Even as it debuts another world premiere tonight and eagerly awaits previews for its latest Broadway outing, Berkeley Repertory Theatre proudly announces a slate of eight new shows. The Tony Award-winning nonprofit - known for developing exhilarating new plays - introduces a series of stunning scripts and stellar performers for the coming year.
Starting in September, the season features three world premieres: Rinne Groff's compelling Compulsion, a delightful new look at Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead, and a tantalizing show written by Artistic Director Tony Taccone that stars legendary actress Rita Moreno. Two West Coast premieres take the stage as well: celebrated collaborators Sarah Ruhl and Les Waters reunite for a refreshing new translation of Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters while Berkeley Rep welcomes The Great Game: Afghanistan, an unprecedented cycle of 12 short scripts that caused a sensation in London. The upcoming season also introduces local audiences to Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined and two audacious new monologues from Mike Daisey: The Last Cargo Cult and The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.
This ambitious, adventurous, and entertaining line-up is supported by BART and Wells Fargo, the official sponsors of Berkeley Rep's 2010-11 Season. Best of all, since Berkeley Rep continues to insist that top-notch theatre should be accessible and affordable, some seats for these shows cost less than they did in 1997!
"We have worked hard to make Berkeley Rep a home for innovation and visionary new voices," Taccone comments. "While I'm proud that several of our recent shows have been so successful, our focus is always on looking forward and discovering new risks and challenges. So I'm pleased to announce another season of new work at Berkeley Rep. We're excited to introduce our audience to writers like Rinne Groff and Lynn Nottage. We're unveiling the latest work from some of our favorite artists: Sarah Ruhl (tackling a great classic), Rita Moreno (tackling her life), and Mike Daisey (who has a running discourse with our audience about the state of the nation). We've brokered a uniquely inspiring collaboration between the beloved author Lemony Snicket, the renowned Phantom Limb Puppet Company, and our very own Geoff Hoyle. And, on an international front, The Great Game is that rare kind of epic theatrical event that has the potential to change the way we think about the world. All in all, it looks to be a great year."
"LIke Ballplayers, theaters sometimes get hot, rapping out hits with unlikely regularity, and the Rep, 41 this year, is on fire," raved the New York Times in a recent feature. In the last five years, five shows have moved from Berkeley Rep to Broadway: Bridge & Tunnel (2006), Passing Strange (2008), Wishful Drinking (2009), In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) (2009), and American Idiot, which begins its run at the ST. James Theatre on March 24. In fact, Berkeley Rep's devotion to developing new scripts has delivered 19 shows to New York in the last 23 years. Its productions have also transferred to London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Washington, DC, and dozens of other cities. Recently, material developed at Berkeley Rep has even popped up on the bestseller list (Wishful Drinking), the silver screen (Passing Strange), Top 40 radio ("21 Guns" from American Idiot), and national television (Passing Strange on PBS, American Idiot on the Grammy Awards, etc.).
Known for its core values of innovation and excellence, as well as its educated and imaginative audience, Berkeley Rep provides a safe haven for emerging and established artists to explore new ideas. In 1968, during its inaugural season, the Theatre staged its first world premiere. With this new season, the total number of premieres through the years now tops a hundred - 58 world premieres, 41 West Coast premieres, four American premieres - and nearly half of these have debuted in the last 10 years. That may explain why, in December, the San Francisco Chronicle declared that "the rise of Berkeley Rep" was the Top Theatre Story of the Decade: "The Rep opened its new Roda Theatre in '01, allowing it longer runs and greater flexibility with two mainstages, and has quickly risen in local and national prestige. Under the leadership of Tony Taccone and his associate artistic director Les Waters, it's become [a] primary source of new work for Broadway (where Taccone and Waters each opened a show this fall) and the rest of the country." Now another season of inventive and intelligent plays is on the horizon.
