2023/24 | ISSUE 5 THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
MARCH 2024
THE FAR COUNTRY BY LLOYD SUH | DIRECTED BY JENNIFER CHANG
FIVE CAMPS. ONE UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. BERKELEY REP SUMMER PROGRAMS NOW ENROLLING!
THEATRE INTENSIVE: PLAY CREATION
GR 6–8 | JUN 10–JUN 28
THEATRE CAMP: PLAY CREATION
GR 1–5 | SESSION 1: JUL 8–JUL 12 | SESSION 2: JUL 15–JUL 19
FILMMAKING INTENSIVE
GR 9–12 | JUN 10–JUN 21
THEATRE INTENSIVE: PLAY CREATION
GR 9–12 | JUL 8–JUL 26
GR 9–12 | JUL 22–AUG 2
MUSICAL THEATRE INTENSIVE
WELCOME TO BERKELEY REP!
To ensure the best experience for everyone:
While always encouraged, masks are required for audiences in our theatres on all Sundays (matinees and evenings) and Tuesdays throughout our 2023/24 season.
Food and drink: Beverages in cans, cartons, or plastic cups with lids are welcome in the theatre for Wednesday through Saturday performances only. Food is prohibited in the theatre during all performances.
Courtesy reminder: To avoid disruption to everyone, please turn off your cell phones, beeping watches, and electronic devices, and refrain from unwrapping cellophane wrappers during the performance. For the comfort of all patrons, please avoid wearing strongly scented personal products.
Photos: Photos may be taken in the theatre before and after the performance and during intermission. Photos and videos during the performance are strictly prohibited. Photos posted on social media must credit Berkeley Rep and the show’s designers.
Smoking and vaping: Berkeley Rep’s public spaces are smoke- and vape-free. One of the joys of live theatre is the collective experience . Audience members respond to the show in many different ways. We invite you to join together and enjoy the show! If there is anything we can do to make your experience more enjoyable, please see a member of the house staff.
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22 THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE | 2023/24 | ISSUE 5 BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE IN THIS ISSUE Contents 8 The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published at least seven times per season. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Karen McKevitt CREATIVE DIRECTOR DC Scarpelli CONTRIBUTORS Rebs Chan Beatriz Hernandez CONTACT BERKELEY REP Box Office: 510 647-2949 Groups (10+): 510 647-2918 Admin: 510 647-2900 School of Theatre: 510 647-2972 info@berkeleyrep.org 5 A Welcome from the Artistic and Managing Directors 6 Celebrating Theatre’s Unsung Heroes 8 Looking to the Past to Connect The Future 10 Near & Far: A Timeline of Chinese Immigration to San Francisco 12 Show Program: The Far Country 14 The Artists 18 Donors 21 Staff, Board of Trustees, and Sustaining Advisors 22 Making Theatre Connect with us at berkeleyrep.org @berkeleyrep
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4 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE 2023/24 | Issue 5
I’m so proud to welcome Lloyd Suh’s beautiful play home to the Bay Area. The Far Country gives us access to our region’s particular history and an opportunity to reckon with the experiences of past generations, to understand the forces at work that motivated their decisions, and the impact (intended and not) on the generations to come. And while I can claim no shared history with these characters, there are so many aspects of Lloyd’s play that I find personally resonant and deeply moving. My grandfather came through Ellis Island, not Angel Island, but like Moon Gyet was driven from his homeland by war, poverty, and political dissent. And like Moon Gyet, he struggled to make a home here, to find his footing first within his community of immigrants — many of whom, like him, had recently arrived from eastern Europe and Russia — and then within the country.
Lloyd has spoken of his work as a means of connecting his parents to his children, of creating a continuum between generations. For me, The Far Country is also a chance to connect the many of us whose parents and grandparents came to America from distant locales, driven by a desire to create opportunity for the children who would succeed them. How can we acknowledge the disparate aspects of our history and current lives and recognize the elements that connect us? In this region that has long drawn ambitious dreamers and visionaries, what are the stories we can share with our children to give them an understanding of the extraordinary voyages that enabled them to claim this as home?
Welcome to The Far Country and thank you for joining us to share in this journey.
Warmly, Johanna Pfaelzer Artistic Director
Thank you for joining us for The Far Country, the second of three California stories this season. This summer, we will journey to California’s Central Valley with Octavio Solis’ Mother Road, inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.
It has been a fantastic season so far. After playing at 102.8% capacity, our production of Harry Clarke is now running in London. The special, limited engagements of Alex Edelman’s Just for Us and W. Kamau Bell Gets His Act Together also played to sold-out houses. Berkeley Rep has incredible momentum, and subscribing is the best way to guarantee you don’t miss our most exciting shows.
We are busily planting the seeds for next season’s projects, planning and working to balance our artistic ambition, community impact, and financial resources. As you have come to expect from Berkeley Rep, next season will feature top-notch storytelling sure to inspire, provoke, entertain, and create cherished memories.
While our team is putting together the finishing touches, new this year, we are offering Early Bird access to 2024/25 season subscriptions before we announce next season in mid-April. Renew for the full season before April 15, and not only will you lock in our best prices, saving at least 25% off individual ticket prices, your loyalty will be rewarded with waived subscription fees and the chance to win four tickets to the opening night reception and performance of Galileo. Your Early Bird subscription secures your same seats (if you are renewing for the same day and time) and makes you first-in-line for any change requests. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity.
Enjoy the show!
Tom Parrish Managing Director
Berkeley Repertory Theatre acknowledges and honors its presence on the unceded ancestral lands of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people, now colonially known as Berkeley. The land from which we benefit continues to be a place of foremost importance to the Ohlone and all descendants of the Verona Band.
Berkeley Rep is committed to actively pursuing our values as an antiracist institution. We are committed to living our values by promoting the history and culture of the Ohlone people and sustaining an ongoing relationship which supports the art, resources, and values of indigenous peoples and tribes.
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WELCOME
2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 5
BERKELEY REP Carquin Huchiun Huchiun Saclan Tuibun Ssouyen Seunen Pelnen Taunan Jalquin/Irgin Alson Causen Volvon Chupcan Tatcan Awaswa s Mutsun
Celebrating Theatre’s Unsung Heroes
Honoring Berkeley Rep’s Volunteers During National Volunteer Month
By Beatriz Hernandez
In honor of National Volunteer Month, we at Berkeley Rep recognize the hundreds of volunteers who help ensure our audiences get the best theatre experience possible. From ushers to docents, to board members and sustaining advisors, those who choose to generously donate their time to our theatre help make our work possible.
You may be most familiar with our ushers — perhaps they showed you to the seat you’re currently reading this from. You may be joining a postshow discussion (after matinees) with one of the docents to talk about the show you just witnessed.
Creating live theatre takes the effort of many more people than most realize. Berkeley Rep’s usher program alone is comprised of nearly 800 volunteers, many of whom serve an average of 15 to 25 years.
“The usher program has taught me many forms of communication, deepened my emotional intelligence, and expanded my appreciation of volunteers. I volunteer myself; it has made me a better volunteer,” said Front of House Director Kelly Kelley. “They possess a wealth of information, dramaturgy, and love to speak to patrons about our productions. They are our biggest fans.”
Our volunteer docents provide space for lively post-show discussions.
“Patrons realize that their thoughts and reactions are important too and are recognized by other people. They also realize that their
Joy Lancaster (left) volunteers in The Mendel Room
Tuesday Ray is ready to help patrons with assisted listening devices
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Ushers ready to greet patrons
engagement with the theatre is the key to regional theatre’s success,” said Selma Meyerowitz, one of the three co-chairs of the docent program at Berkeley Rep.
Docents start working on a play about two months before it opens. Work includes attending meetings, researching aspects of the play, and writing a summary of the research. Docents prepare questions for the post-show discussions they facilitate and attend practice and trainings in facilitation.
“The docent program was established to enhance the patrons’ experience of a play,” said Joy Lancaster, a volunteer usher, and another co-chair of the docent program. “Participants’ comments expressing gratitude and sharing that they have gained a deeper understanding of a play verify that for me.”
For more information on how to volunteer at Berkeley Rep, visit berkeleyrep.org/about/get-involved/.
Unsung Caption 5
Selma Meyerowitz leads a conversation with audience members
Unsung Caption 6
2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 7 Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01527235. Andrea Gordon 510.421.6818 andrea@andreagordon.com DRE 01233563 Making the Difference Between a Good Sale and a Great One.
