Download Molieres Tartuffe at Berkeley Rep

Discover our 2015–16 season 16 · Shining a light on Tarell Alvin McCraney 20 · The program for Head of Passes 25
THE BERKELEY REP M AGA ZINE
2 014 –15 · I S S U E 6
Elizabeth “Libby” Clark, joined in 2009
Early Morning
ROWING
Brightens Her Smile.
As the East Bay’s most appealing senior living community, we offer spacious apartment homes, wonderfully
prepared menu options in our lovely dining room, worry-free maintenance, Wi-Fi, and an expanding host of
amenities. All of which offer Libby the freedom to grab an oar and become one of the “Ladies of the Lake,”
a rowing club on nearby Lake Merritt. To learn more, or for your personal visit, please call 510.891.8542.
100 Bay Place Oakland, CA 94610
stpaulstowers-esc.org
A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Episcopal Senior Communities. License No. 011400627 COA #92 EPSP694-01NI 031315
I N T H I S I S SU E
BE R K E L E Y R E P P R E S E N T S HEAD OF PAS S E S · 2 5
M E E T T H E C A ST & C R E W · 26
P ROL O G U E
CON T R I BU T OR S
A letter from the artistic director · 5
Foundation, corporate, and in-kind sponsors · 33
A letter from the managing director · 7
Individual donors to the Annual Fund · 34
Michael Leibert Society · 36
R E P ORT
9
Making a splash: The secrets to showcasing
water onstage · 9
Meet the architects: The masterminds behind
the Thrust Stage’s renovation · 11
Being their best selves: Story Builders helps
young students around the Bay Area · 13
The Ground Floor selects 14 projects for its
Summer Residency Lab · 15
11
Discover our 2015–16 season · 16
A BOU T BE R K E L E Y R E P
Staff, board of trustees,
and sustaining advisors · 37
FYI
Everything you need to know about our
box office, gift shop, seating policies,
and more · 38
F E AT U R E S
The Head of Passes: A turbulent
geography · 18
Shining a light on Tarell Alvin McCraney · 20
20
T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E
201 4 –15 · I S S U E 6
The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published
at least seven times per season.
Editor
Karen McKevitt
For local advertising inquiries, please
contact Ellen Felker at 510 548-0725 or
[email protected].
Art Director
Nora Merecicky
Cover: Cheryl Lynn Bruce
P H OTO BY M I C H A EL B R O S I LO W
Graphic Designer
Sarah Jacczak
Writers
Amy Bobeda
Lexi Diamond
Lynn Eve Komaromi
Julie McCormick
Kashara Robinson
Contact Berkeley Rep
Box Office: 510 647-2949
Groups (10+): 510 647-2918
Admin: 510 647-2900
School of Theatre: 510 647-2972
Click berkeleyrep.org
Email [email protected]
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3
THE
I want
a nest egg,
but
how
many twigs
will I need?
CON VERSATION
My Retirement Plan® is a simple, online tool that creates manageable steps to keep your
retirement savings on track. Try it online or come in or call and we’ll go over it together.
wellsfargo.com/conversations
1-866-876-3168
© 2015 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. (1241368_14409)
P ROL OG U E
from the Artistic Director
Tragedy is the end of narrative. I’m not talking
about fictional tragedy, the stories we make up to describe
terrible events. I’m talking about the experience itself, the
encounter with an unexplained loss so painful as to send us
into endless grief. The kind of loss that provokes the most obvious and most profound question: Why? Why did it happen?
Why him, why her, why them, why me, why us????? Posing
the question implies that there is an answer, and the eternal
lack of an answer forces us to live in a different way: without
a story that sufficiently explains why, without a narrative that
makes sense, without a way for us to create meaning….
It seems to me that that moment, the moment we come face to face with
tragedy, is the place where faith resides. Not religious faith, necessarily, but faith in
anything that allows us to keep living, something that provides either distraction or
comfort or meaning. Something that quiets the mind, stills the body, and fills the
spirit. The options are many, from God to family to art to commerce to sports to
alcohol…. We are very creative/destructive when it comes to figuring out ways to
survive the next day. And in the same way that tragedy marks us, so does our choice
of faith. Who we choose to become in this life is defined by the way we seek solace
from suffering.
Which brings us to Head of Passes, the newest play from the astonishingly gifted
Tarell Alvin McCraney. Never short on ambition, Tarell has written a play about faith
for people of every persuasion, from those adhering to orthodox religious principles
to fervent atheists. Set in Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi River, the story
is focused on an elderly African American woman named Shelah Reynolds, whose
powerful life force is centered on her love for her family and her unshakeable belief
in God. Her religion resides comfortably at the core of her being, providing guidance
and solace and humor as she moves through the challenges of running a business and
supporting her children.
But in the blink of an eye, Shelah’s world is completely upended. A torrential
wave of natural and unnatural events is unleashed upon her, with little to no explanation. As the chrysalis of her tragedy unfolds, we watch her struggle to redefine her
life. A life without common understanding. A life without a narrative. Beyond rational
thought and overrun with feeling. Shelah Reynolds is thrust into a world she does not
know. And she pulls us along with her. She invites us into the arms of our own suffering. Into the wellspring of what lies beyond us. Into the arms of faith.
“R.Kassman represents the finest quality
pianos and the expertise to provide the
very best of service.”
Robin Sutherland
PRINCIPAL PIANIST, SF SYMPHONY
Sincerely,
Tony Taccone
R.KASSMAN
Purveyor of Fine Pianos
www.rkassman.com
843-B Gilman Street, Berkeley • 510.558.0765
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 5
Coldwell Banker Berkeley
April 2015
Volume 47, No. 6
Locally Grown, Globally Known
1495 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
510.486.1495 | CaliforniaMoves.com
/coldwellbankerberkeley | /cbmarketingwest
Paul Heppner
Publisher
Susan Peterson
Design & Production Director
©2014 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark licensed
to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Coldwell
Banker Residential Brokerage Office is Owned by a Subsidiary of NRT LLC. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell
Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of Coldwell Banker
Real Estate LLC, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage or NRT LLC. CalBRE License #01908304.
Ana Alvira, Deb Choat,
Robin Kessler, Kim Love
Design and Production Artists
Mike Hathaway
Bay Area Sales Director
Staci Hyatt, Marilyn Kallins,
Terri Reed, Tim Schuyler Hayman
San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives
Marty Griswold
Seattle Sales Director
Joey Chapman, Gwendolyn Fairbanks,
Ann Manning, Lenore Waldron
Seattle Area Account Executives
Carol Yip
Sales Coordinator
Jonathan Shipley
Ad Services Coordinator
www.encoreartssf.com
MEET US IN THE BAR
We offer a selection of premium spirits, including
craft cocktails curated by East Bay Spice Company,
and a satisfying array of sweets and savories.
Paul Heppner
President
Mike Hathaway
Vice President
Erin Johnston
Communications Manager
Genay Genereux
Accounting
Corporate Office
425 North 85th Street
KATHIE LONGINOTTI
REALTOR® and Berkeley Rep Subscriber
Seattle, WA 98103
p 206.443.0445
f 206.443.1246
[email protected]
800.308.2898 x105
www.encoremediagroup.com
510.981.3032
www.AtHomeEastBay.com
6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media
Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget
Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved.
©2015 Encore Media Group. Reproduction
without written permission is prohibited.
P ROL OG U E
from the Managing Director
In my neighborhood, everything is in bloom.
Perennials have re-seeded and are just now showing their
greenery. All those bulbs I planted last year are beginning
to poke through the soil. There’s a reason, beyond the sheer
beauty, that I revel in a spring garden. I love the daily reminder that my investment of past effort is so richly rewarded with
vivid growth!
Spring is a time for growth and bloom at Berkeley Rep
too, as evidenced by that wondrous moment every year when
our magnificent wisteria transforms the Narsai M. David
Courtyard. Spring is also the time of year when our fellows, the 15 young theatre
practitioners whom we have collectively mentored since last August, start their own
annual ritual. They start blooming too. They land jobs at theatres from Southern California to New York, and several end up working here at Berkeley Rep. Some will go
on to creative jobs in other fields. This year is no different. We’ll be sending this year’s
crop of fellows off to run small theatres and to be staff members at larger companies.
And we’re proud of them all. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we can look
across our field with great delight at the impact our investment has reaped in artists,
artisans, and administrators working in theatres across this country.
But this is also a time of year when people make individual choices that are about
growth and transition. We have two staff members in particular who have set this
spring as a moment to make profound change. Karen Racanelli, who has been our
general manager for almost 20 years, has decided that it is time to take on a new challenge, which for her will mean working to expand Hershey Felder’s already prodigious
artistic empire! Although our audience members may not realize her impact, all of
us at Berkeley Rep will feel her loss even as we wish her well. Kitty Muntzel, who has
draped almost every woman’s costume on our stage for 25 years, has decided that
it is time to put away her shears and start learning some new skills. Kitty’s career in
our costume shop has brought accolades from colleagues, from designers, and from
actors who have worn her clothes throughout more than two decades on our stages.
Berkeley Rep is, at its core, about people. If we are good, it is because our people
are good. We take enormous pride in the quality of our staff and in the value that
they all place on learning, teaching, and doing. All that learning, all that teaching is in
the service of producing high-quality theatre. And it is an honor to produce that work
for all of you.
Warmly,
Susan Medak
Thrive in the
Hustle and Bustle
of Urban Life
Enjoy the vibrant
backdrop of culture and fine
dining, music and the arts.
Our community is nestled in
a quiet neighborhood on a
tree-lined street, with the
luxury of boutique living,
close to all the senior
activities of UC Berkeley’s
wonderful campus.
Independent & Assisted Living | Memory Care
Call today!
(510) 221-6620
VintageBerkshire.com
2235 Sacramento Street | Berkeley
License# 15600994
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 7
5
1
0
2
e
siv
n
e
t
n
I
e
r
t
a
e
h
T
mer
T
U
O
T
C
A
E
M
O
C
Sum
G
N
I
K
A
M
E
s.
R
l
T
e
A
v
e
E
l
H
T
all
F
r
O
o
f
S
T
p
N
m
E
a
c
M
E
L
ed
s
E
a
E
b
H
e
T
l
b
R
E
m
–12
9
e
V
s
S
O
E
n
D
C
e
A
R
G
7
G
DISa dynamic,
U
A
–
8
4
–
1
JULY
RADES 6
in
CREATE
Build an original play
adapted from mythology
and fairy tales.
G –JUL 10
JUN 15
STUDY
Collaborate with professional
playwrights, directors, and
teaching artists.
EXPLORE
Learn acting, movement, improv,
and more in interactive classes
and electives.
PERFORM
Showcase the final piece
on a Berkeley Rep stage.
berkeleyrep.org/summerintensive
FI N A N C I A L A I D AVA I L A B L E
PLUS!
Filmmaking & Acting Intensive
GR ADES 9–12 · JULY 13–31
R E P ORT
Rain and flood effects in Dear Elizabeth with actors Mary
Beth Fisher and Tom Nelis; scenic design by Annie Smart
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F K E V I N B ER N E .CO M
Making a splash: The secrets to
showcasing water onstage
BY AMY BOBEDA
The human body is composed of roughly
60 percent water. As a necessary life force, good old H20 can
bring us both comfort and fear. We need water to survive, yet
it can drown us in seconds. At Berkeley Rep, water has proved
quite a dramatic scene partner. Sometimes water portrays a
character, other times a mood or feeling. In Head of Passes, is
the rain just a representation of the Mississippi Delta climate
or is it the hand of God incurring wrath upon the protagonist?
In Pericles, Prince of Tyre, the storm drives the prince off course,
rewriting his tale. Water serves as an emotional memory of
ocean tides in Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth. No matter the story,
water can play quite a role on Berkeley Rep’s stages.
Water needs special consideration and extra rehearsal time.
Before it can touch an actor, stage water is chemically treated to
prevent mold and bacteria growth, in turn creating a corrosive
environment for the scenery’s steel framing. And at Berkeley
Rep, our scene shop artisans carefully plan the ways we can
reuse and recycle the water in our productions.
Faking the natural effects of rain or flooding requires
extensive research and development. In the early days of
Hollywood, artists would portray rain with milk, because the
translucent white liquid would read on film, and actual water
wouldn’t. In theatre, we can use actual water, but like all things
onstage, it’s more complicated than simply turning on a hose.
The last time Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage received a shower was in the 2013 production of Mark Wing-Davey’s Pericles,
Prince of Tyre. The storm scene featured actress Anita Carey
spraying down the prince’s boat with a fire hose—a simple and
effective moment fueled by some serious engineering.
The stage was designed like a giant wooden shower. Each
segment of flooring was individually waterproofed, and then
caulked to the next when installed, creating waterproof floor
seams. This prevented leaks that could cause structural damage to the stage’s subfloor. The stage itself had a small incline,
encouraging water to drain in the same direction, much like a
gym shower. The minimalist set design allowed for the use of
a tarp backdrop, which kept water from reaching beyond the
sliding door hidden behind the tarp—but just to be safe, the
crew rolled towels under the sliding door each night to stop
any leaks from traveling upstage. A tank lived beneath the
stage, and water cycled through the drainage system onstage,
filtered back into the tank, and pumped through the hose—
eight times a week.
Pericles also gave the costume department a wet and wild
ride. The designer’s vision of both timeless and contemporary clothing left some leeway in the storm scene, but after
the pressurized dousing, they learned that vintage military
CO N TIN U E D O N N E X T PAG E
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 9
Anita Carey douses David Barlow and Evan Zes in Pericles, Prince of Tyre;
scenic design by Peter Ksander and Douglas Stein
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F K E V I N B ER N E .CO M
We’d like the Head of Passes set to be a surprise, but here’s a peek at
the construction of the hydraulic cylinder and the steel frame that’s the
stage left platform. Pictured: Scenic Construction Fellow Will Gering
P H OTO S BY N O R A M ER EC I C K Y
1 0 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
rain slickers are not always waterproof. Actors were provided
insulated underclothes and warm, dry costumes to change into
immediately after the storm.
Another recent work of water, Dear Elizabeth provided
entirely different challenges for the production staff. To accompany the imagery of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell’s
poetry, there was a system of rivers and tides onstage, creating
an upstage downpour and a downstage rising tide.
The mechanics behind the downpour were rather simple.
The top of the set featured a trough, similar to a gutter. Before
the show, the crew would turn on one of two tanks that fed
the trough from the trap room. The gutter would fill to the
brim, and then they’d turn it off. When the stage manager
called the cue, they would turn the pump on, and the trough
would overfill, spilling over onto the stage, just like an overflowing bathtub.
A Plexiglas lip was installed at the front of the stage to
prevent water from flowing into the audience. Just behind
the Plexiglas was another trough beneath a grate that was
painted to match the floorboards. When cued, the second tank
would turn on and push the water 25 feet straight up from
beneath the stage, creating the effect of a rising tide. For the
audience, the visual was both startling and beautiful, as sound
and projections transported them to the seashore, yet the set
remained grounded in the characters’ respective homes.
The scene shop artisans had to ensure there wasn’t any
water damage to the three-walled set. The flooring was built
of marine-grade plywood to prevent swelling and buckling.
The walls had twice as many load-bearing studs as usual, and
a pond liner was set between the show floor and the actual
stage to prevent water damage.
Unlike in Pericles, the actors in Dear Elizabeth hardly got
wet. We provided duplicates of their shoes and Elizabeth Bishop’s handbag, but for the most part they remained dry.
Dear Elizabeth and Pericles have prepared our production
departments for the waterworks of Head of Passes. Despite the
fact that this is the last show to grace the Thrust Stage before
this year’s renovation, no one has thrown caution to the wind.
The furniture has waterproof liners beneath the upholstery.
The costumes are machine washable. A drying rack for rugs
has been set up in the Roda for use between shows. Without
giving away too much story, or theatre magic: it will rain, it will
pour, and the earth will move—we hope it moves you too.
