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WELCOME TO BERKELEY REP
To ensure the best experience for everyone:
While always encouraged , masks are required inside the theatres during Sunday and Tuesday performances for the first three weeks of a show’s run.
Food and drink: Beverages in cans, cartons, or plastic cups with lids are welcome in the theatre during unmasked performances. 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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I am so pleased to be welcoming the brilliant Jocelyn Bioh back to Berkeley Rep for the third time since I arrived. I believe Jocelyn to be one of the truly definitive voices of her generation, and the wit, warmth, and rigor with which she centers the stories of women, particularly those of the African diaspora, is singular. Jaja’s brought Jocelyn together with director Whitney White for the first time, and it has been a pleasure to see the ways in which these two women have collaborated to create such a compelling world.
The salon at the center of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is core to the lives of the women the play depicts — familiar to some, new to others, but one at which each of these individuals has arrived in search of care, community, and connection. In this moment in which so many people continue to experience the impacts of the isolation that the last few years of the pandemic brought about, we seek out those increasingly elusive “third spaces” — the places that exist apart from our lives at work or at home — that bring us into relationship with others in our community, both friends and strangers, to build a more expansive, generous sense of the world. These characters find that at the salon. For me, and I hope for many of you, the theatre can be one of those places that allows us to see the world anew, to be in communion with intimates and strangers alike, to live in proximity to the experiences of others, and allow ourselves to be transformed.
So maybe take a moment to say hello to whomever is sitting next to you. Welcome to the shop!
Warmly,
Johanna Pfaelzer Artistic Director
Welcome to Berkeley Rep and the West Coast premiere of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding!
We’re thrilled to have Jocelyn Bioh’s brilliant work back on our stage, following Goddess and School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. My personal connection to Jocelyn’s work began in NYC with her Merry Wives at Shakespeare in the Park — the first live theatre I experienced post-pandemic — and later with Nollywood Dreams, which also played at San Francisco Playhouse. Jocelyn has a remarkable gift for blending humor, heart, and sharp social insight, and with Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, she once again immerses us in a world full of culture, humanity, and laughter.
Your presence today helps make Berkeley Rep a home for some of the most vital voices in theatre. It is through your support that we are able to craft ambitious, thought-provoking productions that encourage civic dialogue, spark empathy, and inspire us to see the world in new and surprising ways. As we near the end of the year, I invite you to consider supporting our nonprofit mission with a tax-deductible gift, which will fuel our productions, education programs, and community initiatives.
As you prepare for the holidays, remember — live theatre makes an unforgettable gift! Whether you’re looking for gift certificates, ticket packages, or a special night out, we have options — including the much-anticipated Uncle Vanya featuring Hugh Bonneville, one of four exciting mainstage productions still to come this season.
On behalf of all of us at Berkeley Rep, I wish you and yours a happy, healthy holiday season and a new year filled with joy, connection, and, of course, theatre.
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 centering antiracism and 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. We are grateful to our friends at the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan for their support and guidance as we continue to educate ourselves and our community to uplift and support our indigenous communities .
THEATRICAL POWERHOUSE
jOCELYN BIOH TALKS
WITH US ABOUT JAJA’S
On the Origin Story of Jaja’s...
Braids are a big part of my life. I’m from New York. I grew up in Washington Heights, and I went to the hair braiding shop since I had hair long enough to braid.
When I became a professional writer, I realized how right it was for a play setting. I knew [the story] would center somewhat around immigration; we were in a much different administration at that time. There was a lot of conversation about immigrants, and who immigrants were and why they were coming to our country, if you will. I wanted to have a response to that.
What was the development process of Jaja’s?
I was offered a commission by Williamstown [in 2018], to write a play. The Artistic Director at the time said that I could write whatever I wanted...and I thought: I want to write a play about braids and a hair braiding shop. I went away and wrote the initial draft of Jaja’s within a couple of months. We were on the development track to do it at Williamstown, then a little thing called COVID happened. A lot of things shifted, and after a very, truly, long story, the play ended up at MTC. I asked them to consider it for their Broadway house because I actually felt the play, what it required (the cast size), it felt on the scale of a Broadway production. The trajectory of the play in terms of it being written to when it was produced was about four years, but in terms of the development of it, it felt pretty
fast for me because I never had an opportunity to have many readings - one reading on Zoom, another reading in person (for MTC), and then MTC scheduled it.
And then we had this moment in the development process where I had the opportunity to involve Nikiya Mathis, our Wigs Designer (See Making Theatre, p30). I had to involve her in the development process because I had to understand if what I was writing and how I was writing it was going to even be possible to do. Can we jump three hours in time from scene to scene and for these braids to still be able to be done? How can we do that in the wig design? I found myself for the first time collaborating with a designer as I was developing the show, which was really unique.
I was learning on my feet with this particular play, but I was up for the task.
How did you feel about making your Broadway debut?
I don’t mess around. I think people don’t know that about me until they’re in a setting with me and understand that I’m working just as hard as everybody else.
I didn’t feel super intimidated by Broadway. I think it just made me feel, ‘Okay, well, they’ve committed to doing it on this big platform, and now the work ethic that I’ve built over nearly the last decade will be on full display.’
It made everybody sit up straighter, I think. There was no, ‘Can I just try it out, and then we’ll clean it up when we move to Broadway.’
No, we’re doing it live. We’re doing it live. It made everyone show up with their A-game – not that I think they wouldn’t have in any other capacity.
There was a lot of history that was involved with the play, too. It was the first play by a Black playwright that was premiering ‘cold’ on Broadway since 1991. And we had so many Broadway debuts: it was my Broadway debut as a playwright; Whitney’s Broadway debut as a director; and most of the cast had never been on Broadway before. So, it all felt extremely historic.
Why is Harlem an important setting for you?
Most of my work centers Black people and Black diasporic realms. Settings are very important for me because they contextualize for the audience and, maybe, help them understand – we’re centering work and the people that we’ve never really seen on stage before, and settings help audiences familiarize what is known to them.
Harlem was important for two reasons: it was one of the few times — outside of my adaptation of Merry Wives — that I set a play that was in America; and two, I wanted [ Jaja’s ...] to feel like it was the epicenter of something culturally specific. People have an idea of the different cultures that exist in a Harlem hair braiding shop, especially if all the people look the same or are of the same diasporic cultural connections; and people have an idea of what Harlem looks like, but now, it has a new face. To expand on that: people always talk about America being a melting pot of different cultures; and, I would say, Harlem is a melting pot of different African cultures. It’s unique that these hair braiding shops have people that are not just from one country. I’ve been to every hair braiding shop under the sun. There are some that have all women from Senegal; there are some that have women from various parts of Nigeria; but the shops that I mostly frequent tend to be eclectic with people from various African countries.
Showing that version of New York is really important. We’ve seen New York in so many ways, especially in film and TV. We rarely really see Harlem, and certainly not this shop. When I was doing research of other comparative narratives, anything that existed in even film or TV, I found there’s nothing. There’s nothing. There are little one-off 10-minute documentaries, here and there, about getting your hair braided or an immigrant experience or Harlem, but there’s nothing that centers what I’m crafting in the play, which made the world building need to be succinct and perfect. I’m also from New York, so I felt a real responsibility that if I’m going to show Harlem, I want it to be the most Harlem Harlem that ever Harlem’ed.
On working with Director Whitney White... Whitney is a new collaborator that I... this won’t... will not be our last collaboration. We are already discussing at least two other projects that we will be working on together. She keeps me pulled, even reluctantly, into the theatre. What is very special about Whitney is that she’s...the best way I can describe it is: a wholesale collaborator.
When we’re looking at what we’re working on, she’s thinking about how the design of it is going to look, how the set is going to look, how the costumes are going to feel, what the music is going to be – all infused in it. At the same time, she’s really making sure that I’m getting what I need and having the conversations that I need with her – so dramaturgically, what needs to be happening in the play is there. She understands that it’s not just one person who makes all of this happen.
In her email signoffs or after a big meeting, she will literally say, “Thank you all for your work. I know what you’re doing is really hard but thank you all for your work.”
That’s a great way to sum up the kind of collaborator she is.