LOOKING TO THE PAST TO CONNECT THE FUTURE
Playwright Lloyd Suh has been telling Asian stories for most of his career. From The Chinese Lady, which tells the story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman in the United States, to The Heart Sellers, which explores the Asian immigrant experience in the 1970s following the landmark Hart-Celler Act of 1965, his work interrogates U.S. history to understand our present and dream a new tomorrow for Asian Americans. With his latest play, The Far Country, a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, Lloyd examines the Chinese Exclusion Act and its impact on immigration and the lives of the almost 175,000 Chinese people who passed through Angel Island. Berkeley Rep staff sat down with Lloyd for a conversation about The Far Country and how he feels the past informs the future. Here are highlights from the conversation:
ON THE ORIGINAL INSPIRATION FOR THE PLAY
I’ve been writing about Asian-American history for a while kind of accidentally. I never set out to. I would be doing research for one play, and I’d come across a story that stuck with me and I couldn’t shake it. I had to sit with it longer and I had to write about it. Then doing more research would lead to another story and another story. And the whole time everything was circling around the exclusion era. It felt like that was the fulcrum where so much of what we know now in terms of geographies, formations of Chinatowns, economic and legislative realities,
and stereotypes have their roots. So, I knew I wanted to write about it somehow. I just never felt ready, or it always felt so big. But then I had a commission for Atlantic Theater Company, and I was like, okay, I have support, I’m among friends. And I just said it aloud. I said this play is going to be about the exclusion era and Angel Island. And in saying that aloud, I committed to doing it. Once I committed to the idea, I started to mentally do what one must do to honor the weight of what that is. I was in San Francisco in November 2019 for my production of The Chinese Lady at the Magic Theatre, and when you go out the back door at the Magic you can see Angel Island and I was like “Okay, I’m going to go.” I went with the mission of feeling the ghosts and the weight of that history. And I left feeling ready to write it.
ON WRITING PLAYS THAT CONNECT HISTORY AND PEOPLE
Writing about this specific era of history over several plays made me realize that they’re all connected to each other. And that isn’t something that I was conscious of while writing them. But when I look at these plays all together, The Chinese Lady, The Heart Sellers, and The Far Country, I think about the reason I even set out to do this in the first place. I have aging parents and growing children. In writing, I was trying to find a way to tell my parents’ story to my children, to connect all of us, my parents, my children, and myself on this continuum.
Every one of these plays is rooted in history, and yet in every one of these plays, somebody talks about the future. And when they talk about the future, I think they’re talking about the next play to follow, but they’re also talking about us. So, for any Asian American, or
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American, or anyone who’s interested in engaging with that history, it means engaging with what it means to be a citizen, what it means to be part of that continuum. And especially for Asian Americans, who I think a lot of us have been separated from this history, I want them to feel like it belongs to them. I want actors to feel like these are their plays, their stories, and that audiences feel this story is theirs, too.
ON REVISITING THE PLAY FOR BERKELEY REP
I’m totally rewriting the middle section. I felt like I never really got it, and the version we staged in New York did what it needed to do, but I feel like I made choices based on time and practicalities in a way that I felt like if I get another crack at this, I’m going to try something bigger. So, I’m trying something that’s more of my original impulse, which is that it’s a combination of an oral history and a kind of conjuring that reflects Moon Gyet’s experience on Angel Island. Sometimes it’s hard to hear history when it’s told to you as facts, but when it’s presented to you as questions, it changes the way we engage with it. It makes us ask our own questions. So, I feel like the previous version was like, “Hey, let me tell you about Angel Island,” and here it’s going to be more of “This is what it felt like.” That’s the impulse. I’m trying to make it more tactile, more experiential.
ON HOW THE PAST RESONATES TODAY
I wrote a very quick first draft, impulsive, incomplete, just scenes really, that we read at the end of January 2020 at the Atlantic. And then suddenly in March 2020 there was no prospect of doing theatre and
writing a play felt like a silly thing to do. So, in writing during that time, there are so many things that I think are unavoidable in the play: isolation, loneliness, disconnection, but also engaging with history. Engaging with this country or this world’s relationship with what it is to be a person, a citizen in a country that has the history that we have, particularly around race, how legislation ties in with all of that, and where legislation comes from. That was what was on the news every day. And so that was part of what was in my head every day.
In 2020, feeling that this play might not be done anytime soon, I started to think about the audience as a future tense thing. I started to think about what’s portable. What is something that can mean something to anybody anytime? And so, I started thinking about what it is just to think about the past and to think about the future. I like to think whenever any of the characters in these plays talk about the future, their grandchildren, or great-grandchildren that me or my peers could sit in the audience and think, “Oh, that’s
me. They’re talking about me.” I feel like that’s my relationship to the future tense that I think about when I’m writing these plays. I’m thinking about my 8-year-old when he’s my age. Is this going to mean anything to him? How can I make it mean something? I want this history to be something people can own and feel like it’s theirs. I want my 8-year-old to feel connected to these stories and be like “Yeah, this is part of me.”
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PHOTO: KARIN SHOOK
NEAR & FAR
A Timeline of Chinese Immigration to San Francisco
BY REBS CHAN
Why did Chinese migrants move to the United States, and what was the immigration process like? Lloyd Suh’s The Far Country begins in 1909 and charts three generations of Chinese immigrants across 21 years. By highlighting a few key historical events, both in California and across the Pacific, the following timeline contextualizes the story of The Far Country ’s characters and illuminates the many injustices imposed upon Chinese migrants.
1839–1842: First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking
Background: Chinese immigrants at the San Francisco custom-house, P. Frenzeny, Harper’s Weekly, 1877
A war between China and Britain over foreign merchants in China selling opium, a banned substance. The war ended with the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which gave Britain many economic advantages over China and established Hong Kong as a crown colony.
10 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
1849: California Gold Rush
Following a series of natural disasters and China’s economic defeat in the First Opium War, the discovery of gold in California sparked the first wave of Chinese immigration to the U.S.
1850: Foreign Miners License Law and San Francisco Chinatown
Anti-immigrant sentiment among white miners pushed the California legislature to pass the 1850 Foreign Miners License Law, which charged all nonU.S. citizen miners $20 per month ($812 in 2024 USD). Although the law was quickly repealed, the prohibitive fee led many Chinese immigrants to leave the mining camps and establish the United States’ first Chinatown in San Francisco.
1856–1860: Second Opium War
British dissatisfaction with China’s implementation of the Treaty of Nanking led to this war, which ended when the British and French captured Beijing and forced the transfer of the Kowloon Peninsula from China to Britain.
1863–1869: The Transcontinental Railroad
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants worked on the construction of the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad, spanning from California to Utah. The Central Pacific Railroad paid them significantly less than their white American and European counterparts.
1875: The Page Act
This act was the first restrictive federal immigration law in the United States, introducing the concept of “legal” vs. “illegal” immigration. Among other restrictions, it forbade the “importation” of Asian women into the United States “for the purposes of prostitution,” an assumption often made by U.S. immigration officials.
1878: In re Ah Yup
Ah Yup, a Chinese immigrant, argued that he was “white,” since the existing laws allowed only for the naturalization of white people and Black people. In this resulting landmark decision, The Ninth Circuit in California ruled that those of the “Mongolian race” were not “white” and therefore ineligible to naturalize.
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act instated a 10-year ban on the immigration of laborers from China and prevented Chinese nationals from attaining citizenship. It was also the first law which mandated that new arrivals be inspected at a port of entry. In 1882, before the law took effect, more than 39,000 people of Chinese heritage immigrated to the U.S. In 1887, only 10 Chinese immigrants entered the country.
1892: The Geary Act
The Geary Act renewed Chinese exclusion for 10 more years and required Chinese nationals to carry an identification document. In 1902, Chinese exclusion was extended for 10 more years, and in 1904, it was extended indefinitely.
1906: The 1906 Earthquake and Paper Sons
The 1906 Earthquake and consequent fire destroyed all the birth and immigration documents from San Francisco’s Hall of Records, sparking the phenomenon of “paper sons,” a practice in which new Chinese immigrants purchased documentation papers to falsely identify themselves as the children of Chinese American citizens.
