MARCH—MAY 2020
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Jocelyn Bioh: A funny way of being serious Seeding the next gen of theatre-makers
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WELCOME TO BERKELEY REP! To ensure the best experience for everyone: Food and drink: Beverages in cans, cartons, or plastic cups with lids are welcome in the house. Food is prohibited. Phones that make noise during the performance are disruptive to everyone. Ensure phones and electronic devices are turned off during the performance. Photography: Audience members may take photos in the theatre before and after the performance, and during intermission. Photos and video during the performance are not permitted. Photos posted on social media must credit the show’s designers. Late seating is not guaranteed. If you arrive late, the house manager will provide instructions about seating. If you leave during the performance, you will be reseated at an appropriate break. Smoking/Vaping: Berkeley Rep’s public spaces are smoke- and vape-free. One of the joys of live theatre is the collective experience. Remember that people respond in different ways, and we invite you to join with other audience members and enjoy the show!
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IN THIS ISSUE From the artistic director · 5 From the managing director · 6 Charting their own path: Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship helps women coffee farmers of Colombia · 8 Young Writers of Color Collective seeds next generation of theatre-makers · 10
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School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play origin story · 12
Box Office: 510 647-2949 Groups (10+): 510 647-2918 Admin: 510 647-2900 School of Theatre: 510 647-2972
A funny way of being serious: An interview with playwright Jocelyn Bioh · 13
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Director Awoye Timpo on reclaiming humanity in the imagery of School Girls · 16 Learning and unlearning: (De)colonization, Ghanaian education, and standards of beauty · 18
BERKELEY REP PRESENTS School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play · 21 Who’s Who · 22
THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE 2019–20 · ISSUE 5
CONTRIBUTORS
The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published at least seven times per season.
Foundation, corporate, and in-kind sponsors · 29
For local advertising inquiries, please contact Pamela Webster at 510 590-7091 or pwebster@ berkeleyrep.org.
Individual donors to the Annual Fund · 31
Editor Karen McKevitt Graphic Designers Cheshire Isaacs Haly Roy Writers Katie Craddock Charlie Dubach-Reinhold Sarah Rose Leonard Maddie Gaw Zandra Starks
Michael Leibert Society · 32
ABOUT BERKELEY REP Staff, board of trustees, and sustaining advisors · 33
OriGin sTOrY
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March—May 2020 | Volume 15, No. 6
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FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
WELCOME TO SCHOOL GIRLS!
Eighteen or so months ago, when I was in conversations with the Berkeley Rep staff and board about what shows and artists I would want to bring to the Theatre if I were to become its artistic director, Jocelyn Bioh was at the top of my list. So I feel incredibly fortunate that this moment has actually come true, and that we are all here in this beautiful theatre together, in the presence of Jocelyn’s fantastic play. I worked with Jocelyn a number of years ago to help develop Nollywood Dreams (finally about to have its world premiere production at MCC in New York City!) and was so struck with the singularity of her voice. Even then, Jocelyn’s ability to weave humor and politics together in a way that leaves audiences defenseless against her point of view was evident. It is often said that truly skillful artists can make the circumstances of their characters feel universal and resonant to a wide-ranging audience. Easier said than done! That being said, one of Jocelyn’s great gifts is that the worlds that she creates are so specific — a travel agency in Nigeria, a nightclub in Mombasa, a girls boarding school in the lush mountains of Eastern Ghana — and yet no matter who we are, her characters feel familiar to us. While our experiences may not match the exact lives of these school girls, the depth of their yearnings, the intricacies of their relationships, and the deepest discoveries of their own emerging strengths will remind us all of that specific liminal moment in our lives when we begin to become the adults we want to be. I am proud to have Awoye Timpo at the helm of this production, and to have this glorious cast assembled, the vast majority of whom are making their mainstage Berkeley Rep debuts! Thank you, as always, for being part of the journey of these artists and these stories. Warmly,
Johanna Pfaelzer
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the annual deluge of solicitations from every cultural organization you have ever attended! Buy me! Buy now! You all know it. We all live it. Among all those mailings is your annual renewal form for your Berkeley Rep subscription. Some of you have already responded, no questions asked. You’ve sent your forms in or have renewed online. Bless you. But for others, you may be thinking, “What? Why haven’t I gotten my chance to sign on to see all seven shows next season?” You so don’t have to worry, as there will be plenty of opportunities for you, too, to join the thousands (yes, that is real) of people who sign up months in advance to see the full panoply of programs here at Berkeley Rep. Who are these people who commit themselves to shows (sometimes unknown) months in advance? These are among my favorite people! They are often our most veteran theatregoers, people who have made theatre attendance a priority throughout their long lives. But increasingly they are younger people for whom attending consistently is a commitment to an adult night together without the kids. For them, the regularity of knowing when they should schedule the sitter is just the help they need to protect their date nights. And increasingly, they are families, multigenerational “regulars” who show up at seven matinees and evenings a year, enjoying a shared experience that stimulates conversation and becomes the collection of shared points of reference (sometimes good, sometimes bad!) that stick through the years. Twenty years later my son and I still laugh over the worst production we ever saw together. Just say the word “lugubrious,” and we start laughing. So why should you go online and renew your subscription? Or why should you sign up for your first subscription? It’s really simple. It means you will actually get out.... You will turn off the TV for a night. And you’ll see shows....at the best theatre in the Bay! You will have this satisfying communal experience with your partner, friends...or, sure, why not your family? You will get the lowest possible prices for the full season of shows and discounts for anyone who wants to tag along with you. You will get first dibs on any special events we schedule. And you will get the ability to exchange your seats, over and over and over again, at no charge if you exchange by 7pm the evening before, because we know that flexibility is just what life demands of all of us these days. So go online at berkeleyrep.org and just do it. Sign up for all seven shows, and if that doesn’t work, sign up for as many as you can. Join me and Johanna for another year of grand theatrical adventure. I think you’ll be glad you did. Best regards,
Susie Medak
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FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR
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CHARTING
WOMEN’S CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP HELPS WOMEN COFFEE FARMERS OF COLOMBIA BY MADDIE GAW
t’s Coffee Photos courtesy of Pee 8 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5
In Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, a group of Ghanaian teenage girls are trying to figure out what their place in the world will be after they leave their prestigious boarding school. Will they heed their headmistress’ advice and focus on furthering their education? Or will they strike out on the path to superstardom by winning the Miss Ghana pageant? And which girl can do what, according to the standards placed on them by society? Societal expectations for women across the globe have often While training at the center, Lucía was able to think about been at odds with what individual women seek out for themherself for the first time in a while. “I found myself,” she said. “I selves. For the women coffee farmers of Mujeres Cafeteras, found me.” based in Huila, Colombia, the shift from laboring on a spouse’s After completing her training, Lucía left armed with a busifarm to managing their own farm was a hard-won victory. ness plan. Today, she is working toward her dream of creating This shift was made possible in part by the Women’s Center an agro-tourism experience on her coffee farm. Lucía hopes to for Entrepreneurship, a program developed by Peet’s Coffee build lodging to host guests and provide them with Spanish, in collaboration with Coocentral (the cooperative to which cooking, and coffee-farming lessons, and she has started a GoMujeres Cafeteras belongs), Sustainable Harvest (an import FundMe campaign. She visited UC Berkeley’s Haas School of partner for Peet’s), and the ean University School of Business Business a few months ago to discuss her experiences and the in Bogotá. unique challenges she faces in her male-dominated farming Every year, Peet’s donates $50,000 of the community. “In Colombia, there is a lot of machisproceeds from their Anniversary Blend to a mo,” she said. “Claiming this space was not charitable cause. The blend changes every easy at all, it was a tough fight, and that year, and the selected charitable cause was one of the main challenges.” Her addresses a specific need voiced by experience speaking in the U.S. was the community where one of the affirming. “To see the acceptance coffees in the blend comes from. we have here, that women’s coffee The 2019 Anniversary Blend is liked a lot…it is worth continusourced coffee from Mujeres ing the process, to continue fightCafeteras, and so Peet’s Coffee ing and bringing the good news Team asked the women in the that this entrepreneurship center co-op how this donation could be will continue to change used to meet their needs. our lives.” For these women, the educaWhat’s next for the Women’s tion they had already received from Center for Entrepreneurship? “We the co-op was a crucial first step toward have procured funding for Year Two of envisioning a new path for themselves. the program and will train another 100 LUCÍA ÁLVAREZ “[W]e were housewives who didn’t leave the women from the co-op,” says Phil Maloney, house,” they said. “When the program for women director of coffee purchasing at Peet’s. He confirmed started at Coocentral, we learned about leadership and farm that Peet’s will donate another $50,000 to the center from the administration. The idea was to give us the tools to tend and proceeds of the 2020 Anniversary cup — which will not be a manage our own farms. We had to speak to our husbands, who blend this year, but instead a single-origin coffee from Mujeres eventually ceded a parcel of the farms so that we could work, Cafeteras. This will be the first time Peet’s has sourced beans manage, and produce our own coffee.” from the same farmers two years in a row for their limited-ediWhat they needed next, they said, was to receive furtion Anniversary coffee, and this shows how important the ther training and education to start and run successful small Women’s Center has become to the company. “We hope to businesses, and that’s where the Peet’s donation came in. “We keep the program going in Colombia, but also to expand it to started the [Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship] as a reother coffee-growing regions,” says Phil. sponse to the women’s desire to continue their education and Lucía has stated that she wants her business to become “a to become strong economic contributors in their households,” beacon of hope guiding the many women from [her] commusays Matt Broscio, social responsibility manager at Peet’s nity to take their own steps forward and move toward a bigger Coffee. In its first year, the center trained 100 women from and better future for themselves.” She and other veterans of Coocentral in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, business the Center hope to inspire collaboration, not competition, model development, and business plan creation. between the women in their community. For the teenage One of those women was Lucía Álvarez. For Lucía, the protagonists of School Girls, competition is a natural instinct, need for economic independence was an urgent one. She but are they in competition with each other, or with society’s separated from her husband two years ago, a decision that is expectations? They might look to Lucía and the rest of the as uncommon in Huila as it is risky. Lucía said that it is typical women in Mujeres Cafeteras, who are creating new expectato “work to leave something to our children and move them tions about the role women can play in their society. forward, and we forget ourselves. We do not think about us.”
TO SEE THE ACCEPTANCE WE HAVE HERE, THAT WOMEN’S COFFEE IS LIKED A LOT…IT IS WORTH CONTINUING THE PROCESS, TO CONTINUE FIGHTING...”