R E P ORT
Donn Logan and Marcy Wong, chief architects
of Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage renovation
P H OTO BY N O R A M ER EC I C K Y
Meet the architects
The masterminds behind the Thrust Stage’s renovation
B Y LY N N E V E K O M A R O M I
If you’re an avid patron of the arts in Berkeley, it’s likely you’ve
experienced the architecture of Donn Logan and Marcy Wong. They have designed a
number of local performance venues including those of our neighbors Freight & Salvage and the Jazzschool (now called California Jazz Conservatory), and they’ve led the
renovations of the Crowden School and Zellerbach Hall’s mezzanine café and lobby.
So when it came time to begin planning the renovation of Berkeley Rep’s signature Thrust Stage, it was only natural to bring this husband/wife team on board.
“Donn and Marcy have been involved with Berkeley Rep for over 25 years,” says
Managing Director Susie Medak. “We have a shorthand with them that means we
don’t have to explain everything. Donn has volunteered his time as a member of our
facilities committee for as long as I’ve been here, and he understands the dynamic of
how we make choices.”
Donn was the chief architect of the Roda Theatre and designed the 600-seat
proscenium house to be in relationship to the Thrust Stage. “Keeping the brick façade
consistent and uniting the two theatres with a central courtyard was important,” he
says. “And now with the renovation of the Thrust, the new box office is an opportu-
“It’s been fantastic
working with Donn and
Marcy to reimagine
how the Thrust can
be upgraded to serve
the needs of today’s
audiences and artists.”
— SU SIE M E DA K,
M A NAG ING DIR EC TOR
CO N TIN U E D O N N E X T PAG E
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 1
Marcy and Donn review the plans amidst
construction of the new box office
P H OTO BY N O R A M ER EC I C K Y
nity to both create a focus and identity for Berkeley Rep that also has the practical
advantage of patron way-finding and circulation.”
Marcy continues, “Our aim is to refresh the Theatre’s public spaces, and upgrade
the technical aspects including lighting and acoustical. What will be most noticeable to patrons will be the visual improvements, like new finishes and lighting in the
Theatre’s public spaces. But what will have greater impact are the acoustical improvements, which will make the space much more pleasant. Patrons won’t be specifically
aware of all the reasons that the environment feels better.”
Meyer Sound’s Constellation Acoustic System will bring the Thrust Stage up to
the 21st century with state-of-the-art sound technology and design. It will give sound
designers nearly unlimited range in creating specific environments to help advance
a play’s narrative. And for audiences, the system will provide an unparalleled level of
audibility and clarity, no matter the seat location.
As Susie says, “It’s been fantastic working with Donn and Marcy to reimagine
how the Thrust can be upgraded to serve the needs of today’s audiences and artists.”
The first phase of renovation was completed last year by transforming the space
that was most recently the costume shop into a bar where patrons can enjoy cocktails, light bites, and refreshments before, during, and after a performance. Now construction is underway for the expanded box office, which will unite the Thrust and the
Roda with its central location in the courtyard. Come June, the Thrust will undergo its
makeover, reopening in late winter/early spring of 2016.
Originally designed by the late Gene Angell, who was also the architect for the
neighboring Aurora Theatre, the Thrust Stage is heralded for its intimacy. But after 35
years of wear and tear, the theatre is in need of attention. “The ‘bones’ of the place
will remain the same,” assures Marcy. “Just a ‘face lift’ is happening.”
The Thrust Stage renovation project is being funded through contributions
to the Create Campaign, Berkeley Rep’s $50 million comprehensive campaign
which also funds the development of its Harrison Street campus into a center
for new work and supports the Annual Fund through 2017.
To make a gift in support of Berkeley Rep’s plans, visit
berkeleyrep.org/create
1 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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
R E P ORT
Teaching artist Elena Wright leads students in a Target
Story Builders workshop at Anna Yates Elementary
P H OTO BY C H E S H I R E I S A AC S
Being their best selves
Story Builders helps young students around the Bay Area
BY KASHARA ROBINSON
“Once upon a time Anansi the Spider was walking,
walking, walking through the forest when something caught
his eye.” On any given day, you may hear these same words
ringing down the halls of Bay Area elementary schools. Imagine a classroom of first graders circled around as one student
crouches low, pretending to be a moss-covered rock along
Anansi’s path. What you see is Story Builders in action!
Story Builders, one of the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre’s
most popular K–12 programs, is an interactive elementary
school workshop that uses the fundamentals of theatre to
explore literature. Students practice critical thinking, selfexpression, and communication skills as they bring stories
and universal themes to life with the help of a professional
teaching artist.
Although students and their teacher can experience the
workshop in a one-hour visit, the demand for longer residencies continues to increase yearly. Thanks to partnerships between the School of Theatre and outside organizations, many
classrooms are diving into storytelling on a deeper level due
to an ongoing commitment to support residencies within local
schools. This year, for example, Berkeley Public Schools Fund is
granting at least one 10-hour residency in each of the 11 public
elementary schools in Berkeley, while Target underwrote 10 10hour workshops this fall for schools in Oakland and Emeryville.
Some schools, such as Marshall Elementary in San Francisco
and Olinda Elementary pta, directly arrange multiple residencies for their teachers.
What makes these collaborations so impactful is the ability to provide the more in-depth engagement that comes with
multiple visits per class. So what is it like to be in the classroom, unlocking the Story Builders curriculum with a rambunctious group of first graders over the course of several weeks?
Who better to ask than the teaching artists themselves? Berkeley Rep Teaching Artist Elena Wright paints the picture:
As a teaching artist, what is the benefit of conducting
a multiple-hour residency compared to a single onehour workshop?
With a residency, we actually get to work on risk-taking,
team-building, and repetition of skills that we establish in the
beginning. Just like anything, the more time we can invest, the
further we can go.
Over the course of time, what skills do you see the
students developing?
Each class and each child is different. Sometimes, it’s the
shy kids who get to find their voice. Their confidence grows as
CO N TIN U E D O N N E X T PAG E
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 3
they take bigger risks, and they are rewarded for it. Sometimes it’s the student that
the teacher warns me about at the beginning of class who may have behavioral issues
that ends up learning how to focus all that energy into a character and ends up being
a model performer. Or it may be that the entire class learns how to share focus and
problem-solve as a group. There are so many mental muscles being used: text analysis, imagination, memorization, teamwork, taking risks, reading comprehension, and
ultimately, integrating all of those skills into one focused, committed performance.
A Berkeley Institution Since 1985
Our seasonal menu is based on
local produce, sustainable
seafood and meats.
Join us for a
pre-theatre dinner
Tuesday to Sunday.
1329 Gilman Street, Berkeley
510-527-9838
www.lalimes.com
What is your favorite Story Builders book to teach?
My usual response would be Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock because there is
a satisfying amount of repetition—all the characters get tricked, and the kids get to
say “KPOM” and fall down. Repeatedly. Now we have a new story, Lucha Libre, that I
love teaching for many of the same reasons. It’s very theatrical. The kids get to play
over-the-top characters, there is some trickery and secrets, and they get to pretend
to have a wrestling match. Hard to beat that one!
What do students most respond to in the workshop curriculum?
Just like adults, they respond to subversive elements and the darker side of
things. Characters that lie, fight, and don’t behave the way they’re supposed to. They
love getting to embody those characters, and I love letting them in a safe environment. There is always a lesson in those stories that the kids easily relate to.
Students from Shu Ren International
School reimagine Backstage Cat
with teaching artist Elena Wright
P H OTO BY N O R A M ER EC I C K Y
follow us on
facebook, twitter and instagram
“This was a great opportunity for the kids to
express themselves in a very fun way. I think it
developed confidence in most students [and]
was a great way to teach story elements.”
—A DR I E N N E W I L L I A M S, L AU R E L E L E M E N TA RY
E MG
Do you have a memorable example of a moment of impact with a student?
There’s almost always one “problem” student in every group—the kid who’s too
loud, acts out, is the class clown, or wants attention all the time—and almost without
fail, that kid is the one with the “gift.” That student is the one who has all the ingredients of a skilled performer. Most of their classroom career they are told “no,” or that
they are “too much.” Once that student finds a place where those things could be
seen as gifts that not everyone naturally has, they often become fearless leaders who
help guide the group to a strong performance. This happens frequently.
Is theatre important in the classroom?
The most important thing people get out of theatre is compassion. Theatre
involves taking risks, being vulnerable, and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.
There are lots of characters with “bad” qualities. Kids learn to have compassion not
only for the characters they play, but also for their fellow classmates and for themselves. It’s practicing the delicate art of being human in difficult circumstances, and
kids get to practice being their best selves.
1 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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
R E P ORT
2014 Summer Residency Lab artists
P H OTO BY N O R A M ER EC I C K Y
The Ground Floor selects 14
projects for its Summer Residency Lab
BY JULIE MCCORMICK
The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the
Creation and Development of New Work is thrilled to announce the 14 projects it has selected for the fourth Summer
Residency Lab. As the umbrella for all new play activity, The
Ground Floor seeks to enhance and expand the processes by
which Berkeley Rep makes theatre. This includes supporting
our numerous commissioned artists and developing shows for
the season, as well as The Ground Floor’s flagship program,
the Summer Residency Lab. By inviting diversely talented
artists to work on new projects at any stage of the creative
process, the lab promotes vital crosspollination among artists
and champions the spirit of innovation inherent to Berkeley
and the Bay Area.
This June, some of the nation’s most prominent and promising writers, directors, designers, and composers will unite at
the Theatre’s campus in West Berkeley. Dozens more local and
out-of-town actors and directors will join the lab, bringing the
number of participating artists close to 100.
“We are incredibly excited about this year’s Summer Lab
artists,” says Madeleine Oldham, director of The Ground Floor
and resident dramaturg at Berkeley Rep. “From commissioned
artists and returning friends to brand new faces, we feel as
though we’re living up to our promise to ourselves to build
as diverse and rigorous a creative atmosphere as possible.
Playwrights, designers, musicians, directors, actors, and solo
performers will come together in a rare opportunity to imagine alongside each other. In the world of our incubator, a salsa
nightclub act about an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro
can grow alongside a multidisciplinary adaptation of a Murakami story, or a play that explores international adoption with
puppets. Now in the fourth year of the Summer Lab, we feel
as though we’re hitting our stride.”
2015 SUMMER RESIDENC Y L AB ARTIST S
César Alvarez and Lucas Hnath: Castro
Hansol Jung: Wolf Play
Christopher Chen and Mei Ann Teo: Passage
Sean Christopher Lewis and Jennifer Fawcett: Ghost Story
Julia Cho and Liesl Tommy: Aubergine
Anaïs Mitchell: Hadestown
Jackie Sibblies Drury: Untitled
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and Danny Scheie: A House Tour of
the Infamous Porter Family Mansion with Tour Guide Weston
Ludlow Londonderry
Anne Galjour: The Alligator Ball
Rinne Groff: Fire in Dreamland
Annie Smart: The Summer Play
Eric Hoff, Will Davis, and SK Kerastas: Color Guard
(working title)
Jamie Hook: Rules to Follow in Cloud Engineering
Naomi Iizuka and Rachel Dickstein: Sleep
To learn more about the Summer Lab and this year’s
projects, visit our website at berkeleyrep.org/summerlab
DISCOVER THE
2SUBSCRIPTION
15–16
Amélie
SEASON
Book by Craig Lucas · Music by Daniel Messé
Lyrics by Nathan Tysen & Daniel Messé
Musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby
Choreographed by Sam Pinkleton
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
Limited Season · Roda Theatre
Aug 2015 · World premiere
The Hypocrites’
Pirates of Penzance
Book by W. S. Gilbert · Music by Arthur Sullivan
Directed and adapted by Sean Graney
Co-adapted by Kevin O’Donnell
Co-directed by Thrisa Hodits
Music direction by Andra Velis Simon
Limited Season · Osher Studio · Oct 2015
Join the party in our new Osher Studio on Center
Street with a delightfully immersive, lovingly loopy,
and fantastically eccentric 80-minute take—think
banjos, beach balls, and guitars— on Gilbert and
Sullivan’s preposterous, topsy-turvy world. Frederic
was mistakenly apprenticed as a young boy to a band
of sentimental pirates. Now 21, he falls head-over-heels
for the Major-General’s daughter and forswears the
buccaneer’s life forever, or so he thinks. This buoyant,
award-winning Pirates of Penzance by Chicago theatre
rebels The Hypocrites is “spirited, affectionate, and
nearly irresistible,” says the Boston Globe.
Matt Kahler as the Major-General in The Hypocrites’ Pirates of Penzance
P H OTO BY E VA N H A N OV ER
1 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Amélie captured our hearts in the five-time Academy Award–nominated
film. Now she comes to the stage in an inventive and captivating new
musical directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?) and penned by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss), with a
stirring score by Daniel Messé (of the acclaimed band Hem) and lyrics by
Nathan Tysen (The Burnt Part Boys) and Messé. Embark on a mesmerizing
journey with inquisitive and charmingly shy Amélie as she turns the
streets of Montmartre into a world of her own imagining, while secretly
orchestrating moments of joy for those around her. After discovering a
mysterious photo album and meeting a handsome stranger, she realizes
that helping others is easier than concocting a romantic story of her own.
After seeing the world through the magical and enchanted eyes of Amélie,
you’ll never look at life the same way again.
The world premiere of Amélie,
Mary Zimmerman’s Treasure
Island, the Pulitzer Prize–winning
Disgraced, a thrilling Macbeth, a
fantastical Pirates of Penzance, and
more—your adventure awaits!
PLUS ONE MORE PLAY TO BE ANNOUNCED!
FOR MORE INFO, CLICK BERKELEYREP.ORG
Disgraced
By Ayad Akhtar
Directed by Kimberly Senior
Main Season · Roda Theatre
Nov 2015 · West Coast premiere
“Bristles with
wit and
intelligence…”
Amir Kapoor is living the American
Dream—an upper East Side
apartment, Italian suits, and the
— N E W YO R K T I M E S
promise of becoming partner at
the law firm. But when he and his
wife Emily, an artist influenced by
Islamic imagery, host a dinner party for
their friends and colleagues, lies and deception threaten
to shatter Amir’s carefully constructed life of cultural
assimilation. Playwright Ayad Akhtar won the 2013 Pulitzer
Prize for this engrossing and combustible drama that probes
the complexity of identity, the place of faith in today’s
world, and the hidden prejudices still alive in liberal society.
Director Kimberly Senior comes to Berkeley Rep to stage
the provocative play that she shepherded from Chicago to
London to its triumphant run on Broadway.
Aubergine
By Julia Cho
Directed by Liesl Tommy
Main Season · Thrust Stage
Feb 2016 · World premiere
An estranged son, a father
who’s ill, a visiting uncle
carrying their memories in
tow, a woman without an
appetite, and a refugee from
a forgotten country—they all
prove potent ingredients in this
bittersweet and moving meditation
on family, forgiveness, and the things that
nourish us. When language fails, when the past fades, the
perfect meal transcends time and culture and says more
than words ever can. Julia Cho’s plays have garnered critical
praise from New York to Los Angeles. Now she pairs with
Obie Award–winning director Liesl Tommy (Ruined and
Party People) on the elegant, poignant, and lyrical Aubergine.
Julia Cho
P H OTO BY J E N N I E WA R R E N
Treasure Island
Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
Adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman
Main Season · Thrust Stage
Apr 2016
Mary Zimmerman has mesmerized audiences with her exquisite
adaptations of classic tales from the spellbinding Arabian Nights
to the hypnotic White Snake. This spring the Tony Award–winning
director takes us aboard the Hispaniola for a heart-pounding
voyage filled with tales of swashbuckling gentlemen o’ fortune, a
malicious mutiny led by infamous Long John Silver, and a deadly
quest for fabled buried booty. Caught in the middle is cabin boy
Jim Hawkins, who must find uncommon courage as he faces a
murderous plot and navigates the ambiguous tides of morality.