1910: Angel Island Immigration Station Opens
Between 1910 and 1940, approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants arriving in San Francisco were sent to Angel Island. There, they were subjected to an intense interrogation and appeal process, during which they were detained for a period of several weeks to two years. In contrast, European immigrants, who were segregated from the non-European immigrants, were detained from a few days to a few weeks.
1924: The Immigration Act
Public and political concern about increasing immigration numbers led to the enactment of this federal law. Northern Europeans were favored, Southern and Eastern Europeans faced severe immigration quotas, and Asians were completely excluded from immigration.
1940: Angel Island Immigration Station Closes
Amidst slowing immigration numbers and a fire that destroyed Angel Island Immigration Station’s administrative building, officials closed the facility.
1943: Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act
In the midst of WWII, during which the U.S. and China were allies, Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and instated a new immigration quota of around 105 visas per year for Chinese immigrants.
1983: The Creation of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
In 1970, the government planned to demolish the Angel Island Immigration Station, but the discovery of poetry carved into the barrack walls renewed interest in preserving the site. In 1983, the barracks opened to the public and members of the community-led Angel Island Immigration Station Historical Advisory Committee created the Immigration Station Foundation to continue efforts of both preserving the site and amplifying the contributions of Pacific Coast immigrants.
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SCENIC DESIGN WILSON CHIN
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director | Tom Parrish, Managing Director presents the West Coast premiere of
THE FAR COUNTRY
BY LLOYD SUH
DIRECTED BY JENNIFER CHANG
COSTUME DESIGN
HELEN Q. HUANG
PROJECTIONS
HSUAN-KUANG HSIEH
LIGHTING DESIGN MINJOO KIM
MOVEMENT
ERIKA CHONG SHUCH
STAGE MANAGER ALYSSA K. HOWARD*
SOUND DESIGN AND ORIGINAL MUSIC FAN ZHANG
CASTING KARINA FOX
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER EMILY BETTS
World Premiere Presented by Atlantic Theatre Company, New York City, 2022
THE FAR COUNTRY is presented through special arrangement with TRW PLAYS, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. trwplays.com.
SEASON SPONSORS
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR
The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation
SPONSORS
Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Cindy J. Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson
Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim
Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas
SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY 12 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
CAST
(in alphabetical order)
Moon Gyet Tommy Bo*
Gee/Three Feodor Chin*
Dean/Inspector John Keabler*
Yip/One Whit K. Lee*
Low/Two Tess Lina*
Yuen/Four Sharon Shao*
Harriwell/Interpreter Jonathan Rhys Williams*
UNDERSTUDIES
(in alphabetical order)
Moon Gyet Andrew Ge
Gee/Three/Yip/One Alex Hsu*
Low/Two/Yuen/Four Kina Kantor*
Harriwell/Interpreter/Dean/Inspector Aaron Wilton*
*Indicates a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States This theatre operates under agreements with the League of Resident Theatres, Actors’ Equity Association (the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States), the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and United Scenic Artists.
Please turn off your cell phones, beeping watches, and electronic devices, and refrain from unwrapping cellophane wrappers during the performance.
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights, and actionable under United States copyright law.
March 8-April 14, 2024
Peet’s Theatre
THIS SHOW HAS A 15-MINUTE INTERMISSION
SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY 2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 13
Tommy Bo
Moon Gyet
Berkeley Rep debut. Off-Broadway: Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company). Regional: The Brothers Paranormal (Olney Theatre Center), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage). Film & TV: Law and Order: Organized Crime, FBI: Most Wanted, Hit and Run, Master, and Boogie. @prettydumbboys
Feodor Chin
Gee/Three
Feodor Chin is a native San Franciscan and Los Angeles-based actor. Regional: Rules of Seconds (LATC), Macbeth (A Noise Within), The Joy Luck Club (TheatreWorks), Maude Night (Upright Citizens Brigade, LA). Film/TV: Scrambled, Big Little Lies, St. Denis, American Auto, Welcome to Chippendales, Pam & Tommy, Good Trouble, The Affair, Jane the Virgin. Voiceover: What If…?, Futurama, Overwatch, League of Legends, Hit-Monkey, Uncle from Another World, Ghost of Tsushima. Awards: AudioFile Magazine Earphones Awards, SOVAS Award. Education: BA, UCLA. Twitter and Instagram: @feochin feodorchin.com
John Keabler
Dean/Inspector
New York: Cherry Lane Theatre. Regional: The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Contemporary American Theater, Perseverance Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, The Old Globe, Portland Stage Company, Olney Theatre Center, Theatrical Outfit, Virginia Stage Company, Florida Studio Theatre, Creede Repertory. Film: Sugar (starring Alice Ripley); Faith, Love and Whiskey. Television: Madam Secretary, 30 Rock, Nascar: The Rise of American Speed, The Men Who Built America, All My Children. Awards: Best Son Ever Award (sometimes) from his mother. Training: The Old Globe. John would like to thank his wife Katie and the twins — Vaughn and Juddson. JohnKeabler.com and @JohnnyKeabs on the socials.
Whit K. Lee Yip/One
Whit K. Lee is thrilled to be at Berkeley Rep with the West Coast premiere of The Far Country. Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theatre Company — The Far Country, Pan Asian Repertory — Citizen Wong, Classic Stage Company — Assassins, Christmas Carol: A Radio Play — CBU Actors Studio. Regional: Capitol Rep — Secret Hour (Broadway World: Best Supporting Actor), Steppenwolf — The Doppelgänger, Actors Theatre of Louisville — A Christmas Carol, Adirondack Theatre Festival — The Chinese Lady. Television: Beyond, Kaleidoscope, Orange Is the New Black, Law & Order: SVU. Film: Grounded, Wall Street English. Thank you to my family and my dream team, Susan Campochiaro Confrey — CBU Management & Padraic — JC William Agency for their love and support.
Tess Lina Low/Two
Tess Lina is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut in The Far Country. Theatre credits include a co-production with the Denver Center and the Royal Shakespeare Company, working with the late Sir Peter Hall and John Barton; Mark Taper Forum; South Coast Rep; La Jolla Playhouse; Laguna Playhouse; San Jose Rep; The Guthrie Theatre. Film/TV credits include For All Mankind (recurring), How to Get Away with Murder (recurring), S.W.A.T., Revenge, House, CSI, NCIS, and Danika with Marisa Tomei. A graduate of Juilliard Drama Division, Tess is an acting coach, voiceover artist, and proud mom of two boys.
Sharon Shao Yuen/Four
Sharon Shao (she/they) is a Bay Area-native actor, musician, and teaching artist. Local credits: The Good Book (u/s, Berkeley Rep), The Winter’s Tale and Good Person of Szechwan (Cal Shakes), Chinglish (SF Playhouse), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (SF Playhouse, SFBATCC featured actress award), Man of God and Vinegar Tom (Shotgun Players), and The Tempest and Hamlet (Oakland Theater Project). She received her BA in Theatre Arts and Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. Sharon
would like to dedicate this show to her beloved late mother, Huiping Liu, and thanks her friends and family for their endless support. IG: @shao_dynasty, sharonshao.biz
Jonathan Rhys Williams
Harriwell/Interpreter
Jonathan Rhys Williams joins Berkeley Rep for the first time with this production. San Francisco Bay Area credits include TheatreWorks (Tuck Everlasting, Charley’s Aunt, Violet, Triumph of Love, and Under Milkwood), San Jose Stage (Disgraced, The Night Alive, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Rock and Roll, Biedermann and the Firebugs, A View from the Bridge, Cumberland Blues), Aurora Theatre Company (Creditors, Thérèse Raquin, The Homecoming), American Musical Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and others. Jonathan is a co-founder of Capital Stage Company, which continues to serve the Greater Sacramento Area. Jonathan also serves as executive director of The Tabard Theatre Company in San Jose.