OCT 18–DEC 8, 2024 THE MATCHBOX MAGIC FLUTE
ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY MARY ZIMMERMAN
BASED ON MOZART’S OPERA IN ASSOCIATION WITH GOODMAN THEATRE | WEST COAST PREMIERE
NOV 8–DEC 15, 2024
JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING BY JOCELYN BIOH
DIRECTED BY WHITNEY WHITE IN ASSOCIATION WITH MADISON WELLS LIVE & LACHANZE
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH ARENA STAGE AND CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER | WEST COAST PREMIERE
JAN 31–MAR 9, 2025 THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY ALI BENJAMIN
ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE BY KEITH BUNIN
DIRECTED BY TYNE RAFAELI
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MADISON WELLS LIVE | WORLD PREMIERE
FEB 14–MAR 23, 2025
UNCLE VANYA BY ANTON CHEKHOV
ADAPTED BY CONOR McPHERSON
DIRECTED BY SIMON GODWIN A CO-PRODUCTION WITH SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
APR 5–MAY 11, 2025
TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT’S HERE
BY MOISÉS KAUFMAN AND AMANDA GRONICH
CONCEIVED AND DIRECTED BY MOISÉS KAUFMAN BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT, BRIAN & DAYNA LEE, AND SONIA FRIEDMAN
MAY 2–JUN 8, 2025 THE AVES BY JIEHAE PARK
DIRECTED BY KNUD ADAMS WORLD PREMIERE
In Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, within the arc of a single day, Jocelyn Bioh threads many lives from varying origin points on the globe into a stunning, unified tapestry.
HAIR STORY/ HISTORY/ HERE STORY
BY OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE
For each braider, it took a whole lot of trying just to get up that hill. Each worker in Jaja’s shop earned her spot through determination, skill, and the ability to navigate hostile systems. This “a day in the life of” story centers not on one individual but on an entire community invested in perpetual works of service, esteem-building, citizenship, self-making, and heritage preservation. According to Bioh, from an interview with legendary playwright Lynn Nottage, “There’s something really powerful about when the story is the main character, or the place is the main character.”
Jaja’s is a particularly rewarding work because it is layered and dramatizes interior and exterior complexities. Walking in, the title signals that this is a hair story, but it is also a here story infused with deep culture and history.
HAIR STORY.
It’s a quiet and hot Summer morning on 125th and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. The hair braiding shop owned by Jaja, like so many hair salons and barbershops in Black and immigrant communities, functions as a community center, as a hub for information, commerce, and image-making.
Physical appearance and presentation are not mere vanity. Despite progress on all fronts social, political, legislative, and the like, the way a person’s appearance is read by another can determine how they are treated. In the lexicon of social codes, hair functions as a key ethnic signifier because, compared with bodily shape or facial features, it can be changed more easily.
Even mogul Oprah Winfrey has encountered numerous incidents of racial profiling while out shopping. Following one occurrence, comedian Paul Mooney joked, “Oprah should’ve combed her hair,” which recognizes that Black women face an inordinate amount of stigma, judgment, and assumptions based on how they wear their hair. Art historian Kobena Mercer asserts, “all black hairstyles are political in that they each articulate responses to the panoply of historical forces which have invested this element of the ethnic signifier with both social and symbolic meaning and significance.” Since hairdos function within systems of codes, values, and meanings, clients in Jaja’s shop are selecting a story to embody; they are negotiating which aspects of themselves and culture to highlight, curb, fabricate, explore, honor, and project. Of course, a persistent aspect of history and historical forces is the reality of their ever presence.
HISTORY.
History is capacious. It is not simply written down or spoken. History may also be embodied. History shows up in our body movements, actions, and even apparel.
Bioh expertly and slyly signals an entire history lesson at the very top of the show by indicating that a character carries a particular accessory. Marie, Jaja’s daughter, enters hauling supplies in large once-nameless, checkered, woven matted bags. Immediately recognizable and abundant even here in the United States, these bags acquired the name “Ghana must go” bags following the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria. Today, the bags have many names including Efiewura suame (by Ghanaian, which means “help me carry this load”), Anyi N’Aga (Igbo for “we are going”), and refugee bags. The bags have become symbols of migration as carriers for possessions, as standins for immaterial things like culture,
Jordan Rice (Marie), Bisserat Tseggai (Miriam), and Marie’s Efiewura
suame in the opening scene of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
heritage, and memories that are also being carried, and as reminders of dispossession and forfeiture.
Within the play, these bags are a tiny detail that reveals Bioh’s investment in astutely infusing the characters and story with layers of meaning, history, backstory, tensions, anxieties, dreams, and every manner of the complications that arise from living and striving towards citizenship in a nation that holds opportunities and inhospitality in equal measure. Jaja’s is infused with more meaningful and layered details than can be absorbed in a single viewing, and Bioh crafts a play that feels both timeless and rooted in a very specific time and place.
HERE STORY.
Set on a very hot day in July of 2019 in Harlem, which was declared a Black mecca in 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Jaja’s is an immigrant story, yes, but that is also the story of this nation. America has always been seen and represented itself as a “golden door” long before “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus was penned or inscribed onto the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, arguably the world’s most recognizable symbol of welcome to immigrants. 2019 found the country embroiled in fierce debates about the status of and place for immigrants in this country. In 2018, one year before the play takes place, the then-sitting US President expressed in vulgar terms his belief that not all immigrants should be welcomed in these United States. Such debates continue to this day, but questions around how we as a nation handle immigration mirror the dilemma of selecting a hair style. Both are operating within tensions between who we say we are by the image we project (our exterior) and who we show we are based on our actions (our interior). Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is not just about the immigrants represented by the women and men we see on stage in the shop; it is about each inhabitant of this country who either themselves or their ancestors came here from someplace else.
Performances Cal
Samara Joy KODO
One Earth Tour 2025: Warabe
In its latest creation, the famed taiko troupe creates a universe of sound and emotion through thunderous percussion and polished theatricality, the living bearers of a centuries-old Japanese folk tradition.
Jan 25–26
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
This Land is Our Land Featuring Martha Redbone Roots Project and American Patchwork Quartet
Roots music singer and songwriter Martha Redbone draws on her Cherokee/Choctaw and African American heritage to craft uplifting songs that celebrate the human spirit, infused with the folk and blues sounds of her childhood in Appalachia. She joins with American Patchwork Quartet in a new collaboration that explores the United States’ rich cultural tapestry.
Still at the beginning of what is already a stellar career, the wildly talented vocalist Samara Joy boasts three Grammys to her name, her music steeped in tradition while deeply of the present moment. Welcome this rising star of jazz in her Berkeley debut!
Feb 5
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Twyla Tharp Dance
Diamond Jubilee
Featuring Third Coast Percussion
The American dance titan celebrates 60 years of strikingly original, thoroughly accessible, and utterly uncategorizable works with a new collaboration with Philip Glass, whose score is performed live by the Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion; plus a revival of Tharp’s 1998 triumph Diabelli.
“Tharp is America’s crossover dance queen.” The Guardian
Feb 7–9
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
BAY AREA PREMIERE
William Kentridge’s
The Great Yes, The Great No A Cal Performances Co-commission
William Kentridge, concept and director
Nhlanhla Mahlangu, associate director and choral composer
Phala O. Phala, associate director
Feb 28
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
The beloved South African vocal group, internationally recognized for one of “the most distinctive and uplifting choral sounds around” (NPR), visits with its unforgettable harmonies and inspiring message, born from the struggles of its homeland.
Mar 1
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Tlale Makhene, music director Mwenya Kabwe, dramaturg
The internationally acclaimed South African artist returns to campus with his latest creation for the stage, a chamber opera set on a 1941 sea voyage from Marseille to Martinique. The production merges surrealist imagery with reallife historical events, lush South African choral music, dance, and poetry.
An Illuminations: “Fractured History” event.
Mar 14–16
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
JOHANNA PFAELZER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | TOM PARRISH, MANAGING DIRECTOR
a co-production with Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and La Jolla Playhouse in association with Madison Wells Live and LaChanze
presents
JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING
BY JOCELYN BIOH
DIRECTED BY WHITNEY WHITE
AYITE
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR MANNA-SYMONE MIDDLEBROOKS DIALECT AND VOCAL COACH YETUNDE FELIX-UKWU CASTING ERICA A. HART, CSA
STAGE MANAGER MANDISA REED
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT VOLEINE AMILCAR
GENERAL MANAGER SARA DANIELSEN FINANCE DIRECTOR JARED HAMMOND
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT ARI LIPSKY
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DAVID MENDIZÁBAL
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AMANDA WILLIAMS O’STEEN
World premiere produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Chris Jennings, Executive Director) and Madison Wells Live with LaChanze & Taraji P. Henson at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 12, 2023
Commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director), Williamstown, MA
Jaja's African Hair Braiding is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service imprint. dramatists.com
Anonymous Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Jonathan Logan & John Piane
SEASON SPONSORS
Frances Hellman & Warren BreslauWayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
SPONSORS
Jack Klingelhofer
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Gary & Noni Robinson
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner
Jack & Betty Schafer
SETTING
Harlem, New York, 2019
CAST
(in alphabetical order)
Melanie Brezill Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece
Leovina Charles Vanessa, Sheila, Radia
Victoire Charles Jaja
Yao Dogbe James, Franklin, Olu, Eric
Mia Ellis Jennifer
Tiffany Renee Johnson Aminata
Jordan Rice Marie
Awa Sal Secka Bea
Aisha Sougou Ndidi
Bisserat Tseggai Miriam
UNDERSTUDIES
(in alphabetical order)
Kevin Aoussou For James, Franklin, Olu, Eric
Renea S. Brown For Jennifer, Vanessa, Radia, Sheila
Debora Crabbe For Marie, Ndidi, Aminata
Mia Ellis For Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece
Yetunde Felix-Ukwu For Jaja, Bea, Miriam
NOLLYWOOD DREAMS ACTORS
Onye Eme-Akwari, Morgan Scott
Understudies never substitute for listed performers unless a specific announcement or notice is made at the time of appearance.