Sail to Treasure Island with Mary Zimmerman for another visually
tantalizing and exhilarating adventure.
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Main Season · Roda Theatre
Feb 2016
Tony and Obie Award–winning director Daniel Sullivan—
dubbed the go-to guy for Shakespeare—helms a thrilling new
production of the bard’s murderous play about the lust for
power and the fickleness of fate. Driven by an evil prophesy
and his scheming wife, Macbeth kills the king and claims his
crown, thus beginning a moral descent into a reign of terror.
The New York Times has called Daniel Sullivan’s Shakespeare in
the Park productions “absolutely splendid” and rendered with
“passion, expertise and uncommon intelligence.” We can’t wait
to reveal who will play the notorious couple—stay tuned!
Amy Kim Waschke and
Christopher Livingston in
Mary Zimmerman’s
The White Snake
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y
O F M EL LO PI X .CO M
SEASON SPONSORS
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 7
BY LEXI DIAMOND
LOUISIANA
New Orleans
1 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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
In southernmost Louisiana,
where the three passages of the Mississippi River join the Gulf of Mexico, lies a
stretch of ever-shifting wetlands called
the Head of Passes. It is here, in this
stormy and mysterious region, that this
story takes place.
On a map, the area looks like
strange lace: a system of rivers, swamps,
and marshes coil off from the three
main rivers of the Mississippi, weaving
in and out of one another to reveal the
occasional landmass. Only 10 percent
of what little land that does poke
through the labyrinth of channels is
dense enough for human use; the rest is
sand, silt, and clay that shifts constantly
with the movement of the waters. As a
result, the region is very isolated, and
though it lies just 75 miles south of New
Orleans, only a single, solitary road
stretches down from the bustling home
of Mardi Gras to the “toe” of the bootshaped state.
The shape of the coastline is vulnerable to the many turbulent currents that
converge at the Head of Passes. Those
currents are unpredictable, crashing
in from different directions at varying
speeds. Since the 1930s, nearly 2,000
square miles of the coast of Louisiana
has been swallowed up into the Gulf;
that’s an area nearly the size of Delaware. More erodes every day, and it is
estimated that Louisiana loses an acre of
land every 33 minutes.
The wetlands break up surging
flood waters and hurricanes like speed
bumps, and as they disappear, they
can no longer provide the protection
they once did for the land to the north.
When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it
came through the Head of Passes first,
devastating the area and turning vast
stretches of wetland into open water.
Those landmasses that once served as
blockades to oncoming storms were
devoured by the onslaught, leading to
the devastation of levees and floodwalls
further inland and allowing tens of
billions of gallons of water to spill into
New Orleans. Katrina was the largest
and third strongest hurricane to ever
make landfall in the United States, with
winds up to 175 miles per hour, and
a storm surge 20 feet high. Roughly
100,000 homes in the region were
destroyed, and the final death toll came
to 1,863. Some communities affected by
the storm are still recovering from its
destruction to this day.
Despite the remote and volatile
nature of the Head of Passes, there are
still some who make their homes there.
They take gravel roads that stretch out
from the highway to sporadic communities of houses, many of which belong
to families who have lived in Louisiana
for generations. They make their way
to work on the ports, docks, and barges
that sparsely line the swampy coasts.
They adjust their way of life to the fluctuation of the bayou, and fortify their
homes after each storm as they await
the next.
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 9
SHINING A
LIGHT
ON
TARELL
ALVIN
MCCRANEY
BY JULIE MCCORMICK
Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s star is on
the rise, and for good reason. With a master’s in playwriting
from Yale, he is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre
Company, a resident playwright at New Dramatists, and at
the tender age of 33 won a MacArthur “Genius” Award. His
writing celebrates the vulnerability and imperfection of the
human condition with an ear for music and an eye for physical
poetry. This intuitive grasp of the geography of the human
heart has sent him and his plays all over the globe, to theatres
like the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, and the
Public Theater. Before rehearsals started in Berkeley, Tarell
took some time to speak with Literary Associate Julie McCormick about the journey of Head of Passes and his own voyages
as a playwright.
2 0 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
“It is a story about someone’s personal faith, and how
they use it as an aperture or a guide to try and
understand the many, many, sometimes fraught, sometimes
beautiful, often chaotic events of our lives.”
Julie McCormick: How much would you say the piece has
changed and grown since its first production at Steppenwolf? What feels different to you now?
Tarell Alvin McCraney: I feel like it’s gotten deeper. And
it’s easy to say that a lot has changed, though if people saw
both productions they would only notice the changes incrementally. But for us, I think the production has gotten deeper
and more focused.
Has your thinking about the piece changed at all after
having seen it with an audience?
Absolutely. The idea of opening up the dialogue about a
person’s personal faith was and is always the main focus of the
piece. And then trying to find ways to make sure that visceral
conversation was open to everybody in the audience, believers
and non.
Do you think that everyone has a relationship with faith?
I think people have a relationship in that everyone either
believes in belief or doesn’t. I think there are people who
choose to say that they don’t know, but there’s still a sort of
relationship with the notion of faith. We’re all trying to make
sense of the world we live in. And sometimes, we turn to the
word “faith” as the sort of coin, or short answer, for that question. But, everyone has a relationship to trying to figure out
the chaos of our world.
You said that part of your initial impetus in creating this
piece was examining the nature of faith—can you say a
little bit more about where this piece came from for you?
The piece was a commission by Steppenwolf. Tina Landau
asked if I was interested in the Book of Job. And I said, generally, yes. But specifically, I don’t know what I’m interested
in, I just know that I am interested in it. And then we spent
two weeks with a cast just reading the Book of Job out loud
and then trying to decipher its makeup. When we walked
away from it, my takeaway, again, was that it is a story about
someone’s personal faith, and how they use it as an aperture
or a guide to try and understand the many, many, sometimes
fraught, sometimes beautiful, often chaotic events of our
lives. Of human existence. Period. Not just our lives, but other
people’s lives.
And what is that struggle? To maintain an ability to not
know all the answers, but also to try not to abandon the notion
of life. To really stay in it, to figure out what you know, and
what you don’t know, and what you never will know. Trying
to find some balance in that, I think. We look at people’s lives
every day. There’s a woman on TV every other day saying she’s
lost her whole family or her home or her child is now fighting for isis or they just lost their children because someone
thought they were gay, and then earthquakes open up and
swallow people’s livelihoods….
There are moments of our lives where these things come
out of nowhere, that we absolutely don’t understand and can’t
quite find palpable and reasonable answers for. We look at the
lives of our friends and think: why does that keep happening
to that person? Or, how could all of this rain down on one person’s life? And I don’t have any answers to that. But I thought,
and think—this is why we tell stories. I think we all have bouts
of confusion and moments of disillusionment, and need to tell
these stories to each other in order to find some commonality,
some semblance of peace.
Could you say a little bit about the location, Head of Passes? Is that a spot you were familiar with before starting
this play?
Yeah, I was familiar with it and became more familiar
as I embarked on the project. I remember during Hurricane
Katrina, someone said—it was someone from San Francisco—
they said, why are those people living there? They know it’s
below sea level. Why would they elect to live there?
And I remember the person from New Orleans saying
back to the person in San Francisco, you live on a fault line. You
live in a place that countless times you been told it’s coming,
but still you choose to live there, right? And I don’t live in
either of those places, so I’m not on anybody’s side, but I think
that question is important when we talk about where we set
our hopes and our dreams, where we build our livelihoods.
We tend to think that we are putting them in the most secure
place that we can, and then of course, the Mississippi shifts,
and then our lives shift forever. Irrevocably. And I think that’s
an important lesson for all of us. We all think that we’re living
in Topeka, Kansas where nothing can kind of go wrong, until a
CO N TIN U E D O N N E X T PAG E
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 1
tornado whips around and we land in Oz. It was important for
me to set this in a place where there is natural beauty, but also
that could shift and disappear at any time.
I think there is a sense of understanding—I’m from
Miami, we never underestimate or overestimate the threat
of a hurricane. It’s gonna do damage. What damage that is
we don’t know, so there’s no need to over-prepare. There are
things we cannot control. There are some times the wind will
come in. No matter how much you board it up, there are still
winds strong enough that can come in and rip your roof apart
at the right angle. And you just know and live with that. It was
important for me to set this family in a place where they are
aware on a larger—I guess the word would be “natural, ” level
of the way the world can work and wants to work sometimes.
“We look at the lives
of our friends and
think: why does that
keep happening to that
person? Or, how could
all of this rain down
on one person’s life?
And I don’t have any
answers to that. But I
thought, and think—this
is why we tell stories.”
Have you always written for theatre, or have you written in
other forms?
Always. Always for theatre.
Did you always know that you wanted to be a playwright,
or were you attracted to the form itself?
I was an actor and a performer in the theatre all my life. So
I’ve always written and created work for the theatre as I went
along. I began to write only, solely, when I became about 24,
25. But up until that time I was also acting and directing.
Why do you think you were drawn so strongly to
the theatre?
That’s always been a hard question to answer. I don’t really
know. I know that it was an outlet early on, and that I took to
it fairly swiftly. Not to say that I was good at it very early on—
sometimes I don’t know if I’m good at it still—but, it’s just a
process that I engaged with in a way that felt natural.
Where did you first encounter it?
Through school. After-school programs. Church.
Do you think that your experience as an actor and a director influences your writing at all?
Absolutely. I think other writers, a lot of whom I admire,
come from a place of poetry and literary focus first. I don’t
come from that background; I come from a performative
background. If people are looking for long stage directions, for
example, they get very upset because I don’t have any.
I think most actors, or at least the ones I’ve encountered,
see the work on the page and know what to do next. My hope
is that they will feel a collaborative invitation from the piece.
Can you talk about your process of working with director Tina Landau, and how your relationship with her has
shaped this play?
Tina and I have now collaborated on about six different
projects. And we have probably one of the easiest working
relationships I’ve ever encountered. I can’t say the same for
her—she’s had other collaborators that she’s worked as easily
with—but being this early in my career and to have a partner
as facile and focused as Tina is incredible. We speak a very sim-
2 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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Tina Landau and Tarell Alvin McCraney in rehearsal
P H OTO BY J O EL M O O R M A N
ilar language; we come to the theatre in very similar ways although we come from vastly different backgrounds. Greatly to
our benefit, I think we both have been open and experimental
in trying to figure out what this play wants and needs. And you
only can thank God for those kinds of small miracles. Because
you can easily try to stay open to the process, and then everyone ends up on different sides of the field. We stayed open to
the process and what we were looking for, and then ended up
at the very same spot, if not away from each other by two feet.
So it’s just been a fantastic way to work and Berkeley’s been so
generous in allowing us the time and space to do that.
That sounds like a very special relationship with Tina, and
very rare.
I think so. Again, I can’t compare it to anything because I
was lucky enough to find it fairly early on, but I find it special.
There is one stage direction in Head of Passes that I wanted
to ask you about. It says that the play is set in “the distant
present.” What does that mean to you?
Well, rarely do you tell stories from the future. And if you
do tell a story about the future, you have to tell it from something that’s already happened. Our consciousness doesn’t exist
in the forward; it exists in the now and the telling of the past.
So the point of storytelling in the theatre is always going to be
from a place of, this story’s already happened. Or it’s happening
just now, and it’s present but it’s distant. It’s not exactly today,
it’s not exactly right here right now. We’re always in the theatre
watching a story being told to us. And it’s just again another
invitation to allow that distance to be there, but also for every-
body to know that there are actors in the room with you telling
you this story. And that’s equally as important as the story.
What’s some of the theatre that you enjoy the most? Who
are the companies or playwrights that you find inspiring?
Um, dance. I like dance more than anything. Not to say
that I don’t like theatre; I love theatre, I love watching theatre.
I love watching great actors. But more than anything, I’m constantly inspired by dance.
Why do you think that is?
It has a vulnerability to it that is easily achieved, that we
are always striving for in the talking theatre. And I just find
that fascinating.
Do you think you would write for dance at all?
I try to all the time, but it’s a really difficult form to write for.
Are there any companies you particularly like?
Everything. I see a lot. Most recently I saw Kyle Abraham’s
piece in LA. I thought that was incredible.
What’s up next for you after this piece? Do you have anything else coming down the pike?
Nope!
(Laughter). No.
Are you feeling good about that?
I’m very excited about that.
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 3
“Gut-busting!” —HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
N E X T AT B E R K E L E Y R E P
On e
man,
twoos
guvn r
by
richard bean
starts
may 8
Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni
With songs by Grant Olding
directed
by
david ivers
SPONSOR
Mechanics Bank Wealth Management
SEASON SPONSORS
Berkeley Repertory Theatre,
in a coproduction with the Public Theater,
presents the West Coast premiere of
B E RKE LE Y RE PE RTO RY TH E ATRE
TO NY TACCO N E , MICHAEL LEIB ERT ARTIS TIC D IREC TO R
SUSAN M E DAK , M ANAGIN G D IREC TO R
CAST
BY
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Aubrey Francois Battiste
D IREC TE D BY
Shelah Cheryl Lynn Bruce
Tina Landau
Crier Jonathan Burke
Dr. Anderson James Carpenter
APRIL 10 – M AY 24, 2015
TH RUS T S TAG E · M AIN S E A SO N
Spencer Brian Tyree Henry
The Angel Sullivan Jones
Cookie Nikkole Salter
Head of Passes is made possible thanks to
the generous support of
Mae Kimberly Scott
Creaker Michael A. Shepperd
SEASON SPONSORS
Jack & Betty Schafer
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
PRODUC TION S TAFF
E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson
SPONSORS
Paul T. Friedman & Diane Manley
A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R S
Valerie Barth & Peter Wiley
Stephanie Mendel
Kaye Rosso
Scenic Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Casting
G.W. Skip Mercier
Toni-Leslie James
Scott Zielinski
Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen
Amy Potozkin, csa
Tara Rubin, csa
Stage Manager Leslie M. Radin
Head of Passes was commissioned by and its world premiere was presented at
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL; Martha Lavey, Artistic Director and
David Hawkanson, Executive Director.
The actors and stage manager are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the
Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Partial support of open captioning is provided by
Theatre Development Fund.
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.
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 5
BE R K E L E Y R E P P R E S E N T S
Francois Battiste
AU B R E Y
Francois has been seen
on Broadway in Bronx
Bombers (Circle in the
Square), Prelude to a Kiss
(Roundabout Theatre
Company), and Magic/
Bird (Longacre Theatre).
His off-Broadway
credits include Detroit
’67 (the Public Theater),
Broke-ology (Lincoln Center), The Good Negro
(the Public, Obie Award, Lortel nomination),
The Merchant of Venice and The Winter’s Tale
(New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte), 10 Things To Do Before I Die (Second
Stage Theatre), and Bronx Bombers (Primary
Stages). Francois has also appeared in shows at
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Sundance, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Lookingglass,
and Dallas Theater Center. His TV and film
credits include hbo’s The Normal Heart, Person
of Interest, The Good Wife, Are We There Yet?,
Men in Black III, You Bury Your Own, Delivering
the Goods, and One Week. Francois received a
BS from Illinois State University and trained at
bada in Oxford and the Juilliard School.
Cheryl Lynn Bruce
SHELAH
Cheryl Lynn premiered
in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Head of Passes
(Steppenwolf Theatre
Company), Marcus
Gardley’s The Gospel of
Lovingkindness (Victory
Gardens Theater), and
her performances in Danai Gurira’s The Convert
(McCarter Theatre Center, the Goodman Theatre, the Kirk Douglas Theatre) earned Joseph
Jefferson and Ovation Award nominations
and an naacp Theatre Award in Los Angeles.
