berger Bill & Lisa Kelly Stephen F. Kispersky Jean Knox, in memory of John T. Knox Wanda Kownacki Woof Kurtzman & Liz Hertz Jane & Mike Larkin, in memory of Lynn & Gerald Ungar Randy Laroche & David Laudon Louise Laufersweiler & Warren Sharp Nancy & George Leitmann, in memory of Helen Barber Sidne Long & Hank Delevati Elsie Mallonee Rebecca Martinez Henning Mathew & Michelle Deane M Erin McCune Miles & Mary Ellen McKey Kirk McKusick & Eric Allman Stephanie Mendel Toby Mickelson & Donald Brody Andy & June Monach Ronald Morrison Jerry Mosher Carol J. Ormond Linda & Gregory Orr Janet & Clyde Ostler
We are pleased to recognize first-time donors to Berkeley Rep, whose names appear in italics.
Judy O’Young, MD & Gregg Hauser Sandi & Dick Pantages Mary Ann Peoples, in memory of Lou Peoples Malcolm & Ann Plant Linda & Eric Protiva Teresa L. Remillard M Bill Reuter & Ruth Major Audrey & Paul Richards Sheli & Burt Rosenberg, in honor of Len & Arlene Rosenberg Joe Ruck & Donna Ito Monica Salusky & John K. Sutherland Jeane & Roger Samuelsen Jackie Schmidt-Posner & Barry Posner Valerie Sopher Sally & Joel Spivack Karen Stevenson & Bill McClave Deborah Taylor Barrera Alison Teeman & Michael Yovino-Young Beth Weissman Elizabeth Werter & Henry Trevor Patricia & Jeffrey Williams Sam & Joyce Zanze Mark Zitter & Jessica Nutik Zitter Jane & Mark Zuercher
THANKS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL DONORS
We thank the generous individuals in our community who help Berkeley Rep produce adventurous, thought-provoking, and thrilling theatre and bring arts education to thousands of young people every year. We gratefully recognize these donors to Berkeley Rep, who made their gifts between May 2018 and August 2019. To make your gift and join this distinguished group, visit berkeleyrep.org/give or call 510 647-2906.
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THANKS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL DONORS
CH A M PIO N S
Anonymous (5) · George & Marcia Argyris, in honor of Tony Taccone · Naomi Auerbach & Ted Landau · Leslie & Jack Batson · Lois A. Battuello · Stephanie Beach · Don & Gerry Beers M · Caroline Beverstock · Naomi Black M · Marc Blakeman M · Linda Brandenburger · Eric Brink & Gayle Vassar M · Lea Chang · Terin Christensen · Richard & Linnea Christiani · Andrea Clay & Collin Smikle · Robert Council & Ann Parks-Council · John & Izzie Crane M · Lori & Michael Crowley · Francine & Beppe Di Palma · Susan English & Michael Kalkstein · Paul Feigenbaum & Judy Kemeny · Ben & Mary Feinberg · Martin & Barbara Fishman · Patrick Flannery · James & Jessica Fleming · Dean Francis · Donald & Dava Freed · Chris R. Frostad M · Kelli M. Frostad · Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter · Mrs. Gale K. Gottlieb · Mary & Nicholas Graves · Anne & Peter Griffes · Thomas & Elizabeth Henry · Christina Herdell, in memory of Vaughn & Ardis Herdell · Don & Janice Holve · The Hornthal Family, in honor of Susie Medak · Christopher Killian & Carole Ungvarsky · Lynn Eve Komaromi, in honor of the Berkeley Rep Staff · Janet Kornegay & Dan Sykes · Susilpa Lakireddy · Kevin & Claudine Lally · Helen E. Land · Sherrill Lavagnino & Scott McKinney · Andrew Leavitt & Catherine
Lewis · Glennis Lees & Michael Glazeski · Ellen & Barry Levine · Jennifer S. Lindsay · Marcia C. Linn · Mark & Roberta Linsky · Jay & Eileen Love · Lois & Gary Marcus, in memory of Ruth Weiland, Mose & Selma Marcus · Charlotte & Adolph Martinelli · Janet & Michael McCutcheon · Joanne Medak & Peter Katsaros · Ruth Medak · Dan Miller · Geri Monheimer, in honor of Tony Taccone · Scott Montgomery & Marc Rand · Brian & Britt-Marie Morris · Daniel Murphy · Piermaria Oddone & Barbara Saarni Oddone · Judith & Richard Oken · Lynette Pang & Michael Man · Gerane Wharton Park · Bob & MaryJane Pauley · David & Mary Ramos · Helen Richardson · Maxine Risley, in memory of James Risley · John & Jody Roberts · The Rockridge Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation · Galen Rosenberg & Denise Barnett · Boyard & Anne Rowe · Dace P. Rutland · Lisa Salomon · Dan Scharlin & Sara Katz, in honor of Tony Taccone · Dr. David Schulz M · Teddy & Bruce Schwab · Andrew & Marva Seidl · Brenda Buckhold Shank, M.D., Ph.D. · Beryl & Ivor Silver · David & Lori Simpson · Amrita Singhal & Michael Tubach · Cherida Collins Smith · Alice & Scott So · Gary & Jana Stein · Monroe W. Strickberger · Susan Terris · Sam Test · Henry Timnick · William van Dyk & Margi Sullivan · Sarah Van Roo · Robert &