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YOUNG WRITERS OF COLOR COLLECTIVE
T X E N SEEDS TATIANA LIRA FOUND A DEDICATION
PHOTO BY Z ANDR A STARKS
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to writing in the third grade after completing their first play. But calling this now 15 year old simply “a writer” feels impossible and unjust. By taking classes at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and becoming a key part of Core Council, Tatiana has ventured into film making, performance, directing, journalism, and photography — all of which have informed their writing. This scope of artistic experience made them a perfect candidate for Berkeley Rep’s Young Writers of Color Collective (YWoCC), now in its fourth year. The collective is made up of four passionate high school writers who attend a full year of workshops with local playwrights and theatre artists, many of whom have been part of Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab, and receive one-on-one mentorship from notable Bay Area playwright Cleavon Smith. The program culminates in a staged reading as part of the Summer Residency Lab. To ensure full realization of the young playwright’s vision, each script receives full support from professional actors, dramaturgs, and directors. It takes a village to realize their plays, and the final performance rings with momentous joy and satisfaction. At the first YWoCC meeting of the year the playwrights — Tatiana, Kyle Gill, Natalie Ford, and Emielyn Das — and their mentor Cleavon sit around a folding table and introduce themselves between bites of pizza. The meeting begins as most first meetings do: slightly awkward, very little eye contact, and lots of fidgeting. Cleavon then asks students to share their reasons for joining YWoCC and the story they will pursue. With a small, quiet voice Tatiana shares disheartening times they had been underestimated by teachers, and the longing for a space that acknowledges the context they hold as a non-binary person of color. Then, Tatiana shifts into explaining their story. The play centers around a high schooler named Lorenzo who, in the midst of questioning their sexuality, stumbles into social media fame. As Tatiana speaks, their presence transforms into
N O I T A R GENE OF THEATRE-MAKERS BY ZANDR A STARKS an animated, hesitant confidence that exposes their reverence for storytelling. It’s inspiring to watch. The meeting concludes and the young writers are sent on their way with their first assignment. Since that initial meeting and with the help of their mentor and local playwrights, the writers’ scripts have blossomed into full plays. Cleavon empowers the students to take full advantage of what he calls this “rare opportunity that every writer wants to have.” He notes that Tatiana has the vigor of successful writers. While Tatiana began YWoCC sheepishly, Cleavon says, “They are curious, prolific, and very intuitive. When they write, they put it all on the page and work it out later, which I find courageous.” When a student has the kind of spirit that Cleavon recognizes in Tatiana, it often takes only one substantial opportunity for them to step up into their potential. For Tatiana, this moment took place in January, at the YWoCC midpoint reading, which offers playwrights a chance to have their plays rehearsed with professional directors and actors. The entire artistic staff at Berkeley Rep (including Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer and Madeleine Oldham, director of The Ground Floor) attends the reading to give invaluable feedback. “I left the midpoint reading feeling invigorated,” says Tatiana. “I realized that YWoCC is all about the growing process. And I felt uninhibited despite the age difference between myself and those giving me feedback.” From the midpoint until the final reading commences, the playwrights will retreat into rewrites. Spaces like YWoCC are scarce. Professional institutions rarely have the resources (or desire) to run a program as supportive and inclusive as YWoCC. The fact that YWoCC exists marks Berkeley Rep’s dedication to seriously incorporating people of color into the next generation of theatre-makers. “YWoCC provides an accessible and comprehensive process of making theatre for its participants,” says Ankita Raturi, 2016–17 Peter F. Sloss Literary/Dramaturgy Fellow, who
returned to dramaturg the 2017–18 YWoCC presentations. “It supports the people within the program rather than adapting to the typical caveats of predominantly White institutions.” Inclusion efforts, while well intended, often thrust people of color into White artistic spaces with little thought about how isolating that experience can be for Black and Brown artists. One former YWoCC member still reflects on the precedent the program set for her. Camilla Dwyer, a part of the first YWoCC cohort and third-year playwright at The Theatre School at DePaul University, spoke to how writing with YWoCC meant she didn’t have to explain how and why Blackness moves at the core of her plays. The solidarity within the collective meant she could fail without having to hold the weight of being the only person of color in the room. Camilla attributes the rigorous yet nurturing environment to her courage to pursue playwriting. As a theatre educator, I ask myself the same question that many frequent patrons of the theatre do: “How will we build the next generation of theatre audiences?” The answer I have found is to make a great investment in youth theatre. It will take much more than YWoCC to drive the foundational changes necessary to sustain and diversify the next generation of theatre artists. It will require the devotion of artists, administrators, and audiences. Future writers of color like Tatiana deserve the opportunity to flourish in the American theatre. If you want to support the work of the Young Writers of Color Collective, consider attending the final reading at The Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab. Check berkeleyrep.org/groundfloor later this spring for the performance schedule. Additionally, you can see Tatiana Lira’s work at the 18th annual Teen OneActs Festival on April 24 and 25. They will be directing China Doll, In Lavender by San Jose teen Jennifer Xiang. Visit berkeleyrep.org/teenoneacts.
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LISTEN TO THESE FEATURES AND HEAR EXTENDED INTERVIEWS ON REPISODES: THE BERKELEY REP PODCAST AT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BERKELEYREP
THe
OriGin sTOrY AUDIENCE AND ARTISTS ALIKE
had already heaped praise on Jocelyn Bioh as an actor through the years by the time she debuted her first professional play as a playwright, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, at MCC in New York in 2017. She originated roles in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway and in An Octoroon and Men on Boats, among other works, off Broad-
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way. Berkeley Rep was excited that an actor we so admired had written a play that made us laugh out loud. We were thrilled when our new artistic director, Johanna Pfaelzer, revealed that she, too, was a big Jocelyn Bioh fan, having developed Jocelyn’s Nollywood Dreams at New York Stage and Film in 2016. Between our first encounter with Jocelyn’s work and today, School Girls has received a robust production life — the dream for any play! School Girls will collectively receive at least 11 productions across the U.S. during the 2019-20 season. It is unusual and awesome for a new play to be produced so widely in this country. This season, School Girls appears at The Goodman in Chicago, Portland Center Stage in Oregon, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis, Kansas City Rep in Missouri, and True Colors Theatre in Atlanta, to name a few. School Girls was one Johanna’s first picks for her inaugural season, and the stars aligned for Berkeley Rep to produce the play. Director Awoye Timpo and Jocelyn had long wanted to find a project to work on together, so we were overjoyed to make the collaboration a reality.
A FUNNY WAY OF BEING SERIOUS AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT JOCELYN BIOH
BY K ATIE CR ADDOCK
On a chilly afternoon before rehearsals began, Artistic Associate Katie Craddock met playwright Jocelyn Bioh to talk about friendship, competition, and capturing truth and hilarity in the voices of the young Ghanaian women of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play.
What inspired you to write School Girls? Like the characters, I went to boarding school, so I had the experience of attending school with a bunch of girls at a young age — and it was diverse, I think 80 percent people of color, so mostly people who looked like me. My mother also went to boarding school (in Ghana, like the characters in School Girls). I always wanted to write about boarding school life, and I always wanted to write about colorism, which was something that I experienced very personally. I wanted to put that in a play but was not sure how to do it without it sounding like some sort of lecture or, y’know, preachy. Then I came across a story about the Miss Ghana pageant in 2011 where they procured a girl who was American-born and biracial, and she won the competition and went on to represent Ghana in the Miss Universe pageant, which was quite a scandal in the Ghanaian blogs and what have you. I decided to melt all that into one play, and 27 drafts later, out came School Girls. School Girls reveals the ways beauty standards from different countries and cultures intersect and collide. What made you interested in exploring that? I find that standards of beauty across the globe are more universal than people think. The idea of colorism is something I think of specifically as, for instance, me being a darker-skinned Black woman feeling inferior to a lighter-skinned woman of color. While that version of colorism is very specific to me, the idea of colorism CO NTIN U E D
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What’s useful about comedy as a way into those difficult subjects? I read a quote years ago: “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” [Generally attributed to Peter Ustinov.] In a lotta ways that’s my approach to my work. I also don’t want to write the typical narratives that African stories can fall into — you know, poverty, war, aids, struggle and strife. That singular narrative of a whole continent is so troublesome to me. And I just naturally have a comedic voice. If people can come into a story and laugh and have a good time, it’s much easier for them to learn something from it, as opposed to knowing they’re walking into a downer. In its full title, School Girls references the 2004 Tina Fey movie Mean Girls. How does Mean Girls inform School Girls? Because the play is playing with specific tropes of the mean girl, cliques and crews and all of those things, I knew there would be comparisons to Mean Girls, so I decided to just cut to the chase in the title. And that’s kind of where the similarities stop. I like Mean Girls as a clear point of reference — when you say “Mean Girls,” people know exactly what they’re in for. People walk in feeling like, as with the Tina Fey movie, they know they’re gonna have a good time and potentially learn something. is widespread across many cultures; there’s a real universality in that experience as a result of who has determined beauty standards. I had my own very long journey to owning my beauty — and if I could alleviate that for someone else, for some young girl, through this play, then my work’s done. The play deals frankly with economic disparities. Why was it important for you to address that? The presence of money and classism in the play is another aspect of the story that’s super personal for me. I come from a modest upbringing; we worked really hard and went on to be successful. My brother’s a doctor, my sister’s in administrative social work, and I’m the black sheep of the family as the artist. It was important to me to be able to show in addition to colorism, how classism affects people’s lives — how devastating and embarrassing it can be. Without saying those actual words (colorism, classism), because I’m avoiding being preachy, it’s important for people to understand that where you come from, what your background is — especially if like Paulina, you don’t come from a lot of money — shouldn’t influence your future and how far you can go.
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These characters have distinct voices and a pronounced, ever-shifting hierarchy. How did you develop the individual girls and their dynamics? I’d never written a play with a cast this large before — these are eight women who all have something to say, and for a good section of the play they’re all onstage simultaneously. As I mentioned, I wrote 27 drafts of this play before I finally got to the final one, and somewhere in the middle, somewhere around draft 10, I was like, “Okay, with this draft I’m gonna focus on one girl, and then draft 11 I’m gonna focus on another girl,” to make sure each of them has a fully fleshed story, including the adult characters. It’s a short piece and it kind of flies by; I know what I want to say and I don’t need to meander to get there. The girls seem to both love each other and see each other as threats, as competition. Is it possible to love somebody with whom you’re competing? Yes, but it takes a lot of maturity. I’m an actor/writer, and I deal with that a lot as an actor — when I get to an audition and see several friends whom I know very well, there are some who actually feel a lot of hurt and this competitive spirit
IF PEOPLE CAN COME INTO A STORY AND LAUGH AND HAVE A GOOD TIME, IT’S MUCH EASIER FOR THEM TO LEARN SOMETHING FROM IT.” amongst the group of us, like, “She got that part over me.” It took a long time for me to understand that I’m not in competition with anyone — I understand that whatever’s meant for me is gonna be for me. But in high school that is so-soso incredibly hard to understand. Even as an adult we have friends and colleagues who harbor those same 15-year-oldtype feelings towards someone else, and I’m like, “You have to find a way to let that go.” You can’t fully love them in the way they need to be loved, if you don’t let that go. It’s possible, but it takes a lot of growing up and understanding to reconcile love and competition.
it has resonance; we’re just operating at a different level now with social media and TV. I wanted to set it in ’86 though because the value these girls place in the beauty pageant feels archaic. Back then you could be Miss America and actually become a superstar, i.e., Vanessa Williams, and go on to have a successful career. The play’s timelessness is heartbreaking, but at the same time great because we can continue to educate folks and hopefully have people understand the implicit biases they have, and how they perhaps have participated in colorism, and hopefully will find a way not to anymore.
The characters Eloise and Headmistress Francis are of a different generation than the six girls, and serve as (complicated) mentors to them. Why did you decide to include these adult characters? I wanted to highlight that when people don’t have proper mentors (or therapy) to pull them through tough times, they can grow up to be adult versions of their problematic teen selves. I also wanted some balance in the story — it’s not just these young girls running amok; they still have to answer to authority. Especially in Ghanaian culture, elders are really respected, so when all of that breaks down, it’s thrilling and terrifying to watch.
The play was a hit in New York and is being produced all over the country. Why do you think there’s so much excitement and momentum around this story right now? I have been surprised by the entire journey of School Girls, to be honest. I’m a New Yorker so I’m naturally very pessimistic and assumed the worst, but on opening night I was very surprised by the response, so that was good. I think it may be that people see facets of themselves in these characters, and recognize a lot of their own experiences from high school (and maybe even their adult lives). It speaks to the universality of the high school experience, and how we grow up and just become grown-up versions of our high school selves, and still deal with cliques and crews and popularity contests. I hope audiences see themselves in the girls. We live in such a fraught time and it’s important that as theatre-makers we create stories that we hope will invite audiences in, and allow them to open their hearts and minds in a bigger way. It’s thrilling to know that so many young actresses of color are getting the opportunity to be in a play where they can be funny and have a good time and also tell a really moving story.
There are no men in this play, although their influence and presence in the lives of these women is palpable. How did you decide to write a play with no men onstage? We didn’t need them. As a woman, and as a woman of color, I understand very clearly what it is like to operate in a world where patriarchy exists and hovers above you, both in your face and just omnipresent in your life. Specifically white male patriarchy. They’re the ones responsible for a lot of the themes I’m dealing with in School Girls — colorism and classism and colonialism, and those are things that we didn’t create. Women know we didn’t invent beauty standards. The original creative team was also primarily women of color. It was exciting as women to come together and tell this story we know inherently, and I think that shines through in in the piece. The men are still there in the world of the play, we just don’t need to see ’em. Why did you decide to set the play in 1986? To what extent are the experiences and perspectives of the girls tied to that period? In many ways I think it’s timeless. Which is both sad and also kind of amazing — that we can tell this story in 2020, and
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DIRECTOR AWOYE TIMPO ON
reClAiMinG HUMAniTY
IN THE IMAGERY OF SCHOOL GIRLS BY SAR AH ROSE LEONARD
Director Awoye Timpo spoke with Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard a month before rehearsals started about her collaboration with playwright Jocelyn Bioh and her personal connection to the setting and beauty standards in the play. What made you want to direct School Girls? Coming to Berkeley Rep to do School Girls is a perfect combination of so many things. I’ve known Johanna [Pfaelzer, artistic director] for a few years because I directed a workshop at New York Stage and Film. She’s a fantastic curator, and gifted at making space for artists to create art with a lot of freedom. I feel honored to be a part of her first season. It’s a great testament to Jocelyn and her writing that she’s captured so many beautiful spirits in these characters. In this play, everybody’s trying to be seen and trying to understand what their place is in the world. I think that’s something that we can all relate to, even if you’ve never been to Ghana. I also feel I’m honoring my parents in directing a play that takes place in the country they are from. I know Jocelyn talks a lot about this too, but one of the things as we are coming up — and that our parents have had to deal with too — is reckoning with the narrative of Africa that has been perpetuated over the decades. To be able to work on a piece that is affirming of the culture and humanity of the people is really exciting. How did you and Jocelyn meet? I can’t remember precisely when Jocelyn and I met, but I remember feeling so excited to meet her and to know that there’s more first-generation West African artists around. Growing up first generation, it can be quite shocking for the people who have raised us when we tell them we want a life in the arts. You sometimes feel you’re working in isolation, and so when you meet other people who have a similar background it’s really spectacular and affirming.