Cheryl made her professional debut in Death
and the King’s Horseman, directed by Nobel
laureate author Wole Soyinka. Her Goodman
credits include The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove;
Each One As She May; Cry, the Beloved Country;
All’s Well That Ends Well; Black Star Line; and
Seneca’s Trojan Women. Other Chicago credits
include The Great Fire and RACE (Lookingglass); Everyman, Intimate Apparel, and Nomathemba (Steppenwolf); The Grapes of Wrath
(Steppenwolf, Cort Theatre, National Theatre
U.K., La Jolla Playhouse); The Snow Queen,
The Voice of Good Hope, and Eurydice (Victory
Gardens); and Flyin’ West (Court). Her work
in Northlight Theatre’s production of From
the Mississippi Delta (Arena Stage, Hartford
Stage, Circle in the Square Theatre) won Helen
Hayes, Joseph Jefferson, and Connecticut
Critics Circle Awards. Regional credits include
Harriet Jacobs and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
26 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
profiles
(Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Gem of the
Ocean (Ensemble Theatre Company), and
The Story (Milwaukee Repertory Theater).
Her film and television credits include Prison
Break; There Are No Children Here; Separate
But Equal; To Sir, with Love II; Stranger Than
Fiction; Daughters of the Dust; and The Fugitive.
A member of Teatro Vista, Chicago’s premier
Latino theatre company, Cheryl Lynn will
co-develop and direct La Habana, a musical
tribute to the vibrant hub Latin Caribbean
immigrants flocked to in Chicago during the
1960s and ’70s.
Jonathan Burke
CRIER
Jonathan is thrilled to
make his Berkeley Rep
debut. He was most
recently seen as David
Heard in Tarell Alvin
McCraney’s Choir Boy
at the Studio Theatre.
His national tour credits
include Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat (Zebulun; u/s Judah; u/s Joseph),
Mary Poppins, A Christmas Story: The Musical,
and Cats (Mungojerrie). Jonathan was seen off
Broadway in the world premiere of Langston
in Harlem (Junior Addict) at Urban Stages, as
well as in Jazz A La Carte at the Apollo Theater.
Regionally, some of his work includes Amazing
Grace (Tyler) at Goodspeed Musicals, Hairspray
(Seaweed) at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse,
Rent (Angel) at the Hangar Theatre, The Wiz at
Center Stage in Baltimore, and Dreamgirls at
Portland Center Stage. He has been seen on
television dancing on the TV Land Awards and
on video in The Broadway Warm-Up. Jonathan
holds a bfa from Ithaca College.
James Carpenter
DR. ANDERSON
James last appeared at
Berkeley Rep in Pericles,
Prince of Tyre and has
performed in over 30
productions at the Theatre during his 12-year
tenure as an associate
artist. His other Bay
Area credits include
American Conservatory
Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Cutting
Ball Theater, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre
Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and TheatreWorks. He is
currently in his 12th season as an associate
artist with California Shakespeare Theater. His
other regional credits include work at Arizona
Theatre Company, the Huntington Theatre
Company, Intiman Theatre, the Old Globe,
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Yale Repertory Theatre. He is the recipient of the Bay
Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Barbara Bladen
Porter award for excellence in the arts (and its
Lifetime Achievement Award) and in 2010 was
named a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. James’ film and
TV credits include Nash Bridges, Metro, and
The Rainmaker, and the independent projects
Presque Isle, Singing, and The Sunflower Boy.
Brian Tyree Henry
SPENCER
Brian appeared in
Tarell Alvin McCraney’s
trilogy The Brother/
Sister Plays at McCarter
Theatre Center, and The
Brother/Sister Plays: The
Brothers Size at the Public Theater, the Studio
Theatre, and the Alley
Theatre. He also appeared at the Public in The Fortress of Solitude
and the Public/New York Shakespeare Festival
in Romeo and Juliet and Talk About Race. Brian’s
Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon,
and other regional credits include A Civil War
Christmas at Long Wharf Theatre. He has appeared in film and on TV in Boardwalk Empire,
The Knick, Puerto Ricans in Paris, The Good Wife,
and Law & Order. Brian has been nominated
for a Helen Hayes Award and received his mfa
from Yale School of Drama in 2007.
Sullivan Jones
THE ANGEL
Sullivan most recently
appeared in Center
Stage’s production of
One Night In Miami as
Cassius Clay—a role
which he originated
at Los Angeles’ Rouge
Machine Theater (LA
Drama Critics’ Award
and naacp Award). His
other regional credits include Clementine in the
Lower Nine at TheatreWorks (Bay Area Theatre
Critics Circle Award nomination), Twelfth
Night and Cinderella at African-American
Shakespeare Company, and Intimate Apparel
and References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot at
AlterTheater. His TV and film credits include
Parks and Recreation (nbc) and Stanistan (usa).
Sullivan is a recipient of the 2012 Princess
Grace Award in Theater, and studied acting
at Brown University and the ucla School of
Theater, Film and Television.
Nikkole Salter
Kimberly Scott
Michael A. Shepperd
This is Obie Award–
winning actress and
playwright Nikkole Salter’s debut performance
at Berkeley Rep. Her
off-Broadway credits
include Tough Titty
(the Paradise Factory),
Inked Baby (Playwrights
Horizons), and In the
Continuum (Primary Stages). Nikkole’s regional
credits include Stick Fly (Arena Stage/the
Huntington Theatre Company), Gee’s Bend
(Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Kansas
City Repertory Theatre), Luck of the Irish (the
Huntington), The Old Settler (Luna Stage), Jitney (the Studio Theatre), and In the Continuum
(Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Yale Repertory
Theatre; Philadelphia Theatre Company; the
Kirk Douglas Theatre; the Goodman Theatre;
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; the Market Theatre, South Africa; and Baxter Theatre Centre,
South Africa). Her film and television credits
include Pride & Glory, The Architect, and The
Unit, and the voice of Rockstar Game’s “Midnight Club: Los Angeles” character, Laticia.
Nikkole is a graduate of Howard University
and nyu’s Graduate Acting Program. Please
visit nikkolesalter.com.
Head of Passes marks
Kimberly’s Berkeley
Rep debut. She most
recently played Anne
in the world premiere
of Familiar by Danai
Gurira at Yale Repertory
Theatre. She also appeared at Yale in Death
of a Salesman as Linda
Loman and as Molly Cunningham in August
Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Tony and
Drama Desk Award nominations on Broadway). Kimberly spent five seasons at Oregon
Shakespeare Festival, playing Mama Nadi in
Ruined, Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Part 2,
and creating roles in American Night: The Ballad of Juan José by Culture Clash, Party People
by universes, and The Liquid Plain by Naomi
Wallace, all part of American Revolutions: The
United States History Cycle. Her off-Broadway credits include Mabou Mines’ Lear and
The Gospel at Colonus (Gorky Art Theatre,
Moscow). Her screen credits include Love and
Other Drugs, Flatliners, and The Abyss, as well
as many television credits. Kimberly returns
to osf in June to be in the world premiere of
Sweat by Lynn Nottage.
Michael is currently
the co-artistic
director of LA’s
multi-award-winning
Celebration Theatre
(celebrationtheatre.
com), where his
producing, directing,
and acting credits
include The Color Purple,
Four, The Women of Brewster Place, Take Me
Out, Coffee Will Make You Black, [title of show],
and numerous others in his nine years with the
company. Other Los Angeles credits include
Choir Boy (Headmaster), Master Harold and
the Boys (Sam, naacp Theatre Award for lead
actor), Steel (John Henry, Ovation Award for
lead actor), and Intimate Apparel (George,
naacp Theatre Award for Supporting Actor).
Michael’s Broadway, off-Broadway, and
other credits include Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan
(Starkey); Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey Two);
Caroline, or Change (Bus/Dryer); and Five
Guys Named Moe (Big Moe). He has appeared
on TV in ncis, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hot
in Cleveland, Up All Night, Monk, Criminal
Minds, and a bunch more. Michael is also an
accomplished voice-over artist.
COOKIE
MAE
CREAKER
Extraordinary Performance.
Proudly serving Berkeley, Albany, Kensington, El Cerrito, Emeryville,
Oakland and Piedmont
Lorri Arazi
Leslie Avant
Milton Boyd
Norah Brower
Carla Buffington
Jackie Care
Stina Charles-Harris
Chris Cohn
Carla Della Zoppa
Francine Di Palma
Debra Dryden
Leslie Easterday
Gini Erck
Debi Fitzgerrell
Jennie A. Flanigan
Wendy Gardner Ferrari
Toni Hanna
Nancy Hinkley
Maureen Kennedy
Jack McPhail
Denise Milburn
Bob & Carolyn Nelson
Nancy Noman
Sandy Patel-Hilferty
Amy Robeson
Ira & Carol Serkes
Geri Stern
Diane Verducci
1625 Shattuck Avenue | Berkeley, CA 94709 | 510.982.4400
1900 Mountain Boulevard | Oakland, CA 94611 | 510.339.6460
pacificunion.com
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 7
BE R K E L E Y R E P P R E S E N T S
Tarell Alvin McCraney
P L AY W R I G H T
Tarell’s plays include The Brothers Size, In the
Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; Or the
Secret of Sweet. His other plays include Choir
Boy and Wig Out!. He is the recipient of the
Whiting Award, Steinberg Playwright Award,
the Evening Standard Award, the New York
Times Outstanding Playwright Award, the
Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Windham
Campbell Award, a 2013 MacArthur “Genius”
Grant, and a Doris Duke Artist Award. Tarell
is a graduate from the New World School
of the Arts, the Theatre School at DePaul
University, and the Yale School of Drama. He
is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a resident playwright at New
Dramatists, and a member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects in Miami.
Tina Landau
DIREC TOR
Tina is a writer and director and an ensemble
member at Steppenwolf Theatre Company,
where her directing credits include Tarell Alvin
McCraney’s Head of Passes and The Brother/
Sister Plays, as well as The Wheel, Hot L Baltimore, The Tempest, The Time of Your Life (also
at Seattle Repertory Theatre and American
Conservatory Theater), The Diary of Anne
Frank, The Cherry Orchard, Space (also writer,
Mark Taper Forum and the Public Theater),
and Charles Mee’s Berlin Circle and Time to
Burn. Her New York credits include Bill Irwin/
David Shiner’s Old Hats (also act) and Mee’s
Big Love and Iphigenia 2.0 (all Signature Theatre
Company), Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas
(New York Theatre Workshop), McCraney’s
Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre) and In the Red and
Brown Water (Public Theater), and Tracy Letts’
Superior Donuts and the musical Bells Are Ringing on Broadway. Her writing includes Space
as well as Floyd Collins (bookwriter/director,
Playwrights Horizons), Dream True (lyricist/
bookwriter/director, Vineyard Theatre), and
Beauty (writer/director, La Jolla Playhouse).
Tina teaches regularly and has co-authored,
with Anne Bogart, The Viewpoints Book.
G.W. Skip Mercier
SCENIC DESIGNER
Most recently in the Bay Area, G.W. Mercier
designed the sets and costumes for Old Hats
by Bill Irwin and David Shiner at American
Conservatory Theater. On Broadway he designed the sets and costumes for Juan Darién:
A Carnival Mass by Julie Taymor and Elliot
Goldenthal at the Vivian Beaumont Theater,
receiving a Tony Award nomination for scenery
and two Drama Desk Award nominations for
scenery and costumes. Off Broadway at the
Vineyard Theatre, his work on Dream True by
Tina Landau and Ricky Ian Gordon and Bed
and Sofa by Polly Penn and Lawrence Klavan
procured him two additional Drama Desk
nominations for scenery. Regionally he was
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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
profiles
honored with the Bay Area Theatre Critics
Circle Award for Saroyan’s The Time of Your
Life at act directed by Tina Landau. He also
received the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award
for Outstanding Talent and Vision in Design.
He worked on dozens of play premieres in New
York, including Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah
Ruhl at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Anne
Bogart; Urban Zulu Mambo by Regina Taylor at
Signature Theatre Company; Miracle Brothers
by Kirsten Childs, directed by Tina Landau; and
Eli’s Comin’, the work of Laura Nyro conceived
and directed by Diane Paulus, at Vineyard
Theatre, where he is a resident artist.
Toni-Leslie James
COSTUME DESIGNER
Toni-Leslie’s Broadway credits include Lucky
Guy; The Scottsboro Boys; Finian’s Rainbow;
Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life; Ma Rainey’s
Black Bottom; King Hedley II; One Mo’ Time;
The Wild Party; Marie Christine; Footloose; The
Tempest; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Angels in
America: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika;
Chronicle of a Death Foretold; and Jelly’s Last
Jam. She has received a Tony nomination,
three Drama Desk nominations, four Lucille
Lortel nominations, a Hewes Design Award
and four additional nominations, a Connecticut Critics Circle Award, an Irene Sharaff
Young Masters Award, and the 2009 Obie
Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume
Design. Toni-Leslie is head of design at Virginia
Commonwealth University. (In memory of our
beloved son, Jett Gerald Higham, 3/15/1995–
7/2/2013.)
Scott Zielinski
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Scott’s Berkeley Rep credits include designs for
An Iliad, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Our Town,
Ghosts, and The Fall. His New York credits
include Topdog/Underdog (Broadway), Atlantic
Theater Company, Classic Stage Company,
Lincoln Center Festival, Manhattan Theatre
Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights
Horizons, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Signature Theatre Company, and Theatre for a New
Audience, among others. Regionally he has
designed at most theatres throughout the U.S.
Internationally he has designed in Adelaide,
Amsterdam, Avignon, Berlin, Bregenz, Edinburgh, Fukuoka, Gennevilliers, Hamburg, Hong
Kong, Istanbul, Linz, London, Lyon, Melbourne,
Orleans, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Reykjavik, Rouen,
St. Gallen, Singapore, Stockholm, Stuttgart,
Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Vilnius, and Zurich.
His dance and opera credits include American
Ballet Theater, Bregenzer Festspiele, Boston
Ballet, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Canadian
Opera Company, Centre National de la Danse
Paris, English National Opera, Houston Ballet,
Houston Grand Opera, Kennedy Center,
Lithuanian National Opera, National Ballet of
Canada, De Nederlandse Opera, New York City
Opera, Royal Opera House London, San Fran-
cisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, and Spoleto
Festival, among others. Visit scottzielinski.com.
Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen
SOUND DESIGNERS
Rob and Michael composed music and designed sound for Berkeley Rep’s productions
of Red Hot Patriot, No Man’s Land, and Vanya
and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and designed
sound for Comedy on the Bridge/Brundibar.
Their Broadway credits include music composition and sound for Waiting for Godot & No
Man’s Land, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Miracle
Worker, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
and sound for Larry David’s Fish in the Dark,
This Is Our Youth, Of Mice and Men, Superior
Donuts, reasons to be pretty, A Year with Frog
and Toad, King Hedley II, Buried Child, The Song
of Jacob Zulu, and The Grapes of Wrath. Their
off-Broadway credits include music and sound
for Sticks and Bones, The Notebooks of Leonardo
Da Vinci, and Marvin’s Room; sound for Jitney
and The Pain and the Itch; and music direction
and sound for Ruined. Rob and Michael have
created music and sound at many of America’s
resident theatres (often with Steppenwolf
Theatre Company) and at several international
venues. Please visit milbomusic.com.
Amy Potozkin, csa
CASTING DIREC TOR/
A R T I S T I C A S S O C I AT E
This is Amy’s 25th season at 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. Amy cast roles for various
indie films, including Conceiving Ada, starring
Tilda Swinton; 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 a coach to
hundreds of actors, has taught acting at Mills
College and audition technique at Berkeley
Rep’s School of Theatre, and has led workshops at numerous s other venues in the Bay
Area. Prior to working at Berkeley Rep, she
was an intern at Playwrights Horizons in New
York. Amy is a member of csa, the Casting
Society of America.
Tara Rubin, csa
CASTING
Tara has been casting at Yale Rep since 2004.
Her upcoming Broadway projects include
Bullets Over Broadway and Aladdin, and
past Broadway productions include A Time
To Kill; Big Fish; The Heiress; One Man, Two
Guvnors (U.S. casting); Ghost; How to Succeed
in Business Without Really Trying; Promises,
Promises; A Little Night Music; Billy Elliot; Shrek;
Guys and Dolls; The Farnsworth Invention;
Young Frankenstein; The Little Mermaid; Mary
Poppins; Les Misérables; Spamalot; Jersey Boys;
The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee;
The Producers; Mamma Mia!; The Phantom of
the Opera; and Contact. She has cast for the
off-Broadway shows Love, Loss, and What I
Wore and Old Jews Telling Jokes. Tara has also
worked for the Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, the Old Globe,
Westport Country Playhouse, and Bucks
County Playhouse. Her film work includes
Lucky Stiff and The Producers.
Leslie M. Radin
S TAG E M A N AG E R
Leslie is very pleased to be back at Berkeley
Rep after most recently stage managing Troublemaker, or the Freakin’ Kick-A Adventures of
Bradley Boatright and assistant stage managing An Audience with Meow Meow, Vanya and
Sonia and Masha and Spike, and Chinglish (both
here and at the Hong Kong Arts Festival). She
started at Berkeley Rep as the stage management intern in 2003 and has also worked at
American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Center Rep, and the New Victory Theater in New York, where she traveled
with Berkeley Rep’s production of Brundibar/
But the Giraffe. Her favorite past productions
include In the Next Room (or the vibrator play),
Passing Strange, The Lieutenant of Inishmore,
The Pillowman, and The Secret in the Wings.
F
O
FTH JULY
*
A bittersweet portrait
of the Woodstock
generation at the
precise moment they
realize the fireworks
ended yesterday.
The Public Theater
CO -PRODUCER
The Public Theater is the only theater in New
York that produces Shakespeare, classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in
equal measure. The Public continues the work
of its founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for theater as an essential cultural force
and leading and framing dialogue on some of
the most important issues of our day. The Public’s wide range of programming includes free
Shakespeare in the Park, new and experimental
stagings, and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including Public Forum,
Mobile Unit, Public Studio, and Public Works.
The Public is the recipient of 42 Tony Awards,
164 Obies, 45 Drama Desk Awards, 36 Lortel
Awards, 28 Outer Critics Circle Awards, and
four Pulitzer Prizes. Visit publictheater.org.
BY LANFORD WILSON
DIRECTED BY TOM ROSS
STARTS APRIL 17
510.843.4822
AURORATHEATRE.ORG
2081 ADDISON STREET
DOWNTOWN BERKELEY
Tony Taccone
D I R E C T O R /M I C H A E L L E I B E R T
ARTISTIC DIREC TOR
During Tony’s tenure as artistic director
of Berkeley Rep, the Tony Award–winning
nonprofit has earned a reputation as an
international leader in innovative theatre. In
those 18 years, Berkeley Rep has presented
more than 70 world, American, and West
Coast premieres and sent 23 shows to New
York, two to London, and one to Hong
Kong. Tony has staged more than 35 plays in
Berkeley, including new work from Culture
Clash, Rinde Eckert, David Edgar, Danny Hoch,
Geoff Hoyle, Quincy Long, Itamar Moses, and
Lemony Snicket. He directed shows that transferred to London, Continental Divide and Tiny
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 9
BE R K E L E Y R E P P R E S E N T S
Kushner, and two that landed on Broadway
as well: Bridge & Tunnel and Wishful Drinking. Prior to working at Berkeley Rep, Tony
served as artistic director of Eureka Theatre,
which produced the American premieres of
plays by Dario Fo, Caryl Churchill, and David
Edgar before focusing on a new generation of
American writers. While at the Eureka, Tony
commissioned Tony Kushner’s legendary
Angels in America and co-directed its world
premiere. He has collaborated with Kushner
on eight plays at Berkeley Rep, including last
season’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide
to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the
Scriptures. Tony’s regional credits include
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage,
Center Theatre Group, the Eureka Theatre,
the Guthrie Theater, the Huntington Theatre
Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the
Public Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theatre.
As a playwright, he debuted Ghost Light, Rita
Moreno: Life Without Makeup, and Game On,
written with Dan Hoyle. In 2012, Tony received
the Margo Jones Award for “demonstrating a
significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of playwriting, with a commitment to the
living theatre.”
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, organizations that
represent the interests of nonprofit theatres
across the nation. Susan chaired two 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,
Susan chairs the Downtown Berkeley Association (dba). She is the founding chair of the
Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee for Berkeley Unified School District and
the Berkeley Cultural Trust. She was awarded
the 2012 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal by the
Berkeley Community Fund. Susan serves on
the faculty of Yale School of Drama and is
a proud member of the Mont Blanc Ladies’
Literary Guild and Trekking Society. She lives
in Berkeley with her husband.
Karen Racanelli
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R
Karen joined Berkeley Rep in 1993 as education director. Under her supervision, Berkeley
Rep’s programs for education provided live
theatre for more than 20,000 students annually. In 1995, she became general manager, and
since then has overseen the day-to-day operations of the Theatre. She has represented the
League of Resident Theatres during negotiations with both Actors’ Equity Association
and the union of stage directors and choreog3 0 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
profiles
raphers. Prior to her tenure at Berkeley Rep,
Karen worked for Theatre Bay Area as director
of theatre services and as an independent
producer at several Bay Area theatre companies. She has served on the boards of Climate
Theater, Overtone Theatre Company, Park Day
School, and the Julia Morgan Center. Karen is
married to arts attorney MJ Bogatin.
Liesl Tommy
A S S O C I AT E D I R E C T O R
Liesl is Berkeley Rep’s associate director and
helmed the acclaimed productions of Party
People and Ruined. She directed the premieres
of Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
(Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company,
Signature Theatre Company), Party People by
universes (Oregon Shakespeare Festival),
The White Man—A Complex Declaration of Love
by Joan Rang (DanskDansk Theatre, Denmark),
Peggy Picket Sees the Face of God by Roland
Schimmelpfennig (Luminato Festival/Canadian Stage Toronto), Eclipsed by Danai Gurira
(Yale Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth),
The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson (the
Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center), A
History of Light by Eisa Davis (Contemporary
American Theatre Festival), Angela’s Mixtape
by Eisa Davis (Synchronicity Performance
Group, New Georges), and Bus and Family
Ties (Play Company for the Romania Kiss Me!
Festival). Other credits include American
Buffalo, Les Misérables, Hamlet, A Raisin in the
Sun, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, as well
as a four-city tour of Ruined. She has also
worked at California Shakespeare Theater, the
Huntington Theatre Company, Center Stage
in Baltimore, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La
Jolla Playhouse, and Sundance East Africa on
Manda Island in Kenya, among others. Liesl
serves as a program associate at Sundance
Institute Theatre Program and as an artist
trustee with the Sundance Institute’s board
of trustees, and she facilitated the inaugural
Sundance East Africa Theatre Director’s Lab
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Liesl has earned an
Obie Award, a Lillian Hellman Award, and the
Alan Schneider Award for directing, the inaugural Susan Stroman Directing Award from
the Vineyard Theatre, the nea/tcg Directors
Grant, and the New York Theatre Workshop
Casting/Directing Fellowship. She has taught
or guest directed at Yale Repertory Theatre,
Juilliard, NYU, and Brown University. Liesl is an
alum of Trinity Rep Conservatory and a native
of Cape Town, South Africa.
Madeleine Oldham
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 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.
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 21st year
as production stage manager. Some of his
favorite shows include 36 Views, Endgame,
Eurydice, Hydriotaphia, and Mad Forest. He has
also worked with the Barbican in London, the
Huntington Theatre Company, the Juste Pour
Rire Festival in Montreal, La Jolla Playhouse,
Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Public Theater
and Second Stage Theater in New York, and
Yale Repertory Theatre. For the Magic Theatre, he stage managed Albert Takazauckas’
Breaking the Code and Sam Shepard’s The Late
Henry Moss.
Jack & Betty Schafer
SEASON SPONSORS
Betty and Jack are proud to support Berkeley
Rep. Jack, one of the Theatre’s trustees, also
sits on the boards of San Francisco Opera and
the Straus Historical Society. He is vice-chair
of the Oxbow School in Napa and an emeritus
trustee of the San Francisco Art Institute,
where he served as board chair. Betty, a retired life coach, has resumed her earlier career
as a nonfiction writer and poet. She serves on
the boards of Brandeis Hillel Day School, Coro
Foundation, Earthjustice, and Sponsors for
Educational Opportunity (seo).
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
SEASON SPONSORS
Roger Strauch is a former president of
Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees and is
currently chair of the trustees committee. He
is chairman of the Roda Group (rodagroup.
com), a venture-development company based
in Berkeley focused on cleantech investments,
best known for launching Ask.com and for
being the largest investor in Solazyme, a
renewable oil and bio-products company
(Nasdaq: szym, solazyme.com). Roger is chairman of the board of CoolSystems, a medical
technology company, and a member of the UC
Berkeley Engineering Dean’s college advisory
board. He is chairman of the board of trustees
for the Mathematical Sciences Research
Institute; a member of the board of Northside
Center, a mental-health services agency based
in Harlem, New York City; and a co-founder
of the William Saroyan Program in Armenian
Studies at Cal. His wife, Julie A. Kulhanjian, is
an attending physician at Oakland Children’s
Hospital. They have three children.
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
Kerry and John are excited to support Head
of Passes. John is the learning and development manager at Chevron’s Richmond refinery and has enjoyed the thought-provoking
plays produced by Berkeley Rep. Kerry is
a member of Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees,
a partner at Deloitte fas llp, and a graduate
of UC Berkeley.
bart
SEASON SPONSOR
Bay Area Rapid Transit (bart) is a 104-mile, automated rapid-transit system that serves more
than 100 million passengers annually. bart is
the backbone of the Bay Area transit network
with trains traveling up to 80 mph to connect
26 cities located throughout Alameda, Contra
Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties
and the Bay Area’s two largest airports bart’s
all-electric trains make it one of the greenest
and most energy-efficient systems in the
world with close to 70 percent of its all-electrical power coming from hydro, solar, and wind
sources. Many new projects are underway
to expand bart, allowing it to serve even
more communities and continue to offer an
ecofriendly alternative to cars. The Oakland
Airport Connector opened last fall. For more
info, visit bart.gov.
Find Home....
P iedmont
u
o akl and
u
B erkeley
kpix
MEDIA SPONSOR
kpix 5 shares a commitment with cbs News to
original reporting. “Our mission is to bring you
compelling, local enterprise journalism,” emphasized kpix/kbcw President and General
Manager Bruno Cohen. “And just like Berkeley
Rep, we’re passionate about great storytelling. We strive to showcase unique stories
that reflect the Bay Area’s innovative spirit,
incredible diversity, and rich culture as well as
its challenges.” Sister station kbcw 44 Cable
12 airs the region’s only half-hour newscast
at 10pm. Produced by the kpix 5 newsroom,
“Bay Area NightBeat” offers viewers a fresh
perspective on current events along with a
lively—and often provocative—look at what
the Bay Area is saying and sharing online and
in social media. Both stations are committed
to supporting valuable community organizations such as Berkeley Rep, and are proud to
serve as season media sponsors.
GRUBBCO.COM
Wells Fargo
SEASON SPONSOR
As the top corporate giver to San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits (according to the
SF Business Times), Wells Fargo recognizes
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 1
Take the Theatre
home with you!
The Hoag Theatre Store is better
than ever, featuring our new
hoodie with earbuds and exclusive
items from our staff artisans.
Wonderful gifts for you and the
theatre-lovers in your life!
BE R K E L E Y R E P
PRESENTS
profiles
Berkeley Rep for its leadership in supporting
the performing arts and its programs. As the
oldest and largest financial services company
headquartered in California, Wells Fargo has
top financial professionals providing business
banking, investments, brokerage, trust, mortgage, insurance, commercial and consumer
finance, and much more. Talk to a Wells Fargo
banker today to see how we can help you
become more financially successful.
Additional staff
Deck crew
Gabriel Holman
Matt Reynolds
Electrics
Melina Cohen-Bramwell
Alex Marshall
Kelly Kunaniec
William Poulin
Andrea J. Schwartz
Caitlin Steinmann
Molly Stewart-Cohn
Micah J. Stieglitz
Thomas Weaver
Lauren Wright
Production assistant
Amanda Warner
Props
Ashley Nguyen
Rebecca Willis
Scene shop
Ross Copeland
Patrick Keene
Noah Kramer
Noah Lange
Heather Lentz
Alex Marshall
Ben Sandberg
Colin Suemnicht
Read Tuddenham
Sound engineer
Xochitl De Faria
Stage carpenter
Kourtney Snow
Wardrobe
Eva Herndon
Leandra Watson
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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
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’s Annual Fund, who
made their gifts between January 2014 and February 2015.
BE R K E L E Y R E P T H A N K S
G IF T S O F $ 10 0,0 0 0 A N D A B OV E
The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
G IF T S O F $2 5,0 0 0 –49,9 9 9
Anonymous
The Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Fund
Wallis Foundation
Woodlawn Foundation
G IF T S O F $50,0 0 0 –9 9,9 9 9
Akonadi Foundation
The Bernard Osher Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
G IF T S O F $ 10,0 0 0 –24,9 9 9
Koret Foundation
Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Sierra Health Foundation
COR P OR AT E S P ON S OR S
SEASON SPONSORS
G I F T S O F $ 10 0,0 0 0 A N D A B OV E
SPONSORS
G I F T S O F $ 12 ,0 0 0 –2 4 ,9 9 9
hsbc Private Bank
Mechanics Bank Wealth Management
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation
Union Bank
CO R P O R AT E PA R T N E R S
G I F T S O F $ 6,0 0 0 –11,9 9 9
LE A D S P O N S O R
G I F T S O F $ 5 0,0 0 0 – 9 9,9 9 9
American Express
E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
G I F T S O F $ 2 5,0 0 0 –49,9 9 9
Armanino llp
City National Bank
Deloitte
LG Wealth Management llc
Meyer Sound
Oliver & Company
Pacific Office Automation
Panoramic Interests
Peet’s Coffee & Tea
Schoenberg Family Law Group
ubs
U.S. Bank
Institutional Partners
G IF T S O F $5,0 0 0 –9,9 9 9
Anonymous
Berkeley Civic Arts Program
Distracted Globe Foundation
East Bay Community Foundation
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Ramsay Family Foundation
G IF T S O F $750 –4,9 9 9
Alameda County Arts Commission/artsfund
Joyce & William Brantman Foundation
Civic Foundation
The Entrekin Foundation
jec Foundation
The Ida and William Rosenthal Foundation
PE R FO R M A N CE S P O N S O R S
G I F T S O F $ 3,0 0 0 – 5,9 9 9
4U Sports
Bayer
Gallagher Risk Management Services
Macy’s
B U S IN E S S M E M B E R S
G I F T S O F $ 1, 5 0 0 –2 ,9 9 9
Bank of the West
BluesCruise.com
CH A M PI O N
G I F T S O F $ 1,0 0 0 –1, 49 9
Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union
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 or call Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904.
I N-K I N D S P ON S OR S
M AT C H I NG G I F T S
act Catering
Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen
Aurora Catering
Autumn Press
Belli Osteria
Bistro Liaison
Bogatin, Corman & Gold
C.G. Di Arie Vineyard & Winery
Café Clem
Comal
Cyprus
Dashe Cellars
Domaine Carneros by Taittinger
Donkey & Goat Winery
East Bay Spice Company
etc Catering
Eureka!