Andrew Ge
U/S Moon Gyet
Andrew Ge (he/him) is jazzed to be making his debut at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Ge was last seen in Center Theatre Group’s production of A Christmas Story: The Musical at The Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown LA. Other select credits include Mamma Mia! (East West Players), Cinderella (5-Star Theatricals), Shanghai’s World Emporium (Huntington Library), Arcane: The Live Immersive Experience (Secret Cinema/Riot Games). TV/film: The Slumber Party (Yo Fiesto), Blue Suit (Wong Fu Presents), Beneath the Banyan Tree (VOD). English voice: The Devil’s Plan (Netflix), Dream (Netflix), Girl from Nowhere (Netflix). Certified matcha geek. @thisisge
Alex Hsu
U/S Gee/Three/Yip/One
Alex Hsu is thrilled to make his Berkeley Rep debut. National tours: Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (dir. Walter Bobbie) and The King and I (dir. Baayork Lee). Regional: The Headlands and Tales of the City: A New Musical (ACT), Little Shop of
SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY 14 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
THE ARTISTS
Horrors, Gypsy, Pacific Overtures (TheatreWorks SV), The Great Leap (San Jose Stage), Chinglish (San Francisco Playhouse), Miss Saigon (Westchester Broadway), Me and My Girl (Marin Theatre Company). Film/ TV credits include I (Almost) Got Away with It, East Side Sushi, and Protection Detail. As a choreographer, Alex has been nominated for several BATCC and TBA awards.
Kina Kantor
U/S Low/Two/ Yuen/Four
Kina Kantor is an actor, artist, and cellist originally from and based in the Bay Area. Kina is thrilled to return to Berkeley Rep (The Great Wave — U/S). She regularly works with Bay Area theatre companies such as TheatreWorks (Mrs. Christie), San Francisco Playhouse (The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, The Great Khan, Tiny Beautiful Things), Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Crowded Fire, Word for Word, and PlayGround SF. Kina is also a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and has taught at the Academy of Art University in SF. @kinakantor (she/her)
Aaron Wilton
U/S Harriwell/ Interpreter/Dean/ Inspector
Aaron Wilton is an awardwinning Bay Area actor. Regional: George Street Playhouse’s Inspecting Carol (with Peter Scolari & Dan Lauria), Aurora Theatre Company’s John Gabriel Borkman (with Karen Grassle), the lead in Hudson Stage Company’s After All (with Broadway’s Walter Charles & Susan Pellegrino), West Coast premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at San Jose Stage Company. Film: Jexi, The Boat Builder, Messrs. Television: Criminal Minds, Sunset Glory: Doolittle’s Heroes. Video games: Mafia: Definitive Edition, Watch Dogs 2, The Godfather II, Battlefield: Hardline, the NBA2K series. Commercials: Taco Bell, Xfinity, Wells Fargo, Blue Shield, Charles Schwab, Chase, Cisco, Adobe, EA Games, Pixar, Tejava.
Lloyd Suh Playwright
Lloyd Suh is also the author of The Chinese Lady, The Heart Sellers, Bina’s Six Apples, and many others. His work has been produced in NY with Atlantic Theater Co., Public Theater, Ma-Yi, NAATCO, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and others; regionally at the Huntington, Alliance, Denver Center, Magic Theatre, and others; and internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA in Seoul, Korea. He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Harold & Mimi Steinberg Playwright Award, Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Horton Foote Prize, and was a 2023 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Jennifer Chang Director
Berkeley Rep debut. Proud Bay Area native. Upcoming: What Became of Us at Atlantic Theater Company. Recent work: King of The Yees at Signature Theatre in D.C. (Helen Hayes nom Best Production); The Heart Sellers (world premiere) at Milwaukee Rep; American Fast at City Theatre; The Great Leap at Round House Theatre; On Gold Mountain at LA Opera; Vietgone (LA Drama Critics Circle Award: Directing); new play development at Center Theatre Group, Williamstown Theatre Festival, South Coast Rep, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Ashland New Plays Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Chalk Rep. Associate professor at UCLA. Fellowships: Drama League, Old Globe Classical Directing. Training: MFA, UCSD; BFA NYU. changinator.com
Wilson Chin Scenic Design
Berkeley Rep: Clyde’s and Aubergine. Broadway: Cost of Living, Pass Over (Drama Desk, Lortel, Hewes Award nominations), Next Fall . Off-Broadway: Sunset Baby and A Bright New Boise (Signature Theatre), Jonah (Roundabout), The Animal Kingdom (The Connelly), This Land Was Made (Vineyard), Space Dogs (MCC, Lortel Award nomination), Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public), Sakina’s Restaurant (Audible). Opera: Turandot (Washington National Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Eine Florentinische Tragödie/Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award). Film/ television: Pass Over (dir. Spike Lee), Game Theory with Bomani Jones (HBO), Blindspot (NBC). @wilsonchindesign
Helen Q. Huang Costume Design
Helen Q. Huang is an award-winning costume designer whose credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, Alley Theatre, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Children’s Theatre Company, Classic Stage Company, Disney Entertainment, and The Washington Ballet. Awards: Helen Hayes Award, Henry Award, Anderson, Hopkins Award and Ivey Award. Helen is a professor of Costume Design at University of Maryland, College Park. helenqhuang.com
Minjoo Kim
Lighting Design
Minjoo Kim is excited to make her debut at Berkeley Rep. New York credits include Demon at The Bushwick Starr. Selective regional credits include Fat Ham at Studio Theatre, Ink at Round House, King of The Yees at Signature Theatre, The Brothers Paranormal at Olney Theatre, American Fast at City Theatre, The Chief at Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Royale at Kansas City Rep, Violet at TheatreSquared, Life Sucks at Cygnet Theatre. International credits include, in South Korea, Crimson Girl (Dongsoong Art Center) and Die or Not (Seoul Art Space Mullae), and in China, Mask on/off (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre). Her work The Royale was selected for the National Exhibit at Prague Quadrennial in 2023. minjoo-design.com
Fan Zhang
Sound Design and Original Music
Berkeley Rep: Sanctuary City. Recent Off-Broadway: The Far Country and Paris (Atlantic), At the Wedding (Lincoln Center), This Land Was Made (Vineyard), Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (Second Stage & WP), Pumpgirl (Irish Rep), Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi), On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages), Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio), The Trail of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group). Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C., Arena Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Milwaukee Rep, Capital Rep, Artists Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Long Wharf, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Portland Center Stage, Studio Theatre in D.C., Two River Theater, Westport
SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY 2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 15
Country Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Rep, Huntington Theatre, and Old Globe. Head of the sound program at Purdue University. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. fanzhangsound.com
Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh Projections Design
Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh is a Taiwanese multimedia artist, currently based in Los Angeles. Her artistic repertoire spans experimental film, projection art, photography, and video installations, exploring a variety of mediums. As a projection designer, she collaborates with entertainment companies and theatres, crafting visual immersive experiences for live performances. Tacos La Brooklyn (LATC), The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players, Stage Raw Award), Letters from Home (Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Elliot Norton Awards nomination), Until, Until, Until… (NY Performa Biennial), Magical Night in the Museum (Shanghai Oriental Art Center), TERRA (LACDC), Currents (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra). She received her MFA at California Institute of the Arts. HsuanKuang.com
Erika Chong Shuch Movement
Erika Chong Shuch is a choreographer, director, and performance maker whose work spans devised experimental performance and social practice, and produces unexpected forms of audience engagement. Shuch co-founded For You, a performance collective that brings diverse strangers together and makes performances as gifts. For You has been commissioned to create work by Court Theatre, The Momentary, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival with support from Creative Capital and NEFA. Erika has worked as a choreographer for theatres including Arena Stage, Round House Theatre/Getty Villa, Theatre for a New Audience, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Pittsburg Public, Portland Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Folger Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Kennedy Center. Erika is a Fellow at Headlands Center for the Arts and a guest artist at Stanford University.
Karina Fox Casting
Karina has been working as a casting director, producer, and director in the Bay Area since 2017. Before joining Berkeley Rep as the associate casting director and artistic associate in 2022, she was at Magic Theatre serving as the producing and casting director. Previous Magic Theatre casting credits include The Kind Ones; Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play); The Resting Place; and The Virgin Play Series (2018–2022).
Alyssa K. Howard Stage Manager
Berkeley Rep debut. NYC (selected): Angel Island (Prototype Festival), Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC), Lady M (Heartbeat Opera), Public Obscenities (Soho Rep), The Far Country (Atlantic Theater), ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME (MaYi Theater), Golden Shield (MTC), Wolf Play (Soho Rep), Nollywood Dreams (MCC), for colored girls… (Public Theater), Henry VI (NAATCO), Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public), Glass Guignol (Mabou Mines). Other: Beth Morrison Projects, BAM, NYSAF, Page73, National Sawdust, Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, Northern Stage, Berkshire Theatre
MAY 5–JUN 16, 2024
BOOK BY DANNY STRONG
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY MICHAEL WEINER & ZOE SARNAK
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MAYER
CHOREOGRAPHED BY DAVID NEUMANN
Four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza stars in a dazzling world-premiere musical helmed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Swept Away). Galileo is an explosive collision of science and faith, truth and power, and will likely join the constellation of world premieres that traveled from Berkeley Rep to Broadway — be the first to see it here!