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
This theatre operates under agreement 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.
Scenery, Costumes & Properties originally fabricated by Arena Stage
Scenery Load In Crew
Carl Martin, Maggie Wentworth, Isaac Jacobs, Cameron Edwards, Caleb Knopp, Cassidy Carlson (Scenic Construction Fellow)
Additional Scenic Artists
Additional Props Artisans
Additional Costume Shop Crew
E Wayman, Kenzie Bradley, Caitlyn Brown (Scenic Art Fellow)
Brittany Watkins, Kate Fitt, Jason Joo (Props Fellow)
Chris Weiland, Breanna Bayba, Moose Gavin, Amanda Geyer (Costumes Fellow)
Lighting Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Lighting Department
Additional Lighting Technicians
Amy Abad, Angelina Costa, Brittany Cobb, C. Swan-Streepy, Charlie Mejia, A. Chris Hartzell, Emma Buechner, Frankie Aranguren, Hannah Linaweaver, Jack Grable, Jacob Hill, Matthew Sykes, Nori-Hayden Quist, Shy Baniani, Taylor Rivers
Sound and Video Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Sound and Video Department
Additional Sound Technicians
Production Manager
Courtney Jean, Camille Rassweiler, Olivia Vazquez, C. Swan Streepy
Kali Grau Assistant Production Manager
Rhea Mehta (Production Management Fellow) Interim Company Manager
Assistant Company Manager
Associate Casting Director
Ryan Duncan-Ayala
Katie Anthony (Company Management Fellow)
Karina Fox
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
ARTISTIC
Johanna Pfaelzer
BERKELEY REP STAFF
.Artistic Director
ADMINISTRATION
Tom Parrish
Managing Director
David Mendizábal Associate Artistic Director/Director of In Dialogue victor cervantes jr
Karina Fox
Rebs Chan
.Associate Producer – New Work
Associate Casting Director & Artistic Associate
In Dialogue Coordinator
Todd Almond, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Dipika Guha, Richard Montoya, Nico Muhly, Lisa Peterson, Sarah Ruhl, Tori Sampson, Jack Thorne, Joe Waechter
Artists Under Commission
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND COMPANY MANAGEMENT
Sara Danielsen
Ryan Duncan-Ayala
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Audrey Hoo
Kali Grau
COSTUMES
Maggi Yule
Kiara Montgomery
Star Rabinowitz
Barbara Blair
ELECTRICS
Frederick C. Geffken
Sarina Renteria
Kenneth Coté
Desiree Alcocer
PROPERTIES
Jillian A. Green
Amelia Burke-Holt
Brittany Watkins
SCENE SHOP
Matt Rohner, Jim Smith
Read Tuddenham
Grant Vocks
Jared Hammond
Katie Riemann
Jennifer Light
Alanna McFall
Kate Horton
Modesta Tamayo
Kira Findling
DEVELOPMENT
General Manager
.Interim Company Manager
.Director of Production
.Production Manager
.Costume Shop Director
Resident Design Associate
Draper
Wardrobe Supervisor
Lighting Supervisor
.Associate Lighting Supervisor
Senior Production Electrician
Production Electrician
Properties Supervisor
.Associate Properties Supervisor
Properties Artisan
Co-Technical Directors
Assistant Technical Director — Shop
Assistant Technical Director — Engineering
August Lewallen, Zach Wziontka
SCENIC ART
Lisa Lázár
STAGE OPERATIONS
Julia Englehorn
Gabriel Holman
James McGregor
SOUND/ VIDEO
Lane Elms
Angela Don
Akari Izumi
BERKELEY REP SCHOOL OF THEATRE
Anthony Jackson
Dylan Russell
Finance Director
Associate Finance Director
Payroll Administrator
Bookkeeper
.Executive Assistant
. .Director of Human Resources and Diversity
.HR Coordinator
Ari Lipsky
Laura Fichtenberg
Kelsey Scott
Andrew Maguire
Harper Brown
Isabella Chayet
Elaina Guyett
Emily Betts
Cassidy Milano
OPERATIONS
Amanda Williams O’Steen
Peter Orkiszewski
Adam Johnson
Thomas Tran
Jesus Rodriguez
Theresa Drumgoole, Wendi Lau
Sophie Li, Darrel De La Rosa
Destiny Askin
Christina Cone
Nicole Peña
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Director of Development
.Associate Director of Development
Senior Institutional Giving Manager
Philanthropy Officer
Annual Fund Manager
Corporate Partnerships Manager
.Stewardship and Events Manager
.Donor Stewardship Coordinator
Development Operations Coordinator
.Director of Operations
Associate Director of Operations
Facilities Manager
Building Engineer
Building Technician
.Facilities Assistants
.CRM Project Manager
.Web and Database Specialist
.Medak and Rentals Manager
Voleine Amilcar . . .Director of Marketing and Audience Development
Heather Orth
DC Scarpelli
Scenic Carpenters
.Charge Scenic Artist
.Stage Supervisor
.Associate Stage Supervisor
Head Stage Technician
.Sound and Video Supervisor
Senior Sound Engineer
Sound Engineer
Director of the School of Theatre
.Associate Director of the School of Theatre
MaryBeth Cavanaugh . .Director of Classes and Summer Programming
Ashley Lim
Marketing and Registrations Manager
AeJay Antonis Marquis Mitchell
Euan Ashley
.Education Programs Associate
. .In-School Residency and Curriculum Supervisor
Bobby August Jr., Jessica Bettencourt, Diana Brown, Rebecca Castelli, Iu-Hui Chua, Jiwon Chung, Lauren Brody-Clarke, Amelia Costales-Downey, Jim Edgar, Deb Eubanks, Rachel Garlin, Nancy Gold, Gary Graves, Lore Gonzales, Marvin Greene, Susan Jane Harrison, Wayne Harris, Gendell Hing-Hernandez, William Thomas Hodgson, Harper Illes, Dave Maier, Paul Jennings, Jennifer LeBlanc, Carolyn McCandlish, Jonathan Moscone, Amanda Nyguen, Joel Ochoa, Joe Orrach, Robert Parsons, Hans Probst, Teresa Salas, Pamela Rickard, M. Graham Smith, Hayley Sherwood, Joyful Simpson, Brennan Pickman-Thoon, Samuel Tomfohr, Joshua Waterstone, Elizabeth Woolford
Matty Bloom, Joy Lancaster, Selma Meyerowitz
Ted Bagaman, Beth Cohen, Michelle Cordero, Miles Drawdy, Charles Evans, Kimberly Gilles, Randi Helly, Muriel Kaplan, Sue Kaplan, Jim Krampf, Mark Liss, Virginia McCarthy, Elaine Miller, Judith O’Rourke, Gigi Singer
.Teaching Artists
Docent Chairs
Kevin Kopjak –Prismatic Communications
Lindsey Abbott
Sarah Doherty
Calvin Ngu
Beatriz Hernandez
PATRON SERVICES
.Associate Director of Marketing
Creative Director
Public Relations Consultant
.Audience Development Manager
.Digital Marketing Manager
.Video and Multimedia Content Creator
.Marketing Associate
pan ellington, Matthew Hayden, Olga Khitarishvili, Jack Melcher, Em Parker, Dom Refuerzo
Kelly Kelley
Maddi Gjovik, Nina Gorham
.Box Office Agents
Front of House Director
.Patron Services Supervisors
Emma Allen-Landwehr, Alicia Battle, Megan Bedig, Steven Cole, Matthew Hayden, Latasha Hayes, Armando Herrera, Jeremy Johnson, 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, Anna Vorobyeva, Linda Wu, Kailani Zabala
2024/25 BERKELEY REP FELLOWSHIPS
Katie Anthony
Caitlyn Brown
Cassidy Carlson
Amanda Geyer
Kaileykielle Hoga
Mondara Ixchel
Jason Joo
Xiaoyu (Mary) Liu
Manon McCollum
Rhea Mehta
Renata Taylor-Smith
Zach Terrillion
Docents
Trinity Wicklund
Patron Experience Representatives
.Company Management Fellow
.Scenic Art Fellow
.Scenic Construction Fellow
Costumes Fellow
.Harry Weininger Sound Fellow
.Education Fellow
.Properties Fellow
.Peter F. Sloss Artistic Fellow
.Bret C. Harte Artistic Fellow
.Production Management Fellow
.Electrics Fellow
.Marketing and Development Fellow
.Stage Management Fellow
Melanie Brezill
Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut! Broadway/National Tour: The Book of Mormon , Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mamma Mia!. Select Regional: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage); for colored girls...; Caroline, or Change (Court Theatre); Beautiful (Marriott Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Nina Simone: Four Women (Northlight Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre); Crowns (Goodman Theatre). TV/Film: Reporting for Christmas, Empire. Melanie is the creator of The Grandmother Project and Pearls & Pocketbooks series on YouTube. She would like to thank her family, friends, and Stewart Talent for their support! Instagram: @shinegirlshine @thegrandmotherproject
Leovina Charles
Vanessa, Sheila, Radia is a Haitian-American multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Making her professional theatre debut as Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway, she has long believed in the transformative power of storytelling and has a passion for stepping into the shoes of those whose stories often go untold. She is thrilled to be making her Berkeley Rep debut and thanks her family and friends for their unending support! Select credits: Lempicka (La Jolla Playhouse), I Am Antigone (Theatre for a New City), The Waterfall (Thrown Stone), Soñadora (Amazon Prime), In the Red and Brown Water (UCSD). MFA Acting, UC San Diego. BFA Musical Theatre, Howard University. leovinacharles.com
Victoire Charles Jaja
Theatre: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway); Golden Age (MTC); Ruined (MTC, Intiman, Geffen Playhouse); Moby Dick Rehearsed , The Tempest (The Acting Company, Group 35); Intimate Apparel (Portland Stage Company); The Trojan Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company). TV: New Amsterdam (NBC); FBI (CBS); Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (HBO Max); and an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC). Training: Fordham College at Lincoln Center and the NYU Grad Acting Program.