Farm League Design &
Management Group
five
Gather Restaurant
Grace Street Catering
Greene Radovsky Maloney Share
& Hennigh llp
Hafner Vineyard
Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Hugh Groman Catering &
Greenleaf Platters
Jazzcaffè
Kevin Berne Images
La Mediterranee
La Note
Latham & Watkins, llp
Match Vineyards
Pathos Organic Greek Kitchen
Patricia Motzkin Architecture
Phil’s Sliders
Picante
PiQ
Pyramid Alehouse
Quady Winery
Revival Bar + Kitchen
Ricola usa
The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco
Shalleck Collaborative
St. George Spirits
Sweet Adeline
TigerLily
Tres Agaves
Venus Restaurant
Zut! on 4th
Hotel Shattuck Plaza is the official
hotel of Berkeley Rep.
Pro-bono legal services are
generously provided by
Latham & Watkins, llp.
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.
Adobe Systems Inc. · Advent Software · Alexander &
Baldwin · American Express · Apple · Argonaut
Group, Inc. · at&t · Bank of America · Bechtel
Corporation · BlackRock · Bristol Myers Squibb ·
Charles Schwab & Co, Inc · Chevron Corporation ·
Clorox · Constellation Energy · Dolby Laboratories ·
Franklin Templeton · Gap · Google · Hewlett Packard ·
ibm Corporation · JD Fine and Company · John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. · Johnson & Johnson · kla Tencor ·
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ·
Lexis-Nexis · Macy’s Inc.· Matson Navigation
Company · Microsoft · Morrison & Foerster ·
Motorola Mobility · mrw & Associates llc · norcal
Mutual Insurance Company · Oracle Corporation ·
Perforce · Ruppenthal Foundation for the Arts ·
Salesforce.com · The Doctors Company · The Walt
Disney Company · visa u.s.a., Inc. · Willis Lease
Finance Corporation
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 3
BE R K E L E Y R E P
THANKS
Donors to the Annual Fund
We thank the many 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’s Annual
Fund, who made their gifts between January 2014 and February 2015.
To make your gift and join this distinguished group, visit berkeleyrep.org/give or call 510 647-2906.
S P ON S OR C I RC L E
SEASON SPONSORS
$ 10 0,0 0 0 +
Jack & Betty Schafer
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
LE A D S P O N S O R S
$ 5 0,0 0 0 – 9 9,9 9 9
Martha Ehmann Conte
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Mary & Nicholas Graves
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
John & Helen Meyer
Stewart & Rachelle Owen
Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker
Steve Silberstein
E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
$ 2 5,0 0 0 –49,9 9 9
Edward D. Baker
Rena Bransten
John & Stephanie Dains
Bill Falik & Diana Cohen
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson M
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Marjorie Randolph
Dr. & Mrs. Philip D. Schild
Michael & Sue Steinberg
Jean & Michael Strunsky
Guy Tiphane
Gail & Arne Wagner
Barry Lawson Williams & Lalita Tademy
SPONSORS
$ 12 ,0 0 0 –2 4 ,9 9 9
Anonymous (2)
Barbara & Gerson Bakar
David & Vicki Cox
Thalia Dorwick
Robin & Rich Edwards
David & Vicki Fleishhacker
Paul Friedman & Diane Manley M
Scott & Sherry Haber
Jack Klingelhofer
Susan & Moses Libitzky
Sandra & Ross McCandless
Dugan Moore
Leonard & Arlene Rosenberg
Sheli Rosenberg, in honor of
Leonard X Rosenberg
Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman
Liliane & Ed Schneider
Norah & Norman Stone
Felicia Woytak & Steve Rasmussen
A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R S
$ 6,0 0 0 – 11,9 9 9
Anonymous (3)
Shelley & Jonathan Bagg
Edith Barschi
Neil & Gene Barth
Valerie Barth & Peter Wiley M
Stephen Belford & Bobby Minkler
Carole B. Berg K
Lynne Carmichael
Susan Chamberlin
Daniel Cohn & Lynn Brinton
Robert Council & Ann Parks-Council
Oz Erickson & Rina Alcalay
William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards
John & Carol Field, in honor of
Marjorie Randolph
Linda Jo Fitz
Virginia & Timothy Foo
Jill & Steve Fugaro
Carol A. Giles
Paul Haahr & Susan Karp
Doug & Leni Herst, in honor of Susie Medak
Hitz Foundation
Christopher Hudson & Cindy J. Chang, MD
Ms. Wendy E. Jordan
Seymour Kaufman & Kerstin Edgerton
Wanda Kownacki
Ted & Carole Krumland
Zandra Faye LeDuff
Dixon Long
Dale & Don Marshall
Martin & Janis McNair
Steven & Patrece Mills
Mary Ann & Lou Peoples
Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel
Barbara L. Peterson
Kaye Rosso
Pat Rougeau
Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro
Cynthia & William Schaff
Emily Shanks M
Pat & Merrill Shanks
Karen Stevenson & Bill McClave
Jacqueline & Stephen Swire
Wendy Williams
Sheila Wishek
Steven & Linda Wolan
Martin & Margaret Zankel
A R T I S T IC DI R E C T OR’ S C I RC L E
PA R T N E R S
$ 3,0 0 0 – 5,9 9 9
Anonymous (5)
Linda R. Ach
Cynthia & David Bogolub
Caroline Booth
Kim Boston K
Jim Butler
Brook & Shawn Byers
C. William Byrne
Jennifer Chaiken & Sam Hamilton
Constance Crawford
Karen & David Crommie
Lois M. De Domenico
Delia Fleishhacker Ehrlich
Nancy & Jerry Falk
Richard & Lois Halliday
Earl & Bonnie Hamlin
Vera & David Hartford
James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen
Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley
Kathleen & Chris Jackson
Ashok Janah
Duke & Daisy Kiehn
Christopher & Clare Lee
Peter & Melanie Maier
Charlotte & Adolph Martinelli
The McBaine Family
Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas
Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Michele & John McNellis
Susan Medak & Greg Murphy, in honor of
Marcia Smolens
Eddie & Amy Orton
Janet Ostler
Sandi & Dick Pantages
Pease Family Fund
Kermit & Janet Perlmutter
Ivy & Leigh Robinson
David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich
Riva Rubnitz
Beth & David Sawi
Stephen C. Schaefer
Stephen Schoen & Margot Fraser
Linda & Nathan Schultz
Beryl & Ivor Silver
Lisa & Jim Taylor
James & Lisa White
Patricia & Jeffrey Williams
Sally Woolsey
Alan & Judy Zafran
B E N E FAC TO R S
$ 1, 5 0 0 –2 ,9 9 9
Anonymous (8)
Anonymous, in memory of Vaughn &
Ardis Herdell
Martha & Bruce Atwater
Nina Auerbach
Linda & Mike Baker
Michelle L. Barbour
David Beery & Norman Abramson
BluesCruise.com
Annikka Berridge
Brian Bock and Susan Rosin
Linda Brandenburger
Broitman-Basri Family
Drs. Don & Carol Anne Brown
Katherine S. Burcham M
Kerry Tepperman Campbell
Ronnie Caplane
Stephen K. Cassidy & Rebecca L. Powlan
Paula Champagne & David Watson
Andrew Combs
Julie Harkness Cooke
Penny Cooper & Rena Rosenwasser
Thomas & Suellen Cox
Ed Cullen & Ann O’Connor
James Cuthbertson
Richard & Anita Davis
Ira Dearing
Ilana DeBare & Sam Schuchat
Francine & Beppe Di Palma
Daryl Dichek & Kenneth Smith, in memory of
Shirley D. Schild
Jerome & Thao Dodson
Ben Douglas
Becky Draper
Merle & Michael Fajans
Cynthia A. Farner
Tracy & Mark Ferron
Lisa & Dave Finer
Patrick Flannery
Thomas & Sharon Francis
Herb & Marianne Friedman
Don & Janie Friend, in honor of Bill &
Candy Falik
James Gala
Karl & Kathleen Geier
Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi
Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter
Daniel & Hilary B. Goldstine
Bob Goodman
Phyllis & Eugene Gottfried
Mrs. Gale K. Gottlieb
Robert & Judith Greber
William James Gregory
Garrett Gruener & Amy Slater
Ms. Teresa Burns Gunther &
Dr. Andrew Gunther
Migsy & Jim Hamasaki
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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Bob & Linda Harris
Ann & Shawn Fischer Hecht
Ruth Hennigar
Tom & Bonnie Herman
Howard Hertz & Jean Krois
Richard N. Hill & Nancy Lundeen
Sue Hoch K
Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling M
The Hornthal Family Foundation
Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame
Paula Hughmanick & Steven Berger
George & Leslie Hume
Mr. & Mrs. Harold M. Isbell
Beth & Fred Karren
Doug & Cessna Kaye
Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim
Jean & Jack Knox
Lynn Eve Komaromi, in honor of the
Berkeley Rep Staff
Michael Kossman & Luis Orrico
John Kouns & Anne Baele Kouns
Helen E. Land
Robert Lane & Tom Cantrell
William & Adair Langston
Randy Laroche & David Laudon
Louise Laufersweiler & Warren Sharp
Sherrill Lavagnino & Scott McKinney
Andrew Leavitt & Catherine Lewis
Ellen & Barry Levine
Bonnie Levinson & Dr. Donald Kay
Jennifer S. Lindsay
Tom Lockard & Alix Marduel
Vonnie Madigan
Elsie Mallonee
Joan & Roger Mann
Naomi & Bruce Mann
Helen Marcus & David Williamson
Lois & Gary Marcus
Michael Margolis
Sumner & Hermine Marshall
Rebecca Martinez
Jill Matichak
Erin McCune & Nicholas Virene
Janet & Michael McCutcheon
Steven McGlocklin
Karen & John McGuinn
Kirk McKusick & Eric Allman
Michele & John McNellis
Toby Mickelson & Donald Brody
Roger & Satomi Miles
Dan Miller
Karen Miller
Andy & June Monach
Scott Montgomery & Marc Rand
Marvin & Neva Moskowitz
Shanna O’Hare & John Davis
Judith & Richard Oken
Steve Olsen
Judy O’Young, MD & Gregg Hauser
Matt Pagel & Corey Revilla
Bob & MaryJane Pauley
Tom & Kathy Pendleton
Gladys Perez-Mendez
Michael A. Petonic & Veronica A. Watson
David & Bobbie Pratt
Carol Quimby-Bonan
Andrew Raskopf & David Gunderman
Elizabeth Ratner
Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun
Bill Reuter & Ruth Major
James & Maxine Risley
John & Jody Roberts
Carole Robinson & Zane O. Gresham
Horacio Rodriguez
Deborah Romer & William Tucker
Marc Roth
Boyard & Anne Rowe
Enid & Alan Rubin
Lisa Salomon & Scott Forrest
Monica Salusky & John K. Sutherland
Jeane & Roger Samuelsen
Jackie & Paul Schaeffer
Joyce & Jim Schnobrich
Mark Shusterman, M.D.
Edie Silber & Steve Bomse
Amrita Singhal & Michael Tubach
Kae Skeels
Sherry & David Smith
Stephen & Cindy Snow
Audrey & Bob Sockolov
Jacques Soenens
Vickie Soulier
Jennifer Heyneman Sousae & William Sousae
David G. Steele
Stephen Stublarec & Debra S. Belaga
Gayle Tapscott K
Andrew & Jody Taylor
Deborah Taylor
Alison Teeman & Michael Yovino-Young
Susan & David Terris
Ama Torrance & David Davies
Bernard & Denise Tyson
Pamela Gay Walker/
Ghost Ranch Productions
Buddy & Jodi Warner
Jonathan & Kiyo Weiss
Beth Weissman
Charles & Nancy Wolfram
Ron & Anita Wornick
Sam & Joyce Zanze
Jane & Mark Zuercher
LEGEND K in-kind gift M matching gift
We are pleased to recognize first-time donors to Berkeley Rep, whose names appear in italics.
BE R K E L E Y R E P T H A N K S
Donors to the Annual Fund
CH A M PIO N S
$ 1,0 0 0 –1, 49 9
Anonymous (7) · Pat Angell, in memory of
Gene Angell · Naomi Auerbach & Ted
Landau · Don & Gerry Beers M · Robert &
Wendy Bergman · Patti Bittenbender · Daniel
Boggan Jr · Harry Bremond & Peggy Forbes ·
Fred Brown & Barbara Kong Brown · Barbara &
Robert Budnitz · Dan & Allyn Carl · Dr. S.
Davis Carniglia & Ms. M. Claire Baker · Paula
Carrell · Stan & Stephanie Casper · Naveen
Chandra & James Lengel · Leslie Chatham &
Kathie Weston · Ed & Lisa Chilton · Patty &
Geoff Chin · Terin Christensen · Ralph &
Rebecca Clark · Earl T. Cohen & Heidi M. Shale ·
Phyllis Coring K · Barbara & Tim Daniels M ·
Alecia A. DeCoudreaux · Harry & Susan Dennis ·
Ivan & Sarah Diamond · Corinne & Mike Doyle ·
Debra Engel, in honor of Barry Williams & Lalita
Tademy · Susan English & Michael Kalkstein ·
Bill & Susan Epstein, in honor of Marge
Randolph · Paul Feigenbaum & Judy Kemeny ·
Frannie Fleishhacker · Lisa Franzel & Rod
Mickels · Donald & Dava Freed · Christopher
R. Frostad M · Judith & Alex Glass · Robert
Goldstein & Anna Mantell · Diana Grand & Jon
Holman · Douglas Hardman & Karla Martin ·
Ann Harriman, in memory of Malcolm White ·
Elaine Hitchcock · Barry & Jackie Hoffner ·
Herrick and Elaine Jackson, The Connemara
Fund · Ken & Judith Johnson · Randall Johnson·
Barbara E. Jones, in memory of William E.
Jones · Barbara Jones & Massey J. Bambara M ·
Thomas Jones · Tom & Mary Anne Jorde, in
honor of Pat Sakai & Dick Shapiro · Steve K.
Kispersky · Suzanne LaFetra · Linda
Laskowski · Joe W. Laymon · Nancy & George
Leitmann, in memory of Helen Barber · Erma
Lindeman · R. Jay & Eileen Love · J.E. Luckett ·
Meg Manske · John E. Matthews · Laura
McCrea & Robert Ragucci · John G.
McGehee · Dennis & Eloise Middleton · David L.
Monroe · Jerry Mosher · Timothy Muller ·
Margo Murray · Paul Newacheck · Claire
Noonan & Peter Landsberger · Pier & Barbara
Oddone, in memory of Michael Leibert ·
Sheldeen Osborne · Richard Ostreicher &
We gratefully recognize
the following members
of the Annual Fund whose
contributions were
received in February 2015
S U PP O R T E R S
$ 2 5 0 –49 9
Anonymous · Nancy Blachman & David
desJardins · Priscilla K. Cooper & John Bartley ·
Rose Ann Critchfield & Stephen Cohn · Brett
D’Ambrosio · Sheilah & Harry Fish · Caroline
McCall & Eric Martin · Eric Peterson · Anne
& Nathan Petrowsky · Dr. David Schulz M ·
Robert Visser M · Mark Whatley &
Danuta Zaroda M
CO N T RIB U TO R S
$ 15 0 –2 49
Phyllis Bail · David & Eva Bradford · Sue Cork ·
Mr. & Mrs. Stefan Dasho · William & Andrea
Foley · Charles Howard, in memory of the
Howard Family · James & Celia Kelly ·
Kimberly J. Kenley-Salarpi · Sheila Keppel ·
Elaine Lee · Fiona McCrea · Juanita Peterson ·
Diane Schreiber & Bryan McElderry M · Peter
M. Schwartz & Laura Scott · Helaine & Marc
Schweitzer · Phoebe Watts · Kim Rohrer K ·
Helen Wu
Robert Sleasman · Lynette Pang & Michael
Man · Gerane Wharton Park · Gregory C.
Potts · Kenneth & Frances Reid · Charles R.
Rice · Edward & Jeanette Roach · Rob & Eileen
Ruby · Mitzi Sales & John Argue · John Sanger ·
Seiger Family Foundation · Neal Shorstein,
MD & Christopher Doane · Ann Shulman &
Stephen Colwell · Dave & Lori Simpson · Ed &
Ellen Smith · Sigrid Snider · Douglas Sovern &
Sara Newmann · John St. Dennis & Roy Anati ·
Gary & Jana Stein · Annie Stenzel · Tim
Stevenson & David Lincoln King · Michael
Tilson Thomas & Joshua Robison · Pate & Judy
Thomson · Deborah & Bob Van Nest · Wendy
Willrich · Lee Yearley & Sally Gressens
A DVO C AT E S
$500–999
Anonymous (23) · Denny Abrams · Daphne
Allen K · Gertrude & Robert Allen · Peggy &
Don Alter · Robert & Evelyn Apte · Shellye L.
Archambeau & Clarence Scott · Ross E.
Armstrong · Jerry & Seda Arnold · Gay & Alan
Auerbach · Mary Bailey · Todd & Diane Baker ·
Celia Bakke · David & Christine Balabanian ·
Leslie & Jack Batson · Jonathan Berk &
Rebecca Schwartz · Richard & Kathy Berman ·
Robert Berman & Jane Ginsburg · Caroline
Beverstock · Steve Bischoff · Jill Bryans ·
Wendy Buchen · Rike & Klaus Burmeister ·
Alex Byron & Nicole Maguire · Don Campbell
and Family · Kawika Campbell · Dr. Paula
Campbell · Doug Carlston & Kathy Williams ·
Bruce Carlton · Carolle J. Carter & Jess
Kitchens · Kim & Dawn Chase · Carol T. Christ ·
Karen Clayton & Stephen Clayton · Dennis
Cohen & Deborah Robison · Leonard &
Roberta Cohn · Ruth Conroy · Robert & Blair
Cooter · Philip Crawford · Meredith Daane ·
Robert & Loni Dantzler · Pat & Steve Davis ·
Abby & Ross Davisson · Noah & Sandra
Doyle · Drs. Nancy Ebbert & Adam Rochmes ·
Jeanene E. Ebert M · Anita C. Eblé · Burton
Peek Edwards & Lynne Dal Poggetto · Roger &
Jane Emanuel · Meredith & Harry Endsley M ·
Gini Erck & David Petta · Michael Evanhoe ·
Nancy H. Ferguson · James Finefrock &
FRIE N D S
$ 75 –149
Anonymous (9) · Nancy Abercrombie · Roy
Andrewson · Laurie Barkin · Chuck & Judy
Barnett · Christopher Blum · Robin & Edward
Blum · Barbara Boyington · Esta Brand · Craig
Broscow · Jacquelyn Brown & Ken Prochnow ·
Jennifer Burden · Ryan Coombs & Cynthia
Der · Harley Cooper · Edith Davidson · Kate &
Vincent Deschamps · Dana Dillard · Shelley &
Elliot Fineman · Joseph Furnish · Alison Gopnik
& Alby Raysmith · Michael Green · Alan
Hencky · Adrienne & Don Hillebrandt · Mui
Ho · Charlton Holland · Kristen & Todd Jones ·
Anthony & Elaine La Russa · Marie Elaine Lee ·
Robert McIntosh · Sandra Miyahara · Robert &
Mia Morrill · Mary O’Shea, in memory of Jim
O’Shea · Matthew C. Petrik · Steven Potter ·
Maria Powell · Marcee Samberg · James Sawdy ·
Lois Schonberger · Jan Schreiber · Lynn
Seppala · Anne Shuford · Lucinda Sikes · Carol
Stanek · Iris Stone · Tyrone Sturdivant · Barbara
Surian · Varda Treibach-Heck · Julayne Virgil ·
William Weisman · Norma Wynn, in honor of
James F. Wynn · Suzanne & Richard Zulch
PAT RO N S
$ 1 –74
Anonymous (20) · Dimitri Afanasyev · Judith &
Louis Alley · Bianca Anderson, in honor of Rosa
Antoine · Kirk Andrus · Robert Aude · Janet
Babb · Deborah & Prabin Badhia · Erin Badillo ·
Zachary Baker · Genie Barry & Jido Cooper ·
Leight Barry · Lauren K. Beal · Phyllis Beals ·
Harriet Hamlin · Brigitte & Louis Fisher · Jim &
Cathy Fisher · Martin & Barbara Fishman ·
Robert Fleri, in memory of Carole S. Pfeffer ·
Michael & Victoria Flora · Stephen Follansbee
& Richard Wolitz · Jacques Fortier · Dean
Francis · Nancy H. Francis · Stuart & Joyce
Freedman · Kate & Ted Freeland · Daniel
Friedland & Azlynda Alim · Paul & Marilyn
Gardner · Tim Geoghegan · Paul Gill &
Stephanie D’Arnall · Susan & Jon Golovin ·
Jane Gottesman & Geoffrey Biddle · Linda
Graham · Dan Granoff · Sheldon & Judy
Greene · Don & Becky Grether · Dan & Linda
Guerra · John G. Guthrie · Janet Harris · Robert
L. Harris & Glenda Newell-Harris · Dan &
Shawna Hartman Brotsky · Geoffrey &
Marin-Shawn Haynes · Daria Hepps · Irene &
Robert Hepps · Wilbur & Carolyn Ross
Hobbs · Judith Holland · Steven Horwitz K ·
Morgan Hough · Olivia & Thacher Hurd Fund ·
Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Ives · Marc & Lisa Jones ·
Helmut H. Kapczynski & Colleen Neff ·
Marjorie & Robert Kaplan, in honor of Thalia
Dorwick · Patricia Kaplan · Dennis Kaump ·
Natasha Khoruzhenko & Olegs Pimenovs ·
Christopher Killian & Carole Ungvarsky ·
Mary S. Kimball · Beverly Phillips Kivel · Joan &
David Komaromi · Janet Kornegay and Dan
Sykes · Jennifer Kuenster & George Miers ·
Charles Kuglen · Larry & Ruth Kurmel · Woof
Kurtzman & Liz Hertz · Henry & Natalie
Lagorio · Thomas LaQueur · Mr. & Mrs. Richard
Larsen · Glennis Lees & Michael Glazeski ·
John Leys · Ray Lifchez · Renee M. Linde ·
Mark & Roberta Linsky · Dottie Lofstrom ·
Judy MacDonald Johnston · Bruce Maigatter &
Pamela Partlow · Sue & Phil Marineau · Sarah
McArthur & Michael LeValley · Betsy
McDaniel · Marie S. McEnnis · Sean
McKenna · Ash McNeely · Ruth Medak · Mary
& Gene Metz · Aliza and Peter Metzner K ·
Caryl & Peter Mezey · Geri Monheimer · Rex
Morgan & Greg Reniere · Brian & Britt-Marie
Morris · Ronald Morrison · Patricia Motzkin &
Richard Feldman · Moule Family Fund · Lance
Nagel · Ron Nakayama · Kris Carpenter
Negulescu, in memory of Maxine Carpenter ·
Jeanne E. Newman · Marlowe Ng & Sharon
Ulrich · Hung Nguyen · Judy Ogle · Carol J.
Ormond · Mary Papenfuss & Roland Cline ·
Nancy Park · P. David & Mary Alyce Pearson ·
Lewis Perry · James F. Pine M · F. Anthony
Placzek · Malcolm & Ann Plant · John & Anja
Plowright · Gary F. Pokorny · Charles Pollack &
Joanna Cooper · Susie & Eric Poncelet ·
Roxann R. Preston · Paula Pretlow · Dan & Lois
Purkett · Kathleen Quenneville · Chuck & Kati
Quibell · David & Mary Ramos · Sheldon &
Catherine Ramsay · Ian Reinhard · Helen
Richardson · Paul & Margaret Robbins · Joan
Roebuck · Roberta Romberg · Galen Rosenberg
& Denise Barnett · Marie Rosenblatt · Jirayr &
Meline Roubinian · Deborah Dashow Ruth, in
memory of Leo P. Ruth · June & Bob Safran ·
Dorothy R. Sax · Laurel Scheinman · Bob &
Gloria Schiller · Mark Schoenrock & Claudia
Fenelon · Teddy & Bruce Schwab · John &
Lucille Serwa · Brenda Buckhold Shank, M.D.,
Ph.D. · Steve & Susan Shortell · William &
Martha Slavin · Carra Sleight · Suzanne
Slyman · Jerry & Dick Smallwood · Cherida
Collins Smith · Mark Smith & Pam Callowa ·
Alice & Scott So · Christina Spaulding · Louis &
Bonnie Spiesberger · Robert & Naomi
Stamper · Ms. Joelle Steefel · Herbert
Steierman · Lynn M. & A. Justin Sterling ·
Monroe W. Strickberger · Shayla Su M · Ellen
Sussman & Neal Rothman · Nancy & Fred
Teichert · Jeff & Catherine Thermond · Prof.
Jeremy Thorner & Dr. Carol Mimura, in
memory of James Toshiaki Mimura · Karen
Tiedemann & Geoff Piller · Janet Traub ·
William van Dyk & Margi Sullivan · Gerald &
Ruth Vurek · Scott Wachter & Barbara Malina ·
Jon K. Wactor · Louise & Larry Walker · Kate
Walsh & Dan Serpico · Dena & Wayne Watson
Lamprey · William R. Weir · Sallie Weissinger ·
Dr. Ben & Mrs. Carolyn Werner · Elizabeth
Werter & Henry Trevor · Diane & Scott
Wieser · Oliver Williamson · Fred Winslow &
Barbara Baratta K · Carol Katigbak Wong ·
Margaret Wu & Ciara Cox · Sandra Yuen &
Lawrence Shore
Lis Bensley · Bonnie Bichkoff · Anya Binsacca ·
Tim & Beth Bishop · Kathleen Bliss · Elliot
Block · Kathryn Blystone · Kent Bossange ·
Diane & Jim Breivis · Barbara Bridwell · Mary
Broderick · Mary & Peter Brooks · Hilary
Brown · Susan Brubaker · Elizabeth Bryant ·
Patricia Buddress · Carolyn Burgess · Helen
Cagampang · Kimberley Caldewey, in honor of
Marjorie Caldewey · Kerry Campbell-Price ·
Douglas Carruth · Arlyn Christopherson ·
Illene Colby · Barry & Mary Collins · Clemencia
Colmenares · Patricia & Stephen Cook · Karen
Coulter · Jack Covington · Mary E. Craig ·
Margaret Crayton · Deborah Cunningham ·
Cindi Darling · Susan Dent · April Diaz · Caryn
Dickman & Peggy Kiss · Sacha Dorgeloh & Brian
Beaumont-Nesbitt · Gary Downing · Mary Jane
Elliott · Susan Ferreyra · Matthew Finch · Abi
and Edward Fitzgerald · Gregory Ford · Nancy
Fox · William Frazer · Mic Friedberg · Nick
Fylstra · Marian Gade · Alexander & Alice
Gailas · Anne Garratt · Pamela Gee · Joseph C.
George · Kimberley Gilles · Dave W. Green ·
Marilyn Griego · Barbara Hall · Larry Hanover ·
Diane Harmon · Kathleen Hartman · Dana
Haviland · Gretchen Hayes · Stephen
Headley · Michele & Carl Heisler · Alisa
Highfill · Denise Hodges · Barry & Kris Hovis ·
Candace Hyde-Wang · Nicole Jackson · Denise
Sherer Jacobson · Mark Jarrett · Jacqueline
Johnson · Jane Kadner · Carole Kennemer ·
Marlene & Ilan Keret · Robert Kessler · Yoojin
Koh · Eric Kritz · Linda & Al Leck · Anita
Leimone · Duane Lemke · Sue Londerville ·
Kristine Maltrud · Melissa Mangini · Susan
Mann · Denis Martin · Patricia McCabe · Paul
Medved · Malcom Mickens · Karl and Renee
Molineux · Nurit Mussen · Christopher
Nassopoulos · Tim O’Brien · Maryl Olivera ·
Bill Olmsted · Jim Olson · Carlos Oroza ·
Shaylah Padgett-Weibel · Nancy B Pakter ·
Peter Peacock · Ruth A. Pease · Marshall Platt
& Elana Reinin · Carolyn Pometta, LCSW ·
Edgar Powell · Susan Price · Gloria
Randriakoto · Nancy Reichert · Christine Ritter ·
Bonnie Roditti · Gail Rossiter · Roberta Roth ·
Nancy Rutledge · Sepehr Sadighpour · Leslie
Salmon-Zhu · Sherry Sank · James Saunders ·
Karen Schieve · Judith & Peter Schumacher, in
honor of Jessica Broitman · Robert & Beverly
Sereda · Sally Seymour · Rachel Sheinbein ·
Martin Shenk · Wendy Silvani · Helen Simon ·
Benjamin Sisson · Geraldine Smith · Maggie R.
Smith · Elaine Sobel · James Sowers · Tiffany
Sprague · Kim Stephens · Catherine Stern ·
Kathryn Stout · Miriam Swernoff · William &
Deborah Tarran · Ernestine Tayabas-Kim ·
Joseph & Jone Taylor · David Thompson · Ann
Tingley · Dana Tom & Nancy Kawakita · Phyllis
Toomire · Cynthia Towle · Zalak Trivedi ·
Stephen Van Meter · Natalie Van Osdol ·
Maritza Jackson-Sandoval · Julia and Shel
Waggener · Annalisa Wallace · Karen Warren ·
Barbara Wiggin · Khin Swe Win · Jessica
Wolfe-Taylor · Roxy Wolosenko · Jon &
Elizabeth Worden · Janet Yelner · Margaret
Zabel · Mary Zeppa
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 35
BE R K E L E Y R E P T H A N K S
BE R K E L E Y R E P T H A N K S
Michael Leibert Society Members
Sustaining members
as of February 2015:
Anonymous (6)
Norman Abramson & David Beery
Sam Ambler
Carl W. Arnoult & Aurora Pan
Ken & Joni Avery
Nancy Axelrod
Edith Barschi
Neil & Gene Barth
Carole B. Berg
Linda Brandenburger
Broitman-Basri Family
Jill Bryans
Bruce Carlton &
Richard G. McCall
Stephen K. Cassidy
Andrew Daly & Jody Taylor
M. Laina Dicker
Thalia Dorwick
Rich & Robin Edwards
Bill & Susan Epstein
William Espey & Margaret
Hart Edwards
Carol & John Field
Dr. Stephen E. Follansbee &
Dr. Richard A. Wolitz
Kerry Francis
Donors to the Annual Fund
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
Jon & Becky Grether
Richard & Lois Halliday
Linda & Bob Harris
Fred Hartwick
Ruth Hennigar
Douglas J. Hill
Hoskins/Frame Family Trust
Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley
Robin C. Johnson
Lynn Eve Komaromi
Bonnie McPherson Killip
Scott & Kathy Law
Zandra Faye LeDuff
Ines R. Lewandowitz
Dot Lofstrom
Dale & Don Marshall
Sumner & Hermine Marshall
Rebecca Martinez
Suzanne & Charles McCulloch
John G. McGehee
Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Margaret D. & Winton McKibben
Susan Medak & Greg Murphy
Stephanie Mendel
Toni Mester
Shirley & Joe Nedham
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Sheldeen G. Osborne
Sharon Ott
Amy Pearl Parodi
Gladys Perez-Mendez
Barbara Peterson
Regina Phelps
Margaret Phillips
Marjorie Randolph
Bonnie Ring Living Trust
Tom Roberts
Tracie E. Rowson
Deborah Dashow Ruth
Patricia Sakai &
Richard Shapiro
Betty & Jack Schafer
Brenda Buckhold Shank,
M.D., Ph.D.