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I WAS TAUGHT ABOUT WHAT BEAUTY IS IN TERMS OF SKIN COLOR AND BODY SIZE. I HAD TO LEARN TO CLAIM MY OWN SENSE OF BEAUTY BECAUSE I WAS VERY MUCH AN ‘OTHER’ IN MY SCHOOLING ENVIRONMENT” You’ve talked about wanting to show off the lushness of the Ghanaian landscape for this production. How does that thinking influence your design choices? I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have traveled to a number of places around the continent, and there is just so much beauty. So often the images that get perpetuated about the continent capture some of the more horrific and tragic components. But we don’t often see the beauty, the heart of the people, the tremendous life of the continent. So part of what we wanted to do as we were creating the design was to capture the true heart and spirit of the place. The life and beauty. We have an amazing scenic designer, Jason Ardizzone-West, who delved into some beautiful research. Ghana is a coastal country, open to the sea to the south. As you go further north, it’s very lush and green. We want to celebrate the openness of Ghana, and the place where the school is in the mountains. I went to high school in Togo in West Africa and my cafeteria — and the cafeterias of some of the schools we looked at in Ghana — opened to the outside. I hope that people will get to experience some of that natural spirit of the environment. You’ve talked about emphasizing individuality inside uniformity. Can you talk about how that shows up in your casting choices? It’s a real dynamic mix of people. We’ve got Bay Area actors, people who have gone to school in the Bay Area who are transplants, and actors from New York. As we’re thinking about how to create complexity in the kinds of students at the school, we wanted to make sure that we were reaching out to other first-generation actors. Even if people didn’t go to school in West Africa, we will be working to understand the cadence and complexities of the culture. We are so lucky to have a number of actors who are first generation, who come from multiple places around the continent, and a beautiful group of African-American actors. Everyone has such a range and brings so much life to their character. I think it’s going to be really fun
to put this group of people together and see how they clash and where they come together as each character strives to find their place inside of the school environment. How has the play made you think about your own relationship to beauty standards? I grew up around Jersey, but my early school experiences were mostly in predominantly white neighborhoods. From those environments, and from television, I was taught about what beauty is in terms of skin color and body size. I had to learn to claim my own sense of beauty because I was very much an “other” in my schooling environment. Later, I went to high school in West Africa, and I was reminded about the beauty of Blackness and the range of what we look like, how we sound, how we feel, the way our bodies are shaped. It really helped me learn to honor myself. I had to learn that along the way because there are so many ways that Blackness gets negated in popular American culture. I also grew up at a time in the 1980s and ’90s when I got to see a lot of film that celebrated that culture. Poetic Justice, Love Jones, and Brown Sugar, all of these films by Black artists. That’s the thing about this play too! The girls are in an environment where they are in the majority racially, but the pervasiveness of white culture and the power of whiteness has seeped into and shaped their cultural consciousness.
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LEARNING& UNLEARNING (DE)COLONIZATION, UNLEARNING GHANAIAN EDUCATION, AND STANDARDS OF BEAUTY UNLEARNING UNLEARNING BY CHARLIE DUBACH-REINHOLD
SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY immerses
us in the world of the Aburi Girls’ Boarding School, where the Miss Ghana pageant sweeps the students into a comedic frenzy. The year is 1986. It’s 30 years after Ghanaian activist and politician Kwame Nkrumah was released from prison — where he was held for initiating nonviolent noncooperation with the British colonial government — and elected President of the newly independent Ghana. Nkrumah had a profound influence on early decolonial thought. His goals to unify Africa, dismantle the oppressive structures of the colonial government, and combat white supremacy inspired successive movements around the continent and further abroad and had echoes and reverberations in the American Black Power movement. Though his presidency ended in a military coup, Nkrumah remains a beloved figure in Ghana, and his ideology undergirds pro-Black movements into the 21st century, such as those targeting colorism. As the first leader of the first independent sub-Saharan African nation, Nkrumah popularized the ideals of African socialism (as separate from Marxist socialism; African socialism was modeled on traditional African anti-hierarchical structures). He infused his political career with an unparalleled dedication to the dream of African unity. As Ghana achieved independence, Nkrumah led the growing Pan-African movement that inspired other colonized peoples to seek self-government and independence. He denounced Euro-centrism, and his government worked to decolonize and remove systems of white supremacy from all aspects of the
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newly formed nation of Ghana, including a concerted effort in the education system. Nkrumah’s government put education front and center to encourage Ghana’s social and economic development. New regulations and programs replaced British textbooks and teaching methods with instruction in native African languages, and encouraged attendance throughout the country, as schools expanded and more opened. The government gave many private schools subsidies to Africanize their curriculums. The school in Bioh’s play draws from one such school, the highly regarded Aburi Girls’ Senior High School, where two Ghanaian languages — Akuapem Twi and Ga — are still taught. Managed by the Presbyterian Church since 1946, just north of Accra, Aburi Girls’ holds a prestigious reputation among Ghanaian boarding schools. It is located in the lush, forested Akuapem Mountains, famous for their Botanical Gardens. Boasting plenty of famous alumnae dating back to its inception, Aburi nevertheless fell on harder times as Nkrumah’s government failed to deliver on all its promises. After Nkrumah’s ousting in 1966 — due to his increasingly authoritarian measures — his rapid expansion of education was heavily criticized. Financial supports for his projects such as the school subsidies fell away as educators struggled to match the intended quality of education to the quantity of new infrastructures. By the time Bioh’s characters traipse through the halls of Aburi Girls,’ the promise of the support for an Africanized education system faded into the grind of economic hardship. The events of School Girls transpire just before the education reforms of 1987, which
THE IMPLICATION, PRACTICE, AND EFFECTS OF THAT COLORISM REMAIN, BAKED INTO MODERN IDEALS OF BEAUTY.” would reinvigorate education in Ghana, including compulsory education through age 14. Before this, the promise of funds for a school like Aburi Girls’ would have been extremely attractive, as we see in School Girls’ Headmistress Francis’ eagerness at the possibility of funds from the Miss Ghana pageant. The pageant represents not only an ultimate arbiter of beauty standards that disrupts the social lives of the schoolgirls, but also an economic advantage at a time when a prominent Ghanaian school was bereft. International pageants have adhered to certain standards of beauty since their inception: white, Western ones. Pageants were edified in the 1920s with the Miss America pageant. Many initially prohibited all women of color from entering the competition, and in some cases, over 50 years passed before the first Black women took home the crown: 1970 for Miss World, 1977 for Miss Universe, 1984 for Miss America, 1990 for Miss usa, and 1991 for Miss Teen usa. As the pageant institutions spread around the world, they were yet another vehicle for an important mechanism of colonialism: convincing the colonized they are inferior to the colonizer by all standards (in this case, the standards of beauty). The intentional, institutional colorism of many colonial governmental structures may have disappeared by the mid-20th century, but the implication, practice, and effects of that colorism remain, baked into modern ideals of beauty. These ideals — manifested in everyday beauty advertisements, products, and markets — encourage women to lighten their skin with bleaching creams, even though they often contain dangerously corrosive ingredients. Ghana banned hydroquinone, one such chemical, in 2017. The entanglement of white supremacy and standards of beauty, on both the societal and pageant levels, remains. These insidious standards motivated pageant recruiters like the character Eloise Amponsah in the 1986 setting of School Girls and have continued to impact even more recent pageants. In 2011, the Miss Universe Ghana pageant scouted the contestant Yayra Erica Nego from Minneapolis, where she had previously been crowned Miss Minnesota usa. She
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, ALL TOP BEAUTY PAGEANT WINNERS ARE BLACK
traveled to Ghana to compete and was crowned the winner, over the two most famous models in Ghana. As Miss Ghana, Erica was eligible for the international Miss Universe pageant, where she did not place. Her connection to Ghana was tenuous — pageant officials claimed her father was Ghanaian, from the Volta region — and this eligibility concern fed into a larger debate: Why should the Miss Ghana pageant scout Yayra Erica Nego, who is biracial and was raised in America, to represent Ghana? Ghanaian media described the recruitment and win as an obvious case of colorism — a high-profile example of this pervasive privileging of lighter skin over darker. In her interview on page 13, Jocelyn Bioh says this scandal was one of the inspirations for School Girls. Berkeley Rep is producing School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play in the wake of an historic moment for pageants. In 2019, all of the major pageants — Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss America, Miss usa, and Miss Teen usa — were won by Black women. These women have led conversations around the world on racism, colorism, and how conceptions of beauty are influenced by colonialism. Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa, Miss Universe 2019, wrote in an Instagram post: “Society has previously been programmed in such a way that there’s nothing beautiful about being black. The furthe[r] you are from being fair skinned the uglier you are. That unfortunately has been the universal standard of beauty and it is very difficult for some people to unlearn it...to whoever else thinks that black is not beautiful I cannot wait for you to experience the depth and magic of a black woman. I am a daughter of the African soil and I am beautiful. See your face reflected in mine <3” These women work to undo white supremacy in beauty standards and beyond. As social media hashtags like #blackisbeautiful gain popularity, and the representation of Black women in all forms of media begins to reflect their magic, a sea change of the 21st century emerges. Throughout history, Black pride and anti-white-supremacy movements created an ebb and flow in the tide of decolonial work. The contention around pride in natural Black hair, emblemized by the afros of the 1960s Black Panthers, reappears in the U.S. national conversation when Miss Teen usa Kaliegh Garris competes without once straightening her curls. The road to undoing the oppressive effects of colonization is long. But some days, on some stages, the crown goes to a rightful winner. And Black is beautiful.
2019 MISS UNIVERSE ZOZIBINI TUNZI OF SOUTH AFRICA 2019 MISS WORLD TONI-ANN SINGH OF JAMAICA 2019 MISS AMERICA NIA FRANKLIN 2019 MISS USA CHESLIE KRYST 2019 MISS TEEN USA KALIEGH GARRIS 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 9
HAPPY DAYS BY SAMUEL BECKETT DIRECTED BY JAMES BUNDY WITH DIANNE WIEST RODA THEATRE STARTS MAY 26
Dianne Wiest in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Samuel Beckettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Happy Days P H OTO BY J OA N M A R C U S
SEASON SPONSORS
PRESENTS
SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY CAST
WRIT TEN BY
JOCELYN BIOH DIREC TED BY
AWOYE TIMPO
Ama Afua Busia Eloise Santoya Fields Headmistress Francis Omozé Idehenre Gifty Paige Mayes Nana Gabriella Momah Mercy Al-nisa Petty
M ARCH 19 –M AY 3, 2020 RODA THE ATRE · M AIN SE A SON
Ericka Lily Santiago
This show is performed without an intermission.
Paulina Akilah A. Walker
PRODUCTION STAFF
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play is made possible thanks to the generous support of SEASON SPONSORS Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & Sue Steinberg The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Scenic Design Jason Ardizzone-West
BERKELEY REP PRESENTS
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
JOHANNA PFAELZER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR · SUSAN MEDAK, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Costume Design Karen Perry Lighting Design Stacey Derosier Sound Design Jake Rodriguez Hair & Wig Design Megan Ellis Casting Amy Potozkin, csa Tara Rubin Casting, csa Production Stage Manager Michael Suenkel
LE A D S P O N S O R S Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S Susan Chamberlin Kerry Francis & John Jimerson SPONSORS Anne & Anuj Dhanda Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame Jack Klingelhofer Laura & Nicholas Severino A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R S Steven Goldin Melinda Haag & Chuck Fanning Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas Steven & Patrece Mills Lisa Taylor Special thanks to the Partners of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Assistant Stage Manager Leslie M. Radin The actors and stage managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. World Premiere at the MCC Theater, October 16, 2017 (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, & William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) Originally developed as part of The New Black Fest at The Lark, 2016 Additional development as part of the MCC Theater PlayLabs series, 2016 “The Greatest Love Of All” By Linda Creed and Michael Masser Used by Permission of EMI Gold Horizon Music Corporation; EMI Golden Torch Music Corporation All rights reserved.
Affiliations The director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union. The Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Designers in lort Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local usa-829, iatse.
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WHO’S WHO
AFUA BUSIA
PAIGE MAYES
Afua is a New Yorkbased actor and singer from Maryland. Afua has previously appeared in Berkeley Rep’s An Octoroon and is thrilled to be returning! Other regional credits include A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater) and The Little Mermaid (Imagination Stage). Afua is a recent graduate of act’s mfa program, class of 2019. IG: afuab
Paige is thrilled to make her official Berkeley Rep debut after understudying Misha in White Noise. Her most recent regional credits include Single Black Female (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), Vinegar Tom (Shotgun Players), Jazz (Marin Theatre Company), The 48 Hour Play Festival (Harlem 9), and For Colored Girls… (African American Shakespeare Company), where she was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble of a Play and Outstanding Performer in a Featured Role in a Play. Paige is from Aurora, CO and studied Performing Arts at Arizona State University.
AMA
SANTOYA FIELDS E LO I S E
Santoya is excited to be making her debut at Berkeley Rep. Regional productions include Men on Boats (American Conservatory Theater), Black Odyssey (California Shakespeare Theater), A Streetcar Named Desire (African American Shakespeare Company), and in the West Coast premiere of James Ijames’ White (Shotgun Players). For her performance in White, Santoya was nominated for two theatre awards for Outstanding Principal Actor. Santoya is from St. Petersburg, FL.
OMOZÉ IDEHENRE
HEADMISTRESS FR ANCIS
Omozé’s film and TV credits include On the Road and This Is Us. Off-Broadway credits: The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Classic Stage Company). Other theatre credits include What You Are (Old Globe San Diego); Her Portmanteau (Boston Court Pasadena); Good Grief (Kirk Douglas Theatre); runboyrun (Magic Theatre); Gem of the Ocean, The Convert, Seven Guitars (Marin Theatre Company); The Comedy of Errors and Richard III (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Black Odyssey, The Winter’s Tale, Spunk, Macbeth (California Shakespeare Theater); Clybourne Park, Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Scorched, A Doll’s House, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (American Conservatory Theater). Education: American Conservatory Theater and The Groundlings. She is grateful to be part of this gifted cast and crew.
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GIFTY
GABRIELLA MOMAH NANA
Gabby (they/them) is a nonbinary actor whose mission is to amplify the voices of queer and trans people of color through storytelling. They are excited to make their mainstage debut at Berkeley Rep. Regional theatre credits include Watch Me (The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep), Top Girls (American Conservatory Theater), Cardboard Piano (New Conservatory Theatre), A Letter to My Ex (Spectrum Queer Media), They/Them (Those Women Productions), Token and Shipping and Handling (Crowded Fire Theater: Matchbox Series), FLEX (Bay Area Playwrights Festival), Can I Hold You, The Color Purple, The Bluest Eye (Stanford taps), and numerous productions with Killing My Lobster, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and the National Queer Arts Festival. Gabby has trained at Stanford University, San Francisco Mime Troupe, and The Actors Space.
AL-NISA PETTY
from Rutgers University where she also studied at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. @alniisa al-nisa.com
LILY SANTIAGO ERICK A
Lily is delighted to be at Berkeley Rep for the first time. She has appeared off Broadway as Claudio/Elbow in Measure for Measure (The Public Theater), Macduff in Macbeth (Red Bull Theater), and previously in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of Othello. Regional credits include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Huntington Theatre Company) and Emmy in A Doll’s House, Part 2 (George Street Playhouse). She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University (BA in theatre) and LaGuardia Performing Arts HS.
AKILAH A. WALKER PAU L I N A
Akilah is a classically trained actor and filmmaker who is moved by transformation, collaboration, and nuanced storytelling that explores the lives of women and people of color. Akilah is elated to be making her Berkeley Rep debut. Akilah also recently appeared at Aurora Theatre Company as Bunny in Detroit ’67 and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Akilah is a recent graduate of American Conservatory Theater, where she received her mfa, and is also a proud alumnus of Fordham University. Selected roles: Lady M in Macbeth, Gremio in Taming of the Shrew, and Lincoln in Topdog/Underdog. akilahawalker.com IG/ Twitter: @Akthewayy
MERCY
JOCELYN BIOH
Al-nisa is an actor and voice-over artist from Newark, New Jersey. She is thrilled to be making her Berkeley Rep debut. Regional: A Raisin in the Sun directed by Nambi E. Kelley (TheatreWorks Colorado Springs) and Slut: The Play (New Jersey Performing Arts Center). Select New York credits include On Strivers Row (Metropolitan Playhouse), Masque (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and Street Scene (Brave New World Repertory Theatre). Her film credits include independent films Darling and Strive. Al-nisa received her bfa in Acting
Jocelyn is a first-generation Ghanaian-American writer/performer from New York City. Jocelyn is a commissioned playwright with Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Atlantic Theater Company, and was a Tow Playwriting Fellow in 2018/19. Her plays include the multi-award-winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, which had two celebrated runs at mcc Theater and is also playing at the Goodman Theatre this spring; Nollywood Dreams (Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College, 2016; upcoming at MCC Theater this spring; Kilroy’s List 2015); and the new musical Goddess (Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College, 2019) of which she is the book writer. She has
P L AY W R I G H T
her BA in English and Theatre from The Ohio State University and mfa in Theatre-Playwriting from Columbia University School of the Arts.
AWOYE TIMPO DIREC TOR
Awoye’s off-Broadway directing credits include In Old Age (New York Theatre Workshop), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre), The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d (The Playwrights Realm), and The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater Company). Regionally she has directed Pipeline at the Studio Theatre, Everybody Black at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Paradise Blue at Long Wharf Theatre. Additional credits include Carnaval at the National Black Theatre, Sister Son/Ji at the Billie Holiday Theatre, The Vanished (site-specific), Skeleton Crew at Chester Theatre Company, and Ndebele Funeral at 59E59 Theaters, Edinburgh Festival/Summerhall, and the South African tour. She is the producer of classix, a series exploring classic plays by Black playwrights.
JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST SCENIC DESIGNER
Jason is happy to be making his Berkeley Rep debut. Recent work includes Jesus Christ Superstar Live (nbc — Emmy Award & Art Directors Guild Nomination), The Michaels (The Public Theater), Blue Man Group (national tour), Uncle Vanya (Old Globe, Hunter Theater Project, wnet 13 TV), Once on This Island (Cincinnati Playhouse and
Actors Theatre of Louisville), Native Gardens and The Royale (Cleveland Play House), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre), Dermot Kennedy (EU/UK/U.S. concert tour). Upcoming projects include Bliss (5th Avenue Theatre), The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theatre), Macbeth (Geffen Playhouse), Grace (Actors Theatre of Louisville). ardizzonewest.com Instagram: @jasonardizzonewest
(Guthrie). She has designed nine of the 10 August Wilson Century Series plays (she has not yet designed Fences). Television: Gregory Hines Show, Saturday Night Live, and The Brother from Another Planet. Karen received a Lucille Lortel Award, LA Ovations Awards, a cdg Award, an Ace Award, a Hewitt Award, and is an Emmy and Audelco Award nominee and recipient.
KAREN PERRY
STACEY DEROSIER
Off Broadway: runboyrun & In Old Age (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Breath, Boom (Huntington Theatre); Lackawanna Blues (Mark Taper Forum, Two River Theater Company); Mothers (Playwrights Realm); Jazz (Marin Theatre Company); Black Superhero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse); Fun Home (Baltimore Center Stage); Steel Magnolias, Hair, Dreamgirls (Dallas Theater Center); Oklahoma! (Houston Ballet at tuts); Cinderella (Eglevsky Ballet Company); Danai Gurira’s Familiar (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre); Cabin in the Sky (Encores!); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Pasadena Playhouse); Crowns, Stop-Reset, Trinity River Trilogy (Goodman Theatre, stc, Dallas Theater Center/Arena Stage); The Trip to Bountiful, The Fall of Heaven (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); The Brother/Sister Plays (The Public Theater/McCarter Theatre); Having Our Say (McCarter Theatre); A Time to Kill, Resurrection (Arena Stage); Oo-Bla-De (Two River); and Sunset Baby and The Lion in Winter
Credits include Stew (Page 73); Copper Children (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Men on Boats (Baltimore Center Stage); for all the women who thought they were Mad (Soho Rep); White Noise conceived by Daniel Fish (nyu Skirball); the bandaged place (nysaf Powerhouse); Playing Hot! (Pipeline Theatre Company); The Climb (Cherry Lane Theatre-Mentor Project); Mies Julie and Dance of Death (Classic Stage Company); Novenas for a Lost Hospital, No One Is Forgotten, Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d (Playwrights Realm). Stacey was the 2018 Lilly Award recipient of the Daryl Roth Prize. staceyderosier.com
COSTUME DESIGNER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
JAKE RODRIGUEZ
S O U N D D E S I G N E R
Jake is a sound designer and composer based in the San Francisco Bay Area who last worked with Berkeley Rep on Angels in America. His regional
Proud Supporter of Berkeley Rep
Design + Build
HDRremodeling.com (510) 845-6100
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WHO’S WHO
MEGAN ELLIS
HAIR & WIG DESIGNER
Megan is a wig designer and makeup artist from New York City. Growing up watching her mother do her hair and makeup every morning for work is what started her passion. She’s worked with many celebrities on films, TV, and theatre, including Black Super Hero Magic Mama at Geffen Playhouse and the film BlacKkKlansman.
AMY POTOZKIN, CSA
D I R E C T O R O F C A S T I N G/ A R T I S T I C A S S O C I AT E
Amy begins her 30th season with Berkeley Rep. Through the years she has also had the pleasure of casting plays for act (Seattle), Arizona Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, B Street Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Marin Theatre Company, the Marsh, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Social Impact Productions Inc., and Traveling Jewish Theatre. She worked on various independent films, including Conceiving Ada, starring Tilda Swinton; The 8th Year of the Emergency by Maureen Towey; Haiku Tunnel and Love & Taxes, both by Josh Kornbluth; and Beyond Redemption by Britta Sjogren. Amy received her mfa from Brandeis University, where she was also an artist in residence. She has been an audition coach to hundreds of actors and a presentation/communication coach to many businesspeople. She taught acting at Mills College and audition technique at Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre, and has led workshops at numerous other venues in the Bay Area. Amy is a member of csa, the Casting Society of America, and received an Artios Award for Excellence in Casting for Angels in America.
TARA RUBIN CASTING, CSA CASTING
Tara Rubin Casting’s select Broadway credits include Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations, King Kong, The Band’s Visit, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Prince of Broadway, Bandstand, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, Dear Evan Hansen, A Bronx Tale The Musical, Cats, Falsettos, Disaster!, School of Rock, Gigi, Bullets Over Broadway, Aladdin, Les Misérables, The Heir24 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5
ess, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Billy Elliot: The Musical, Shrek The Musical, Young Frankenstein, Mary Poppins, Spamalot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys, and The Phantom of the Opera. Their Off Broadway credits include Gloria: A Life; Smokey Joe’s Cafe; Clueless, The Musical; The Band’s Visit; Here Lies Love; and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. They have also cast regionally for McCarter Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Old Globe, and more.
MICHAEL SUENKEL
P R O D U C T I O N S TAG E M A N AG E R
Michael began his association with Berkeley Rep as the stage management intern for the 1984–85 season and is now in his 26th season as production stage manager. He has also worked with the Huntington Theatre (Boston), The Public Theater and New Victory Theatre (New York), La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, and many others. Internationally he has stage managed shows in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Among his favorite Berkeley Rep productions are Angels in America, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Eurydice, Endgame, The Beaux’ Stratagem, and Mad Forest.
LESLIE M. RADIN
A S S I S TA N T S TAG E M A N AG E R
Leslie is very pleased to be back at Berkeley Rep after most recently stage managing The Good Book, Fairview, An Octoroon, Aubergine, and Head of Passes. She started at Berkeley Rep as the stage management intern in 2003 and has also worked at American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, Center Repertory Company, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare. She has traveled with Berkeley Rep productions to the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the New Victory Theater in New York. Her favorite past productions include Angels in America, Aubergine, Wittenberg, Sisters Matsumoto, The Great Leap, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Passing Strange, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore.
JOHANNA PFAELZER
ARTISTIC DIREC TOR
Johanna is delighted to join Berkeley Rep, and honored to serve as its fourth artistic director. She recently spent 12 years as the artistic director of New York Stage and Film (nysaf), a New York City–based organization dedicated to the development of new works for theatre, film, and television. nysaf is known for providing a rigorous and nurturing environment for writers, directors, and other artists to realize work that has gone on to production at the highest levels of the profession.
FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR
credits include An Octoroon and the world premieres of X’s and O’s: A Football Love Story, Girlfriend, and Passing Strange at Berkeley Rep; The Christians at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Playwrights Horizons, and the Mark Taper Forum; Between Two Knees at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap and A Thousand Splendid Suns at American Conservatory Theater; Everybody at California Shakespeare Theater; the world premiere and revival of Oedipus el Rey at Magic Theatre; and Woman Laughing Alone with Salad at Shotgun Players. Jake is the recipient of a 2004 Princess Grace Award.
Notable works that were developed under Johanna’s leadership include the 2016 Tony Award winners Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and The Humans by Stephen Karam, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, Junk and The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac, Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu, The Great Leap by Lauren Yee, John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer- and Tony Award–winning Doubt, The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses, The Jacksonian by Beth Henley, and Green Day’s American Idiot.
SUSAN MEDAK
M A N AG I N G D I R E C T O R
Susan has served as Berkeley Rep’s managing director since 1990, leading the administration and operations of the Theatre. She has served as president of the League of Resident Theatres (lort) and treasurer of Theatre Communications Group (tcg), organizations that represent the interests of nonprofit theatres across the nation. Susan chaired panels for the Massachusetts Arts Council and has also served on program panels for Arts Midwest, the Joyce Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Closer to home, she is the founding chair of the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee for Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Cultural Trust, and served on the board of the Downtown Berkeley Association. Susan serves on the faculty of Yale School of Drama and is a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Mont Blanc Ladies’ Literary Guild and Trekking Society. She was awarded the 2012 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal by the Berkeley Community Fund and the 2017 Visionary Leadership Award by tcg. During her time in Berkeley, Susan has been instrumental in the construction of the Roda Theatre, the Nevo Education Center, the renovation of the Peet’s Theatre, and in the acquisition of the Harrison Street campus. She also worked with three consecutive mayors to help create Berkeley’s Downtown Arts District.
THERESA VON KLUG
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R
Theresa is excited to begin her fifth season at Berkeley Rep. Previously, she had over 20 years of experience in the New York not-for-profit performing arts sector where she has planned and executed events for dance, theatre, music, television, and film. Her previous positions include the interim general manager for The Public Theater; general manager/line producer for Theatre for a New Audience, where she opened its new state-of-the-art theatre in Brooklyn and filmed a major motion picture of the inaugural production of Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, released June
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2015; production manager at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and New York City Center, including the famous Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert; and field representative/ lead negotiator for the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. She holds a MS in Labor Relations and Human Resources Management from Baruch College.
manager at Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Madeleine served for four years on the executive committee of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and has also worked with act (Seattle), Austin Scriptworks, Crowded Fire, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Kennedy Center, New Dramatists, Playwrights Center, and Portland Center Stage.
chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s West, served on Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees from 1999 to 2006 and currently serves on the board of directors of the Jewish Museum. Sue serves on the board of the World of Children. The Steinbergs have always enjoyed regional theatre and are delighted to sponsor Berkeley Rep this season.
AUDREY HOO
BRUCE GOLDEN & MICHELLE MERCER
THE STRAUCH KULHANJIAN FAMILY
Audrey fell in love with the wild people and power of storytelling in theatre when she was 18 and has never looked back. With over 20 years of experience in production management, Audrey has worked with a wide range of international artists across all performance arts genres such as Paul Simon, Elaine Stritch, William Kentridge, Sam Mendes, Catherine Martin, and Bill T. Jones, and with institutions such as bam, Esplanade Singapore, La Jolla Playhouse, and American Conservatory Theater. Always loving a new story to tell and another “impossible” technical puzzle to solve, Audrey is grateful to be part of the Berkeley Rep family and is particularly proud to work alongside the immensely talented and dedicated production staff and artisans. Audrey holds a mfa in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Michelle and Bruce have been ardent supporters of Berkeley Rep since 1993, when they moved with two young children in tow to Berkeley. Their favorite evenings at Berkeley Rep were usually the discussion nights, where often friends would join them for an early dinner, an evening of great theatre, followed by a lively discussion with members of the cast. Over the past 25+ years, Michelle and Bruce have recognized Berkeley Rep’s almost singular role in the Bay Area in promoting courageous new works and nurturing innovative, diverse playwrights. According to Michelle and Bruce, “There’s never been a more vital time in our lives when the power of theatre to transform, compel, inspire, and energize has been more necessary. We are honored to be Season Sponsors, and especially proud to do so during Johanna Pfaelzer’s first year as artistic director.”
MADELEINE OLDHAM
JACK & BETTY SCHAFER
Roger Strauch has served on the Berkeley Rep board of trustees for the last 22 years and as an executive officer, including president. He is chair of The Roda Group (rodagroup.com), a high technology venture development company based in Berkeley. Roda incubated the search engine Ask. com, now located in Oakland and Cool systems (gameready.com), a medical technology company recently acquired by Avanos Medical. He is currently on the board of three cleantech companies, including a carbon capture company, Inventys (inventysinc. com), in which Roda is a major investor. Roger has served on the board of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute for 20 years and as an executive officer, including chair. He leads the Mosse Art Restitution Project which searches for family art illegally confiscated during Germany’s Third Reich. He is a board member of the Northside Center, a mental health services agency based in Harlem, NY and a member of UC Berkeley Engineering Dean’s college advisory board. His wife, Julie Kulhanjian, is an attending physician at Benioff ucsf Children’s Hospital, Oakland. They have three adult children.
P R O D U C T I O N M A N AG E R
SEASON SPONSORS
R E S I D E N T D R A M AT U R G/ D I R E C T O R , T H E G R O U N D F LO O R
Madeleine is the director of The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work and the Theatre’s resident dramaturg. She oversees commissioning and new play development, and dramaturged the world premiere productions of Fairview, Aubergine, The House that will not Stand, Passing Strange, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), among others. As literary manager and associate dramaturg at Center Stage in Baltimore, she produced the First Look reading series and headed up its young audience initiative. Before moving to Baltimore, she was the literary manager at Seattle Children’s Theatre, where she oversaw an extensive commissioning program. She also acted as assistant and interim literary
SEASON SPONSORS
Betty and Jack are proud to support Berkeley Rep. Jack is a sustaining advisor of the Theatre, having served on the board for many years, and is now on the board of San Francisco Opera. He is an emeritus board chair of the San Francisco Art Institute and the Oxbow School. In San Francisco, Betty is involved with Wise Aging, a program for adults addressing the challenges of growing older. They have three daughters and eight grandchildren.
MICHAEL & SUE STEINBERG SEASON SPONSORS
Michael and Sue have been interested in the arts since they met and enjoy music, ballet, and live theatre. Michael, who recently retired as
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SEASON SPONSORS
SUSAN CHAMBERLIN
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR
Susan is a retired architect and project manager. Currently she, along with her husband, Steve, directs the work of their family foundation. She also serves on the board of the Oakland Museum of California and is the past chair of the UC Berkeley Foundation board of trustees.
KERRY FRANCIS & JOHN JIMERSON EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
Kerry and John are excited to support School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. John recently retired after 37 years with Chevron and has enjoyed the thought-provoking plays produced by Berkeley Rep. Kerry is a member of Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees, a partner at Deloitte, and a graduate of UC Berkeley.
ANNE & ANUJ DHANDA SPONSORS
Anne and Anuj are thrilled to sponsor School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play and support Berkeley Rep, their favorite theatre in the Bay Area. Anne is a new member of Berkeley Rep’s board of trustees. She dedicates her time to increasing educational equity and provides consulting services to organizations to strengthen their culture through their people strategy. Anuj is evp and cio of Albertson’s Safeway. Prior to their move to the East Bay, both Anne and Anuj
supported various arts organizations, including serving on the board of the Mattress Factory museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA.
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RICK HOSKINS & LYNNE FRAME SPONSORS
Rick and Lynne actively support the ambitious artistic programs at Berkeley Rep and salute the organization for giving them one more reason to love the Bay Area. Rick is a private investor and a former trustee of Berkeley Rep. He serves on the board of several private companies and also as a trustee of Kenyon College. Lynne is retired from teaching in the German Department of UC Berkeley and works with nonprofits. You can hear them both sing with Pacific Edge Voices. Their son, Alex, is a junior at Kenyon.
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JACK KLINGELHOFER SPONSOR
Jack is the founder and former owner of an information technology company located in the East Bay since 1981, and he is pleased that its success has allowed him to contribute to his other passion, the East Bay arts scene. As a longtime subscriber, Jack is excited to support the creative excellence at Berkeley Rep, whose performances have meant so much to him over the years.
LAURA & NICHOLAS SEVERINO SPONSORS
Laura and Nick are thrilled to sponsor School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play. The Severinos have been longtime, passionate supporters of the humanities. Laura serves on the board of trustees at Berkeley Rep and is the co-chair of this year’s gala. Nick has been an executive at Apple Inc. for 15 years. Laura and Nick believe strongly in the importance of the arts, and are particularly proud to support the creative work of Berkeley Rep.
BART
SEASON SPONSOR
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“...comic time bomb going off exactly on schedule and obliterating all in its radius with outlandish entertainment.” — HUFFINGTON POST
By JOE ORTON Directed by TOM ROSS
AURORATHEATRE.ORG 510.843.4822
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PEET’S COFFEE
SEASON SPONSOR
Peet’s Coffee is proud to be the exclusive coffee of Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the namesake of Berkeley Rep’s state-of-the-art Peet’s Theatre. In 1966, Alfred Peet opened his first store on 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 7
Vine and Walnut in Berkeley and Peet’s has been committed to the community ever since. Supporting Berkeley Rep’s high artistic standards and diverse programming is an extension of this mission. As the pioneer of the craft coffee movement in America, Peet’s is dedicated to smallbatch roasting, superior quality beans, freshness, and a darker roasting style that produces a rich, flavorful cup. Peet’s is locally roasted in the first leed® Gold certified roaster in the nation.
WELLS FARGO
Additional staff Costumes Allison McCann
Scenic art Kristen Augustyn · Nathaniel J. Bice · Andrew Brown · Isaac Fines · Lassen Hines · Chris Jee · Nathaneal C. Schiffbauer · Julie Ann Silverman
Deck crew James McGregor
Sound Courtney Jean Cecilia Pappalardo
Dialect coach Jessica Berman Ghanaian dialect coach Samuel Nkansah
Stage carpenter Gabriel Holman
Production electrician Caitlin Steinmann
SEASON SPONSOR
Wells Fargo is proud to support the award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre as a season sponsor for the last 14 years because of its dedication to artistic excellence and community engagement. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance. The bank is committed to building better every day to meet our customers’ financial goals. For more information, please visit wellsfargo.com.
Electrics Desiree Alcocer · Richard Fong · Chris Hartzell · Bradley Hopper · Jacob Joseph · Camille Kelly · Mi Le · Melissa Ramirez · Minerva Ramirez · Orly Raveh · Nathanael C. Schiffbauer · Megan Schultz · Chloe Schweizer · Kourtney Snow · Caitlin Steinmann · Matthew James Sykes · Joshua van Eyken · Zach Wziontka Movement coach Joanna Haigood Props Kate Fitt · Erin Gallagher · Sofie Miller · Garner Takahashi Morris Scene shop Jennifer Costley · Bradley Hopper · Isaac Jacobs · Carl Martin · Sean Miller · Henry Perkins · Kourtney Snow · Becca Sundberg · Zach Wziontka
Vocal coach Tiffany Austin Wardrobe Claire Griffith Kaylee Pereyra Special thanks to Lebene Ledi. Special thanks to our partners SOMArts Cultural Center and the Museum of the African Diaspora. Medical consultation for Berkeley Rep provided by Agi E. Ban DC, John Carrigg MD, Cindy J. Chang MD, Christina Corey MD, Neil Claveria PT, Patricia I. Commer DPT, Brenton Dowdy DPT, Kathy Fang MD PhD, Steven Fugaro MD, Whitney R. Johnson DDS, Olivia Lang MD, Allen Ling PT, and Christina S. Wilmer OD.
Proudly serving Berkeley, Albany, Kensington, Alameda, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland and Piedmont
Extraordinary Performance. Lorri Rosenberg Arazi Anna Bahnson Norah Brower Carla Buffington Jackie Care Maria Cavallo-Merrion Carla Della Zoppa Leslie Easterday Gini Erck
Jennie A. Flanigan Wendy Gardner Ferrari Toni Hanna Nancy Hinkley Sharon Ho Dan Joy Jetta Martin Tracy McBride
compass.com 1625 Shattuck Avenue | Berkeley | 510.982.4400 1900 Mountain Boulevard | Oakland | 510.339.6460 1414 Park Avenue | Alameda | 510.254.3831
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Denise Milburn Jeffrey Neidleman Jodi Nishimura Nancy Noman Sandy Patel-Hilferty Perry Riani Ira & Carol Serkes Diane Verducci
FOUNDATION AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS G IF T S O F $2 5,0 0 0 –49,9 9 9 Anonymous The Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Walter & Elise Haas Fund S
G IF T S O F $ 10 0,0 0 0 A N D A B OV E The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The Shubert Foundation G IF T S O F $50,0 0 0 –9 9,9 9 9 Edgerton Foundation Jonathan Logan Family Foundation S Koret Foundation S The Bernard Osher Foundation The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Woodlawn Foundation S
G IF T S O F $5,0 0 0 –9,9 9 9 Anonymous (2) The Reva and David Logan Foundation Reinhold Foundation G IF T S O F $ 1,0 0 0 –4,9 9 9 Joyce & William Brantman Foundation Civic Foundation S Davis/Dauray Family Fund Karl & Alice Ruppenthal Foundation for the Arts rhe Charitable Foundation S
G IF T S O F $ 10,0 0 0 –24,9 9 9 Berkeley Civic Arts Program California Arts Council S jec Foundation Miranda Lux Foundation S Ramsay Family Foundation S
CORPORATE SPONSORS SEASON SPONSORS
SPONSORS The Andreason Group at Morgan Stanley Charles Schwab + Co., Inc. Mechanics Bank Wealth Management CO R P O R AT E PA R T N E R S Armanino llp Deloitte hdr Remodeling S The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Panoramic Interests Schoenberg Family Law Group
E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
American Express
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We are grateful for the many companies that matched their employees’ contributions to Berkeley Rep. Find out if your company matches gifts and amplify your impact.
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PE R FO R M A N CE S P O N S O R S Bayer S BluesCruise.com First Republic Bank S Gallagher Risk Management Services Is your company a corporate sponsor? Berkeley Rep’s Corporate Partnership program offers excellent opportunities to network, entertain clients, reward employees, increase visibility, and support the arts and arts education in the community. For details visit berkeleyrep.org/ support or call Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904.
IN-KIND SPONSORS E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S
Hotel Shattuck Plaza is the official hotel of Berkeley Rep.
SPONSORS Aurora Catering Farella Braun + Martell llp Hugh Groman Catering Latham & Watkins llp Mayer Brown llp Revival Bar + Kitchen Rhoades Planning Group
PA R T N E R S Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen Ann’s Catering Autumn Press Babette at bampfa Bobby G’s Pizzeria César Comal Copain Wines Donkey & Goat Winery Drake’s Brewing Company
Eureka! Fonda Gather Restaurant Hafner Vineyard La Note ocho Candy Picante Semifreddi’s Bakery zino
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THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
WE THANK THE MANY
institutional partners who enrich our community by championing Berkeley Rep’s artistic and community outreach programs. We gratefully recognize these donors to Berkeley Rep, who made their gifts between December 2018 and February 2020.
SPECIAL PROJECTS SUPPORTERS We gratefully recognize the generous individuals and institutions who supported a variety of special projects, including The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work, from December 2018 to February 2020. LE A D S U PP O R T E R S Barbara Bass Bakar Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau Peet’s Coffee Michael & Sue Steinberg
LEGEND
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School of Theatre donor
S U PP O R T E R S Anonymous Edgerton Foundation Kerry Francis & John Jimerson Suzanne LaFetra Collier National Endowment for the Arts Stewart & Rachelle Owen Cynthia & William Schaff Jean & Michael Strunsky Sheila Taccone The Tournesol Project Gail & Arne Wagner Felicia Woytak & Steven Rasmussen CO N T RIB U TO R S Anonymous (2) Shelley & Jonathan Bagg Robin & Rich Edwards Linda Jo Fitz
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in-kind gift
M
matching gift
David & Vicki Fleishhacker Jill & Steve Fugaro Ruth Hennigar Jack Klingelhofer Dugan & Philippe Lamoise Sandra & Ross McCandless Susan Medak & Gregory Murphy Steven & Patrece Mills Jane & Bill Neilson Shanna O’Hare & John Davis Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel Marjorie Randolph David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman Patricia & Merrill Shanks Robert L. Sockolov and Audrey Sockolov Foundation Barry Lawson Williams & Lalita Tademy Linda & Steven Wolan
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THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
We thank the generous individuals in our community who help Berkeley Rep produce adventurous, thought-provoking, and thrilling theatre and bring arts education to thousands of young people every year. We gratefully recognize these donors to Berkeley Rep, who made their gifts between December 2018 and February 2020. To make your gift and join this distinguished group, visit berkeleyrep.org/give or call 510 647-2906.
SPONSOR CIRCLE SEASON SPONSORS Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & Sue Steinberg The Strauch Kulhanjian Family LE A D S P O N S O R S Barbara Bass Bakar S Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau Casey Keller / Peet’s Coffee Ken & Gisele Miller S Stewart & Rachelle Owen Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson E XECU TIV E S P O N S O R S Anonymous Edward D. Baker Susan Chamberlin Lauren Edgerton Bill Falik & Diana Cohen Kerry Francis & John Jimerson Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney Jean & Michael Strunsky Gail & Arne Wagner
SPONSORS Maria Cardamone & Paul Matthews David & Vicki Cox Anne & Anuj Dhanda Robin & Rich Edwards David & Vicki Fleishhacker Paul Friedman & Diane Manley Jill & Steve Fugaro Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff Richard Grand Foundation Paul Haahr & Susan Karp Scott & Sherry Haber Rick Hoskins & Lynne Frame Jerry & Julie Kline Jack Klingelhofer Michael H. Kossman Suzanne LaFetra Collier Ken Lamb Sandra & Ross McCandless Marianne Mills Pam & Mitch Nichter Norman & Janet Pease Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg Sheli & Burt Rosenberg, in honor of Len & Arlene Rosenberg Jack & Valerie Rowe Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro Ed & Liliane Schneider Laura & Nicholas Severino M Stephen & Cindy Snow
Linda & Steven Wolan Felicia Woytak & Steven Rasmussen A S S O CIAT E S P O N S O R S Anonymous (2) Shelley & Jonathan Bagg Edith Barschi Neil & Gene Barth Valerie Barth Michelle Branch & Dale Cook Rena Bransten Brook & Shawn Byers Lynne Carmichael Jennifer Chaiken & Sam Hamilton Cindy Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson K John Dains Paul Daniels, in honor of Peter Yonka Narsai & Venus David K Cynthia A. Farner Tracy & Mark Ferron Kevin & Noelle Gibbs M Steven Goldin Melinda Haag & Chuck Fanning Ms. Wendy E. Jordan Fred Karren, in memory of Beth Karren Seymour Kaufman & Kerstin Edgerton S Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim
Leonard Merrill Kurz Dugan & Philippe Lamoise Eileen & Hank Lewis S Susan & Moses Libitzky Helen M. Marcus in memory of David J. Williamson Phyra McCandless & Angelos Kottas Martin & Janis McNair Susan Medak & Greg Murphy, in honor of Lynn Eve Komaromi Ed Messerly & Sudha Pennathur S Steven & Patrece Mills M Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel Barbara L. Peterson Gary & Noni Robinson Jaimie Sanford & Ted Storey Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman Cynthia & William Schaff Pat & Merrill Shanks Shirlen Fund, in memory of Shirley & Philip Schild Vickie Soulier Foundation Lisa Taylor Dave & Cindy Trummer M Susan West S Wendy Williams Martin & Margaret Zankel
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE PA R T N E R S Anonymous Tarang & Hirni Amin Berit Ashla & Aron Cramer Judy Avery Ed Brakeman Italo & Susan Calpestri Constance Crawford Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards Nancy & Jerry Falk Lily Fan Karen Grove & Julian Cortella Ms. Teresa Burns Gunther & Dr. Andrew Gunther Richard & Lois Halliday K Earl & Bonnie Hamlin Richard N. Hill & Nancy Lundeen James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen, in honor of Rita Moreno Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley Kathleen & Chris Jackson Duke & Daisy Kiehn Tony Kushner Dixon Long Peter & Melanie Maier Dale & Don Marshall Sumner & Hermine Marshall Charles Marston & Rosa Luevano Helen & John Meyer Pure Dana Fund Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun David S. H. Rosenthal & Vicky Reich Beth & David Sawi Emily Shanks Ed & Ellen Smith Audrey & Bob Sockolov Sheila Wishek Barbara & Howard Wollner
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B E N E FAC TO R S Anonymous (4) Norman Abramson, in memory of David Beery Martha & Bruce Atwater Nina Auerbach Anne M. Baele Linda & Mike Baker Michelle L. Barbour Eugene Borstel & Sandy Silva Re Re Boylan & Jeff Freedman Broitman-Basri Foundation Ben Brown & Louise Rankin Don & Carol Anne Brown Tracy Brown & Greg Holland Ronnie Caplane Terrence & Deborah Carlin K Leslie Chatham & Sunny St. Pierre Betsey & Ken Cheitlin Barbara & Rodgin Cohen Julie & Darren Cooke Karen & David Crommie Ed Cullen & Ann O’Connor Dr. Jim Cuthbertson Barbara & Tim Daniels Corinne & Mike Doyle James Emery & P. Irving Bill & Susan Epstein Merle & Michael Fajans Lisa & Dave Finer Thomas & Sharon Francis Lisa Franzel & Rod Mickels Herb & Marianne Friedman Mary & Stan Friedman Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi Daniel & Hilary B. Goldstine Nelson Goodman Mary & Nicholas Graves Robert & Judith Greber Garrett Gruener & Amy Slater Migsy & Jim Hamasaki Bob & Linda Harris
Dan & Shawna Hartman Brotsky Ruth Hennigar Bonnie & Tom Herman Elaine Hitchcock Deirdre & Chris Hockett Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling M Hilary & Tom Hoynes Paula Hughmanick & Steven Berger Marilyn & Michael Jensen-Akula Barbara E. Jones, in memory of William E. Jones Bill & Lisa Kelly Stephen F. Kispersky Jean Knox, in memory of John T. Knox Wanda Kownacki Woof Kurtzman & Liz Hertz Kevin & Claudine Lally Jane & Mike Larkin, in memory of Lynn & Gerald Ungar Randy Laroche & David Laudon Louise Laufersweiler & Warren Sharp Sidne Long & Hank Delevati Elsie Mallonee Henning Mathew & Michelle Deane M Erin McCune Miles & Mary Ellen McKey Kirk McKusick & Eric Allman Stephanie Mendel Toby Mickelson & Donald Brody Andy & June Monach Ronald Morrison Jerry Mosher Barbara & Michael Novogradac Carol J. Ormond Linda & Gregory Orr Janet & Clyde Ostler Sandi & Dick Pantages Malcolm & Ann Plant Linda & Eric Protiva LEGEND
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Teresa L. Remillard M Bill Reuter & Ruth Major Audrey & Paul Richards, in honor of Barbara Peterson Carla & David Riemer Joe Ruck & Donna Ito Barbara Sahm & Steven Winkel Monica Salusky & John K. Sutherland Jeane & Roger Samuelsen Dan Scharlin & Sara Katz Danny Scher Jackie Schmidt-Posner & Barry Posner Linda & Nathan Schultz Sarah E. Shaver Neal Shorstein, MD & Christopher Doane Sally & Joel Spivack Karen Stevenson & Bill McClave Deborah Taylor Barrera Alison Teeman & Michael Yovino-Young Beth Weissman Elizabeth Werter & Henry Trevor Patricia & Jeffrey Williams William C. Wilson II Sam & Joyce Zanze Mark Zitter & Jessica Nutik Zitter Jane & Mark Zuercher
School of Theatre donor
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in-kind gift
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We gratefully recognize the following donors whose contributions were received from January 13, 2020 to February 18, 2020.
S U PP O R T E R S
Jeanene E. Ebert M · Brenda Kienan & Dan Tauber · David & Joan Komaromi · Susan Pownall, in memory of Frederick Pownall · Aletha Silcox, in memory of Beth Bywater · Clara Sneed & Madelon Sneed K · Joyce & Jack Sweitzer
Linn · Mark & Roberta Linsky · Jay & Eileen Love · Gerry & Kathy MacClelland · Lois & Gary Marcus, in memory of Ruth Weiland, Mose & Selma Marcus · Charlotte & Adolph Martinelli · Rebecca Martinez · Janet & Michael McCutcheon · Joanne Medak & Peter Katsaros · Ruth Medak · Geri Monheimer, in honor of Tony Taccone · Scott Montgomery & Marc Rand · Brian & Britt-Marie Morris · Daniel Murphy · Jane & Bill Neilson · Piermaria Oddone & Barbara Saarni Oddone · Judith & Richard Oken · Judy O’Young, MD & Gregg Hauser · Lynette Pang & Michael Man · Bob & MaryJane Pauley · David & Mary Ramos · Maxine Risley, in memory of James Risley · John & Jody Roberts · The Rockridge Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation · Galen Rosenberg & Denise Barnett · Dace P. Rutland · Lisa Salomon · Dr. David Schulz M · Teddy & Bruce Schwab · Andrew & Marva Seidl · Brenda Buckhold Shank, M.D., Ph.D. · Kim Silva · Beryl & Ivor Silver · David & Lori Simpson · Amrita Singhal & Michael Tubach · Cherida Collins Smith · Alice & Scott So · Henry Spencer & Nicky Cass · Gary & Jana Stein · Monroe W. Strickberger · Susan Terris · Sam Test · Henry Timnick · William van Dyk & Margi Sullivan · Sarah Van Roo · Robert & Sheila Weisblatt · Wendy Willrich · Charles Wolfram & Peter Wolfram · Sally Woolsey
A DVO C AT E S
Anonymous (15) · Abbey Alkon & Jonathan Leonard · Dr. & Mrs. Francis Barham · Richard & Kathi Berman · James A. Biondi · Steve Bischoff · Beverly Blatt & David Filipek · Peter Brock · Jerome & Marguerite Buttrick · Robert & Margaret Cant · Lea Chang · Laura Chenel · Ciara Cox & Margaret Wu · Pam & Mike Crane · Jill & Evan Custer · Kathleen Damron · Harry & Susan Dennis · Carol DiFilippo · Kathy Down & Greg Kelly · Burton Peek Edwards · Roger & Jane Emanuel · Alan Entine · Sue J. Estey · Ben & Mary Feinberg · Linda Jo Fitz · Frannie Fleishhacker · Daniel Friedland & Azlynda Alim M · David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson · Karl & Kathleen Geier · Linda Joy Graham · Pamela & Tim Gray · Rico & Maya Green · Sheldon & Judy Greene · Don & Becky Grether · Irene & Robert Hepps · Howard Hertz & Jean Krois · Peter Hobe & Christina Crowley · Jeff Hoel · Mr. & Mrs. Harold M. Isbell · Anne & Douglas Jensen · Mr. & Mrs. C. D. Jensen · Peter & Barbara Jensen · Bill Jetton · Ann L. Johnson · Corrina Jones · Margaret & Reese Jones · Claudia & Daly Jordan-Koch · Kaarel Kaljot · Beth & Tim Kientzle M · Peggy Kivel · Susan Kolb · Ken & Monica Kulander · Deborah Lewis & Martin H. Myers · Marcia C. Linn · Tom Lockard & Alix Marduel · Richard Lonergan & Marilyn Manning · Jane & Bob Lurie · Bruce Maigatter & Pamela Partlow · Naomi & Bruce Mann · Sue & Phil Marineau · M. Mathews & K. Soriano · Karen & John
Why do you give? “I’ve been moved by every single play I’ve seen at Berkeley Rep over the years. You’re the best, most creative playhouse I’ve been to.”
McGuinn · Brian McRee · Barbara Meislin & Stuart Kaplan · Diane C. Miller · Jeff Miner · Daryoush Mortazavi & Caroline Razavi · Patricia Motzkin & Richard Feldman · Aki & Emi Nakao · Ron Nakayama · Kelly Nelson K · Luella Noles & Jeung Hyung · Judy Ogle · Suzette S. Olson · Gerane Wharton Park · Brian D. Parsons · Lauri Paul & Mark Hamilton · Bob & Toni Peckham, in honor of Robert M. Peckham, Jr. · Jack & Charmaine Pesso · Regina Phelps · James F. Pine M · F. Anthony Placzek · Russell & Joni Pratt · Roxann R. Preston · Kathleen Quenneville & Diane Allen · Leslie & Mark Ragsdale · Danielle Rebischung · Carla & David Riemer · Todd & Susan Ringoen · Mrs. William C. Robison · Deborah Dashow Ruth, in memory of Leo P. Ruth · Mitzi Sales & John Argue · Paul & Patti Sax · Dorothy R. Saxe · Dale & Liz Schenk · Joyce Schnobrich · Dr. David Schulz M · Libby Seifel & Pierre Capeder · Jacob Sevart · Steve & Susan Shortell · Carra Sleight · Suzanne Slyman · Jerry & Dick Smallwood · George & Camilla Smith · Sigrid Snider · Valerie Sopher · LJ Strunsky & James Steinle · Gary Sullivan & Timothy Lynn · Drew & Margo Tammen · Fred & Kathleen Taylor · Nancy E. Thomas · Pate & Judy Thomson · Rick Trautner · Mike & Ellen Turbow · Larry Vales M · Mr. Leon Van Steen · Lisa Wade · Louise & Larry Walker · Mr. & Mrs. William Webster · Robert T. Weston · Peter Wiley · Ron & Anita Wornick · Stan Zaks
Pamela Reed in Becky Nurse of Salem (photo by Kevin Berne)
BERKELEY REP SUPPORTER
CO N T RIB U TO R S Anonymous · Don & Libby Erickson · John Koerber · Ingrid Madsen & Victor Rauch · The Stanek Family
FRIE N D S Corwin & Margaret Booth · John E. Caner · Elizabeth Anne Doyle, in memory of John Doyle · Noah & Sandra Doyle · Vladimir Gerasimov M · Susan Kaplan · Paul & Barbara Liston · Ross & Eva Miller, in honor of Sofie Miller, Production Assistant K · Paco Ramirez · Jan Schreiber · Anthony & Carol Somkin · Cherrill Spencer · Margaret T. Stromberg · Michael & Shirley Traynor · Judy Weiss & Stuart Swiedler
THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
CH A M PIO N S
Anonymous (6 ) · George & Marcia Argyris · Naomi Auerbach & Ted Landau · Leslie & Jack Batson · David & Stephanie Beach · Don & Gerry Beers M · Caroline Beverstock · Naomi Black M · Marc Blakeman M · Linda Brandenburger · Eric Brink & Gayle Vassar M · Don Campbell & Family M · John Carr · Terin Christensen · Richard & Linnea Christiani · Andrea Clay & Collin Smikle · Robert Council & Ann Parks-Council · John & Izzie Crane M · Lori & Michael Crowley · Richard & Anita Davis · Bill DeHart · David Deutscher · Francine & Beppe Di Palma · Karen & David Dolder · Linda Drucker · Susan English & Michael Kalkstein · Paul Feigenbaum & Judy Kemeny · Ben & Mary Feinberg · Ann & Shawn Fischer Hecht · Martin & Barbara Fishman · James & Jessica Fleming · Dean Francis · Donald & Dava Freed · Chris R. Frostad M · Kelli M. Frostad · Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter · Mrs. Gale K. Gottlieb · Anne & Peter Griffes · Vera & David Hartford · Thomas & Elizabeth Henry · Christina Herdell, in memory of Vaughn & Ardis Herdell · Don & Janice Holve · The Hornthal Family, in honor of Susie Medak · Christopher Killian & Carole Ungvarsky · Lynn Eve Komaromi, in honor of the Berkeley Rep Staff · Janet Kornegay & Dan Sykes · Susilpa Lakireddy · Helen E. Land · Sherrill Lavagnino & Scott McKinney · Andrew Leavitt & Catherine Lewis · Glennis Lees & Michael Glazeski · Ellen & Barry Levine · Jennifer S. Lindsay · Marcia C.
UNFORGETTABLE STORIES BECAUSE OF YOU BE A DONOR. BE A REP. THE BEST TIME TO GIVE IS NOW.
ONLINE berkeleyrep.org/give MOBILE Text BACKSTAGE to 71777
SEE WHAT YOUR GIFT SUPPORTS!
Scan this code with your camera app to check out an interview with Berkeley Rep Properties Supervisor Jill Green. We are pleased to recognize first-time donors to Berkeley Rep, whose names appear in italics.
2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 1
THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
Members of this Society, which is named in honor of Founding Artistic Director Michael W. Leibert, have designated Berkeley Rep in their estate plans. Unless the donor specifies otherwise, planned gifts become a part of Berkeley Rep’s board-designated endowment funds, where they will provide the financial stability that enables Berkeley Rep to maintain the highest standards of artistic excellence, support new work, and serve the community with innovative education and outreach programs, year after year. For more information on becoming a member, visit our website at berkeleyrep.org/mls or contact Daria Hepps at 510 647-2904 or dhepps@berkeleyrep.org. The society welcomes the following new members: Jim Tibbs & Philip Anderson
Sustaining members as of February 2020:
Anonymous (8) Norman Abramson & David Beery Sam Ambler Carl W. Arnoult & Aurora Pan Ken & Joni Avery Nancy Axelrod Edith Barschi Neil & Gene Barth Susan & Barry Baskin Linda Brandenburger Broitman-Basri Family Bruce Carlton & Richard G. McCall Stephen K. Cassidy Paula Champagne & David Watson Terin Christensen Sofia Close Christina Crowley Andrew Daly & Jody Taylor Narsai & Venus David M. Laina Dicker Thalia Dorwick Rich & Robin Edwards Thomas W. Edwards & Rebecca Parlette-Edwards Bill & Susan Epstein William Espey & Margaret Hart Edwards Bill Falik & Diana Cohen Dr. Stephen E. Follansbee & Dr. Richard A. Wolitz Kerry Francis 3 2 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5
“If you believe high quality, thoughtprovoking, and entertaining theatre is an important element of the community, your legacy donation to Berkeley Rep can make a difference.” — BARBAR A PE TE R SO N
“My estate gift leaves a personal commitment to the theater and our community for many years to come.” — MICHAE L KO S SM AN
Dr. Harvey & Deana Freedman Joseph & Antonia Friedman Paul T. Friedman Dr. John Frykman Laura K. Fujii David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson Marjorie Ginsburg & Howard Slyter Mary & Nicholas Graves Elizabeth Greene Sheldon & Judy Greene Don & Becky Grether Richard & Lois Halliday Julie & Paul Harkness Linda & Bob Harris Fred Hartwick Ruth Hennigar Daria Hepps Douglas J. Hill Hoskins/Frame Family Trust Lynda & Dr. J. Pearce Hurley Robin C. Johnson Janice Kelly & D. Carlos Kaslow Bonnie McPherson Killip Lynn Eve Komaromi Michael H. Kossman Scott & Kathy Law Dot Lofstrom Helen M. Marcus Dale & Don Marshall Sumner & Hermine Marshall Rebecca Martinez Sarah McArthur LeValley Suzanne & Charles McCulloch John G. McGehee Miles & Mary Ellen McKey Margaret D. & Winton McKibben
Ruth Medak Susan Medak & Greg Murphy Stephanie Mendel Toni Mester Shirley & Joe Nedham Theresa Nelson & Bernard Smits Pam & Mitch Nichter Sheldeen G. Osborne Sharon Ott Amy Pearl Parodi Barbara L. Peterson Regina Phelps Margaret Phillips Marjorie Randolph Gregg Richardson Bonnie Ring Living Trust Tom Roberts David Rovno Tracie E. Rowson Deborah Dashow Ruth Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro Brenda Buckhold Shank,M.D., Ph.D. Emily Shanks Kevin Shoemaker Valerie Sopher Michael & Sue Steinberg Dr. Douglas & Anne Stewart Jean Strunsky Mary, Andrew & Duncan Susskind Henry Timnick Guy Tiphane Phillip & Melody Trapp Janis Kate Turner Gail & Arne Wagner Dorothy Walker Barry & Holly Walter
Weil Family Trust — Weil Family Susan West Karen & Henry Work Anders Yang, JD Martin & Margaret Zankel
Gifts received by Berkeley Rep:
Anonymous Estate of Suzanne Adams Estate of Helen Barber Estate of Fritzi Benesch Estate of Carole B. Berg Estate of Nelly Berteaux Estate of Jill Bryans Estate of Paula Carrell Estate of Nancy Croley Estate of Carol & John Field Estate of Rudolph Glauser Estate of Audrey J. Lasson Estate of Zandra Faye LeDuff Estate of Ines R. Lewandowitz Estate of John E. & Helen A. Manning Estate of Richard Markell Estate of Timothy A. Patterson Estate of Gladys Perez-Mendez Estate of Margaret Purvine Estate of Leigh & Ivy Robinson Estate of Stephen C. Schaefer, in honor of Jean and Jack Knox Estate of Peter Sloss Estate of Harry Weininger Estate of Grace Williams
STAFF AND BOARD ARTISTIC
ELECTRICS
Director of Casting & Artistic Associate Amy Potozkin Director, The Ground Floor/ Resident Dramaturg Madeleine Oldham Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard Artistic Associate Katie Craddock Artists under Commission Todd Almond · Christina Anderson · Lisa Peterson · Sarah Ruhl · Tori Sampson · Joe Waechter
Master Electrician Frederick C. Geffken Associate Master Electrician Sarina Renteria Production Electrician Kenneth Coté
PRODUCTION Production Manager Audrey Hoo Associate Production Manager Zoey Russo Company Manager Morgan Steele
STAGE MANAGEMENT Production Stage Manager Michael Suenkel Stage Managers Lisa Iacucci · Kelly Montgomery · Libby Unsworth · Chris Waters Assistant Stage Managers Chiquita Lu · Sofie Miller · Megan McClintock · Leslie M. Radin Production Assistants Tait Adams · James McGregor · Sofie Miller
STAGE OPERATIONS Stage Supervisor Julia Englehorn
PROPERTIES Properties Supervisor Jillian A. Green Associate Properties Supervisor Amelia Burke-Holt Props Artisan Dara Ly
SCENE SHOP Technical Director Jim Smith Associate Technical Director Matt Rohner Shop Foreman Sam McKnight Draftsperson Jamaica Montgomery-Glenn Carpenters Patrick Keene · Read Tuddenham
SOUND & VIDEO Sound & Video Supervisor Lane Elms Sound Engineers Angela Don Michael Kelly Associate Sound & Video Supervisor Chase Nichter
ADMINISTRATION Finance Director Jared Hammond Associate General Manager Amanda Williams O’Steen Executive Assistant Kate Horton Bookkeeper Kristine Taylor Associate Finance Director Eric Ipsen Payroll Administrator Katie Riemann CRM Project Manager Destiny Askin Yale Management Fellow Eliza Orleans
DEVELOPMENT Director of Development Lynn Eve Komaromi Associate Director of Development Daria Hepps Director of Individual Giving Laura Fichtenberg Stewardship Officer Woof Kurtzman Institutional Giving Manager Julie McCormick Special Events Manager Abbey Bay McSweeney Individual Giving Manager Kelsey Scott Grants & Communications Coordinator Maddie Gaw Development Coordinators Nina Feliciano · Alix Josefski Development Database Coordinator Jane Voytek
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Director of Marketing & Communications Steve Tate Senior Marketing Manager Seth Macari COSTUMES Communications & Digital Content Director Costume Director Karen McKevitt Maggi Yule Resident Costume Design Associate Director of Public Relations Tim Etheridge Cody Von Ruden Audience Development & Tailor Group Sales Manager Kathy Kellner Griffith Arielle Rubin Draper Webmaster Star Rabinowitz Christina Cone First Hand Video & Multimedia Producer Janet Conery Benjamin Michel Wardrobe Supervisor Barbara Blair
SCENIC ART
Charge Scenic Artist Lisa Lázár
Program Advertising Pamela Webster Front of House Director Kelly Kelley Front of House Manager Debra Selman House Managers Megan Bedig · Jerry Chirip · Maggie Collette · Aleta George · Aaron Higareda · Matisse Michalski · Angela Phung · Tuesday Ray · Sienna Sherman Front of House Bar Manager Phoenyx Butts Senior Lead Bar Nina Gorham Lead Bartenders Matthew Canter · Johnny Lloyd · Nichelle Pete Bartenders Lupe Henderson · Leigh Nelson Concessionaires Si Mon’ Emmett · Natalia Gurevich · Michelle Hernandez · Evan Lester · James Oh · Veronica Perez-Westbrook · Marissa Wolden GalaPro Operators/Pushers Tyler Miller · Madeline Rostami GalaPro Pusher Jessica Bates Ticket Services Manager Dora Daniels Box Office Supervisor Julie Gotsch Subscription Manager Laurie Barnes Box Office Lead Alina Whatley Box Office Agents Chelbi Dickens · Topher Hester · Oliver Kampman · Timothy Quirus · Jaden Sage · Alina Whatley
Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer
General Manager Theresa Von Klug
Hannah Gaff · Nina Galin · Zoe Galvez · Adrian Gebhart · Christine Germain · Nancy Gold · Michaela (Mickey) Goldhaber · Gary Graves · Marvin Greene · Susan-Jane Harrison · Richard Hayes · Maya Herbsman · Gendell Hing-Hernández · Joan Howard · Andrew Hurteau · Kasey Klemm · Krista Knight · Rebecca Longworth · Julian López-Morillas · Dave Maier · Alex Moggridge · Colum Parke Morgan · Edward Morgan · Ariela Morgenstern · Jonathan Moscone · Joe Orrach · Slater Penney · Lisa Anne Porter · Alyson Rutter · Remi Sandri · Rolf Saxon · Elyse Shafarman · Joyful Simpson · Cleavon Smith · M. Graham Smith · Gabriel Vergez · James Wagner · Joshua Waterstone · Dan Wolf Teen Core Council Milo Bailey · Simon Bhuller-Riordan · Fidela Bisseret Martinez · Eleanor Boes · Bianca Carmango · Lilly-Karin Dandenell · Scarlette De Beauvior · Dina Fukunaga · Maera Klein · Malia Lee · Tatiana Lira · Grace Nelligan Zohar Naaman · Alex Pansino · Roan Pearl · Madeleine Riskin-Kutz · Jade Rogers · Avelina Rivezzo-Weber · Sarah Schecter Docent Co-Chairs Matty Bloom, Content Joy Lancaster, Recruitment Selma Meyerowitz, Off-Sites and Procedures School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play Docents Matty Bloom, Lead Docent Joy Lancaster, Assistant Lead Beth Cohen · Helen Gerken · Ellen Kaufman · Selma Meyerowitz
2019–20 BERKELEY REP FELLOWSHIPS
Bret C. Harte Directing Fellow Nailah Harper-Malveaux OPERATIONS Company Management Fellow Reagan O’Malley Facilities Director Mark Morrisette Costume Fellow Anthony Fiore Facilities Manager Ashley Mills Development Fellow Samuel Levit Building Engineer Thomas Tran Education Fellow Zandra Starks Building Technician Kevin Pan Graphic Design Fellow Haly Roy Facilities Assistants Lemont Adams · Theresa Drumgoole · Harry Weininger Sound Fellow Sophie Li · Guy Nado · Jesus Rodriguez · Jamie Tippett LeRoy Thomas Lighting/Electrics Fellow Hannah Solomon BERKELEY REP SCHOOL OF THEATRE Marketing/Digital Communications Fellow Director of the School of Theatre Katherine Gunn Rachel Hull Peter F. Sloss Literary/ Associate Director Dramaturgy Fellow MaryBeth Cavanaugh Charlie Dubach-Reinhold Associate Director Production Management Fellow Anthony Jackson Kali Grau Education Communications and Properties Fellow Partnerships Manager Del Hanson Marcela Chacón Scenic Art Fellow Data and Tessitura Analyst Sam Welsing Katie Riemann Community Programs Administrator Scenic Construction Fellow Kathryn Bosch Modesta Tamayo Stage Management Fellow Education Youth Associate Elizabeth Kamla Si Mon’ Emmett Faculty and Teaching Artists Christine Adaire · Miriam Ani · Bobby August, Jr. · Erica Blue · Larry Bogad · Martha Brigham · Millie Brooks · Ron Campbell · Rebecca Castelli · Paul Cello · Jiwon Chung · Sally Clawson · Michael Curry · Shannon R. Davis · Lura Dolas · Jim Edgar · Si Mon’ Emmett · Deborah Eubanks · Anthony Fusco ·
Managing Director Susan Medak
BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Gail Wagner Vice Presidents Bruce Golden Stewart Owen Felicia Woytak Treasurer Henning Mathew Secretary Leonard X Rosenberg Chair, Governance Committee Stewart Owen Chair, Audit Committee Kerry L. Francis Board Members Berit Ashla Carrie Avery Edward D. Baker David Cox Anne Nemer Dhanda Lauren Edgerton Robin Edwards Chuck Fanning Jill Fugaro Karen Galatz Steven Goldin Scott Haber Michael Kossman Jonathan C. Logan Sandra R. McCandless Susan Medak Sudha Pennathur Johanna Pfaelzer Laura Severino Richard Shapiro Roger Strauch Jean Z. Strunsky Kelli Tomlinson Steven C. Wolan Past Presidents Helen C. Barber A. George Battle Carole B. Berg Robert W. Burt Shih-Tso Chen Narsai M. David Thalia Dorwick, PhD Nicholas M. Graves Richard F. Hoskins Jean Knox Robert M. Oliver Stewart Owen Marjorie Randolph Harlan M. Richter Richard A. Rubin Edwin C. Shiver Roger Strauch Martin Zankel Sustaining Advisors Rena Bransten Diana Cohen William T. Espey William Falik David Fleishhacker Paul T. Friedman Nicholas M. Graves David Hoffman Richard F. Hoskins Dale Rogers Marshall Helen Meyer Dugan Moore Peter Pervere Marjorie Randolph Patricia Sakai Jack Schafer William Schaff Emily Shanks Michael Steinberg Michael Strunsky Martin Zankel
Founding Director
Michael W. Leibert Producing Director, 1968–83 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 3 3
MAKING THEATRE
DRESSING MISS GHANA
Berkeley Rep has a robust fellowship program (funded in part by Executive Sponsor American Express) in which 15 intrepid individuals spend a season sharpening their skills in all aspects of the theatre (you can see the current list of fellows on the previous page). Here, Costumes Fellow Anthony Fiore makes some adjustments to Eloise’s (Miss Ghana 1976) voluminous dress. 3 4 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 2 0 1 9 –2 0 · I S S U E 5
20 ON SALE NOW 21S E A S O N Join Today for Best Seats at Best Prices
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C E L E B R AT E T H E T R A N S F O R M AT I V E P O W E R O F T H E AT R E
BERKELEY REP’S
SATUR DAY, APRI L 1 8 , 2020 TH E R I TZ- C A R LTON , SAN FRA N C I SCO At this year’s OVATION , we celebrate the transformative power of theatre and toast two extraordinary changemakers who have shaped the landscape of the Bay Area and beyond. Join us as we pay tribute to actor, writer, and teacher ANNA DEAVERE SMITH for her many creative achievements and the tremendous influence she has had on the American theatre. We are also delighted to honor PEET ’S COFFEE , pioneer of the American craft coffee movement, founded in Berkeley in 1966 and committed to the local community ever since. A festive night is in store, from a sumptuous coffee and tea inspired menu to our thrilling live auction. You’ll want to raise your paddle high to claim the unique getaways and VIP experiences up for bid.
TICKETS START AT $750 PER PERSON
Proceeds from OVATION support the work of Berkeley Rep, from its productions to its comprehensive arts education programs, which serve thousands of Bay Area students each year. RSVP
Nina Feliciano at 510 647-2901 or concierge@berkeleyrep.org, or visit berkeleyrep.org/ovation