16 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY
Group, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Yale Rep, McCarter Theatre, Orlando
Shakes. MFA: Yale School of Drama. BA: Williams College. IG: @shiningatthetop
Emily Betts
Assistant Stage Manager
Emily Betts is thrilled to return to Berkeley Rep after working on the ripple, the wave that carried me home; Cambodian Rock Band; Let the Right One In; POTUS; Harry Clarke; and The Ground Floor fall and summer residency labs Other theatre credits: A Christmas Carol, The Headlands (American Conservatory Theater); Indecent (Arden Theatre Company); and The Rose Garden (Philadelphia Fringe Festival). Emily was the Production Management Fellow for Berkeley Rep’s 2021/22 season and received a BFA in Directing, Playwriting, & Production from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia (go birds!). Endless gratitude to Mom, Dad, Zach, and the incredible Berkeley Rep staff.
Johanna Pfaelzer
Artistic Director
Johanna joined Berkeley Rep in 2019 as its fourth artistic director, following 12
years as artistic director of New York Stage and Film ( NYSAF ), a New York City-based developer of new works for theatre, film, and television. Johanna is proud to have developed work by notable established and early career writers like Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Goddess by Saheem Ali, Michael Thurber, and Jocelyn Bioh; The Humans by Stephen Karam; Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell; The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe; The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac; The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu; The Great Leap by Lauren Yee; Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses; The Jacksonian by Beth Henley; and Green Day’s American Idiot . Johanna previously served as associate artistic director of American Conservatory Theater and is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Actors Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Program. She lives in Berkeley with her husband, Russell Champa, and their son, Jasper.
Tom Parrish
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION CREDITS
REBS CHAN (BRET C. HARTE ARTISTIC FELLOW)
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
REBECCA ANNE JANNEY
ASSOCIATE COSTUME DESIGNER
SOPHIE LYND (LIGHTING FELLOW)
ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER
BELLE ALATORRE (HARRY WEININGER SOUND FELLOW)
ASSISTANT SOUND DESIGNER
MILO BLUE
DECK CREW
CHRIS RUSSEL
AUTOMATION OPERATOR
CAZ HIRO
WARDROBE CREW
DESIREE ALCOCER
LIGHT BOARD PROGRAMMER/OPERATOR
ANGELA DON
SOUND BOARD OPERATOR
ISAAC JACOBS | ROBIN MAEGAWA | CARL MARTIN
KOURTNEY MCCRARY | SEAN MILLER
DREA RONQUILLO | TYLER SMITH
MAGGIE WENTWORTH
LAUREL CAPPS (SCENIC CONSTRUCTION FELLOW)
SCENE SHOP
KENZIE BRADLEY | JULIE ANN BROWN
WYN DI STEFANO | ALLIE KRANYAK
CAYLA RAY-PERRY | ALEXANDRIA XIONG
E WAYMAN-MURDOCK (SCENIC ART FELLOW)
SCENIC ART
ADAM CLAY | SOFIE MILLER | BRITTANY WATKINS
KATIE OWEN (PROPS FELLOW)
PROPS
LEAVE A LEGACY OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE
Members of the Michael Leibert Society are dedicated supporters who have included Berkeley Repertory Theatre in their estate plans. These gifts help to secure the Theatre’s future and ensure that for generations to come, Berkeley Rep will be creating ambitious theatre that entertains and challenges its audiences.
Managing Director
JANET CONERY | NELLY FLORES | MILENA GEARY
COSTUME SHOP
SHY BANIANI | BRITTANY COBB | RICHARD FONG
JACK GRABLE | ANN-CHRISTINE HARTZELL
TIFFANY HERNANDEZ-ALBERTO | JASON JOO
CHARLIE MEJIA | C. SWAN-STREEPY
MATTHEW SYKES | RILEY RICHARDSON
TAYLOR RIVERS | BEN VISINI
LIGHTING
COURTNEY JEAN | CAMILLE RASSWEILER
OLIVIA VAZQUEZ SOUND
KAYLA BADIA (PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT FELLOW)
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER
FAITH ELDER (COMPANY MANAGEMENT FELLOW)
ASSISTANT COMPANY MANAGER
MEDICAL CONSULTATION FOR BERKELEY REP PROVIDED BY
AGI E. BAN DC | JOHN CARRIGG MD
CINDY J. CHANG MD | CHRISTINA COREY MD
NEIL CLAVERIA PT | PATRICIA I. COMMER DPT
KATHY FANG MD PHD | STEVEN FUGARO MD
OLIVIA LANG MD | ALLEN LING PT | LIZ NGUYEN, DPT CHRISTINA S. WILMER OD AND KATHERINE C. YUNG, MD
For more information, please contact Andrew Maguire, Philanthropy Officer at 510-647-2904 or amaguire@berkeleyrep.org.
Tom has served as a theatre leader and arts administrator for over 20 years, with experience in organizations ranging from multi-venue performing arts centers to major Tony Award-winning theatre companies. Prior to Berkeley Rep, he served as executive director of Trinity Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre and as associate managing director/general manager of San Diego Repertory Theatre. His work has been recognized with a NAACP Theatre Award for Best Producer and “Forty Under 40” recognition in Providence, Rochester, the Merrimack Valley, and San Diego. He received his MBA/MA in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University; BA in Theater Arts and Economics from Case Western Reserve University; attended the Commercial Theater Institute, National Theater Institute, and Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management; and is certified in Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by Northwestern University. He and his husband live in Berkeley.
SPECIAL THANKS TO ED TEPPORN
DANIELLE WETMORE
SUSAN MOFFAT
THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS
ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION
STATION FOUNDATION, UC BERKELEY FUTURE HISTORIES LAB, DEL SOL QUARTET, THE LAST HOISAN POETS, BAY AREA INDEPENDENT CHINESE DANCERS, 2K AVE, LEUNG’S WHITE CRANE, REVOLUTION BOOKS
SHOW PROGRAM: THE FAR COUNTRY
2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 17
THANK YOU to our supporters!
We thank the many organizations, companies, and individuals who enrich our community by championing Berkeley Rep’s artistic, education, and community engagement programs.
Institutional Funders
FOUNDATION
Anonymous (3)
The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation
The California Wellness Foundation
Civic Foundation, Inc.
Davis/Dauray Family Fund
The William H. Donner Foundation, Inc.
The Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
JEC Foundation
Koret Foundation
Laurents/Hatcher Foundation
Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
The Maurer Family Foundation
The Bernard Osher Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
Taube Philanthropies
Woodlawn Foundation
Corporate & Hospitality Sponsors
SEASON SPONSORS
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR SPONSORS
Donkey & Goat Winery
Mechanics Bank Wealth Management
Semifreddi’s
Wells Fargo Foundation
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Armanino LLP
Aurora Catering
Bank of Marin
Comal
Covenant Wines
Hugh Groman Catering
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation
The Resilience Campaign
PUBLIC FUNDING
Alameda County Arts Commission ARTSFUND
Berkeley Civic Arts Program and Commission
California Arts Council
National Endowment for the Arts
State of California
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS
Andrea Gordon Real Estate
Bayer
BluesCruise.com
BENEFACTOR SPONSORS
Ayaba Wines
Eureka!
Gallagher Risk Management Services
Heroic Italian
Kermit Lynch
Lucia’s Berkeley
Perfusion Vineyard
Picante
Residence Inn Downtown Berkeley
Revival Bar + Kitchen
Berkeley Repertory Theatre gratefully recognizes the following contributors for their transformational contributions to The Resilience Campaign that support the Theatre’s future.
California Wellness Foundation
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Robin & Rich Edwards
David & Vicki Fleishhacker
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson
Jill & Steve Fugaro
Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Marcia Grand
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Dugan & Philippe Lamoise
The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
Sandra & Ross McCandless
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
Pat & Merrill Shanks
Michael & Sue Steinberg
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson
Gail & Arne Wagner
Linda & Steve Wolan
DONORS 18 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
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 people every year. We gratefully recognize our donors at the Champion level and above, who made their gifts between September 1, 2022 and January 12, 2024. We also express our deep gratitude to all of the Friends of Berkeley Rep that we are unable to recognize here due to space limitations.