Sheila Weisblatt · Wendy Willrich · Charles Wolfram & Peter Wolfram · Sally Woolsey
A DVO C AT E S
Anonymous (13) · Abbey Alkon & Jonathan Leonard · Dr. & Mrs. Francis Barham · Richard & Kathi Berman · James A. Biondi · Steve Bischoff · Patti Bittenbender · Beverly Blatt & David Filipek · Bob & Barbara Brandriff · Peter Brock · Don Campbell & Family · Robert & Margaret Cant · Laura Chenel · Ciara Cox & Margaret Wu · Pam & Mike Crane · Jill & Evan Custer · Kathleen Damron · Bill DeHart · Harry & Susan Dennis · Kathy Down & Greg Kelly · Nancy Drooker & Alix Sabin · Linda Drucker · Burton Peek Edwards · Sue J. Estey · Brigitte & Louis Fisher · Daniel Friedland & Azlynda Alim M · David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson · Karl & Kathleen Geier · Linda Joy Graham · Rico & Maya Green · Sheldon & Judy Greene, in honor of Tony Taccone · Don & Becky Grether · Irene & Robert Hepps · Howard Hertz & Jean Krois · Peter Hobe & Christina Crowley · Jeff Hoel · Al Hoffman & David Shepherd · Mr. & Mrs. Harold M. Isbell · Mr. & Mrs. C. D. Jensen · Anne & Douglas Jensen · Ann L. Johnson · Corrina Jones · Reese & Margaret Jones · Claudia & Daly Jordan-Koch · Kaarel Kaljot · Helmut
H. Kapczynski & Colleen Neff · Beth & Tim Kientzle M · Peggy Kivel · Susan Kolb · Ken & Monica Kulander · Carol P. LaPlant · Barbara & Thomas Lasinski · Marcia C. Linn · Tom Lockard & Alix Marduel · Jane & Bob Lurie · Gerry & Kathy MacClelland · Bruce Maigatter & Pamela Partlow · Naomi & Bruce Mann · Sue & Phil Marineau · M. Mathews & K. Soriano · Karen & John McGuinn · Brian McRee · Jeff Miner · Aki & Emi Nakao · Ron Nakayama · Judy Ogle · Suzette S. Olson · Brian D. Parsons · Bob & Toni Peckham, in honor of Robert M. Peckham, Jr. · Regina Phelps · James F. Pine M · F. Anthony Placzek · Roxann R. Preston · Kathleen Quenneville & Diane Allen · Danielle Rebischung · Mrs. William C. Robison · Deborah Dashow Ruth, in memory of Leo P. Ruth · Barbara Sahm & Steven Winkel · Mitzi Sales & John Argue · Dorothy R. Saxe · Joyce Schnobrich · Sarah E. Shaver · Steve & Susan Shortell · Arlene & Matthew Sirott · Carra Sleight · Suzanne Slyman · Jerry & Dick Smallwood · George & Camilla Smith · Sigrid Snider · Nancy E. Thomas · Karen Tiedemann & Geoff Piller · Rick Trautner · Mike & Ellen Turbow · Mr. Leon Van Steen · Lisa Wade · Louise & Larry Walker · Mr. & Mrs. William Webster · Robert T. Weston · Ron & Anita Wornick · Moe & Becky Wright · Stan Zaks
We gratefully recognize the following donors whose contributions were received from August 7, 2019 to August 29, 2019. S U PP O R T E R S
Martha & Arthur Luehrmann · Susan & Tom Moore · David & Suzanne Redell · Rick & Stephanie Rogers · Tracy Thompson · Gerald & Lynda Vurek-Martyn
CO N T RIB U TO R S
Anonymous · Linda & Bill Barron · Michael & Lori Ferguson · Nancy & Mark Jacobs · Joe & Ann Jensen · Pat Kelly & Jennifer Doebler · Tim & Camilla McCalmont · William & Lee Rust
FRIE N D S
Julie Absey & Roy Allen · Celeste Chin · Eric P. Essman · Alan & Riitta Gluskin · Philippe Henri · Carole Johnson · Nadine Joseph · Elizabeth Kasl · Derek T. Knudsen · Kim Liu · Melissa Lunden · Marilyn Radisch · Estephania & Martin Reese · Robert Ripps & Steven Spector · Bettina Rosenberg · Beatriz St. John · Carol Tanenbaum & John Adams · Nancy Vinson · Charles Wagner & Thomas Culp
Special thanks to Marjorie Randolph for establishing The Marjorie Randolph Professional Development Fund, which supports the Berkeley Rep staff.