Yao Dogbe
James, Franlkin, Olu, Eric is overjoyed to be making his debut at Berkeley Rep. Off-Broadway: The Doctor (Park Avenue Armory); Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater). Regional: Richard III, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Fences (American Players Theatre); Fly (Capital Repertory Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); Routes (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Cymbeline (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Tours: Othello (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks). Yao is a first-generation Ghanaian American actor and an activist for African cultural and dialectical authenticity on stage and film for the African diaspora. TV/Film: Yao currently has an AutoZone commercial nationwide. Everett D. Mitchell Documentary. MFA Acting, University of Houston. Instagram: @yaonation
Mia Ellis
Jennifer; u/s Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece is elated to be making her Berkeley Rep debut. Select Regional: The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Fairview, The Mountaintop, Intimate Apparel, Ragtime (Trinity Rep); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); A Raisin in the Sun (Seattle Rep); Hamlet (Santa Cruz Shakespeare). TV/Film: The Good Fight, Elementary, Person of Interest, Welcome to the Blumhouse Live, Lavender Men, The Surrender. Mia received her MFA in acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep and is also a narrator, writer, producer, and member of the Trinity Rep Acting Company. She sends a special thanks to Linda, Semoune, and L.B. Instagram: @ellismia09. Website: miaellis.com.
Tiffany Renee
Johnson
Aminata
is excited to make her Berkeley Rep debut! She’s a proud Chicago native, repped by Gray Talent Group. Regional credits: Jaja's African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Remy Bumppo Theatre — Core Ensemble Member), Chlorine Sky (Steppenwolf Theatre), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Goodman Theatre), Red Velvet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Garbologists (Northlight Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Doll's House (Writers Theatre). TV/Film credits: Shameless and The Chi (Showtime); Chicago PD and Chicago Med (NBC); Soundtrack (Hulu); and
Range Runners (Amazon Prime). Education: Theatre BFA, Howard University. To God be the glory. Instagram: @tiffanyreneej_ Website: tiffanyreneejohnson.com
Jordan Rice
Marie (she/her)
is thrilled to join the cast of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Jordan can currently be seen as a recurring guest star on Swagger on Apple TV+, and in the feature film One True Loves starring Simu Liu and Phillipa Soo. At age 11, Jordan made her feature debut in Ava DuVernay’s Selma and has loved creating ever since. Jordan is a 2020 National YoungArts Winner in Theatre, and a 2021 US Presidential Scholar Semifinalist. Additionally, she recently completed an intensive acting training course at LAMDA (UK). To follow her journey, follow her on Instagram: @actressjordanrice
Awa Sal Secka
Bea
is elated to be back at Berkeley Rep! You may have seen her last as Zawadi (Goddess) Regional credits include Sarah (Ragtime) at Signature Theatre, Joanne (Rent) at The Kennedy Center, Mayme (Intimate Apparel) at Theater J, The Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods) at Ford’s Theatre, Ama (School Girls) and Dottie (Caroline, or Change) at Round House Theatre. Awa is a Helen Hayes Award-winning actor, and a co-writer for the 2023 MacArthur Award-winning show The Joy That Carries You. She is immeasurably grateful for her incredible agents at Nicolosi & Co., for her fiancé and all her wonderful friends, family, and supporters, and especially for her mother, Fatou, who would be so proud to see her playing an African woman on stage. Graduate of Montgomery College. Instagram: @_kujichagulia_
Aisha Sougou
Ndidi (she/her)
is elated to be making her Berkeley Rep debut with this story. She was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is the daughter of immigrants from Senegal. Past credits include Beehive, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (The Marriott Theatre). She graduated from the School of Drama at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Class of 2023. She radiates love and gratitude for her friends and family, especially her mother and
sisters, who taught her everything she knows about respect and self-worth. So much love for Stewart Talent and the faculty at UNCSA. Go Pickles! Instagram: @_aisha_marie_
Bisserat Tseggai Miriam
is an Eritrean-American actor whose work in theatre includes The Jungle at St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Curran Theatre, and For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad at Soho Rep. Her television credits include The Accidental Wolf, Seven Seconds, Succession, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Orange Is the New Black, Billions, Alternatino with Arturo Castro, Luke Cage, and Rival Speak. You can follow her @bisserat on all social media platforms.
Kevin Aoussou
u/s James, Franklin, Olu, Eric
Berkeley Rep debut. Chicago: Henry V (Chicago Shakespeare) ; Inanimate (Theater Wit); Moby Dick (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Routes (Remmy Bumppo) Regional: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Theater at Monmouth, The Hedgerow Theatre, The Rogue Tucson, Cardinal Stage, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Education: MFA in Acting, Northwestern University. National Theater Institute MXAT, BFA in Theatre Performance, Winthrop University. Instagram: @ayokev247
Renea S. Brown
u/s Jennifer, Vanessa, Radia, Sheila
Berkeley Rep Debut; Regional Productions: Sojourners, The Mountaintop, Nollywood Dreams (Round House Theatre); Metamorphoses, Our Verse in Time to Come, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger Theatre); Tempestuous Elements, Change Agent (Arena Stage); The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It, (Shakespeare Theatre Co); The Wolves (McCarter Theatre); Covenant (Theatre Alliance); Othello, Sense and Sensibility, Twelfth Night (Island Shakespeare Festival); Much Ado About Nothing, A King and No King (American Shakespeare Center) and more. Film/TV: Godfather of Harlem, Law and Order. Awards: 2024 Helen Hayes Outstanding Lead Performer (The Mountaintop). MFA: Academy of Classical Acting. Instagram/TikTok: @Therealdarklady
Debora Crabbe
u/s Marie, Ndidi, Aminata Berkeley Rep debut. Regional: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Kennedy Center TYA), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre), Gloria: A Life (Theater J), The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective (Washington Stage Guild), As You Like It (Keegan Theatre), Iphigenia, The Dog in the Manger (We Happy Few). Honors/Awards: Helen Hayes — Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical (2019), Outstanding Ensemble (2020). Education: BFA – VCU. Instagram: @dcdebbiecakes
Yetunde Felix-Ukwu
u/s Jaja, Bea, Miriam; Dialect and Vocal Coach makes her Berkeley Rep debut. Selected acting credits include Jaja's African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage); Nollywood Dreams (Round House Theatre); A Christmas Carol (TheatreSquared); Babel (Unicorn Theatre); and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). As a Dialect Coach selected credits include Sinners by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros.), Time Bandits (Apple TV+), and Metamorphoses (Folger Shakespeare Library). More information can be found on all social media platforms @yetundelive and at yetundelive.com
Onye Eme-Akwari
Nollywood Dreams Actor
is a Nigerian-born actor, producer, musician, and educator. He has performed in and taught numerous marching bands, indoor drum lines, and world-class touring drum corps. Recent theatre credits include the regional premiere of Spirits to Enforce (Vernal & Sere) as well as the five-time Tony-nominated Jaja’s African Hair Braiding on Broadway (Manhattan Theatre Club). Recent TV/Film credits include guest star and recurring appearances in FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), The Good Doctor (ABC), Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS), Will Trent (ABC), Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), and Outer Banks (Netflix). Onye teaches at the Robert Mello Studio in Atlanta, GA, as well as the Terry Knickerbocker Studio in Brooklyn, NY. He also holds an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia. Instagram: @onye.emeakwari
Morgan Scott
Nollywood Dreams Actor
is a 2022 graduate of Juilliard, originally hailing from Greenville, South Carolina. Morgan also trained at the British American Dramatic
Academy. Recent New York theatre credits include Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway) and MUD; or when things get messy and how we live with it (SheNYC Festival). She would like to express her utmost gratitude for her Heavenly Father, her family, and her hair braider of six years, Mrs. Deborah, on 125th St. in Harlem. Instagram: @morganmscott_
Jocelyn Bioh
Playwright
is an award- winning, Tony Award-nominated Ghanaian- American writer/performer from New York City. Her written works for theatre include Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC) which premiered on Broadway in 2023 and was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play; Merry Wives (Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, PBS Great Performances) which won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation; Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater); book writer for the Broadway-bound musical Goddess (Berkeley Rep); and the multi-award winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play which was originally produced at MCC Theater in 2017/2018 and has gone on to have over 65 regional productions and premiered in the UK in 2023. Jocelyn was a 2017 Tow Playwriting Fellow and has won several playwriting awards, including being awarded the Dramatists Guild’s Hull-Warriner Prize twice, Steinberg Playwright Award, Lortel Award, and Drama Desk Award, and is the winner of the 2024 Horton Foote Prize. Jocelyn has also written for TV on Russian Doll, Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix), Tiny Beautiful Things (Hulu), and the new Star Wars series The Acolyte (Disney+).
Whitney White Director
is an Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning, as well as a Tony Award-nominated, director, writer, and musician. She was a staff writer on Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo and is a believer of multi-disciplinary work and collaborative processes. Recent directing includes Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway), Jordans (The Public Theater), The Secret Life of Bees (The Almeida, UK), Soft (MCC, New York Times Critic’s Pick), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (New York Times Critic’s Pick), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre DC), An Iliad (Long Wharf), Canyon (IAMA, LA Times Critic’s Choice), Jump (PlayMakers Rep, National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere), and The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf Theatre). Original works include Semblance (NYTW), Definition (Bushwick Starr), and Macbeth in Stride (American Repertory Theater, Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater) for which she won an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. Her
four-part cycle deconstructing Shakespeare’s women is currently in development with American Repertory Theater (Boston, MA) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK). Whitney has developed work with Sundance, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard, The New Group, Page 73, Playwrights Realm, Juilliard, Trinity Rep, NYU Tisch, Luna Stage, SUNY Purchase, Princeton University, Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, The Drama League, South Oxford, Jack, The Tank, New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Lark, and others. She also has been an Associate to Sam Gold (Othello, New York Theatre Workshop), Daniel Sullivan (If I Forget, Roundabout), and Anne Kauffman (Marvin’s Room, Broadway). Whitney is a part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and is a recent recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, Herb Alpert Award, and Jerome Fellowship. She is an Artistic Associate at the Roundabout and an Associate Artistic Director at Shakespeare Theatre DC. Past residencies and fellowships include Colt Coeur, The Drama League, Roundabout, and the 2050 Fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop. MFA Acting: Brown University/ Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University. Whitney will direct the upcoming Broadway production of The Last Five Years featuring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren.
David Zinn
Set Design
Recent work on Broadway includes set design for Stereophonic, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, and The Notebook; costume design for An Enemy of the People; and set and costume design for Sondheim’s last musical Here We Are (The Shed, NY). Other Broadway includes scenery for Kimberly Akimbo, Funny Girl, The Minutes, Diana, Torch Song, and The Humans; scenery and costumes for the SpongeBob Musical, Fun Home, Choir Boy, Amélie, and The Last Ship; and costumes for A Doll’s House, Part 2, Other Desert Cities, The Vibrator Play, and Xanadu. He’s also designed at Playwrights Horizons, MTC, NYTW, Lincoln Center, Second Stage, The Public, A.C.T., A.R.T., Berkeley Rep, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, National Theatre, Young Vic, The Hampstead (UK), Berlin Staatsoper, and Theater Basel. He’s received Tony, Drama Desk, Hewes, and Obie awards for his work.
Dede Ayite
Costume Design
is a Tony Award-winning costume designer. Recent: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera. Select Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen, Appropriate, Topdog/Underdog, Slave Play. Select Off-Broadway: Merry Wives (Public), Buena Vista,
Days of Wine and Roses (Atlantic). Select Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage. Television: Netflix, Comedy Central. Awards: TDF/Kitty Leech Young Master Award, Obie, Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, Audelco, Jeff awards.
Jiyoun Chang
Lighting Design is honored to be back at Berkeley Rep since Aubergine and An Octoroon. She loves to work on new stories and adaptations that connect her to communities around her and share a deep understanding of them with the audience. Her credits on Broadway are Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Stereophonic, The Cottage, KPOP, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, and Slave Play Her other credits are from the Noël Coward Theatre at West End, Arena Stage, The Public, Roundabout, NYTW, MCC, Signature, ATC, Guggenheim, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cal Shakes, Guthrie, Old Globe, and OSF. She has been nominated numerous times for Tony, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel awards. She is a recipient of the Henry Hewes Design Award ‘24, Obie Award, and Suzi Bass Award.
Justin Ellington
Original Music and Sound Design is thrilled to make his Berkeley Rep debut. His impressive portfolio spans theatre, film, and radio, with Broadway credits including Home, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony nomination), for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (Tony nomination), Topdog/ Underdog, Pass Over, and Clyde’s. Off-Broadway he’s contributed to productions at New York Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center, and The Public Theater. Justin has earned awards like the Obie, Audelco, and Henry Hewes Design, and has been recognized by ASCAP and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is currently a Lecturer in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Design at Yale University.
Stefania Bulbarella
Video Design
is a projections designer from Argentina based in NY. Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC). Off-Broadway: Space Dogs (MCC); Travels (Ars Nova); A Bright New Boise, The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre); Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop); amongst others. Nominations: 2024 Tony nominee for her work in Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee for Outstanding Video/Projection Design for Space Dogs. Awards: HOLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design for Vamonos! stefaniabulbarella.com
Nikiya Mathis
Hair and Wig Design
is a multi-hyphenate actress and wig designer. She has originated roles in world-premiere plays including Blood Quilt at Arena Stage; Off-Broadway premieres including Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays, Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar; and Lynn Nottage’s NY revival of Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine She currently recurs as N’Kiyah Franklin in Power Book III: Raising Kanan on Starz. Nikiya is the first wig designer to ever receive a special Tony Award for her design of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She is an Obie Award winner, Drama Desk Award winner, Black Women on Broadway Award winner, and Henry Hewes Award winner. Nikiya’s Broadway credits include Home, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Once Upon a One More Time, Death of a Salesman, Topdog/Underdog, and Chicken & Biscuits. Her Off-Broadway credits include the current re-envisioning of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, among others. Instagram: @our_black_tresses @nikiyamathis
Manna-Symone Middlebrooks Associate Director
Recent work on Broadway includes Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She was the assistant director at Arena Stage for Indecent and Turn Me Loose Recent directing credits include The Tempest, sandblasted, Precious Little, and The Revenger’s Tragedy at Northwestern University. Other regional associate and assistant director credits include The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf); The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company, DC); All’s Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare); Henry IV, Part I, Amadeus (Folger Theatre); The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, Translations (Studio Theatre); and BLKS (Woolly Mammoth). Instagram: @mannasymone
Erica A. Hart, CSA
New York Casting
Broadway: Chicken & Biscuits, Pass Over, Death of a Salesman, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Television: Black Mirror, A Black Lady Sketch Show (Artios winner), That Damn Michael Che, Bust Down, The Girls on the Bus, The Equalizer, Survival of the Thickest. Film: The Surrogate (Artios winner), We Strangers (SXSW), Cupids (Tribeca). Music video: “Fight for You” by H.E.R. Thanks Jocelyn Bioh, Whitney White, Kelly Gillespie, David Caparelliotis, and the Jaja’s African Hair Braiding family!
Kelly Gillespie, CSA
New York Casting
has been on the casting staff at Manhattan Theatre Club for 17 seasons. Favorite MTC projects include Prayer for French Republic
(Broadway and Off-Broadway), Mary Jane, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, The Best We Could, Skeleton Crew, Ink, Choir Boy, and The Explorers Club Other credits include Bite Me, Sancocho, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What We’re Up Against, Sundown Yellow Moon, Ironbound (WP Theater); Melancholy Play, A Map of Virtue, The Zero Hour, Monstrosity (13P); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry and Public Theater); Photograph 51 (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Exclusion, POTUS (Arena Stage); Age of Innocence, Trouble in Mind (The Old Globe); Two Sisters and a Piano (Two River Theater); and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America, Residence, Seven Guitars, 4000 Miles, Dot, The Roommate, and Eat Your Heart Out (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Gillespie also was resident casting director for several seasons for the Off-Broadway companies TACT and Keen Company. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan.