Sponsors Circle
SEASON SPONSORS
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson
Gail & Arne Wagner
LEAD SPONSORS
Anonymous
Barbara Bass Bakar
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson
Marcia Grand
Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker
Allan Smith/Peet's Coffee
Michael & Sue Steinberg
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
Anonymous
Anne & Anuj Dhanda
Bill Falik & Diana Cohen
Scott & Sherry Haber
Melanie Maier
Sandra & Ross McCandless
Pat & Merrill Shanks
Christopher Doane & Neal Shorstein, MD
Jean & Michael Strunsky
Steven & Linda Wolan
SPONSORS
Shelley & Jonathan Bagg
David & Vicki Cox
Christina Crowley
Robin & Rich Edwards
Jill & Steve Fugaro
Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff
Melinda Haag & Chuck Fanning
Paul Haahr & Susan Karp
Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame
Ms. Wendy E. Jordan
Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim
Jack Klingelhofer
Suzanne LaFetra Collier
Susan & Moses Libitzky
Ed Messerly & Sudha Pennathur
Artistic Directors Circle
PARTNER
Anonymous (4)
Edward D. Baker
Byers Family
Italo & Susan Calpestri
Jennifer Chaiken & Sam Hamilton
Karen & David Crommie
Richard DeNatale & Craig Latker
Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards
Merle & Michael Fajans
Cynthia A. Farner
Linda Jo Fitz
Lisa Franzel & Rod Mickels
Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi
Rico & Maya Green
Karen Grove & Julian Cortella
Richard N. Hill & Nancy Lundeen
The Jackson Family Foundation
Duke & Daisy Kiehn
Peggy Kivel
Randy Laroche & David Laudon
Joel Linzner & Teresa Picchi
Rosa Luevano & Charles Marston
Elsie Mallonee
Marymor Family Fund
Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel
Pure Dana Fund
Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun
Barbara Sahm & Steven Winkel
Jaimie Sanford & Ted Storey
Emily Shanks
Shirlen Fund, in memory of
Shirley & Philip Schild
Ed & Ellen Smith
Deborah & Bob Van Nest
Elizabeth Werter & Henry Trevor
Sheila Wishek
BENEFACTOR
Anonymous
Norman Abramson, in memory of David Beery
Eric Allman & Kirk McKusick
George & Marcia Argyris
Linda & Mike Baker
Michelle L. Barbour
Ashvini Bhave & Kishore Bopardikar
Becky & Jeff Bleich
Broitman-Basri Foundation
Ronnie Caplane
Constance Crawford
Dr. Jim Cuthbertson
Barbara & Tim Daniels
Richard & Anita Davis
Ilana DeBare & Sam Schuchat
Bill DeHart
Corinne & Mike Doyle
Jack & Valerie Rowe
Chris & Mike Rupp, Descendant Cellars
Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman
Felicia Woytak & Steven Rasmussen
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Anonymous (2)
Edith Barschi & Robert Jackson
Lynne Carmichael
Cindy J. Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson
Narsai & Venus David
William T. Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards
David & Vicki Fleishhacker
Steven Goldin
Dr. Daniel F. Goodman
Elise Haas
Earl & Bonnie Hamlin
Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley
Fred Karren, in memory of Beth Karren
Sy Kaufman & Kerstin Edgerton
Dugan & Philippe Lamoise
Linda Drucker
Sandra & Ken Eggers
William & Susan Epstein
Jerry Falk
The Flatows
Dean Francis
Sharon & Tom Francis
Herb & Marianne Friedman
Mio & Jon Good
Mary Graves
Robert & Judith Greber
Migsy & Jim Hamasaki
Dan & Shawna Hartman Brotsky
Tamra C. Hege
Ruth Hennigar
Thomas & Elizabeth Henry
Elaine Hitchcock
Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling
Paula Hughmanick & Steven Berger
Marilyn & Michael Jensen-Akula
Bill & Lisa Kelly
Dana Kirkland
Stephen F. Kispersky
Michael H. Kossman
Jane & Mike Larkin, in memory of Lynn & Gerald Ungar
Jay & Eileen Love
Susanna & Brad Marshland
Rebecca Martinez
Henning Mathew & Michelle Deane
Eileen & Hank Lewis
Ali Long, In Honor of T. Dixon Long
Helen M. Marcus, in memory of
David J. Williamson
Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas
Erin McCune
Martin & Margi Cellucci McNair
Juan Oldham & Deborah Morgan
Tom Parrish & Steve Dow
Norman & Janet Pease
Johanna Pfaelzer & Russell Champa
Gary & Noni Robinson
Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock
Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg
David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich
Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro
Cynthia & William Schaff
Sarah E. Shaver
Audrey & Bob Sockolov
Salomon Strategic Development
Susan West
Wendy Williams
Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Susie Medak & Greg Murphy
Stephanie Mendel
Andy & June Monach
Geri Monheimer
Muriel Mora
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Carol J. Ormond
Janet & Clyde Ostler
Sandi & Dick Pantages
Barbara L. Peterson
Richard A. Rubin & H. Marcia Smolens
Monica Salusky & John K. Sutherland
Jeane & Roger Samuelsen
Dan Scharlin & Sara Katz
Jackie Schmidt-Posner & Barry Posner
Jon and NoraLee Sedmak
David & Lori Simpson
Karen Stevenson & Bill McClave
Alison Teeman & Michael Yovino-Young
Henry Timnick
Larry Vales
Kimberly Webb & Richard Rossi
Beth Weissman
Patricia & Jeffrey Williams
Mark Zitter & Jessica Nutik Zitter
2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 19
Friends of Berkeley Rep
CHAMPION
Anonymous (5)
• Michael Barnett and Judith Bloomberg
ADVOCATE
Anonymous (13)
• Philip Arca & Sherry Smith
• Berit Ashla & Aron Cramer
Vassar
• Jon Carr
• Caroline Beverstock
• Eric Brink & Gayle
• Don & Gerry Beers
• Paul Feigenbaum & Judy Kemeny
• Anne M. Baele • Celia Bakke Deborah Barrera & John Steinbuch
• Paul Bendix • Patti Bittenbender • John Brennan & Stephanie McKown • Cathy Bristow • Tracy Brown & Greg Holland
• Sally Freedman
• Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard
• Donald & Dava Freed
Slyter
• Anne & Peter Griffes
• Henry L. Hecht
Alan Karras & David Schulz • Janet Kornegay & Dan Sykes
Shirley Langlois • Sherrill Lavagnino & Scott
Woof Kurtzman & Liz Hertz
McKinney • Andrew Leavitt & Catherine Lewis • Ellen & Barry
Levine
• Marcia C. Linn
Tom Lockard & Alix Marduel