Members of this Society, which is named in honor of Founding Director Michael W. Leibert, have designated Berkeley Rep in their estate plans. Unless the donor specifies otherwise, planned gifts become a part of Berkeley Rep’s board-designated endowment funds, where they will provide the financial stability that enables Berkeley Rep to maintain the highest standards of artistic excellence, support new work, and serve the community with innovative education and outreach programs, year after year. For more information on becoming a member, visit our website at berkeleyrep.org/mls or contact Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904 or dhepps@berkeleyrep.org.
The society welcomes the following new members: Christina Crowley
Sustaining members as of September 2019:
Anonymous (8) Norman Abramson & David Beery Sam Ambler Carl W. Arnoult & Aurora Pan Ken & Joni Avery Nancy Axelrod Edith Barschi Neil & Gene Barth Susan & Barry Baskin Linda Brandenburger Broitman-Basri Family Bruce Carlton & Richard G. McCall Stephen K. Cassidy Paula Champagne & David Watson Terin Christensen Sofia Close Andrew Daly & Jody Taylor M. Laina Dicker Thalia Dorwick Rich & Robin Edwards Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards Bill & Susan Epstein William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards Bill Falik & Diana Cohen Dr. Stephen E. Follansbee & Dr. Richard A. Wolitz Kerry Francis
3 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2
Dr. Harvey & Deana Freedman Joseph & Antonia Friedman Paul T. Friedman Dr. John Frykman Laura K. Fujii David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter Mary & Nicholas Graves Elizabeth Greene Sheldon & Judy Greene Don & Becky Grether Richard & Lois Halliday Julie & Paul Harkness Linda & Bob Harris Fred Hartwick Ruth Hennigar Daria Hepps Douglas J. Hill Hoskins/Frame Family Trust Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley Robin C. Johnson Janice Kelly & D. Carlos Kaslow Bonnie McPherson Killip Lynn Eve Komaromi Michael H. Kossman Scott & Kathy Law Dot Lofstrom Helen M. Marcus Dale & Don Marshall Sumner & Hermine Marshall Rebecca Martinez Sarah McArthur LeValley Suzanne & Charles McCulloch John G. McGehee Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Margaret D. & Winton McKibben Ruth Medak Susan Medak & Greg Murphy Stephanie Mendel Toni Mester Shirley & Joe Nedham Theresa Nelson & Bernard Smits Pam & Mitch Nichter Sheldeen G. Osborne Sharon Ott Amy Pearl Parodi Barbara L. Peterson Regina Phelps Margaret Phillips Marjorie Randolph Gregg Richardson Bonnie Ring Living Trust Tom Roberts David Rovno Tracie E. Rowson Deborah Dashow Ruth Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro Brenda Buckhold Shank,M.D., Ph.D. Kevin Shoemaker Valerie Sopher Michael & Sue Steinberg Dr. Douglas & Anne Stewart Jean Strunsky Mary, Andrew & Duncan Susskind Henry Timnick Guy Tiphane Phillip & Melody Trapp Janis Kate Turner Gail & Arne Wagner Dorothy Walker
Barry & Holly Walter Weil Family Trust—Weil Family Susan West Karen & Henry Work Anders Yang, JD Martin & Margaret Zankel
Gifts received by Berkeley Rep:
Anonymous Estate of Suzanne Adams Estate of Helen Barber Estate of Fritzi Benesch Estate of Carole B. Berg Estate of Nelly Berteaux Estate of Jill Bryans Estate of Paula Carrell Estate of Nancy Croley Estate of Carol & John Field Estate of Rudolph Glauser Estate of Audrey J. Lasson Estate of Zandra Faye LeDuff Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz Estate of John E. & Helen A. Manning Estate of Richard Markell Estate of Timothy A. Patterson Estate of Gladys Perez-Mendez Estate of Margaret Purvine Estate of Leigh & Ivy Robinson Estate of Stephen C. Schaefer, in honor of Jean and Jack Knox Estate of Peter Sloss Estate of Harry Weininger Estate of Grace Williams
STAFF AND BOARD ARTISTIC
ELECTRICS
Director of Casting & Artistic Associate Amy Potozkin Director, The Ground Floor/ Resident Dramaturg Madeleine Oldham Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard Artistic Associate Katie Craddock Artists under Commission Todd Almond · Christina Anderson · Lisa Peterson · Sarah Ruhl · Tori Sampson · Joe Waechter
Master Electrician Frederick C. Geffken Assistant Master Electrician Sarina Renteria Production Electrician Kenneth Coté
PRODUCTION Production Manager Audrey Hoo Associate Production Manager Zoey Russo
STAGE MANAGEMENT Production Stage Manager Michael Suenkel Stage Managers Lisa Iacucci · Kelly Montgomery · Libby Unsworth · Chris Waters Assistant Stage Managers Chiquita Lu · Sofie Miller · Megan McClintock · Leslie M. Radin Production Assistants Tait Adams · James McGregor · Sofie Miller
STAGE OPERATIONS Stage Supervisor Julia Englehorn
PROPERTIES Properties Supervisor Jillian A. Green Associate Properties Supervisor Amelia Burke-Holt Props Artisan Dara Ly
SCENE SHOP Technical Director Jim Smith Associate Technical Director Matt Rohner Shop Foreman Sam McKnight Master Carpenter Jamaica Montgomery-Glenn Carpenters Patrick Keene · Read Tuddenham
SCENIC ART Charge Scenic Artist Lisa Lázár
COSTUMES Costume Director Maggi Yule Tailor Kathy Kellner Griffith Draper Star Rabinowitz First Hand Janet Conery Wardrobe Supervisor Barbara Blair
SOUND & VIDEO Sound & Video Supervisor Lane Elms Sound Engineers Angela Don Michael Kelly Associate Sound & Video Supervisor Chase Nichter
ADMINISTRATION Finance Director Jared Hammond Associate General Manager Amanda Williams O’Steen Executive Assistant Kate Horton Bookkeeper Kristine Taylor Associate Finance Director Eric Ipsen Payroll Administrator Katie Riemann CRM Project Manager Destiny Askin
DEVELOPMENT Director of Development Lynn Eve Komaromi Associate Director of Development Daria Hepps Director of Individual Giving Laura Fichtenberg Stewardship Officer Woof Kurtzman Institutional Giving Manager Julie McCormick Special Events Manager Abbey Bay McSweeney Individual Giving Manager Kelsey Scott Grant & Communications Coordinator Maddie Gaw Development Coordinators Nina Feliciano · Alexandra Josefski Development Database Coordinator Jane Voytek
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Director of Marketing and Communications Peter Yonka Director of Public Relations Tim Etheridge Communications & Digital Content Director Karen McKevitt Senior Marketing Manager Seth Macari Webmaster Christina Cone Video & Multimedia Producer Benjamin Michel Program Advertising Pamela Webster Front of House Director Kelly Kelley Front of House Manager Debra Selman
House Managers Elizabeth Anne Bertolino · Jerry Chirip · Maggie Collette · Dalia Garcia · Aleta George · Aaron Higareda · Matisse Michalski · Angelica Phung · Tuesday Ray · Debra Selman Lead Concessionaires Molly Conway · Nina Gorham · Johnny Lloyd · Nichelle Pete Concessionaires April Ancheta · Herman Angulo · Jessica Bates · Katie Braninburg · Suleekho Muse Nicole Bruno · Jason Brunswick · Benji Carver · Si Mon’ Emmett · Lorenz Gonzales · Michelle Hernandez · Julian Islas · Evan Lester · Mikayla McLaurin · Suleekho Muse · James Oh · Win Wallace · Marissa Wolden Ticket Services Manager Dora Daniels Box Office Supervisor Julie Gotsch Subscription Manager Laurie Barnes Box Office Lead Alina Whatley Box Office Agents Chelbi Dickens · Topher Hester · Oliver Kampman · Victoria Phelps · Timothy Quirus · Alina Whatley
OPERATIONS Facilities Director Mark Morrisette Facilities Manager Ashley Mills Building Engineer Thomas Tran Building Technician Kevin Pan Facilities Assistants Lemont Adams · Theresa Drumgoole · Sophie Li · Guy Nado · Jesus Rodriguez · LeRoy Thomas
Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer
Managing Director Susan Medak
General Manager Theresa Von Klug
Lisa Anne Porter · Diane Rachel · Rolf Saxon · Elyse Shafarman · Arje Shaw · Joyful Simpson · Cleavon Smith · M. Graham Smith · Elizabeth Vega · James Wagner · Dan Wolf Teaching Artists Miriam Ani · Nicole Apostol Bruno · Michael Curry · Shannon Davis · Adrian Gebhart · Maya Herbsman · Clara Kamunde · Rebecca Longfellow · Dave Maier · Carla Pantoja · Bryan Quinn · Radhika Rao · Lindsey Schmeltzer · Adam Smith · Teddy Spencer · Zoe SwensonGraham · Joshua Waterstone · Elena Wright · Noelle Viñas · Alejandra Wahl Teen Core Council Milo Bailey · Simon Bhuller-Riordan · Fidela Bisseret Martinez · Eleanor Boes · Bianca Carmango · Lilly-Karin Dandenell · Scarlette De Beauvior · Dina Fukunaga · Maera Klein · Malia Lee · Tatiana Lira · Grace Nelligan Zohar Naaman · Alex Pansino · Roan Pearl · Madeleine Riskin-Kutz · Jade Rogers · Avelina Rivezzo-Weber · Sarah Schecter Docent Co-Chairs Matty Bloom, Content Joy Lancaster, Recruitment Selma Meyerowitz, Off-Sites and Procedures
2019–20 BERKELEY REP FELLOWSHIPS
Bret C. Harte Directing Fellow Nailah Harper-Malveaux Company Management Fellow Reagan O’Malley Costume Fellow Anthony Fiore Development Fellow Samuel Levit Education Fellow Zandra Starks Graphic Design Fellow Haly Roy BERKELEY REP SCHOOL OF THEATRE Harry Weininger Sound Fellow Director of the School of Theatre Jaime Tippett Rachel Hull Lighting/Electrics Fellow Associate Director Hannah Solomon MaryBeth Cavanaugh Marketing/Digital Program Manager, Training and Communications Fellow Community Programs Katherine Gunn Anthony Jackson Peter F. Sloss Literary/ Education Communications and Dramaturgy Fellow Partnerships Manager Charlie Dubach-Reinhold Marcela Chacón Production Management Fellow Data and Tessitura Analyst Kali Grau Katie Riemann Properties Fellow Community Programs Administrator Del Hanson Modesta Tamayo Scenic Art Fellow Education Youth Associate Samantha (Sam) Welsing Si Mon’ Emmett Scenic Construction Fellow Faculty Kathryn Bosch Bobby August Jr. · Erica Blue · Stage Management Fellow Jon Burnett · Rebecca Castelli · Elizabeth Kamla Eugenie Chan · Iu-Hui Chua · Jiwon Chung · Sally Clawson · Deborah Eubanks · Susan Garner · Christine Germain · Nancy Gold · Gary Graves · Marvin Greene · Susan-Jane Harrison · Gendell Hing-Hernández · Melissa Hillman · William Hodgson · Andrew Hurteau · Anthony Jackson · Kasey Klem · Krista Knight · Julian López-Morillas · Dave Maier · Reid McCann · Patricia Miller · Alex Moggridge · Edward Morgan · Jack Nicolaus · Slater Penney · Greg Pierotti ·
BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Gail Wagner Vice Presidents Bruce Golden Stewart Owen Felicia Woytak Treasurer Henning Mathew Secretary Leonard X Rosenberg Chair, Governance Committee Michelle Branch Chair, Audit Committee Kerry L. Francis Board Members Berit Ashla Carrie Avery Edward D. Baker David Cox Anne Nemer Dhanda Robin Edwards Jill Fugaro Karen Galatz Steven Goldin Scott Haber Casey Keller Michael Kossman Jonathan C. Logan Sandra R. McCandless Susan Medak Sudha Pennathur Johanna Pfaelzer Laura Severino Richard Shapiro Roger Strauch Jean Z. Strunsky Kelli Tomlinson Steven C. Wolan Past Presidents Helen C. Barber A. George Battle Carole B. Berg Robert W. Burt Shih-Tso Chen Narsai M. David Thalia Dorwick, PhD Nicholas M. Graves Richard F. Hoskins Jean Knox Robert M. Oliver Stewart Owen Marjorie Randolph Harlan M. Richter Richard A. Rubin Edwin C. Shiver Roger Strauch Martin Zankel Sustaining Advisors Rena Bransten Diana Cohen William T. Espey William Falik David Fleishhacker Paul T. Friedman Nicholas M. Graves David Hoffman Richard F. Hoskins Dale Rogers Marshall Helen Meyer Dugan Moore Peter Pervere Marjorie Randolph Patricia Sakai Jack Schafer William Schaff Michael Steinberg Michael Strunsky Martin Zankel
Founding Director
Michael W. Leibert Producing Director, 1968–83 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 3
MAKING THEATRE
KNOCKING DOWN SOCIETAL NORMS... AND BOWLING PINS, TOO Bowling is a shared pastime for the characters in White Noise, so the artistic team took a short trip down San Pablo Avenue to bond over a few games at Albany Bowl, while the cast (playing as their characters, as you can see on the screen) took lessons from Irene Wilson and Tim Cagle II. Fun fact: Like playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, actors Nick Dillenburg and Chris Herbie Holland each spent a lot of their youth at bowling alleys, with parents who were devoted bowlers. 3 4 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 2
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y T H ER E S E B A R B ATO
CHANGE THE NARRATIVE TAKE ON THE STAGE REGISTER NOW FOR FALL CLASSES!
BERKELEYREP.ORG/CLASSES 510 647-2972
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R O F S U JOIN
Dianne Wiest in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days P H OTO BY J OA N M A R C U S
Suzan-Lori Parks
Culture Clash (Herbert Siguenza, Richard Montoya, and Ric Salinas)
NEXT UP
Jocelyn Bioh
Lisa Peterson
John Gallagher, Jr.
Michael Mayer
A world premiere from one of Berkeley Rep's beloved playwrights!
BECKY NURSE OF SALEM
BY SAR AH RUHL DIREC TED BY ANNE K AUFFM AN M AIN SEASON · PEET ’ S THEATRE DEC 12, 2019–JAN 26, 2020
Out of work and out of love, Becky Nurse is an ordinary but strong-willed grandmother just trying to get by in post-Obama America. She’s also the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Rebecca Nurse, who was infamously executed for witchcraft in 1692—but things have changed for women since then, haven’t they?
STILL TO COME...
CULTURE CLASH (STILL) IN AMERICA SWEPT AWAY WRIT TEN AND PERFORMED BY CULTURE CL ASH RICHARD MONTOYA , RIC ARDO SALINAS, AND HERBERT SIGUENZ A DIREC TED BY LISA PETERSON M AIN SEASON · PEET ’ S THEATRE FEB 20–APR 5, 2020
SCHOOL GIRLS
WO RLD PRE M IE RE MU S IC AL!
BOOK BY JOHN LOGAN MUSIC & LYRIC S BY THE AVET T BROTHERS MUSIC ARR ANGEMENTS & ORCHESTR ATIONS BY CHRIS MILLER & BRIAN USIFER DIREC TED BY MICHAEL M AYER LIMITED SEASON · PEET ’ S THEATRE JUN 14–JUL 26, 2020
IN FEC TIOU S COM E DY WITH TE ETH!
OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY BY JOCELYN BIOH DIREC TED BY AWOYE TIMPO M AIN SEASON · RODA THEATRE M AR 19–M AY 3, 2020
HAPPY DAYS
BY SA MUEL BECKET T DIREC TED BY JA MES BUNDY WITH DIANNE WIEST LIMITED SEASON · RODA THEATRE M AY 26–JUL 5, 2020
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THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
BOOK, MUSIC , AND LYRIC S BY PIGPEN THEATRE CO. BASED ON THE NOVEL BY K ATE DIC A MILLO AND THE UNIVERSAL PIC TURES ANIM ATED FILM DIREC TED BY M ARC BRUNI AND PIGPEN THEATRE CO. SPECIAL PRESENTATION · RODA THEATRE NOV 21, 2019–JAN 5, 2020
SEASON SPONSORS
The Avett Brothers
E XC LU S IV E LY FO R YO U
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