David Caparelliotis, CSA
New York Casting
Select Broadway/Off-Broadway: Good Night and Good Luck (upcoming); Mary Jane; Prayer for the French Republic; Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; 2:22 A Ghost Story; Grey House; Summer, 1976; The Comeuppance; Ohio State Murders; Cost of Living; Macbeth; The Minutes; Skeleton Crew; Ink; Letters From Max; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Waverly
Digital programs reimagined.
Visit the all new Encore+, now with an improved user experience rebuilt from the ground up. Available from these fine performing arts organizations:
San Francisco Bay Area
American Conservatory Theater
Berkeley Rep
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
San Francisco Symphony
Greater Seattle Area
The 5th Avenue Theatre
Seattle Children’s Theatre
Seattle Opera
Seattle Rep
Seattle Theatre Group
Seattle Shakespeare Company
Taproot Theatre Company
Village Theatre
Gallery; Boys in the Band. Select theatres: Signature NYC, Atlantic, Ars Nova, The Old Globe. TV/Film: New Amsterdam (NBC, series casting), The Boys in the Band (Netflix, original casting).
Mandisa Reed
Stage Manager
Select Broadway and Regional credits include: Jitney (Broadway National Tour), Skeleton Crew (MTC), Topdog/Underdog (Golden Theatre), Kimberly Akimbo (Booth Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre), Home (Roundabout Theatre Company), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage). Mandisa Reed, a Saginaw, Michigan native, is a proud graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans (BA) and the University of California San Diego (MFA).
Brillian Qi-Bell
Assistant Stage Manager (she/her)
Brillian is passionate about making positive changes in her industry and community. She has participated in advocacy programs such as the Cody Renard Richard Scholarship, Beyond the Stage Door (Baseline Theatricals), and the Harriet Tubman Effect. Previous work includes A Thousand Maids (ASM, Two River Theater); Bees & Honey (ASM, MCC Theater); 38th
Marathon of One Act Plays (ASM, Ensemble Studio Theater); El Otro Oz (PSM Sub, Atlantic Theater Company); & Juliet (ASM Sub, National Tour); Funny Girl (ASM Sub, National Tour); The Harder They Come (ASM Sub, Public Theater); Hell’s Kitchen (PA, Public Theater); Suffs development (PA, 101 Productions); Jagged Little Pill (PA, First National Tour).
Arena Stage
The first racially integrated theatre in our nation’s capital and a pioneer of the regional theatre movement, Arena Stage was founded in 1950 in Washington, D.C. Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. We produce plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep, and dangerous in the American spirit, and present diverse and groundbreaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Consistently contributing to the American theatrical lexicon by commissioning and developing new plays, Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement and serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.arenastage.org
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
a Regional Tony Award recipient, produces a bold and innovative year-round season that includes Shakespeare, original plays, musicals, family programming, and international theatrical events. CST is committed to serving as a cultural center across its three stages—the 700+ seat Yard, 500 seat Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, and the 200 seat Carl and Marilynn Thoma Theater Upstairs as well as in classrooms, neighborhoods, and venues around the world. CST has a deep commitment to education and lifelong learning with robust programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and engagement with communities across the city. Onstage, in classrooms and neighborhoods across the city, and in venues around the world, Chicago Shakespeare is a multifaceted theatre—inviting audiences, artists, and community members to share powerful stories that illuminate the complexities, ambiguities, and wonders of our world. chicagoshakes.com
La Jolla Playhouse
is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what’s new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is currently led by Tony Award
winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and Managing Director Debby Buchholz. The Playhouse is internationally renowned for the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 120 world premieres, commissioning 70 new works, and sending 36 productions to Broadway, garnering a total of 42 Tony Awards, as well as the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. lajollaplayhouse.org
Madison Wells Live
is the live entertainment arm of Madison Wells, Gigi Pritzker’s award-winning, independent production company who believes in telling stories by, and about, badass women, as well as people who love pushing boundaries. Led by Executive Producer Jamie Forshaw, Madison Wells Live focuses on producing purpose-driven projects through collaboration with partners who are aligned in the belief that great storytelling can provoke, inspire, and move audiences around the world. Broadway credits include Swept Away, Water for Elephants (Tony nomination), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony nomination), Shucked (Tony nomination), Company (Tony Award for Best Revival), The Old Man and The Pool, Pass Over, Hadestown (Tony Award for Best Musical), The Inheritance (Tony Award for Best Play), Million Dollar Quartet (Tony nomination). West End: Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder!, The Motive and the Cue (Laurence Olivier nomination), and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Laurence Olivier nomination). Off-Broadway: We Live in Cairo, Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience). For more information about Madison Wells Live, visit madisonwellsmedia.com.
LaChanze
Broadway: Celie in The Color Purple (Tony Award), Ti Moune in Once on This Island (Tony Award nomination), Trouble in Mind (Tony Award nomination), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Tony Award nomination), A Christmas Carol, If/Then, The Wiz, Company, Ragtime, and Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway: The Secret Life of Bees, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, The Vagina Monologues, and Cabin in the Sky at New York City Center Encores!. TV: Handel’s Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise (Emmy Award), East New York, The Blacklist, HBO’s The Night Of, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Fight, Sex and the City. Film: The Help, Melinda, and Disney’s Hercules among other titles. As Director: Alice Childress’ Wine in the Wilderness at Classic Stage Company next season. As Producer: The Outsiders, adapted from S.E. Hinton’s classic novel (Tony Award), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh (Tony Award nomination), Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim along with the 20th Anniversary of Suzan-Lori Parks’ acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/
Underdog (Tony Award) and Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s new musical, Kimberly Akimbo (Tony Award), both co-produced with David Stone. President of Black Theatre United, a community dedicated to awareness, accountability, and advocacy. Proud mother to Celia Rose and Zaya LaChanze. She resides in Westchester, New York with her three cats and gardening hats.
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
Managing Director
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.
THANK YOU to our supporters!
We thank the many organizations 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 Civic Foundation, Inc.
Davis/Dauray Family Fund
The William H. Donner Foundation, Inc.
The Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund
Eva Gunther Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation JEC Foundation
Koret Foundation
Laurents/Hatcher Foundation
Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
The Maurer Family Foundation
Miranda Lux Foundation
Morris Stulsaft Foundation
The Bernard Osher Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg
Charitable Trust
Taube Philanthropies
Westridge Foundation
Woodlawn Foundation
Corporate & Hospitality Sponsors
SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Armanino LLP
Aurora Catering
Bank of Marin
SEASON SPONSOR
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
SPONSORS
The Resilience Campaign
Comal
Covenant Wines
Hammerling Wines
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation
Pinx Catering
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS
Andrea Gordon Real Estate
BluesCruise.com
Perfusion Vineyard
Smile City Photo Booth
PUBLIC FUNDING
Berkeley Civic Arts Program and Commission
National Endowment for the Arts
BENEFACTOR SPONSORS
Broc Cellars
City Baking Co.
Eureka!
Family Laundry
Gallagher Risk Management Services
Heroic Italian
JazzCaffè
Kermit Lynch
Lucia’s Berkeley
Picante
TheatreWorks
Berkeley Repertory Theatre gratefully recognizes the following contributors for their transformational contributions to The Resilience Campaign that support the Theatre’s future.
Anonymous
California Wellness Foundation
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
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
Sudha Pennathur & Edward Messerly
Jack & Betty Schafer
Pat & Merrill Shanks
Michael & Sue Steinberg
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson
Gail & Arne Wagner
Linda & Steve Wolan
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, 2023 and September 24, 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 PRESENTING SPONSORS
Anonymous
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Jonathan Logan & John Piane
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner
SEASON SPONSORS
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson
LEAD SPONSORS
Barbara Bass Bakar
Jill & Steve Fugaro
Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
Christina Crowley
Anne & Anuj Dhanda
Christopher Doane & Neal Shorstein, MD
Robin & Rich Edwards
Bill Falik & Diana Cohen
Dr. Daniel F. Goodman
Marcia Grand
Melinda Haag & Chuck Fanning
Scott & Sherry Haber
Fred Levin
Melanie Maier
Sandra & Ross McCandless
Sudha Pennathur & Edward Messerly
Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg
Pat & Merrill Shanks
Michael & Sue Steinberg
Chris & Mike Rupp, Descendant Cellars
Steven & Linda Wolan
SPONSORS
Anonymous
Shelley & Jonathan Bagg
Walter Brown
David & Vicki Cox
William T. Espey & Margaret Hart
Edwards
Kerry Francis & John Jimerson
Paul Friedman & Diane Manley
Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff
Steven Goldin
Paul Haahr & Susan Karp
Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame
Artistic Director’s Circle
PARTNER
Anonymous (2)
Valerie Barth
Jeffrey & Karen Breslow
John Brennan & Stephanie McKown
Linda Brown
Italo & Susan Calpestri
Jennifer Chaiken & Sam Hamilton
John Dains
Richard DeNatale & Craig Latker
Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards
Linda Jo Fitz
Lisa Franzel & Rod Mickels
Karen Grove & Julian Cortella
Earl & Bonnie Hamlin
Lisa Herrinton
Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley
The Jackson Family Foundation
Teresa Kersten
Duke & Daisy Kiehn
Joel Linzner & Teresa Picchi
Elsie Mallonee
Mona Marbach
Marymor Family Fund
Judy Minor
Sandi & Dick Pantages
Lauri Paul & Mark Hamilton
Johanna Pfaelzer & Russell Champa
Jaimie Sanford & Ted Storey
Emily Shanks
Larry Vales
Ama Torrance & David Davies
Elizabeth Werter & Henry Trevor
BENEFACTOR
Anonymous (4)
Norman Abramson, in memory of David Beery
Eric Allman & Kirk McKusick
Philip Arca & Sherry Smith
George & Marcia Argyris
Michelle L. Barbour
Becky & Jeff Bleich
Ronnie Caplane
Lisa Conte
Constance Crawford
Ed Cullen & Ann O’Connor
Dr. Jim Cuthbertson
Barbara & Tim Daniels
Richard & Anita Davis
Ilana DeBare & Sam Schuchat
Bill DeHart
Corinne & Mike Doyle
Sandra & Ken Eggers
William & Susan Epstein
Jerry Falk
Paul Feigenbaum & Judy Kemeny
Dean Francis
Sharon & Tom Francis
Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim
Jack Klingelhofer
Suzanne LaFetra Collier
Erin McCune
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Jack & Valerie Rowe
Todd Rubin
Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro
Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman
Sargina & Marc Silvani
Cynthia & William Schaff
Jean Strunsky, in memory of Michael Strunsky
Felicia Woytak & Steven Rasmussen
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Anonymous (3)
Edith Barschi & Robert Jackson
Anna Bellomo & Josh Bloom
Marc Blakeman
Lynne Carmichael
Cindy J. Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson
Cynthia A. Farner
David & Vicki Fleishhacker
Shirlen Fund
Herb & Marianne Friedman
Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi
Mio & Jon Good
Mary W Graves
Robert & Judith Greber
Anne & Peter Griffes
Migsy & Jim Hamasaki
Dan & Shawna Hartman Brotsky
Henry L. Hecht
Tamra C. Hege
Elaine Hitchcock
Stan Hoffman
Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling
Paula Hughmanick & Steven Berger
Marilyn & Michael Jensen-Akula
Muriel Kaplan & Bob Sturm
Bill & Lisa Kelly
Dana Kirkland
Peggy Kivel
Jane & Mike Larkin, in memory of
Lynn & Gerald Ungar
Jay & Eileen Love
Luna Foundation
Rebecca Martinez
Henning Mathew
Miles & Mary Ellen McKey
Susan Mazzetti
Susie Medak & Greg Murphy
Robin Meezan
Stephanie Mendel
Laura Graham
Elise Haas
Richard N. Hill & Nancy Lundeen
Dugan & Philippe Lamoise
Eileen & Hank Lewis
Helen M. Marcus, in memory of David J. Williamson
Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas
Martin & Margi Cellucci McNair
Seth Mickenberg & Alfredo Silva
Julie Moreland
Tom Parrish & Steve Dow
Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun
Audrey & Paul L. Richards, in honor of Barbara Peterson
David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich
Dennis Ryan & Rebecca Sutter-Ryan
Barbara Sahm & Steven Winkel
Monica Salusky & John K. Sutherland
Sarah E. Shaver
Audrey & Bob Sockolov
Barbara Tomber
Wendy Williams
Andy & June Monach
Ronald Morrison
Shanna O'Hare & John Davis
Carol J. Ormond
Janet & Clyde Ostler
Judy O’Young, MD & Gregg Hauser
Barbara L. Peterson
Leslie & Mark Ragsdale
Dr. Jason Ravenel & Leann Ravenel
Terri Remillard
Carla & David Riemer
Gary & Noni Robinson
Becky Saeger & Tom Graves
Jeane & Roger Samuelsen
Jackie Schmidt-Posner & Barry Posner
Allan & Maria Smith
Ed & Ellen Smith
Henry Spencer & Nicky Cass
Alison Teeman & Michael Yovino-Young
Henry Timnick
Deborah & Bob Van Nest
Gerald & Lynda Vurek-Martyn
Brian Watt & Daisy Nguyen
Beth Weissman
Patricia & Jeffrey Williams
Mark Zitter & Jessica Nutik Zitter
CHAMPION
Anonymous (3) • Michael Barnett and Judith Bloomberg • Don & Gerry Beers • Paul Bendix • Patti Bittenbender • Stacey Carlo
• Dr. Jon Carr • Keith & Maria Carson • Bart Connally • Karen & David Crommie • Josh Dapice • Richard & Anita Davis • Jacqueline Desoer • Carol DiFilippo • Joan M. Dove & Jim Daughn
• Donald and Jeannette Dow • Ben & Mary Feinberg • Donald & Dava Freed • Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter • Mary Grogan
• Sylvaine Guille • Thomas & Elizabeth Henry • Mr. Robert and Judy Huret • Sudhir Kasanavesi • Susan Kolb • Janet Kornegay & Dan Sykes • Woof Kurtzman & Liz Hertz • Shirley Langlois • Ellen & Barry Levine • Marcia C. Linn • Mark & Roberta Linsky • Gerry & Kathy MacClelland • Lois & Gary Marcus, in memory of Ruth Weiland, Mose & Selma Marcus • Paul Mariano & Suzanne Chapot • Geri Monheimer • Mina Morita • Jane Neilson • Judith & Richard Oken • Juan Oldham & Deborah Morgan • Bob & MaryJane Pauley • Tushar Ranchod • Todd & Susan Ringoen • Maxine Risley, in memory of James Risley • John & Jody Roberts
• Mitzi K. Sales • Lisa A. Salomon • Helen Schulak • Susan Shafton
• Laura Shennum • David & Lori Simpson • Amrita Singhal & Michael Tubach • Suzanne Slyman • Betsy Smith • Cherida Collins Smith • Valerie Sopher • Trevor & Anne-Marie Strohman
• Annie Ulevitch • William van Dyk & Margi Sullivan • Kimberly Webb & Richard Rossi • Jonathan & Kiyo Weiss • Irene Yen
ADVOCATE
Anonymous (16) • David Ahirhima • David Baer • Paula Bakalar • Celia Bakke • Irene Balcar • Linda Barron • Richard & Kathi Berman
• Brent Blackaby • Mark & Peggy Bley • James Blume & Kathryn Frank • Judy Blumenstein • Thomas Bosserman • Eric Brink &
Gayle Vassar • Cathy Bristow • Paul Brody • John Brorsen • Aimee Brown • Jane V. Buerger • John Bundschuh & Deborah Sorondo
• Fran Burgess • Robert & Margaret Cant • Bruce Carlton • Daren Chan • Steven and Karin Chase • Laura Chenel • Joan & Edward Conger • Cathy Corison and William Martin • Pam & Mike Crane • Rajen Dalal • Harry & Susan Dennis • Lynne Dombrowski • Joe & Lisa Downes • Tammerlin Drummond • Kevin Eggan • Sue J. Estey • Paul Finkle & Sue DeVinny • Martin & Barbara Fishman • James & Jessica Fleming • Carol & Tony Friscia • Chris R. Frostad • Lisa and Jack Fuchs • Clara Gerdes & Ken Greenberg • Ellen Geringer & Chris Tarp • Judy & Sheldon Greene • Mark Greenstein • Karen Greig & Mike Frank • Don & Becky Grether • Jeannene Hansen • Dennis & Juanita Harte • Paula Hawthorn & Michael Ubell • Donald Hershman • Al Hoffman & David Shepherd • Rachel & John Horsch • Hilary & Tom Hoynes • Maria Inchauspe • Patricia J. Ishiyama • Atsuko Jenks • Barbara & Peter Jensen • May Johnston
• Alan Karras & David Schulz • Leslie Karren • Jeanne Killian • Ralph & Tonya Koenker • Andrea & Kenneth Krueger • Lucy Kuntz and Ned Fielden • Wayne Lamprey & Dena Watson-Lamprey • Susan Carol Ledford • Elizabeth Lewis • David Lindsay & Maggie
Ingalls • Jennifer S. Lindsay • Ari Lipsky & David Nahmias • Steve & Judy Lipson • Margo & Josh Lowensohn • Peter Luk • Nancy Lumer • Ingrid Madsen & Victor Rauch • Rob and Diane Master • Don Mathews • M. Mathews & K. Soriano • Kevin McCarty • Amelie
Mel de Fontenay • Ellen Meltzer and George Porter • Melinda & Ralph Mendelson • Susan Morris • Ron Nakayama • Sandra Nichols
• Daniel Null & Karen Williams Null • James O'Toole • Lynne Parode & Sterling Lim • Perttula Family • Patti Oji Haas • Jeannie Pfaelzer & Peter Panuthos • Malcolm & Ann Plant • Kathleen Quenneville & Diane Allen • Daniel & Barbara Radin • Elizabeth Raffin • Jackie Lynn Ray • Kalpana Reddy • Michael Rocha • William Rogers • Patrick Romani • Shasta Roope • Tonya Roope • Deborah Dashow Ruth, in memory of Leo P. Ruth • Eve Saltman & Skip Roncal, in honor of Kerry Francis & John Jimerson • Dorothy Saxe • Eric & Lauren Schlezinger • Teddy & Bruce Schwab • Deborah Sedberry & Jeff Klingman • Jacob Sevart • Ruchira Shah & David Grunwald • Brenda Buckhold Shank, M.D., Ph.D. • Steve & Susan Shortell • Beryl & Ivor Silver • Robert Sinha • Gary & Jana Stein • Jane & Jay Taber • Margo & Drew Tammen • Kathy Taylor • Ruthann Taylor • Karen Tiedemann & Geoff Piller • Dana Tom & Nancy Kawakita • Dale Underwood & Kirsti Aho • Jill Van Dalen • Leon Van Steen • Benny & Liz Varon • Faye Wilson • Galen Wilson • Barbara & Mordechai Winter • H. Leabah Winter • Susan Wittenberg • Molly Wood • Moe & Becky Wright • Ned Zlatarev
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*
Stephen K. Cassidy
Paula Champagne & David Watson
Terin Christensen
Sofia Close
Ed Cullen & Ann O’Connor
Andrew Daly & Jody Taylor
Narsai* & Venus David
Darren & Sunshine Deffner
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
Catherine Fox
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
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
Michael H. Kossman
Woof Kurtzman
Scott & Kathy Law
Dot Lofstrom
Ingrid Madsen & Victor Rauch
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
Theresa Nelson & Bernard Smits
Pam & Mitch Nichter
Wallace Oman
Sharon Ott
Fr. David Pace
Amy Pearl Parodi
Barbara L. Peterson
Regina Phelps
Margaret Phillips
Mark J. Powers & Albert E. Moreno
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
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
Sheila Wishek*
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 Victoria Carter
Estate of Nancy Croley
Estate of John & Carol Field
Estate of Ralph Garrow
Estate of Richard & Lois Halliday
Estate of Nancy Kornfield
Estate of Audrey J. Lasson
Estate of Zandra Faye LeDuff
Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz
Estate of Jim Lillienthal
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 Gretchen Saeger
Estate of Stephen C. Schaefer, in honor of Jean and Jack Knox
Estate of Kevin Shoemaker
Estate of Peter Sloss
Estate of Louis & Bonnie Spiesberger
Estate of Harry Weininger
Estate of Grace Williams
As of September 2024.
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 contact us at 510 647-2905 or give@berkeleyrep.org.
CELEBRATING DONOR APPRECIATION MONTH
This month, we are celebrating YOU — our extraordinary community of Berkeley Rep donors! You helped produce an incredible season of shows this year, in addition to education programming for Bay Area students, new play creation through The Ground Floor, and community events and partnerships through In Dialogue.
Your donation makes the magic possible. Thank you for supporting non-profit theatre in the Bay Area!
PHOTOS:
LEAVE YOUR LEGACY
BRIAN QUIJADA AND NYGEL D. ROBINSON IN MEXODUS
PHOTO: BEN KRANTZ
JAN 31–MAR 9, 2025
THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY ALI BENJAMIN
ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE BY KEITH BUNIN DIRECTED BY TYNE RAFAELI
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MADISON WELLS LIVE WORLD PREMIERE | RODA THEATRE
During the last week of summer vacation, 12-year-old Suzy Swanson learns that her best friend Franny has drowned. Desperate to make sense of Franny’s death, Suzy immerses herself in her own imagination, where she can circumnavigate the globe, plunge into the terrifying depths of the ocean, explore the collapsed stars of the most distant galaxies, and perhaps even solve the mysteries of the universe. Adapted from the best-selling novel, The Thing About Jellyfish is a visually stunning and deeply emotional coming-of-age tale about love, loss, friendship, and the profound expansiveness of the human spirit.
Tickets at
40 years of inspiring conservation of the ocean
Over the past four decades, thanks to support from our members and donors, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has become a trusted voice and championed action to protect and restore the living ocean. We’re having a real impact on critical issues, from recovering sea otters to reducing plastic pollution at the source. Now we must push forward to continue the momentum.
Join us in this urgent work and make a difference for the ocean that sustains us all. Become an Ocean Advocate today with a special 40th anniversary gift. Thank you.
Become an Ocean Advocate Donor today at MontereyBayAquarium.org/SupportNow
MAKING THEATRE
MEET THE ARTISANS WHO BUILD OUR SHOWS
BY DC SCARPELLI
The central artisanal element in Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is, of course, the hair. And Nikiya Mathis’ stunning hair and wig designs aren’t just beautiful — they in many ways shape the show. Mathis was showered with accolades for her work, including a 2024 Drama Desk Award and a 2024 Special Tony Award.
Berkeley Rep audiences will also remember Mathis’ creations for the hit musical Goddess in our 2021/22 Season.
Jocelyn Bioh has shared with us how your designs were integral to how the play is structured, in terms of what could be accomplished, hair-wise, on stage. Can you briefly describe how you worked with her and with director Whitney White?
Jocelyn gave a very clear road map. In fact, she described the styles in the text of the play, e.g., “large box braids” or “micro braids,” etc. So I gathered a bunch of images of those styles, and then I would go to her and Whitney to see if the image that I pulled was what she had in mind. And with the micro braids, I actually braided some different sizes, and had them choose which size felt right, to make sure that we were on the same page.
We also held braiding classes for the actors, which was so much fun. Jocelyn and Whitney would pop into those classes and take a try at the braiding
as well. It created an amazing sense of community, in a way that I hadn’t experienced on other shows. It showed just how special this show was. I would then pop into rehearsals to help guide the actors on some of the hair braiding magic.
Jocelyn had written what the style was, but it was up to me to determine what the magic was, and then up to Whitney to orchestrate that magic. This was the first time that, as a wig designer, I got to collaborate closely with the writer and director on parts of the staging. Usually, it’s taboo for anyone except the writer or director to have a say in what’s going on on stage, unless they ask for it. But, they both gave me the freedom to give my braiding expertise — and even to give notes to the cast — in such an open way.
What’s your favorite look in the show in terms of how it fits the character? That’s so hard to say! But I think it’s Jaja’s hairstyle.
Dede Ayite, the costume designer, and I were initially thinking of something a bit more afrofuturistic for her, because we wanted her to walk on stage and have everyone’s jaws drop. But Jocelyn really felt strongly that Jaja would have braids
that felt more traditional. I’m really really glad that we found a meeting point. The braids are more traditional, but I still really feel excited every time I see Jaja enter!
How about in real life? What’s your favorite hair look, period or contemporary?
OMG! I personally always wear wigs. Every once in a while I’ll wear my natural hair out, and people will say “Nikiya, I’ve never seen your real hair before!” But I do it for convenience.
Wigs are really an accessory to me, like a cute pair of earrings. I’ll decide on a long one, a short one, a brown one, or a blonde one, depending on what mood I’m in. But I think my favorite era is old Hollywood glam... You can never go wrong with vintage waves and curls.
Is there anything you want audiences to take away regarding the politics and community surrounding Black hair, the salons and barber shops where it’s styled, and the folks who style it?
Yes! There is so much culture and history inside Black hair salons and barber shops. It is “sanctuary.” It is “church.” It is “therapy.” It is “community.” It is where boys learn to be men, and where girls learn to be women. You can learn so much
in barber shops and salons, because so many different kinds of people enter and exit, and they all have a story. It’s really the epitome of “if these walls could talk...” And it’s also a laying on of hands. In an almost-holy way.
It’s similar to being baptized: when you walk out of the shop, you feel like a new woman. That’s why it’s so sacred.
Top left: Mathis at work
Center: Victoire Charles as Jaja rocks her magnificent traditional braids
Top right: Mathis walks away with a 2024 Drama Desk Award
Bottom right: Amber Iman and Rodrick Covington sport Mathis’ designs in the Berkeley Rep production of Goddess