Lois & Gary Marcus, in memory of Ruth Weiland
Marcus
Jane Neilson
Mose & Selma
Shanna O'Hare & John Davis
O'Young, MD & Gregg Hauser • Bob & MaryJane Pauley
L. Remillard • John & Jody Roberts
Mitzi K. Sales
Saxe • Amrita Singhal & Michael Tubach
Judy
Teresa
Dorothy
Suzanne Slyman
Cherida Collins Smith • Lisa Salomon • Valerie Sopher
Henry
Spencer & Nicky Cass • Gary & Jana Stein
Trevor & Anne-
Marie Strohman • Sam Test • William van Dyk & Margi Sullivan
• Gerald & Lynda Vurek-Martyn • Brian Watt & Daisy Nguyen
Jonathan & Kiyo Weiss
• Jane V. Buerger • Fran Burgess • Robert & Margaret Cant • Bruce Carlton • Laura Chenel • John Clawson & Teri Behm
• Barbara & Rodgin Cohen • Bart Connally • Pam & Mike Crane • Lynne Dal Poggetto • Harry & Susan Dennis
Jacqueline Desoer • Dr. Donald J. Dodelson • Adrienne M. Edens • Ben & Mary Feinberg • Martin & Barbara Fishman • Mary & Stan Friedman
• Chris R. Frostad • Ellen Geringer & Chris Tarp • Jane Gottesman & Geoffrey Biddle • Karen Greig & Mike Frank • Don & Becky Grether • Ellen Haddock • Dennis & Juanita Harte • Al Hoffman & David Shepherd • Barbara & Peter Jensen • May Johnston • Jeanne Killian • Robert Kinosian • Susan Kolb • The Komoroske Family • Andrea & Kenneth Krueger
Susan Carol Ledford • Jennifer S. Lindsay • Steve & Judy Lipson • Paulette Lueke & Robert McCully • Gerry & Kathy MacClelland Paul Mariano & Suzanne Chapot • M. Mathews & K. Soriano • Christopher McKenzie & Manuela Albuquerque
• Steven & Patrece Mills • Judy Minor • Ron Nakayama • Thomas Nelson • Judy Ogle • Patti Oji Haas • Judith & Richard Oken
• Geraldine Paddock • Lynne Parode & Sterling Lim • Tina & Thomas Parrish • Regina Phelps • Susie & Eric Poncelet • Kathleen Quenneville & Diane Allen • Daniel & Barbara Radin • Elizabeth Raffin • Lisa Regul & Rand Hawkins • Orna Resnekov & David Tennenhouse • Maxine Risley, in memory of James Risley • Deborah Dashow Ruth, in memory of Leo P. Ruth • Gretchen Saeger • Helen Schulak • Teddy & Bruce Schwab • Deborah Sedberry & Jeff Klingman • Jacob Sevart • Steve & Susan
Shortell • Christine Silver • Betsy Smith • George & Camilla Smith • Linda Snyder • Monroe W. Strickberger • Ragesh Tangri & Daralyn Durie • Fred & Kathleen Taylor • Ruthann Taylor • John & Christine Telischak • Karen Tiedemann & Geoff Piller
Dana Tom & Nancy Kawakita • Sarah Van Roo • Liz Varnhagen • Marcia & David Vastine • Rhona & Harvey Weinstein • Peter Wiley • H. Leabah Winter
The Michael Leibert Society
Berkeley Rep gratefully acknowledges the following individuals who have generously provided for the theatre in their estate plans:
Anonymous (9)
Norman Abramson & David Beery*
Sam Ambler
Carl W. Arnoult & Aurora Pan
Ken & Joni Avery
Nancy Axelrod
Edie Barschi
Neil & Gene Barth
Susan & Barry Baskin
Linda Brandenburger
Broitman-Basri Family
Bruce Carlton & Richard G. McCall*
Victoria Carter*
Stephen K. Cassidy
Paula Champagne & David Watson
Terin Christensen
Sofia Close
Andrew Daly & Jody Taylor
Narsai & Venus David
M. Laina Dicker
Thalia Dorwick
Robin & Rich Edwards
Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards
Bill & Susan Epstein
William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards
Bill Falik & Diana Cohen
Dr. Stephen E. Follansbee & Dr. Richard A. Wolitz
Kerry Francis
Dr. Harvey & Deana Freedman
Joseph & Antonia Friedman
Paul T. Friedman
Laura K. Fujii
David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson*
Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter
Mary & Nicholas* Graves
Elizabeth Greene
Sheldon & Judy Greene
Don & Becky Grether
Richard & Lois Halliday
Barry* & Micheline Handon
Julie & Paul Harkness
Linda & Bob Harris
Fred Hartwick
Ruth Hennigar
Daria Hepps
Douglas J. Hill*
Peter Hobe & Christina Crowley
Hoskins/Frame Family Trust
Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley
Robin C. Johnson
Janice Kelly & Carlos Kaslow
Bonnie McPherson Killip
Lynn Eve Komaromi
Nancy Kornfield
Michael H. Kossman
Woof Kurtzman
Scott & Kathy Law
Jim Lillienthal*
Dot Lofstrom
Andrew Maguire
Helen M. Marcus
Dale* & Don Marshall
Rebecca Martinez
Sarah McArthur LeValley
Sandra & Ross McCandless
Suzanne & Charles McCulloch
John G. McGehee
Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Ruth Medak
Susie Medak & Greg Murphy
Stephanie Mendel
Toni Mester
Shirley & Joe Nedham
Jane & Bill Neilson
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Sharon Ott
Fr. David Pace
Amy Pearl Parodi
Barbara L. Peterson
Regina Phelps
Margaret Phillips
Marjorie Randolph
Gregg Richardson
Bonnie Ring Living Trust
David Rovno, M.D.
Tracie E. Rowson
Deborah Dashow Ruth
Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro
Brenda Buckhold Shank, M.D., Ph.D.
Emily Shanks
Kevin Shoemaker*
Theresa Nelson & Bernard Smits
Valerie Sopher
Michael & Sue Steinberg
Dr. Douglas & Anne Stewart
Jean Strunsky
Mary, Andrew & Duncan Susskind
Jim Tibbs & Philip Anderson
Henry Timnick
Guy Tiphane
Dana Tom & Nancy Kawakita
Phillip & Melody Trapp
Janis Kate Turner
Gail & Arne Wagner
Barry & Holly Walter
Weil Family Trust - Weil Family
Susan West
Steven & Linda Wolan
The Woolfson Blumenfeld
Living Trust
Karen & Henry Work
Anders Yang, JD
Martin & Margaret Zankel
*deceased
GIFTS RECEIVED BY BERKELEY REP
Estate of Suzanne Adams
Estate of Pat Angell, in memory of theater architect Gene Angell
Estate of Nina Auerbach
Estate of Helen C. Barber
Estate of Fritzi Benesch
Estate of Carole B. Berg
Estate of Nelly Berteaux
Estate of Jill Bryans
Estate of Paula Carrell
Estate of Nancy Croley
Estate of John & Carol Field
Estate of Ralph Garrow
Estate of Audrey J. Lasson
Estate of Zandra Faye LeDuff
Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz
Estate of John E. & Helen A. Manning
Estate of Richard Markell
Estate of Sumner & Hermine Marshall
Estate of Margaret D. & Winton McKibben
Estate of Robert S. Newton, in honor of John T. & Jean Knox
Estate of Sheldeen G. Osborne
Estate of Timothy A. Patterson
Estate of Gladys Perez-Mendez
Estate of Margaret Purvine
Estate of Guy T. Roberts, Jr.