Valerie Sopher
Michael & Sue Steinberg
Dr. Douglas & Anne Stewart
Jean Strunsky
Henry Timnick
Phillip & Melody Trapp
Janis Kate Turner
Dorothy Walker
Weil Family Trust—Weil Family
Karen & Henry Work
Martin & Margaret Zankel
Gifts received by
Berkeley Rep:
Estate of Suzanne Adams
Estate of Helen Barber
Estate of Fritzi Benesch
Estate of Nelly Berteaux
Estate of Nancy Croley
Estate of John E. &
Helen A. Manning
Estate of Richard Markell
Estate of Margaret Purvine
Estate of Peter Sloss
Estate of Harry Weininger
Estate of Grace Williams
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 endowment, 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, in perpetuity.
For more information on becoming a member, visit our website at berkeleyrep.org or contact Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904 or [email protected].
Make great
theatre part of
your legacy.
Visit berkeleyrep.org/plannedgiving
or call 510 647-2904
3 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Petronia Paley and
Harriett D. Foy (background) in
The House that will not Stand
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F
K E V I N B ER N E .CO M
BOA R D OF
T RU ST E E S
BE R K E L E Y R E P STA F F
Michael Leibert Artistic Director
Tony Taccone
Managing Director
Susan Medak
General Manager Karen Racanelli
ARTISTIC
Associate Director
Liesl Tommy
Artistic Associate
& Casting Director
Amy Potozkin
Director, The Ground Floor/
Resident Dramaturg
Madeleine Oldham
Literary Associate
Julie McCormick
Ground Floor Visiting
Artistic Associate
Sara Kerastas
Artists under Commission
David Adjmi · Todd Almond ·
Christina Anderson · Glen Berger ·
Julia Cho · Jackie Sibblies Drury ·
Rinne Groff · Dave Malloy ·
Lisa Peterson
P R ODUC T ION
Production Manager
Peter Dean
Associate Production Manager
Amanda Williams O’Steen
Company Manager
Jean-Paul Gressieux
S TAG E M A NAG E M E N T
Production Stage Manager
Michael Suenkel
Stage Managers
Leslie M. Radin · Karen Szpaller ·
Kimberly Mark Webb
Production Assistants
Sofie Miller · Amanda Warner
S TA G E OP E R AT ION S
Stage Supervisor
Julia Englehorn
P R OP E R T I E S
Properties Supervisor
Jillian A. Green
Associate Properties Supervisor
Gretta Grazier
Properties Artisan
Viqui Peralta
S C E N E S HOP
Technical Director
Jim Smith
Associate Technical Director
Colin Babcock
Shop Foreman
Sam McKnight
Master Carpenter
E.T. Hazzard
Carpenter
Jamaica Montgomery-Glenn
SCENIC ART
Charge Scenic Artist
Lisa Lázár
COSTUMES
Costume Director
Maggi Yule
Associate Costume Director
Amy Bobeda
Draper
Kitty Muntzel
Tailor
Kathy Kellner Griffith
First Hand
Janet Conery
Wardrobe Supervisor
Barbara Blair
ELECTRICS
Master Electrician
Frederick C. Geffken
Production Electricians
Christine Cochrane
Kenneth Coté
SOUND
Sound Supervisor
James Ballen
Sound Engineer
Angela Don
A DM I N I S T R AT ION
Controller
Suzanne Pettigrew
Director of Technology
Gustav Davila
Associate Managing Director/
Manager, The Ground Floor
Sarah Williams
Executive Assistant
Andrew Susskind
Bookkeeper
Kristine Taylor
Associate General Manager/
Human Resources Manager
David Lorenc
Payroll Administrator
Valerie St. Louis
Human Resources Consultant
Laurel Leichter
Database Manager
Diana Amezquita
Systems Assistant
Debra Wong
Management Fellow
Chiara Klein
DE V E L OPM E N T
Director of Development
Lynn Eve Komaromi
Associate Director of Development
Daria Hepps
Director of Individual Giving
Laura Fichtenberg
Campaign Manager
Libbie Hodas
Institutional Grants Manager
Bethany Herron
Special Events Manager
Lily Yang
Individual Giving Associate
Joanna Taber
Development Database
Coordinator
Jane Voytek
Donor Relations Associate
Kelsey Hogan
Development Associate
Beryl Baker
B OX OF F I C E
Ticket Services Director
Destiny Askin
Subscription Manager
Laurie Barnes
Ticket Services Supervisors
Samanta Cubias · Richard Rubio
Box Office Agents
Nathan Brown · Christina Cone ·
Molly Conway · Julie Gotsch ·
Eliza Oakley · Amanda Warner ·
Crystal Whybark
M A R K E T I NG &
C OM M U N I C AT ION S
Interim Director of Marketing
& Communications
Peter Yonka
Director of Public Relations
Voleine Amilcar
Art Director
Nora Merecicky
Communications Manager
Karen McKevitt
Audience Development Manager
Sarah Nowicki
Webmaster
Christina Cone
Program Advertising
Ellen Felker
Patron Services Manager
Katrena Jackson
House Manager
Debra Selman
Assistant House Managers
Natalie Bulkley · Aleta George ·
Tuesday Ray · Ayanna Makalani ·
Mary Cait Hogan · Anthony Miller ·
Sarah Mosby · Seandale Turner
Concessions Supervisor
Hugh Dunaway
Concessionaires
Jessica Bates · Natalie Bulkley ·
Samantha Burse · Steve Coambs ·
Emerald Geter · Devon Labelle ·
Kelvyn Mitchell · Benjamin Ortiz ·
Jenny Ortiz · Alonso Suarez
Graves · Marvin Greene · Gendell
Hing-Hernández · Andrew Hurteau ·
Ben Johnson · Rebecca Kemper · Dave
Maier · Patricia Miller · Diane Rachel ·
Christian Roman · Rolf Saxon · Elyse
Shafarman · Rebecca Stockley
Jan and Howard Oringer
Teaching Artists
Bobby August, Jr. · Jessica Bates · Erica
Blue · Amber Flame · Gendell
Hing-Hernández · Chrissy Hoffman ·
Ben Johnson · Ariella Katz Suchow ·
Dave Maier · Marilet Martinez ·
Michelle Navarette · Sarita Ocon · Carla
Pantoja · Radhika Rao · Patrick Russell ·
Tommy Shepherd · Teddy Spencer ·
Elena Wright · Patricia Wright
Teacher Advisory Council
Molly Aaronson-Gelb · Julie Boe · Amy
Crawford · Beth Daly · Jan Hunter ·
Marianne Philipp · Richard Silberg ·
John Warren · Jordan Winer
Teen Core Council
Asè Bakari · Bridey Bethards · Abram
Blitz · Charlotte Dubach-Reinhold ·
Carson Earnest · Jet Harper · David
Kaus · Eleanor Maples · Eli MillerLeonard · Alexander Panagos · Samuel
Shain · Maya Simon · Chloe Smith ·
Ella Zalon
Docent Committee
Thalia Dorwick, Chair
Matty Bloom, Core Content
Nancy Fenton, Procedures
Selma Meyerowitz, Off-site contact &
Recruitment
Head of Passes Docents
Matty Bloom, Lead Docent
Francine Austin · Michelle Barbour ·
Carole Breen · Helen Gerken · Dale
Marshall · Rebecca Woolis
2014–1 5 B E R K E L E Y R E P
FELLOWSHIPS
OP E R AT ION S
Bret C. Harte Young
Facilities Director
Director Fellow
Mark Morrisette
Adam L. Sussman
Facilities Manager
Company/Theatre
Lauren Shorofsky
Management Fellow
Faith Nelson
Building Engineer
Thomas Tran
Costume Fellow
Andrea Phillips
Maintenance Technician
Johnny Van Chang
Development Fellow
Haley Bierman
Facilities Assistants
Sophie Li · Carlos Mendoza · Jesus
Education Fellow
Rodriguez · LeRoy Thomas
Rachel Eisner
Graphic Design Fellow
BERKELEY REP
Sarah Jacczak
S C HO OL OF T H E AT R E
Harry Weininger Sound Fellow
Director of the School of Theatre
Annemarie Scerra
Rachel L. Fink
Lighting / Electrics Fellow
Associate Director
Sarina Renteria
MaryBeth Cavanaugh
Marketing &
Community Programs Manager
Communications Fellow
Benjamin Hanna
Billy McEntee
Communications and Community
Peter F. Sloss Literary/
Partnerships Manager
Dramaturgy Fellow
Kashara Robinson
Lexi Diamond
Registrar
Production Management Fellow
Katie Riemann
Margaret Clement
Community Programs Administrator Properties Fellow
Modesta Tamayo
Amelia Burke-Holt
Faculty
Scenic Art Fellow
Alva Ackley · Susan-Jane Harrison ·
Anna McGahey
Bobby August Jr. · Erica Blue · Patric
Scenic Construction Fellow
Cambra · Rebecca Castelli · Jiwon
Will Gering
Chung · Sally Clawson · Laura Derry ·
Stage Management Fellow
Deborah Eubanks · Maria Frangos ·
Christine Germain · Nancy Gold · Gary Brad Hopper
President
Thalia Dorwick, PhD
Vice President
Jill Fugaro
Vice President
Stewart Owen
Treasurer
Emily Shanks
Secretary
Leonard X Rosenberg.
Chair, Trustees Committee
Roger A. Strauch
Chair, Audit Committee
William T. Espey
Immediate Past President
Marjorie Randolph
Board Members
Carrie Avery
Edward D. Baker
Martha Ehmann Conte
David Cox
Robin Edwards
William Falik
Lisa Finer
David Fleishhacker
Kerry L. Francis
Paul T. Friedman
Bruce Golden
Nicholas M. Graves
David Hoffman
Sandra R. McCandless
Susan Medak
Helen Meyer
Pamela Nichter
Jack Schafer
Richard M. Shapiro
Jean Z. Strunsky
Tony Taccone
Gail Wagner
Felicia Woytak
Past Presidents
Helen C. Barber
A. George Battle
Carole B. Berg
Robert W. Burt
Shih-Tso Chen
Narsai M. David
Nicholas M. Graves
Richard F. Hoskins
Jean Knox
Robert M. Oliver
Harlan M. Richter
Richard A. Rubin
Edwin C. Shiver
Roger A. Strauch
Warren Widener
Martin Zankel
Sustaining Advisors
Carole B. Berg
Rena Bransten
Diana J. Cohen
William T. Espey
John Field
Scott Haber
Richard F. Hoskins
Carole Krumland
Dale Rogers Marshall
Dugan Moore
Mary Ann Peoples
Peter Pervere
Pat Rougeau
Patricia Sakai
Michael Steinberg
Michael Strunsky
Martin Zankel
F OU N DI NG DI R E C T OR
Michael W. Leibert
Producing Director, 1968–83
2 0 1 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 7
FYI
Latecomers
Please arrive on time. Late seating is not guaranteed.
Connect with us online!
Theatre info
Considerations
Visit our website berkeleyrep.org
You can buy tickets and plan your visit,
watch video, sign up for classes, donate to
the Theatre, and explore Berkeley Rep.
Emergency exits
Please note the nearest exit. In an emergency,
walk—do not run —to the nearest exit.
No food or glassware in the house
Beverages in cans or cups with lids
are allowed.
Accessibility
Both theatres offer wheelchair seating
and special services for those with vision
or hearing loss. Assistive listening devices
are available at no charge in both theatre
lobbies. Scripts are available in the box office.
Open captioning is available for at least one
performance of every season production.
No smoking
The use of e-cigarettes is prohibited in
Berkeley Rep’s buildings and courtyard.
facebook.com/
berkeleyrep
@berkeleyrep
instagram.com/
berkeleyrep
yelp.com/
biz/berkeleyrepertorytheatre-berkeley
We’re mobile!
Download our free iPhone or Google Play
app — or visit our mobile site —to buy
tickets, read the buzz, watch video, and plan
your visit.
Tickets/box office
Educators
Box office hours: noon–7pm, Tue–Sun
Call 510 647-2949
Click berkeleyrep.org anytime
Fax: 510 647-2975
Bring Berkeley Rep to your school! Call the
School of Theatre at 510 647-2972 about free
and low-cost workshops for elementary,
middle, and high schools. Call Sarah Nowicki
at 510 647-2918 for $10 student-matinee
tickets. Call the box office at 510 647-2949
about discounted subscriptions for preschool
and K–12 educators.
Under 30? Half-price advance tickets!
For anyone under the age of 30, based on
availability. Proof of age required. Some
restrictions apply.
Senior/student rush
Full-time students and seniors 65+ save $10
on sections A and B. One ticket per ID, one
hour before showtime. Proof of eligibility
required. Subject to availability.
Group tickets
Bring 10–14 people and save $5 per ticket;
bring 15 or more and save 20%. And we
waive the service charge.
Entourage tickets
If you can bring at least 10 people, we’ll give
you a code for 20% off tickets to up to five
performance dates. Learn more at
berkeleyrep.org/entourage.
Student matinee
Tickets are just $10 each. Learn more at
berkeleyrep.org/studentmatinees.
For group, Entourage, and student matinee
tickets, please call us at 510 647-2918.
Sorry, we can’t give refunds or offer
retroactive discounts.
3 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 4 –1 5 · I S S U E 6
Theatre store
Berkeley Rep merchandise and show-related
books are available in the Hoag Theatre
Store in the Roda Theatre.
Please keep perfume to a minimum
Many patrons are sensitive to the use of
perfumes and other scents.
Phones / electronics / recordings
Please make sure your cell phone or watch
alarm will not beep. Use of recording
equipment or taking of photographs in the
theatre is strictly prohibited.
Please do not touch the set or props
You are welcome to take a closer look, but
please don’t step onto the stage.
No children under 7
Many Berkeley Rep productions are
unsuitable for young children. Please inquire
before bringing children to the Theatre.
No babes in arms.
Theatre maps
stage
T H RU S T
Ticket exchange
Only subscribers may exchange their tickets
for another performance of the same show.
Exchanges can be made online until midnight
(or 7pm by phone) the day preceding the
scheduled performance. Exchanges are made
on a seat-available basis.
stage
seating sections:
• premium • a • b
stage
RO DA
Request information
To request mailings or change your
address, write to Berkeley Rep, 2025
Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704; call
510 647-2949; email [email protected];
or click berkeleyrep.org/joinourlist. If you
use Gmail, Yahoo, or other online email
accounts, please authorize patronreply@
berkeleyrep.org.
stage
stage
seating sections:
• premium • a • b
stage
Get the full Berkeley Rep experience
Enjoy free concessions goodies
Tour backstage
Meet the artists
Give to the Annual Fund today!
berkeleyrep.org/give · 510 647-2906
Steven Sapp and the cast of Party People
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEVINBERNE.COM
COMING SOON:
Leave your mark on Berkeley Rep’s
soon-to-be renovated Thrust Stage.
Be a star
$1,000 Place your name in our constellation of
supporters in the Thrust lobby.
Take a seat
$3,000 Name a refurbished seat in the Thrust.
$5,000 Name two refurbished seats in the Thrust.
Dedicate a courtyard square
$10,000+ Place your personal dedication on a
square in the Narsai M. David Courtyard.
VISIT BERKELEYREP.ORG/CREATE
Architectural design: Marcy Wong | Donn Logan Architects
“I trust City National
with my family’s future.”
I’m an entrepreneur working on my third start-up.
City National helps me make smart, timely decisions to help
my business grow. And smart, sensible investment decisions
for my family’s future. They’re a true “partner” in business and
in my life.
City National is The way up® for me and my family.
Brian Lee
CEO
The Honest Company
Hear Brian’s complete story at
Findyourwayup.com/FutureBA.
Find your way up.
Call (866) 618-5244
to speak with a personal banker.
City National Personal Banking
Non-deposit Investment Products:
Past performance is not an indication of future results.
n
are not FDIC insured
CNB MEMBER FDIC
n
are not Bank guaranteed
n
may lose value
©2015 City National Bank