Estate of Leigh & Ivy Robinson
Estate of Stephen C. Schaefer, in honor of Jean and Jack Knox
Estate of Peter Sloss
Estate of Harry Weininger
Estate of Grace Williams
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berkeleyrep.org/give 510-647-2905 MAKE YOUR GIFT | DONORS As of August 2023. Berkeley Rep makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of these listings. If there is an error or you would like to adjust your listing, please call 510 647-2905. 20 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
BERKELEY REP STAFF
Johanna Pfaelzer
Tom Parrish
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR
Frederick C. Geffken LIGHTING SUPERVISOR
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Kenneth Coté SENIOR PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN
Desiree Alcocer PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN
PROPERTIES
Jill Green
PROPERTIES SUPERVISOR
Amelia Burke-Holt
ASSOCIATE PROPERTIES SUPERVISOR
Lisa Mei Ling Fong
PROPERTIES ARTISAN
SCENE SHOP
Matt Rohner · Jim Smith
CO-TECHNICAL DIRECTORS
Read Tuddenham
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Patrick Keene
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Grant Vocks
DRAFTSPERSON
August Lewallen · Zach Wziontka
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SOUND ENGINEER
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DC Scarpelli
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Prismatic Communications
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Jesus Rodriguez BUILDING TECHNICIAN
Theresa Drumgoole · Wendi Lau
Sophie Li · Darrel De La Rosa
FACILITIES ASSISTANTS
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BOX OFFICE SUPERVISOR
pan ellington · Joelle Joyner-Wong
Alanna McFall · Aya Newman
Em Parker · Dom Refuerzo
Christy Spence
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Kelly Kelley
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Maddi Gjovik · Nina Gorham
PATRON SERVICES SUPERVISORS
Emma Allen-Landwehr · Alicia Battle
Megan Bedig · Steven Cole
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Caitlyn Lee · Jennifer Light
Ana-is Lino · Kalani Murray
Maura Oliverira · Kathleen Parsons
Angela Phung · Nicolas Puorro
Tuesday Ray · Anna Riggin
Melissa Scheulin · Alana Scott
Debra Selman · Sloane Sim · Linda Wu
Anna Vorobyeva · Kailani Zabala
PATRON EXPERIENCE REPRESENTATIVES
BERKELEY REP SCHOOL OF THEATRE
Anthony Jackson
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Dylan Russell
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MaryBeth Cavanaugh
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Ashley Lim
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Elizabeth Woolford
CURRICULUM AND EDUCATION PROGRAM MANAGER
AeJay Antonis Marquis Mitchell
EDUCATION PROGRAMS ASSOCIATE
Bobby August Jr. · Rolanda D. Bell
Diana Brown · Erica Blue
Rebecca Castelli · Iu-Hui Chua
Jiwon Chung · Robin Dolan
Jim Edgar · Deb Eubanks
Rachel Garlin · Nancy Gold
Gary Graves · Marvin Greene
Gendell Hing-Hernandez
William Thomas Hodgson
Harper Iles · Erolina Kamburova
Clara Kamunde · Jennifer LeBlanc
Dave Maier · Eleanor Maples
Carolyn McCandlish · Patricia Miller
Blue Pascopella · Hans Probst
Pamela Rickard · Alexandra Rivers
Tessa Rosen · Teresa Salas
Joyful Simpson · Samuel Tomfohr
James Wagner
TEACHING ARTISTS
Matty Bloom · Joy Lancaster
Selma Meyerowitz
DOCENT CHAIRS
Ted Bagaman · Michelle Barbour
Beth Cohen · Michelle Cordero
Miles Drawdy · Charles Evans
Alice Galoob · Kimberly Gilles
Randi Helly Muriel Kaplan
Sue Kaplan · Ellen Kaufman
Jim Krampf · Richard Lingua
Mark Liss · Virginia McCarthy
Elaine Miller · Judith O’Rourke
Gigi Singer · Thomas Sponsler
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DOCENTS
2023/24 BERKELEY REP FELLOWSHIPS
Belle Alatorre
HARRY WEININGER SOUND FELLOW
Kayla Badia
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT FELLOW
Gabrielle Bañuelos
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Laurel Capps
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Rebecca Chan
PETER F. SLOSS ARTISTIC FELLOW
Rodrick Edwards
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Faith Elder
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E. Wayman-Murdock
SCENIC ART FELLOW
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
William T. Espey PRESIDENT Bruce Golden VICE PRESIDENT
Juan Oldham VICE PRESIDENT Sudha Pennathur VICE PRESIDENT
Emily Shanks TREASURER Scott Haber SECRETARY
Jill Fugaro CHAIR OF THE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Steven C. Wolan CHAIR OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE
Henning Mathew CHAIR OF THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
TRUSTEES
F. Hoskins
Lamoise
Meyer
Pervere
Randolph
Sakai
Schafer
Schaff
M. Shapiro
Steinberg
A. Strauch
Z. Strunsky
S. Strunsky
Wagner
Woytak
Zankel
ADVISORS
C. Barber
George Battle
B. Berg
W. Burt
Chen
M. David
Dorwick, PhD Nicholas M. Graves Richard F. Hoskins Jean Knox Robert M. Oliver Stewart Owen Marjorie Randolph Harlan M. Richter Richard A. Rubin Emily Shanks Edwin C. Shiver Roger A. Strauch Gail Wagner Martin Zankel PAST PRESIDENTS FOUNDING DIRECTOR Michael W. Leibert PRODUCING DIRECTOR, 1968–83 STAFF & BOARD ARTISTIC David Mendizábal ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Karina Fox ASSOCIATE CASTING DIRECTOR & ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE
Almond · Christina Anderson
Casal · Daveed Diggs
· Richard Montoya
Lisa Peterson
ARTISTS
COMMISSION
Anna Bellomo Marc Blakeman Susan Chamberlin Anne Nemer Dhanda Christopher Doane Sandra Eggers Chuck Fanning Steven Goldin Jonathan C. Logan Melanie Maier Sandra R. McCandless Tom Parrish Johanna Pfaelzer Leonard X Rosenberg Todd B. Rubin Alfredo Silva Allan Smith Sherry Smith Barbara Tomber Brian Watt
Rena Bransten Diana Cohen Robin Edwards William Falik David Fleishhacker Paul T. Friedman Karen Galatz David Hoffman Richard
Dugan
Helen
Peter
Marjorie
Patricia
Jack
William
Richard
Michael
Roger
Jean
Michael
Gail
Felicia
Martin
SUSTAINING
Helen
A.
Carole
Robert
Shih-Tso
Narsai
Thalia
Todd
Rafael
Dipika Guha
Nico Muhly ·
Sarah Ruhl · Tori Sampson Jack Thorne Joe Waechter
UNDER
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND COMPANY MANAGEMENT Sara Danielsen GENERAL MANAGER Peter Orkiszewski COMPANY MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Audrey Hoo DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION
Kali Grau ASSOCIATE PRODUCTION MANAGER COSTUMES Maggi Yule COSTUME SHOP DIRECTOR Kiara Montgomery RESIDENT DESIGN ASSOCIATE Star Rabinowitz DRAPER
Barbara Blair WARDROBE SUPERVISOR ELECTRICS
2023/24 | ISSUE 5 | 21
MAKING THEATRE
The proximity of Angel Island to Berkeley Rep offered the company of The Far Country the extraordinary opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of the play. On their second day of rehearsal, the company ferried to the island where they received a personal tour of the museum from Ed Tepporn, executive director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. After lunch, the cast read the two interrogation scenes on site. They reported after that the trip was “an extremely powerful experience” and that they sensed history in a “uniquely intense way.”
A NOTE FROM YOUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR: For the past 13 years, the words you’ve read throughout Berkeley Rep’s communications have been shaped by Karen McKevitt, our communications director. As she moves on, Berkeley Rep thanks and salutes her for her service and excellence. For my part, she’s the finest Editorin-Chief I’ve ever worked with. We will miss you, Karen, and we wish you only (and always) the best! —
Clockwise from bottom: Lloyd Suh, Jennifer Chang, Whit K. Lee, John Keabler, Feodor Chin, Tommy Bo, Jonathan Rhys Williams, Tess Lina, Sharon Shao
Sharon Shao, Kina Kantor
Jennifer Chang
PHOTOS: ALLISON PARAISO
22 | THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2024
Join us as we raise a glass to celebrate the transformative power of storytelling.
Single tickets are available now starting at $850. Visit berkeleyrep.org/ovation for more information or to reserve your tickets today!
OVATION GALA HONOREES
Michael Mayer belongs to a small group of individuals who have transformed the American Theatre. At the 2024 OVATION Gala, we will honor Michael’s championship of innovative storytelling and his dedication to new work, including Berkeley Rep’s upcoming world premiere, GALILEO. We will also salute Yogen and Peggy Dalal for their incredible commitment to musical theatre and new play development in the United States.
You won’t want to miss our biggest event of the year that provides critical support to Berkeley Rep’s artistic and education programs. We hope to see you there!
Questions? Email rsvpevents@berkeleyrep.org .
MICHAEL MAYER TONY AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR
YOGEN & PEGGY DALAL PHILANTHROPISTS BERKELEY REP’S OVATION GALA
THE RITZ-CARLTON, SAN FRANCISCO
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE! Book all three shows and take advantage of locked-in subscriber pricing, free exchanges, early access to additional events and shows, and more. LEARN MORE AT ACT-SF.ORG/SUBSCRIBE YOUR HOME FOR GREAT THEATER THE NATIONAL THEATRE AND NEAL STREET PRODUCTIONS’ BY STEFANO MASSINI ADAPTED BY BEN POWER DIRECTED BY SAM MENDES MAY 25–JUN 23 TONI REMBE THEATER DIRECTED BY CHAY YEW MAR 30–MAY 5 STRAND THEATER “CRITICS’ PICK! A SPIKY COMIC TONIC” —THE NEW YORK TIMES TONY AWARD FOR BEST PLAY 2022 “MAGNIFICENT. A GENUINELY EPIC PRODUCTION” —THE NEW YORK TIMES WEST COAST PREMIERE BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY MICHAEL R. JACKSON CHOREOGRAPHY BY RAJA FEATHER KELLY DIRECTED BY STEPHEN BRACKETT APR 18–MAY 12 TONI REMBE THEATER “GRADE A: NOTHING SHORT OF ASTOUNDING” — ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY