White Noise Page 23

2019 SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER

WHITE NOISE PAGE 23

PLUS Teen Night is trending Snapshots from The Ground Floor An interview with Suzan-Lori Parks

WN.program.emg.indd 1 9/16/19 3:57 PM Engaging and eclectic in the East Bay. Oakland is the gateway to the East Bay with a little bit of everything to offer, and St. Paul’s Towers gives you easy access to it all. An artistic, activist, and intellectual Life Plan Community, St. Paul’s Towers is known for convenient services, welcome comforts and security for the future.

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A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia. License No. 011400627 COA# 327 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. 12 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 IN THIS ISSUE spaces are smoke- and vape-free. One of the joys of live theatre is the From the artistic director · 5 collective experience. Remember that people respond in different ways, From the managing director · 6 9 and we invite you to join with other Teen Night is trending · 9 audience members and enjoy the show! Signals to Noise · 10 Vignettes from The Ground Floor’s 2019 Summer Residency Lab · 12 EMG ST. PAUL’S CONNECT WITH BERKELEY REP Box Office: 510 647-2949 FEATURES Groups (10+): 510 647-2918 “I love you, so I’m going to show you”: Admin: 510 647-2900 An interview with Suzan-Lori Parks · 14 School of Theatre: 510 647-2972 Stylistic interplay in Click berkeleyrep.org Email [email protected] Suzan-Lori Parks’ canon · 16 We’re mobile! “A subterfuge of naturalism”: Download our free iPhone or Director Jaki Bradley on tone and Google Play app. character in White Noise · 18 Share with us @berkeleyrep Making some noise: Writers of color and the contemporary theatrical landscape · 20

BERKELEY REP PRESENTS THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE White Noise · 23 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 Who’s Who · 24 The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published at least seven times per season. For local advertising inquiries, please contact Pamela Webster at 510 590-7091 or pwebster@ CONTRIBUTORS berkeleyrep.org. Foundation, corporate, and Editor in-kind sponsors · 30 Karen McKevitt Individual donors to the Annual Fund · 31 Graphic Designers 14 Cheshire Isaacs Michael Leibert Society · 32 Haly Roy Writers Katie Craddock Charlie Dubach-Reinhold ABOUT BERKELEY REP Katherine Gunn Staff, board of trustees, and Sarah Rose Leonard Karen McKevitt sustaining advisors · 33 Madeleine Oldham On the cover Chris Herbie Holland 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 3

WN.program.emg.indd 3 9/16/19 3:57 PM WN.program.emg.indd 4 4 · · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE Serving ourcommunityfor 52years Trust isEarned 1960 Mountain Blvd. Oakland, CA94611 510.339.0400 VISIT GRUBBCO.COM &FOLLOW USONSOCIALMEDIA 3070 Claremont Ave. Berkeley, CA94705 510.652.2133 100 Grand Ave. #112 Oakland, CA94612 510.339.4200 September–November 2019|Volume 52,No.2 Area. All rightsreserved. ©2019 Encore MediaGroup. events inthe SanFrancisco Bay Area andGreater Seattle monthly by Encore MediaGroup arts to performing serve ProgramsEncore Arts andEncore Stagesare published SUSAN PETERSON SHAUN SWICK San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives ANA ALVIRA, STEVIE VANBRONKHORST BRIEANNA HANSEN, AMELIA HEPPNER, Reproduction withoutwrittenpermissionisprohibited. JENNIFER SUGDEN 425 North 85thStreet •Seattle,WA425 North 98103 Production Artists andGraphicProduction Designers Artists MIKE HATHAWAY CIARA CAYA MARILYN KALLINS, TERRI REED GENAY GENEREUX KAJSA PUCKETT [email protected] CAROL YIP 800.308.2898 •206.443.0445 ANN MANNING PAUL HEPPNER encoremediagroup.com Encore MediaGroup Account Executives Sales &Marketing Office Manager Senior Designer&Digital Lead Production Marketing Manager Marketing Coordinator VicePresident, Production Sales Sales Coordinator SeniorVicePresident Assistant Production VicePresident, Seattle Area Accounting& President

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FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR WN.program.emg.indd 5 FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR What adelight to bring Suzan-Lori Parks and Jaki Bradley Lori gives us an opportunity to sympathize with each of them, and she sent for our rehearsal process newly included on the cover page together to introduce to artists each other, and seeing if there are sparks. to simultaneously find ourselves sitting in a place of judgement. To theatre itself. form, an it art is As uniquely crafted to give audiences the James Baldwin quote Ilove “If you, Ihave to make you conscious individuals, and one of the deep pleasures of the play is that Suzan- in the actions of these fictionalized humanbeings. The quartet of any one of us may of do. And course, in creating these empathic access to the experiences and emotions of who people by choice, work to Berkeley Rep for the first time. a contemporary urgency and availability. It is an honor to bring her relationships audience between and character, it also implicates us discuss, to debate. To feel, to think. To love. But it isheart. for the the curious, bold, those willing to engage, to histories, experiences, and perspectives. begin aconversation that brings together each of their unique know each other prior to this process. With this play, they get to characters that comprise White Noise by by birth, circumstance experience the world differently than of the things you see.” don’t Which seems to an be apt metaphor for love is not always gentle fall for them, and to betrayed be by them. Love is complicated… Thank you for joining us. One ofOne the great pleasures of my job is matchmaking Sounds like aBerkeley Rep audience to me. Suzan-Lori talks about this play coming from aplace of love. But Johanna Pfaelzer Johanna Warmly, Like all of Suzan-Lori’s plays, White Noise is not for the faint of

—

two powerhousetwo women of great vision, who didn’t Home from the Wars 2&3) 1, (Parts I knew this was aplay that Iwanted to have Public Theater in York. New Byintermission, think Suzan-Lori Parks is one of our greatest I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH premiere of of premiere evoke and while myth poetry never losing of this part be season at Berkeley Rep. I use of language, as evidenced in plays like like living writers, whose gorgeous, muscular —

in fact, the revisedin fact, of draft the play that Topdog/Underdog White Noise last spring at The are beautifully complicated complicated beautifully are and Father Comes to the see world

— , can , can

getting getting 2019–20 · ISSUE 2· ISSUE · 2019–20 CONNECT @berkeleyrep Find everywhere us Berkeley Rep Berkeley Support to Proud client’s dignityandhumanity. Our goalisto preserve our final resolution thoughtful litigation Personal a www.sflg.com 415.834.1120 San Francisco, CA94105 575 Market Street, Suite 4000 F A M ·5 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE EMG I L YL ttention A W

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9/16/19 3:57 PM FAMILY LAW EMG JOHN MUIR JOHN EMG

FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR 9/16/19 3:57 PM - -

- . She . not shy not Johanna promised to introduce new voices voices new introduce to promised Johanna doesn’t run away from hard, difficult, squirm- difficult, hard, from away run doesn’t head-spinning way. That is why I am so thrilled thrilled so I am why is That way. head-spinning Suzan-Lori and Roda the in Turnly Francis by right into them, with a ferocity that can leave leave can that a ferocity with them, into right worthy conversations about race. She writes writes She race. about conversations worthy the viewer reeling...in the most wonderful, most the reeling...in viewer the national amazing this by play a have finally to stage. our on treasure play a new with are, we here and stages our to SUZAN-LORI PARKS IS CLEARLY CLEARLY IS PARKS SUZAN-LORI . And maybe even consider picking up a few tickets for our for tickets a few up picking consider even . And maybe Best regards, I did want to draw your attention, though, to a special event that that event a special to though, attention, your draw to want I did The Tale of Tale The for us join I do hope you a subscriber, not are you If Susie Medak is a special nonsubscription event. So, sub event. nonsubscription a special is Despereaux of Tale The director of New York Stage and Film, and I’m so pleased we’ll be we’ll pleased so I’m and Film, and Stage New York of director only way you will see it is to order tickets – and, as a subscriber, you a subscriber, as – and, tickets order to is see it will you way only we’re bringing to you in November for the holiday season. PigPen The PigPen season. holiday the for November in you to bringing we’re is an utterly delightful adaptation of adaptation delightful utterly an is Despereaux of Tale The Co.’s atre adults,by at surrounded The Old Globe, musical this saw I first and na It down. came curtain the minute the feet her on and entranced pletely perks including free ticket exchanges. I bet you’ll be glad you did. you be glad I bet you’ll exchanges. ticket free perks including who were transported by it. But what moved me so much about it was it about much me so moved it. what But by transported were who one. this for quickly move will tickets as is rare to find entertainment of any kind these days that speaks across across speaks that days these kind any of entertainment find to rare is off 50 percent to up of a savings enjoy and subscriber Rep a Berkeley generational lines. the much-loved Newbury Medal–winning book. It is Berkeley Rep’s gift Rep’s Berkeley book. is It Newbury Medal–winning much-loved the for enough smart is that entertainment of search in are who families to Johan audiences. younger to accessible entirely being while adults the - com was parents her me with next to sitting girl 10-year-old the that sharing its world premiere with you in December. So our fall lineup of lineup fall So our December. in you with premiere its world sharing very promising! looking is plays subscription scribers, be aware that it is not part of any subscription package. The package. subscription part any not of is it that be aware scribers, now order to you I encourage show. this to tickets $5 full-price on save subscription season shows. Select just three or more shows to become to shows more or three Select shows. just season subscription other of a variety and house, the in best seats the prices, ticket single Parks in the Peet’s. The two are going to be followed by Sarah Ruhl, a Ruhl, Sarah by be followed to going Peet’s. The the two are in Parks Salem of Becky Nurse play, a new us brings who familiar Rep Berkeley in her final season as artistic as season final her in Becky of Nurse a reading included Johanna Despereaux

piano cello

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THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 calperformances.org Feb 20 ZELLERBACH HALL Composer and pianist Damien stirring Sneed’s tribute to the legacy Martin Luther of Dr. celebrates King Jr. a living lineage of African-American music and culture that ranges from gospel, spirituals, and classical music to jazz and Broadway. A Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. featuring Damien Sneed ZELLERBACH HALL Overcome Shall We Jan 23 Jemele Hill Emmy-winning sports journalist Jemele Hill opens up about at the her career intersection controversial of sports and race in the United States. A staff writer at the Atlantic, Hill was formerly co-anchor of ESPN SportsCenter, and was chief ESPN’s to correspondent The Undefeated. Dec 4 ZELLERBACH HALL Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, & Isata Kanneh-Mason, Musician Young Winner of the 2016 BBC at the competition, artist-in-residence and a Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performer at the wedding of featured Markle. Prince Harry and Meghan

Cal Perform 6 · ances WN.program.emg.indd 6 B:8.625” T:8.375” S:7.375” B:11.125” T:10.875” The healing power S:9.875” of teamwork. Berkeley Outpatient Center Near San Pablo & Ashby Ave.

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Duncan Channon • 114 Sansome • 14th Floor • San Francisco, CA 94104 BHD6147-Fall-2019-Print-BerkeleyRep-v2.indd 2 Saved at 7-19-2019 10:02 AM from dc-mbpro15-cadkins by Chris Adkins / Chris Adkins Insertion None Date Job info Approvals Fonts & Images Job # BHD6147 Art Director Camacho Fonts Client John Muir Health Copywriter None ARS Maquette Pro (Bold) Unit Type None Account Mgr Nerio Live 7.375” x 9.875” Project Mgr Mirasol Images Trim 8.375” x 10.875” Studio Designer Adkins A24004x03A_JMH_Background_MR.jpg (CMYK; 247 ppi, 241 ppi; 60.56%, 62.01%), Bleed 8.625” x 11.125” Print Producer Shay A24004x02C_JMH_Teamwork_Man_3u_smp_MR.psd (CMYK; 69 ppi; 215.65%), A24004x01D_ Gutter Safety None CD None JMH_Teamwork_Female_3u_smp_MR.psd (CMYK; 69 ppi; 215.65%) Pubs Inks Insert dates: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black BOPC: 9/26-11/10 (White Noise) UC: 9/12-10/27 (The Great Wave) UC: 12/12-1/26 (Becky Nurse of Salem) OUR STORIES. OUR THEATRE. YOU HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY. Text BACKSTAGE to 71777 berkeleyrep.org/give BE A DONOR. BE A REP.

WN.program.emg.indd 8 9/16/19 3:57 PM DON’T MISS TEEN NIGHT! The Tale of Despereaux Friday, November 22 Becky Nurse of Salem Friday, December 13 Culture Clash (Still) in America Friday, February 21 School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play TEEN NIGHT IS TRENDING Friday, March 20 BY KATHERINE GUNN Happy Days Friday, May 29 To learn more about Teen Night, visit berkeleyrep.org/ teennight. To register, email WHAT IS TEEN NIGHT? It’s our School of Theatre’s most popular [email protected] event where, for ten dollars, high school students can see a Berkeley or call 510 647-2984. Rep show with their peers — and get dinner, hear from an artist involved with the production, and join a post-show discussion. Why go to Teen Night? Zohar, a current attendee, almost didn’t. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s gonna be that good, I don’t wanna go!’” But after some cajoling, she gave it a try. “The teens who work there are so welcoming. That was really awesome, and the atmo- sphere was really bright, and we talked, and there are activities. I really enjoy it, and it’s even better getting to be a part of it.” Now, less than a year later, Zohar is a part of Teen Council, the group of high school students who help organize the event. “We have adults in charge who make sure we don’t burn anything down,” she says reassuringly, “but a lot of the stuff that we’ve done has been just teens. I personally think that I’ve benefitted from this as an individual, it’s helped me grow.” Isabelle, former Teen Night attendee and Teen Council member, agrees that letting teenagers have a leadership role really makes a difference. “It makes you feel like you’re in charge, you’re in control, and they’re creating portals and ways in for you.” Teens are also the ones who get to interview the artists. “You get to see a fellow teen talking to them so it’s like ‘Oh, I can talk to these people.’ It just opens up theatre, for teens.” Artists who have presented at past Teen Nights include Sergio Trujillo (choreographer for Ain’t Too Proud), Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), and Jackie Sibblies Drury, now a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. There’s also a chance to discuss the show afterward. “I don’t want to say it’s better than the show, but it’s up there,” Zohar confides. “It’s really helpful because Berkeley Rep is really great at bringing in new works, and works that discuss issues that are currently in our community and our world and our life. I think that, if OUR STORIES. OUR THEATRE. the plays don’t allow for every side to be seen, that every side gets to be seen when we have these post-show discussions.” They clearly aren’t the only ones who are excited to come to Teen Night. There are 80 to 100 tickets available for each show, YOU HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY. plus a few season passes. Still, the events almost always sell out, so reserve your spot early if you want in on the fun. For Isabelle, her favorite part of Teen Night is the friends she Text BACKSTAGE to 71777 made. “I know that sounds cheesy,” she laughs, “but I’m still really berkeleyrep.org/give good friends with people that I met doing Teen Night.” Zohar summed it up best: “All for ten dollars, you can see a play, get food, have a discussion, meet artists, and meet new people too. Thank you to the generous supporters All for ten dollars!” of the School of Theatre who make BE A DONOR. BE A REP. events like Teen Night possible. Top to bottom Jason Howland and Marcus Gardley (front, center) at Teen Night for Paradise Square; Marcus Gardley (right) with Core Council Members Anna Grannados and Fidela Bisseret Martinez; teens discussing a play 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 9

WN.program.emg.indd 9 9/16/19 3:57 PM Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a book written as a letter to his teenage son, provides an unflinching testimony of what it means to be Black in America. Inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Between the World and Me won the National Book Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. SIGNALS TO NOISE AS THE ARTISTIC TEAM AND CAST began to create this production, director Jaki Bradley, White Fragility: assistant director Nailah Harper-Malveaux, Why It’s So Hard for White and literary/dramaturgy fellow Charlie People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo Dubach-Reinhold assembled an incredibly Robin DiAngelo, an academic as rich list of books and other resources that help well as a diversity and inclusion training educator, dissects the ways contextualize the world of the play. Here are white people react when challenged My legacy. My partner. some selections if you want to dig more deeply about their notions about race that perpetuate systems of exclusion. into the thorny issues of White Noise. You have dreams. Goals youEMG want to achieve UNION during your BANK lifetime and a legacy you want to leave behind. The Private Bank can help. Our highly specialized and experienced wealth strategists can Faces at the Bottom of the Well help you navigate the complexities of estate planning and deliver the customized solutions you by Derrick Bell need to ensure your wealth is transferred according to your wishes. This book is full of short allegorical stories that explore the way that racism operates, evolves, and cements itself Take the first step in ensuring the preservation of your wealth for your lifetime and in our world. Written by Derrick Bell, future generations. a founding thinker behind critical race theory, it uses simple, yet incisive myths/ fables to re-examine the quest for To learn more, please visit unionbank.com/theprivatebank or contact: racial justice and argue that racism is an integral, permanent, and indestructible component of our society. Vartan Shahijanian Private Wealth Advisor [email protected] 415-705-7258 My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh In this novel, a woman gradually escalates her use of prescription medications in an attempt to sleep The 1619 Project for an entire year, an experiment nytimes.com/1619 as radical in its own way as the one explored in White Noise. This New York Times interactive site, launched to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first slaves arriving in America, Wills, trusts, foundations, and wealth planning strategies have legal, tax, accounting, and other implications. Clients should consult a legal or tax advisor. reexamines the way we think and talk about American history and the legacy of slavery in this country. It’s also an ongoing podcast series that you can listen to for free. ©2019 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Union Bank is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank, N.A.

10 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2

WN.program.emg.2.indd 10 9/17/19 11:46 AM Untitled-3 1 4/30/19 12:16 PM My legacy. My partner.

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Wills, trusts, foundations, and wealth planning strategies have legal, tax, accounting, and other implications. Clients should consult a legal or tax advisor.

Untitled-3 1 4/30/19 12:16 PM VIGNETTES FROM THE GROUND FLOOR’S 2019 SUMMER RESIDENCY LAB BY KATIE CRADDOCK

ONE COULD NEVER FULLY CAPTURE what it was to be at The Ground Floor’s eighth Summer Residency Lab within these pages. The program brings artists from across the country to Berkeley to make new plays with the support of local actors and directors, emerging theatre artist volunteers, and Berkeley Rep staff. From transforming our fitting room into a Julia Izumi ’40s cocktail lounge, to vrooming Hot Wheels across the conference room, to creative breakthroughs over lasagna — at any given moment, there are at least seven interesting things happening at the Lab. Here are four vignettes from this summer to give you a taste of what it was like to be here in June. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org/groundfloor.

What does it take to make a play? The Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab asks this question summer after summer as artists craft pieces that stretch, subvert, confront, and explode traditions of theatrical- form. One answer is: people gathered together, collectively imagining. Some of the holiest moments of the Lab are made up of just that and little else. A playwright who has spent their residency mostly writ ing alone bravely decides to share material with their fellow artists and staff. —We we pull inhaled folding its chairsdust, into a circle, distribute copies of the draft, assign roles to willing readers, and travel. Sanaz Toossi took us to a dingy tennis court in Karaj, Iran, during the blistering summers of 1979 and 1999 heard the crack of ball on racket as her characters fiercely rallied, and felt the years they’d known each other in the weight and wit of their dialogue. Alex Borinsky welcomed us to the New Jerusalem Tavern, a dive where transangelic people (just like us, but they’ve grown, or are growing, wings) gather to share music, poetry, and community; we bowed our heads in prayer, laughed and winced at a campy yet all- too-true skit about a police encounter, and listened to the songs expressing love and rage and staving off despair. Then we were a Berkeley Rep audience at a presentation given by Akira Kurosawa himself, except he was played by writer — Juliashe even Izumi…and had a real then yogurt by a bunch cup, out of otherof which people. she ate Julia during helped her us reading imagine an Akira obsessed with yogurt despite lacking a spoon.

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WN.program.emg.indd 12 9/16/19 3:57 PM — artists, A multigenerational crowd eagerly gatheredOhio in, thethe rehearsalfinal installment hall in Shaun and Abigail Bengson to hear selections from staff, friends, fans — Abigail and Shaun Bengson’s quasi-autobiographical trilogy. Before the piece began, they created a kinship with the listeners; Abigail maneuvered her way down from the mic stand to lead us in an improvised song thanking the supporters of The Ground Floor, and we laughingly obliged. They were joined by Summer Lab alum Kate Kilbane and Lila Blue on vocals, evoking the Weird Sisters as their voices moved in harmony and discord with Abigail’s. We were hushed as Abigail crowed and Sean crooned about their son Louie’s birth and fraught first days of life. As the sharing came to a rapturous close, book writer Sarah Gancher made a surprise violin cameo, we sang an exuberant round- declaring it “time to let the light in,” and Louie himself rushed the “stage” with his toddler compatriot Hazel, Kate Kilbane’s daughter, who made a bee line for her mother’s microphone.

Often, recognizable set pieces, costumes, and props emerge from storage into Summer Lab rooms (four summers in a The Intelligent row, the rolling stoop from Tony Kushner’s Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptureshas proven indispensable). A shiny red tricycle from Sarah Ruhl’sEurydice rolled its way into the Lab and our hearts this year. Local actors, volunteer ambassadors, staff, and writers alike broke into stupidly wide grins as they cruised around rehearsal and through the halls of our Harrison Street campus. Writer Dave Harris was an especially ardent fan of the trike, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when it made an outrageous appearance, ridden by multiple actors and accompanied by Watch Me. Dave gleefully music, during the reading of his piece cackled from the back as we fell out of our seats, delighted to see our trike making its star turn. Mina Morita and Dave Harris

Matt and Ezra By the time Ezra arrived, the Tony Taccone Rehearsal Hall had met all kinds of dancers. Sam Pinkleton, nicHi douglas, and Pig Iron Theatre Company had thrown open the doors to everyone to help envision their new piece from self-identified dancers, like the April Follies Queer Partner Dance Competi House of Victory tion, to Berkeley Rep’s own docents and development department. So nobody — was particularly surprised to see our associate technical director, Matt Rohner, carrying- his wee, wide-eyed baby Ezra in for a dance. Some of the less experienced dancers entered the space with goodwill and curiosity, but also some nerves and tentative ness; all seemed to exit feeling relaxed, joyful, and connected to those with whom they’d danced. As Matt put it, “Though we can’t know for sure what goes on in- the mind at 11 weeks, I believe I can safely say Ezra and I both had a blast.”

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WN.program.emg.indd 13 9/16/19 3:57 PM “I LOVE YOU, SO I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU” AN INTERVIEW WITH SUZAN-LORI PARKS BY SARAH ROSE LEONARD

TALKING WITH PLAYWRIGHT SUZAN-LORI PARKS is joyous. Her sentences spool out into a large paragraph punctuated with laughs and “ya knows?” Her phrases seem to bounce as she plays out a thought. It’s enough to make you forget that her plays tackle some of the heaviest, darkest realities in our world. Then you remember that’s how she gets away with it: her love for her characters permeates the darkness of every situation they climb into. Suzan-Lori spoke with Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard a month before rehearsals began for White Noise. They discussed what she learned from the first production in New York, and what she’s still thinking about as this second production approaches. PHOTO BY TAMMY SHELL

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WN.program.emg.indd 14 9/16/19 3:57 PM What prompted you to write this play? a band, and it’s a beautiful thing when you solo. That is your It started with a gesture. I was watching my play Father time when you step out into the light and are supported by Comes Home from the Wars — Part 2 specifically — and there’s the rest of the band. In this case, when the friends had a band a moment where our hero, the slave, the man of African it didn’t go very far, they didn’t make any money, but it was descent, wonders what it’s gonna be like in the future when joyous. Then the band was replaced by bowling. he’s coming home from work: will the law officer allow him to go about his business? His friend Smith says, “I don’t know.” I Do you write thinking about music? sat there watching the play night after night and I thought, “I Yes! The first thing I wrote as an artist was songs. Then could write a play about that moment.” That moment is taking I fell in love with libraries and books and theatre. I’m always place right now — I was watching Father Comes Home back in thinking about rhythm, timing. White Noise has a song that 2014, before the election. they wrote together which I composed. What’s fun is to write Then I thought, who’s in the play? Oh, some friends just scenes with the rhythm of bowling! like us. Look in the mirror, it’s you, it’s me, it’s the people we used to know in high school, our spouses, our children— it’s us. How did you choose bowling? I followed the people, I don’t follow the money. I keep saying My parents used to bowl. My dad was in the service, that because a lot of people are thinking about what’s going to we moved around a lot. Everywhere we moved there was a be marketable — how can I make a buck off of this mess that bowling alley. Imagine you’re an adult, you move, and you we’re in right now? I’m not thinking that; I’m thinking how can I don’t know anybody, but there’s a bowling group— you can help, how can I help, how can I help? go and bowl! It was a lovely thing that my parents would do to create community. There were varying levels of skill and you You’ve said that this is the hardest play you’ve ever written. didn’t have to be really good to participate. I would go with my Do you still feel that? parents, sit in the back, and watch them bowl. It was lovely! Yeah I do, because it’s really hard to tell the truth about Writing scenes to the rhythm of bowling is really fun because people you love. It was hard to embody or love Dawn, and the scene’s timed out. I just had the timing way deep in my yet also totally agree with Misha. Or love Misha, but totally head from watching my parents in the bowling alley. agree with Ralph. You know what I mean? Love Ralph, totally agree with Leo! You know the phrase “drawn and quartered?” What made you decide to not place the friends in a I felt quartered! It was like the four parts of myself were being specific city? pulled in four different directions at the same time. It’s so The exact coordinates of where they are is not important difficult to hold four points of view. to me. I’m just trying to include what’s important, and I leave the rest out. It’s a broad, big, thriving urban city. It could be Some people have expressed feeling like the play was New York or Chicago or San Francisco or Cleveland or Hous- fueled by rage at what’s happening today. Does that ring ton or Austin or Boston — it’s a city where people of different true, or not? ethnic backgrounds would congregate. It doesn’t come from rage; no, it comes from love. I love you, so I’m going to show you. I was talking to this class the The names Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn come from other day and I was saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team, but there Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Leonardo, Michelangelo, is a ‘me’ in enemy.” Like shit, what are we gonna do, people? Raphael, and Donatello). How did that happen? ’Cause hate don’t work, okay? I guess we’re too busy or too ’Cause it made me laugh! People read or see the play and important or too connected to our device to remember that they’re filled with feelings — maybe joy, anger, despair, happi- we’re connected. ness, whatever feelings they have, right? — but what’s weird is that they assume the feelings that they have are the feelings Your love for these characters really comes across in their I had writing it. That’s not always true. I write from a very in- solo moments with the audience. tense and joyous place. A lot of times I include things that are They are called solos because Misha, Dawn, Ralph, and just funny! I was just sitting at my desk going, “Bluhbluhbluh I Leo had a band back in the day when things were good. I have CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

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WN.program.emg.indd 15 9/16/19 3:57 PM STYLISTIC INTERPLAY IN SUZAN-LORI PARKS’ CANON BY CHARLIE DUBACH-REINHOLD

TO CATEGORIZE THE WORK of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is a unfold. The effect is musical; the phrase repeats throughout nearly impossible task. Parks catapulted into nationwide fame the play, a lyrical reminder of the myriad exploitations of the when she won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for her drama Topdog/ title character. It punctuates a story following a relatively Underdog, though she had been steadily rising in the theatre linear path with jazz-style refrains. By the final scene, the world during the previous decade for her poetic, metaphysical phrase marks the death of the show itself, and has taken on plays. Her professional playwriting career spans over 35 years, various shades of meaning. and one could write 35 essays to encapsulate the myriad styles, Hints of Parks’ Rep & Rev show up throughout her can- characters, and genres in her work. Luckily, she’s provided a on, even as she experiments with form and character. In her guide: Parks’ 1995 essay “From the Elements of Style” outlines 1990 piece The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire her process and the essential features of her early writing. World, Rep & Rev influences more than the language — it Critics call the work discussed in her essay “dreamlike,” “her- permeates the entire plot. A striking repetition is the death metically surreal,” and “phantasmagorical;” those descriptors of the main character, Black Man With Watermelon. He may not automatically fit what you will see in White Noise. dies over and over in ways invoking the American history of Over the years, Parks’ style has transformed significantly. But racial violence, including a lynching. This technique conjures elements like the musicality of her language and the layering mourning and remembrance and creates a maelstrom that of character as she defines it in her essay still appear even as at once shocks and laments. In contrast, the naturalistic she explores more linear, realistic genres. characters of her play Topdog/Underdog exist inside a linear, One of Parks’ most well-known stylistic elements is what psychologically motivated plot. But they repeat a spoken she called “Repetition and Revision.” “Rep & Rev” is a device card game refrain that differentiates their characters and inspired by jazz. It requires that as words, ideas, and even adds a musical, heightened reality to this down-to-earth play. plot devices are repeated throughout a play, each is revised Similarly, the rhythmic interruption of bowling is an echoed as it reappears. In her early work, Parks used Rep & Rev as a refrain in White Noise, and each character repeats a personal principal device. At the top of her 1996 play Venus, many of mantra throughout their journey. Rep & Rev in Parks’ later the characters repeat the words, “I regret to inform you that works supports the parts of her plays that live in heightened thuh Venus Hottentot is dead. There won’t be inny show tuh- reality rather than defining the entire structure or use of night.” In the world of the play, this is untrue; Venus is alive language. The device may go unnoticed in her less overtly and present, there is a show, and the audience will watch it symbolic works, but its rhythm still resounds. A SUZAN-LORI PARKS PRODUCTION TIMELINE

1989 1990 THE DEATH OF THE 1999 IMPERCEPTIBLE 1994 1996 >>> MUTABILITIES IN THE LAST BLACK MAN IN IN THE BLOOD THE WHOLE ENTIRE THE AMERICA PLAY VENUS The first of two THIRD KINGDOM A reckoning with the A Brechtian, fictional “Red Letter Plays” A dreamlike, WORLD legacy of Abraham chronicling of the based on Nathaniel fragmented meditation A nonlinear, poetic, Lincoln and the Great real-life story of Hawthorne’s The on Black experience jazz-inspired exploration Hole that is the lack Saartjie Baartman, a Scarlet Letter. Hester, in the United States. of the various forms of of African-American South African Black the Medea-like, Presented as a series violence enacted against and Black history in woman displayed in homeless mother of of non-chronological, Black male bodies, the United States, 19th century London five children, searches thematically related featuring characters conveyed through a as a freak called the for a leg up in life scenes played in constructed of historical Black gravedigger and “Hottentot Venus,” set and struggles with front of projected reference, stereotype, Lincoln impersonator, alongside a recitation her children’s mostly photographs. and the Christian Bible. and his wife and son. from her autopsy. absent fathers.

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WN.program.emg.indd 16 9/16/19 3:57 PM THE DEVICE MAY GO in jazz. They add moments of individuality to the musical UNNOTICED IN HER construction of the drama, time to ruminate on one point of view before diving back into the cacophony. Although LESS OVERTLY SYMBOLIC the characters in White Noise can seem like a departure from symbolic characters, each character functions as both WORKS, BUT ITS RHYTHM a lifelike, relatable human being and analogue for familiar, STILL RESOUNDS.” troubling social beliefs and dynamics. Parks has an astonishing ability to weave allegoric characters and the music of Rep & Rev into any genre, and she has experimented with many. Death of the Last Black Man Similarly, Parks’ characters run the gamut from purely is a postmodern amalgamation of symbols. Venus disrupts symbolic to psychologically realistic. One of her most recent and interrogates the audience’s spectatorship in the manner works, Father Comes Home from the Wars (2014), follows the of Brechtian epic theatre. In the Blood and Fucking A both slave Hero during the Civil War. Hero’s journey is modeled feature Medea-like figures in classical tragic situations set in on The Odyssey, and while he speaks in realistic language, the dystopian futures. Topdog/Underdog is a naturalist drama set characters around him utilize repetitive language and function in a city somewhere in the United States, and Father Comes allegorically. At the center of Parks’ career are her Red Let- Home from the Wars combines Homeric epic with Greek ter Plays: In the Blood (1999) and Fucking A (2000). Based on drama. Though of a completely different tone, the realis- Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, tic dramedy about four friends in 2019 that is White Noise both plays feature a Black female protagonist named Hester, manifests the same ability to combine the everyday with the after Hawthorne’s heroine, and grapple with the theme of fantastic, the lyrical with the colloquial, and the theatrical motherhood. These two works sit at a stylistic and chronologi- with the pedestrian. cal middle ground for Parks. Both plays juxtapose the abstract, Parks can hide layers of reference and understanding in- symbolist, stereotype-influenced characters of her early career side relationships, craft poetry into what sounds like normal with characters like the more psychologically realistic group of speech, and create characters that transcend their immediate friends you’ll encounter in White Noise. realities. The genre of her acclaimed Topdog/Underdog, for Characters with names like The Mayor, Butcher, and instance, is naturalism, but its brothers metaphorically (and Freedom Fund Lady populate the world of Fucking A. Unlike later, literally) stand in for the historical Abraham Lincoln and the main character, Hester, they do not function as dynamic his assassin. Parks weaves together a story that allows for the characters. Instead, as stand-ins for larger, unchanging social simultaneous realism in their relationship and invocation of forces, these characters interrogate the audience’s under- social themes such as the legacy of slavery and reenactment standing of the relationship between the play’s fictional of violence as catharsis. The characters in White Noise also dystopia and today’s social order. In the Blood features similar invite this kind of scrutiny. This group of friends offers us characters, but they also speak soliloquies that allow psy- opportunities to connect with each as both individuals and chological insight into their motivations. Much like the card representatives of larger conversations. Suzan-Lori Parks game practice in Topdog/Underdog and the monologues in expertly gives to multilayered situations the multilayered White Noise, the soliloquies of In the Blood function like solos characters that they deserve. A SUZAN-LORI PARKS PRODUCTION TIMELINE 2014 FATHER COMES 2000 2011 HOME FROM THE 2019 FUCKING A 2001 2006 THE GERSHWINS’ WARS PARTS 1, WHITE NOISE The second of two TOPDOG/UNDERDOG 365 DAYS/ PORGY AND BESS 2, AND 3 A dramedy about “Red Letter Plays” A linear, naturalistic A Homeric epic four friends — two based on Nathaniel play about two 365 PLAYS (BOOK) following the slave interracial couples — Hawthorne’s The brothers — named 365 coordinated A Broadway musical Hero as he must who deal with the Scarlet Letter. In a for Abraham Lincoln productions across the adaptation of the join the Confederacy fallout of a radical dystopic world, Hester (Link) and his assassin, United States of 365 Gershwin and in the Civil War. experiment that the Abortionist awaits Booth — and their plays Parks wrote over Heyward opera Porgy A realistic story explores the legacy of the return of her son, fortunes in love, the course of a year in and Bess, a tragic love interspersed with slavery and violence and must reckon with Lincoln impersonation, 2002–03. The plays story set in a Black poetic interludes against Black bodies disappointments and running Three- vary in length, theme, tenement in South by the Greek- in the 21st century of motherhood. card Monte. and cast size. Carolina in the 1930s. style Chorus. United States.

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WN.program.emg.indd 17 9/16/19 3:57 PM BY SARAH ROSE LEONARD “A SUBTERFUGE OF NATURALISM” DIRECTOR JAKI BRADLEY ON TONE AND CHARACTER IN WHITE NOISE

BRINGING JAKI BRADLEY IN as the director of White Noise is exactly the type of move that thrills us at Berkeley Rep: pairing a gifted up-and-coming director with a legendary playwright sparks a partnership rife with possibility. Johanna Pfaelzer brought Jaki to New York Stage and Film— where Johanna was the artistic director before coming to Berkeley Rep— to direct a number of projects over the years. Now, Johanna brings Jaki to Berkeley to direct her first regional theatre production.

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WN.program.emg.indd 18 9/16/19 3:57 PM How did the play find you? How do you approach character work? Johanna sent me the play and asked if I wanted to get It’s really about finding out what each of the characters coffee with Suzan-Lori to chat about it. Having coffee with needs and making sure that is thoroughly investigated and Suzan-Lori Parks is the dream for most theatre-makers, so I deeply felt. With the character of Leo, for instance, I think was already honored to be considered and to be able to sit it’s essential we understand that he’s operating with this down with her. Suzan-Lori and I had a two-plus hour coffee deep agita. On the surface, that agita is caused by lifelong and went really deep talking about the play, the characters, insomnia, and then hearing white noise in his head all the and what she’s interested in exploring. It’s an incredible hon- time. But in a lot of ways, these operate as metaphors for or to work on a play of hers. anxiety, particularly the anxiety of being a Black man in America. If you understand the anxiety he’s dealing with What draws you to White Noise? the moment we start the play, it’ll help you connect to his I tend to be interested in work that has an incredibly need to propose something really radical, something that specific sense of world, and to writers who are asking big seems so extreme. questions in their work — whether or not they are coming up It’s four intelligent, self-aware characters, and almost ev- with big answers. I’m drawn to plays that are willing to wres- erything filters through their acknowledgement of what is and tle with thorny topics, and this play typifies that. It’s a play is not problematic about what they think and say. Which is that feels like it has 16 characters because its scope is so big really rare. Every time Dawn talks about herself as a do-good- and it talks about so many giant issues. But actually, it’s this er, and every time Misha talks about her show, they’re very epic that exists in the space between four people. aware of the things they say that are good or well-intentioned versus the things that are problematic or condescending. Suzan-Lori is a master of blending classical and contemporary references and mixing together individuals In the personal monologues that punctuate the play, and archetype in her character work. How do you plan each character gets a chance to make direct eye contact to build characters that are at once real people and with the audience. Why do you think those moments are also allegorical? meant to distinctly break the fourth wall? In the space of the rehearsal room, we are treating these In each of those four solos I find things that I relate to characters as complicated, three dimensional, empathetic on a deeply personal level, whether or not the character humans. If you let too much air out of that balloon and talk voicing them shares any part of my life experience. Some of about it in the rehearsal room as a parable, then you can end the events of the play are heightened enough that you might up with flattened characters and miss a lot of Suzan-Lori’s start to distance yourself from them. You might start to say, nuance. On the other hand, a lot of the conversations I’ve “I am different from the people in this world, I would never had with designers are about just what you mentioned: the find myself in these situations, or if I did, I would never be- allegorical nature of the piece, and how it functions like a have this way.” I think the direct address in those solos serves myth. We’ve been talking about large theme, large iconog- to confront that distancing and paint a more complicated raphy — its vocabulary is heightened in terms of how design portrayal of what’s going on. manifests. But it serves the actors to treat it like psychologi- cal realism, even though you’re exactly right: White Noise is a The play is so much about interracial relationships. Why subterfuge of naturalism. do you think that is a primary focus of this story? I’ve thought a lot about the relationships in the play in How would you describe the overall tone of the play? terms of how the pairings of the four people get together. It’s very sneaky! It’s asking giant, uncomfortable, unset- Some of the most complicated questions the play asks are, tling questions, but wrapping them up in a package of witty “What are the dynamics between all of these people who dialogue and friends from college. It’s sort of banter-y, and think of themselves as really woke, who imagine that they I think it contains comedy in order to access some of those behave exactly the same around all of their friends? Who deeper, darker things. If it started in a cynical place it would imagine that between the four of them their race is not an be hard to get an audience on board. Suzan-Lori excels at issue?” When of course it is. It’s inextricably linked to the making something really fun…until it’s not. She lulls you into way they interact with each other, the privileges they have. I feeling like you know these people and understand how they think the friendships and the romantic relationships and the behave, and then she has them do something that’s really sexual relationships are all asking: Who are we in each other’s beyond the pale. presences and in each other’s absences?

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WN.program.emg.indd 19 9/16/19 3:57 PM Waves of change Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury, is part of a growing new canon of plays by Black writers. A co-commission from Berkeley Rep and Soho Rep, Fairview was developed as part of The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Shown here: Natalie Venetia Belcon, Monique Robinson, and Charles Browning in Berkeley Rep’s production (photo by Kevin Berne).

MAKING SOME NOISE WRITERS OF COLOR AND THE CONTEMPORARY THEATRICAL LANDSCAPE BY MADELEINE OLDHAM

HISTORICALLY, THE AMERICAN THEATRE has largely excluded However, perhaps as a result of this glaring blind spot, Black writers from its canon. August Wilson’s work received generations of people of color and women learned how to see a rare exception, as did one play by Lorraine Hansberry… the world through the eyes of characters who didn’t neces- and that’s about it. For decades, common parlance posited sarily look like them. From Willy Loman’s everyman struggles that production-worthy writing by Black authors didn’t exist. to Stanley Kowalski’s tragic brutality, these iconic stories Artistic directors insisted that they just simply “chose the encouraged audiences to ponder big questions about human best plays.” We are finally as a field beginning to see this for nature, and their narratives were considered universal. Maybe, the bias it is, and recognizing that our culture demands and ironically, that’s why it took so long to invite a more inclusive deserves a more expansive ideology, particularly when it conversation: the people with the power rarely had to imagine comes to our storytelling. themselves in the shoes of someone “other.” For so long, western societies have assumed the white This seems to have finally begun to shift: critics, art- male experience as the baseline; and the people holding the ists, and audiences alike have recognized that we are living power, wealth, and influence drove the choices about what through a significant moment in the American Theatre, stories got told. This hierarchical structure assumes a tacit where artists of color are being embraced. Many large the- agreement among the culture at large, and handily dismisses atres program plays by Black playwrights regularly, and not work that fails to fall in line. Important Black playwrights have just in February for Black History Month. Names like Lynn written seminal texts for a very long time, and yet plays by Nottage, Dominique Morisseau, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, and Adrienne Kennedy, Alice Childress, Ed Bullins, or Amiri Baraka Suzan-Lori Parks appear regularly on year-end lists of the rarely receive productions on our stages. Literary giants most produced playwrights. Another wave of successful writ- Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin all wrote ers is following hot on their heels, with Jocelyn Bioh, Jackie for the theatre. It’s not that Black writers didn’t exist; the main- Sibblies Drury, Michael R. Jackson, and Ngozi Anyanwu gain- stream decision-makers just weren’t paying attention. ing nationwide attention and acclaim for their work. Their

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WN.program.emg.indd 20 9/16/19 3:58 PM INTERVIEW WITH SUZAN-LORI PARKS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

don’t know what their names are!” And there’s my son playing with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurines,and I just started laughing. A couple days before, I had made up a little song for him because he couldn’t remember their names — “Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael.” So I had them in my head and I was like, “Ha, that would be so funny!” One of the keys to my work is to remember there’s a lot of joy in there. If we just reduce it down to a Black woman playwright who’s angry at you and shaking her finger, you miss 98 percent of my work. Just, boom: it’s gone, you miss it because actually I’m going, “Hey let’s all hang out and ruminate on this shit right? Let’s have a few laughs along the way because it’s deeply disturbing!”

One of the constants we’ve noticed about the Peet’s Theatre is that laughter ripples in a distinctive way since we can all see each other in the audience. It was the same at The Public Theater — we were also in a thrust space and you could never tell who was gonna be laughing. Sometimes when Black people were laughing some of the other Black people were not laughing. Or some of the white people were laughing and looking at other white people like, “Hey should we laugh?” Or they were sitting with Black people who were like, “Yeah yeah let’s laugh!” Sometimes all the young people were not laughing and the older people were totally laughing. It’s generation! It’s racial! It’s income level! It’s very interesting how it all divides and hopefully you’re embracing it. plays, as well as those of a long list of peers, tell both Amer- The jokes open up the body to receive: here ican and international stories; work about the United States we are! Great, now that we got you warmed up might focus on the African American experience, and it also we’re gonna talk about some shit. You’re ready. might not. The New York Times ran a series of recent articles We’re all in this together. We can’t get away with on what some people are considering a new Black canon, and pointing a finger at that one, because that one is what the nyt calls “a generation of Black playwrights whose just as culpable and just as innocent as you are, fiercely political and formally inventive works are challenging and what are we gonna do about it? audiences, critics, and the culture at large to think about race, and racism, in new ways.” Perhaps the next step involves eroding the expectation that Black playwrights always write about race, and imagining a world where the same license afforded to white writers applies to writers of color: the liberty to write the story they want to write, whatever that happens to be. In the meantime, LISTEN TO THESE despite there being more work to do, we can take a moment FEATURES AND HEAR to acknowledge that progress has been made. It’s impossible to predict which of today’s plays will stand the test of time, but EXTENDED INTERVIEWS it’s a good bet that our future canon will look very different ON REPISODES: THE from the one behind us. BERKELEY REP PODCAST AT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BERKELEYREP

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WN.program.emg.indd 21 9/16/19 3:58 PM A BEGUILING MUSICAL HOLIDAY TREAT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY! THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY PIGPEN THEATRE CO. BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KATE DICAMILLO AND THE UNIVERSAL PICTURES ANIMATED FILM DIRECTED BY MARC BRUNI AND PIGPEN THEATRE CO. The original cast of The Tale of Despereaux SPECIAL EVENT · RODA THEATRE at The Old Globe (photo by Jim Cox) NOV 21, 2019–JAN 5, 2020

SEASON SPONSORS

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2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · Tilly Grimes Nichols Alexander V. Mikaal Sulaiman Caparelliotis Casting Chris Waters Therese Barbato Adam Rigg Nick Dillenburg Chris Herbie Holland Aimé Donna Kelly

CAST Leo Ralph Dawn Misha The Public Theater Casting World Premiere Production by PRODUCTION STAFF . iatse -829, Scenic Design Sound Design Stage Manager Costume Design Theatres are represented by United represented are Theatres Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director Patrick Willingham, Executive Director Lighting and VideoLighting Design The actors and stage manager are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Scenic Artists usa Local Affiliations the Society ofThe director is a member of Inc., and Choreographers, anStage Directors labor union. The Scenic,independent national and Sound Designers in Lighting, Costume, lort

WHITE NOISE WHITE PRESENTS THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE BERKELEY REPERTORY JOHANNA ARTISTIC PFAELZER, DIRECTOR SUSAN· MEDAK, MANAGING DIRECTOR

ASSOCIATE SPONSOR ASSOCIATE SPONSORS EXECUTIVE SPONSORS EXECUTIVE LEAD SPONSORS LEAD SEASON SPONSORS SEASON is made thanks Noise possible is White support the generous to of Fred Karren Fred Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg Gail & Arne Wagner Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & Sue Steinberg The Strauch Family Kulhanjian PEET’S MAIN· THEATRE SEASON SEPTEMBER 26-NOVEMBER 2019 10, DIRECTED BY DIRECTED BY BY

JAKI BRADLEY SUZAN-LORI PARKS SUZAN-LORI This show has a 15-minute intermission. a 15-minute has show This WN.program.emg.indd 23

at The Old Globe (photo by Jim Cox) The original cast The of of Despereaux Tale

SEASON SPONSORS SEASON THE TALE OF OF TALE THE

DESPEREAUX

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KATE DICAMILLO DICAMILLO KATE BASED BY ON THE NOVEL FILM AND THE UNIVERSAL PICTURES ANIMATED CO. DIRECTED MARC BRUNI THEATRE AND BY PIGPEN THEATRE EVENT RODA · SPECIAL 2020 5, 2019–JAN 21, NOV BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY PIGPEN THEATRE CO. THEATRE PIGPEN BY BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS A BEGUILING MUSICAL HOLIDAY TREAT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY! WHOLE THE FOR TREAT HOLIDAY MUSICAL A BEGUILING WN.program.emg.indd 24 24 · 24 · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE WHO’S WHO College. College. Hamlet Sign Festival: CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND NICK DILLENBURG THERESE BARBATO thatswhatshesaidpod.com. thatswhatshesaidpod.com. podcast: said” she what “that’s of host is and the Juilliard the and School University at Boston trained Therese Center.Theatre Film: Prom King Center, Theatre Olney Geva and Angeles, Theater, Center of Los Shakespeare rary Contempo Boise Theatre, Huntington the Jersey, of New Theatre Shakespeare of Louisville, Theatre Actors with regionally has worked She Project. Theatre Slant with productions Group), numerous and New Company), holds an mfa holds he where of Connecticut University of the Interest include: Black New Is the Orange playing Blake for COon known Ryder best is perhaps He many and more. Stage, Portland Group, Theatre Berkshire Festival, Theater,go Shakespeare Shakespeare Utah ater, Company, Theatre Shakespeare Chica More No Sleep (Ohio Theatre), Punchdrunk’s and V Vin Into Hazard: the Henry Theater), Henry Stage), Teenageat Second Dick Marlowe LEO RALPH DAWN (Walkerspace), (Walkerspace), , Bottom Black Rainey’s , Ma . He has been seen at the Guthrie The Guthrie at the seen has been . He Blue Bloods Blue , and Animal Farm , Animal Law &Order Law by Tracy Letts (New York (New premiere by Tracy Letts mfa Tempo (The Electra(The Becomes Mourning : nyu in Acting. , Soft Hater Grad Acting. Grad . nyu , Elementary . BA: Dartmouth Dartmouth . BA: liamstown Theatre Theatre liamstown of Nantucket). Wil Workshop (Theatre of Separation Degrees Stage), Six (Northern Bound include credits off-Broadway Her Jackson. Glenda yearwith Lear in King this debut Broadway her made She time. first the for Rep at Berkeley to be is delighted Therese Space), Space), Regional: in White Noise debut Rep his Berkeley Chris is making ThingReal include credits Previous debut. Rep make his Berkeley to isNick thrilled include credits Off-Broadway Gyllenhaal. Maggie and McGregor way) Ewan with with Merritt Wever Wever Merritt with . Other TV credits credits TV . Other . He is a proud alum alum is aproud . He Zooman and the the and : Zooman (Classic Stage 12 Angry Men 12 Angry Prometheus Mary Page Page Mary (The Public Public (The Othello , 2010. , 2010. (Z (Z Box The (Broad Person of of , Person

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TV: TV: Mbane of Pretty House Bandits Walk Man Moon Ijames’ of James premieres world in the Center Stage),White Snake (Baltimore and Theatre), The and from Wars (Goodman the Center), Home Comes Father Kennedy (The Watch Me WorkWatch Me Writer Chair,Master performs she where Theater’s Public The is now Parks Baldwin, of James writing student Aformer Channel. Franklintha Geographic National The for genius for show-runner the currently film The of the adaptation Daniels),by Lee astage-musical Billie(directed vs Holiday States United The includes work New Film Festival. Sundance 2019 the opened Johnson),by which Rashid of tion Wright’s Richard Todd and Vachon Haynes), an adapta and frey), God Watching by Spike(directed Lee), Eyes Their Were Girl6 include screenplays Her House. dom Body Mother’s Days Hundred First for Plays the wrote 100 Parks administration, presidential current the on recently, More to reflect kind. ing of its undertak grassroots theatrical largest the to said be was time, at the which, theatres, in over 700 globally produced were plays Plays day culminating Days/365 in 365 a wrote play a Parks Prize2003 finalist). In (Pulitzer 1,2&3) Wars from (parts the Home the Dead of EntireWhole Book World Negro aka The A Prize (Pulitzer finalist), Blood Fucking In the include plays Other 25 years. last within the Times York New by the named was recently and aTony play received The Wolfe. nomination C. by George directed was and Def Mos Underdog Topdog/ and of aMusical, Revival Best for Bess include credits Broadway Arts. Prize in the Excellence for Gish The received also she’s and recipient prize Grant” “Genius is aMacArthur She play Topdog/Underdog her for in Drama Prize Pulitzer to woman the receive ican Amer African Wave,”New first is and the Next the for Innovators “100 magazine’s of time one named was Parks Suzan-Lori SUZAN-LORI PARKS AIMÉ DONNAKELLY Fist PLAYWRIGHT MISHA The Death of the Last Black Man in the in the Man Black Last of the Death , The . Three-time Barrymore nominee. Barrymore . Three-time The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Mrs. Marvelous The , which was awarded the Tony the awarded was , which Award Getting Getting anovel: has authored . Parks as the most important American play play American important most as the (produced by Christine by Christine (produced Me Anemone The Dangerous Dangerous Silverman’s The Jen , and , and, more recently, more Father, and, Comes , which starred Jeffrey Wright and Wright and Jeffrey starred , which , which is published by Ran is, which published (produced by Oprah Win by Oprah (produced

Harder They Come They Harder The Gershwins’ Porgy and Porgy Gershwins’ and The , a weekly writing perfor , aweekly We Are We Are Mechanics’ , Applied Out of Order . Film: Out of of productions regional Theatre), in major and Stages) (Primary Strategy way in Exit Broad off appeared has She debut. Rep make Berkeley her to is thrilled Aimé (directed (directed Son Native Byhalia, Mississippi Byhalia, (Epic (Epic Macbeth Marvel’s Iron Iron , Marvel’s , and she’s she’s , and : Are ; the ; the . - - . -

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Suzan-Lori Parks & The Band. &The Parks Suzan-Lori band: her fronts and songs writes also She tomance/class all. open and of charge free jakibradley.com xyz with in development currently feature Detox film, second Scholar. Her Fulbright aU.S. and Lab, Center Director’s Lincoln Corps, Williamstown Directing Lab, Writer/Director Rep Soho of the member fellow, a TV/Film directing and idence artist-in-res League aDrama Nova, at Ars an artist-in-residence Group, Civilians R&D of the amember Center. has been She Theater O’Neill the and Stage, Arena cals, Musi Goodspeed Center, Thumb, Clubbed Denver Festival, Williamstown Theatre Theater, Public The with work presented and has developed Pick). She (Tony Critic’s Breeders York and Workshop), (New Theatre Man Second The Nova/Pipeline), 1969: (Ars York(New Film), and Stage Playing Hot projects: director. Recent is aBrooklyn-based Jaki JAKI BRADLEY tor Inspec Government The and Railroad Game Underground for nomination Lucille Lortel recognition: Recent Opera. Philadelphia and Lyric Opera, Boston Public, Pittsburgh Two TrinityTheatre, Rivers, Repertory, Alley Opera, atre Company, Goodspeed The Shakespeare Wilma, The Festival, Shakespeare Oregon Festival, Theatre Theater, Williamstown Repertory American Regionally: Thumb. Clubbed MaMa, La Bull, Red Theatre, WP Nova, Ars Atlantic, The Company, Theatre Roundabout Horizons, York: Playwrights York. New in New based is Tilly an English designer set/costume TILLY GRIMES Cardin Fellowship in 2015. BA, ucla BA, Fellowship in 2015. Cardin Pierre the and Fellowship in 2012 Oenslager Donald of the arecipient were They nominee. Award Ovation amultiple and nominee, Circle Award Critics Connecticut a nominee, Award Design Hewes Henry Wing Theatre winner, American atwo-time Award is Grace aPrincess Adam Mines. Group) Mabou Working and Theater vised (De Theater Public at The Choir ABoys Am I collective performance their with artist aresident has been Adam Audience. A New Center, Kennedy For The Theatre Club, and Theatre Manhattan Cincinnati Opera, phia, Philadel Opera Festival, Shakespeare gon Yale Ore Rep, Festival, liamstown Theatre Teatro Rep, Wil Seattle in Municipal Brazil, Theater, Company, Theatre Guthrie the Signature in Austria, Wien Der An Theater Opera, LA York Workshop, New Theatre TaperMark Group, Forum/Center Theatre Rep, Soho include designer.tume Credits cos York–based and is set aNew Adam ADAM RIGG Yale School of Drama. Yale School DIRECTOR COSTUME DESIGNER COSTUME SCENIC DESIGNER SCENIC , Balsamo Grant for Immigrant Artists, Artists, Immigrant for Grant , Balsamo Good Men Wanted Men IslandRadio Good and Films. Films. . mfa -

, is , is - 9/16/19 3:58 PM , - - - - -

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Proudly serving Berkeley, Albany, Kensington, Alameda, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland and Piedmont

Extraordinary Performance.

Lorri Rosenberg Arazi Jennie A. Flanigan Denise Milburn Anna Bahnson Wendy Gardner Ferrari Jeffrey Neidleman Norah Brower Toni Hanna Jodi Nishimura Carla Buffington Nancy Hinkley Nancy Noman Jackie Care Sharon Ho Sandy Patel-Hilferty Maria Cavallo-Merrion Dan Joy Perry Riani Carla Della Zoppa Jetta Martin Ira & Carol Serkes Leslie Easterday Tracy McBride Diane Verducci Gini Erck

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2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 25

WN.program.emg.indd 25 9/16/19 3:58 PM WN.program.emg.indd 26 26 · 26 · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE WHO’S WHO with Murder pilot (abc with ( Odyssey American New Amsterdam Film/TV: others. and Goodman, McCarter, Globe, Old Fences Play Page 2 Women Gallery Clinton and Hillary Lear King Broadway: select and Recent CAPARELLIOTIS CASTING Off-Broadway: MIKAAL SULAIMAN Premiere. Season Anniversary 45th Co. Dance Jenkins Margaret the and Parallèle, Milk Theater, Harvey servatory Show Picture Horror Rocky Fidelio include Area Bay in the projects Upcoming world. the throughout lots vacant and warehouses, theatres, halls, concert houses, in opera Broadway, and off Broadway, on seen been and projections), (lighting and Book Good The designing recently most after production hisfor 45th Rep returns to Berkeley He installations. lighting art to and architectural opera and music, theatre, dance, from spans and environments, performance and props, to scenery, projections and lighting, video, from extends work design Alexander’s ALEXANDER V. NICHOLS missTgrimes tillygrimes.com nyu Trinity mfa: Dublin. College nyu of Rochester, University Duke, Dhabi, Abu nyu teacher: Guest Award. Critics Onstage and Award, Theatre Irish Times Award, Irish Design Circle Award, Critics Outer Steel Magnolias Steel Morning Opera. mikaal.com Opera. Morning Early Stage, Syracuse Theatre, Arden Iron, Trinity Pig Mammoth, Rep, Woolly Theatre, ( Rep Berkeley Regional: Musical Broadway The Skittles: Co.); Theatre Master York Workshop); Theatre Buckinghamshire in Shining Light Nova); (Ars Underground Railroad Game nomination); Award Desk Drama Nova; (Ars Play Theatre); (Atlantic Ridge VeraMeet Stark (Signature Theatre); Blue aRoom Through Journey Time’s nominations); AlienAbductions Recent Award Desk Drama and Lucille Lortel Rep; Club); Theatre CASTING SOUND DESIGNER DESIGNER & VIDEO LIGHTING ; Jitney (Playwrights Horizons); Rags Parkland (Playwrights , Brown-Trinity Graduate Directing, and and , Brown-Trinity Directing, Graduate ; Blackbird Kiss My Aztec! Kiss Les Liaisons; Les Dangereuses . Also: Signature, Atlantic, Ars Nova, Nova, Ars Signature, Atlantic, . Also: The Boys in the Band in the Boys ; The Meteor Shower ; Meteor The Glass Menagerie Glass ; The (projections), (projections), in America Angels ; Fish Dark in the Passage (Sony for Lifetime). (Sony for Continuity (lighting). His work has has His work (lighting). The Nap ; The nbc at San Francisco Opera, Francisco at Opera, San ), Ironside ), , Fairview How to Get Away Away to Get How ), A Doll’s House, Part Part House, ; ADoll’s Fairview The Thanksgiving Thanksgiving The (Manhattan (Manhattan at American Con American at ; The Waverly ; Three Tall ; The Front It’s Only a a Only ; It’s ; Disgraced (Play Co.); (Play Co.); at Opera at Opera (Soho pilot ( (New (New . Instagram: . Instagram: ), Alley Alley ), (Foundry (Foundry ( nbc , nbc ), ), ; ; ), ),

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ty of California, Santa Cruz. Santa of California, ty Universi from management in theatre MA Londonderry Ludlow Weston Family Tour Mansion with Porter Guide Orlando American Idiot American Day’s Green Henley, and by Beth Jacksonian The Moses, Itamar and Friedman byof Michael Solitude Tony Award–winning Pulitzer- Shanley’s Yee, Patrick and John NgoziAnyanwu, by Queen Homecoming The Anaïs Mitchell, Popular Music of History by Akhtar, Ayad A24-Decade Times of The Temptations of The Times Hour Office The Great include Leap productions past Favorite ZSpace. and Shakespeare, Cruz ta San Theater,Shakespeare Theatre, Magic Company, Theatre California Aurora Theater, Conservatory at American locally Theater, Public The at and Broadway off Theatre, Children’s Shanghai Art at the internationally has worked He season. of Paradise Squarelast production Rep’s Berkeley for manager stage the Chris was CHRIS WATERS Cultural Trust, and served on the board board the on Cultural Trust, served and Berkeley the and District School Unified Berkeley for Steering Committee Education in Arts chair Berkeley founding of the is she the to home, Closer Arts. the for Endowment National the and Foundation, Joyce the Midwest, Arts for panels program on served has also and Council Arts setts Massachu the for panels chaired Susan nation. the across theatres of nonprofit interests the represent that organizations ( Group Communications of Theatre ( Theatres of Resident League of the as president has served She Theatre. of the operations and ministration ad the leading since 1990, aging director man Rep’s as Berkeley has served Susan SUSAN MEDAK Junk DeLappe, Sarah Humans Hamilton Tony winners Award 2016 the ship include leader Johanna’s under developed were that works Notable profession. oflevels the highest at the to on production has gone to realize that work artists other and tors, direc writers, for environment nurturing nysaf television. and film, theatre, for works new of development to the dedicated zation ( York of New Film and Stage director artistic as the years 12 spent recently director. She artistic fourth as its to serve honored and Rep, is to delighted join Berkeley Johanna JOHANNA PFAELZER STAGE MANAGER STAGE MANAGING DIRECTOR DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR ARTISTIC nysaf is known for providing a rigorous and and arigorous providing for is known ), a New York City–based organi York aNew ), City–based A House Tour AHouse , and Infamous of the by by Wolves The Karam, by Stephen The The and Miranda, by Lin-Manuel Ain’t Too, Ain’t Life Proud: The and by Taylor Hadestown Mac, The Great Leap The Invisible The and Hand Doubt lort Hand to God , Hand ) and treasurer treasurer and ) . . The Fortress , The Fortress . Chris holds an an . Chris holds by Lauren by Lauren tcg - - , - - ), ), - by by - , -

- from Baruch College. College. Baruch from Management Resources Human and tions Rela in Labor aMS holds She Managers. and Agents Press of Theatrical Association negotiatorthe for representative/lead field and in Concert; Musicals American Great Center, Encores! City famous including the York New Center and Arts Performing sey Jer New at manager the production 2015; Dream Midsummer Night’s of Julie Taymor’s A production inaugural the of picture motion major a filmed and in Brooklyn theatre state-of-the-art new its opened she where Audience, aNew for manager/line Theatre general for producer Theater; Public The for manager general interim the include positions previous Her film. and television, music, theatre, dance, for events executed and has planned she where sector not-for-profit arts performing York New in the of experience years 20 Previously, over Rep. had she at Berkeley season fifth is her excited to begin Theresa THERESA VONKLUG North Carolina School of the Arts. Arts. of the School Carolina North of University the from Technical Direction amfa holds Audrey artisans. and staff production dedicated and talented ly immense the alongside to work proud is and particularly family Rep Berkeley the of part to is be Audrey grateful to solve, puzzle technical “impossible” another and to tell Theater. story loving anew Always Conservatory American and Playhouse, as bam such institutions with and Bill T. and tin, Jones, Mar Catherine Mendes, Sam Kentridge, Elaine William Stritch, Simon, as Paul such genres arts all performance across artists of international range awide with worked has Audrey management, in production of experience years over 20 With back. looked has never and 18 was she when in theatre of storytelling power and people wild fell inAudrey the love with AUDREY HOO ate Berkeley’s Downtown Arts District. District. Arts Downtown ate Berkeley’s to cre mayors help consecutive three with worked also She campus. Street Harrison acquisition in the and of the Theatre, Peet’s Center,Education of the renovation the Nevo the Theatre, Roda of the construction in the instrumental ley, has been Susan byAward tcg Leadership Visionary 2017 Fund the and Community Berkeley by the Medal Wheeler Ide Benjamin 2012 the awarded was She Trekking and Guild Society. Literary Ladies’ Blanc Mont the and Forum Women’s tional Interna of the is and amember of Drama of Yale School faculty the on serves Susan Association. Berkeley Downtown of the GENERAL MANAGER GENERAL PRODUCTION MANAGER , Esplanade Singapore, La Jolla Jolla La Singapore, , Esplanade . During her time in time Berke her . During , released June June , released in in - - 9/16/19 3:58 PM - - - - - AMY POTOZKIN DIRECTOR OF CASTING/ ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE 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 Im- pact Productions Inc., and Traveling Jewish The- atre. 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 Korn- bluth; 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 STARTS NOV 8 | GET TICKETS TODAY! 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.

MADELEINE OLDHAM DRAMATURG/RESIDENT DRAMATURG/DIRECTOR, THE GROUND FLOOR Madeleine is the director of The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and By BRYNA TURNER Development of New Work and the Theatre’s resident dramaturg. She oversees commissioning Directed by DAWN MONIQUE WILLIAMS and new play development, and dramaturged the world premiere productions of Fairview, Aubergine, The House that will not Stand, Passing “BULL IN A CHINA SHOP does the Strange, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator sisterhood proud! Heartbreaking, hilarious and delectable.” play), among others. As literary manager and — TIME OUT NEW YORK TIMES associate dramaturg at Center Stage in Balti- more, she produced the First Look reading series and headed up its young audience initiative. Before moving to Baltimore, she was the literary manager at Seattle Children’s Theatre, where she oversaw an extensive commissioning program. She also acted as assistant and interim literary manager at Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Mad- AURORATHEATRE.ORG | 510.843.4822 eleine served for four years on the executive 2081 ADDISON STREET, BERKELEY committee of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and has also worked with act (Seattle), Austin Scriptworks, Crowded Fire, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Kennedy Center, New Dramatists, Playwrights Center, and Portland Center Stage.

MICHAEL SUENKEL PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER 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

2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 27

WN.program.emg.indd 27 9/16/19 3:58 PM WN.program.emg.indd 28 28 · 28 · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE WHO’S WHO first year as artistic director.” artistic as year first Pfaelzer’s during Johanna so to do proud especially and Sponsors, Season to be We are honored necessary. more has been inspire energize and compel, to transform, of theatre power the lives in when time our vital amore been never “There’s Bruce, According and to Michelle playwrights. diverse innovative, nurturing and works new courageous in promoting Area Bay singular in the almost role Rep’s Berkeley have recognized Bruce and Michelle years, 25+ past the Over cast. of the members by alively discussion with followed theatre, dinner, an early for an evening of great join them would friends often where nights, discussion usually were Rep the at Berkeley in tow to evenings favorite Berkeley. Their children young two with moved they when since Rep 1993, of Berkeley supporters ardent have been Bruce and Michelle BRUCE GOLDEN&MICHELLE MERCER and Eurydice Socialism aKeyand Scriptures with to the to Guide Capitalism Intelligent Homosexual’s are productions Rep his Berkeley favorite Among Canada. SEASON SPONSORS Sofie Miller Sofie Gopnik-McManus Zoe Erin Gallagher Props TaitAdams assistant Production Herbsman Maya consultant Intimacy Dave Maier consultant Fight Eyken van Joshua Sykes James Matthew Steinmann Caitlin Snow Kourtney Schultz Meghan Schiffbauer C. Nathanael Schaeffer Corey Ramirez Melissa Parsons Kathleen LynchDavid Ketchum Caleigh Miranda Holman Gabriel Alcocer Desiree Electricians Miller Sofie Julia Formanek crew Deck Alea Gonzales shop Costume Gery Joe associate Casting II Cagle &Tim Wilson Irene coaches Bowling Mulkearns Caity designer costume Associate staff Additional Mad Forest Mad , Endgame . Angels in America Angels , Stratagem Beaux’ , The The , The , S. Wilmer OD. Wilmer S. Ling PT, Christina Allen and MD, Lang Olivia DDS, Johnson R. Whitney MD, Steven PhD, FangKathy Fugaro MD DPT, Dowdy DPT, Brenton Commer I. PT, Claveria Neil Patricia MD, Corey Christina MD, Chang J. Cindy MD, Carrigg John DC, Ban by Agi E. provided Rep Berkeley for consultation Medical Slotterback Anna Eric Hiro Wardrobe Miller Haley Buhmann Ahren Video programmers Jean Courtney Sound operator Holman Gabriel carpenter Stage Worthington Dutch Sound YauSerena Hines Lassen Curl Chrissy artists Scenic Williams Lauren Perkins Henry Miller Sean Martin Carl Isaac Jacobs Hopper Bradley Costley Jennifer Barringer Quinnton Scene shop Visbal Samantha Thiels Andrew TakahashiGarner Morris grandchildren. eight and daughters haveolder. three They of growing challenges the addressing adults for aprogram Aging, is Wise with involved Francisco, Betty InSan School. Oxbow the Institute and Franciscochair Art San of the is board an emeritus He Francisco Opera. of San board the on is and now many years, for board the on having served Theatre, the of is asustaining Jack advisor Rep. Berkeley to support are proud Jack and Betty JACK &BETTY SCHAFER to sponsor Berkeley Rep this Rep season. Berkeley to sponsor are delighted and theatre regional enjoyed have Steinbergs always The of Children. World of the board the on serves Sue Museum. Jewish of the of directors board the on serves currently and to 2006 1999 from of trustees board Rep’s Berkeley on served West, Macy’s of officer executive chief as chairman and retired recently who Michael, live and theatre. ballet, enjoy music, and since met they arts the in interested have been Sue and Michael MICHAEL &SUE STEINBERG SEASON SPONSORS SEASON SPONSORS three adult children. adult three have They Oakland. Children’s Hospital, ucsf physicianis an at attending Benioff Julie Kulhanjian, His wife, board. advisory college Dean’s Engineering Berkeley of UC amember and NY in Harlem, based agency Center, services health amental Northside of the member is aboard He Reich. Third Germany’s during confiscated illegally art ly fami for searches which Project Restitution Art including chair. Mosse the leads He officer, as an executive and years 20 for Institute Research Sciences Mathematical of the board the on has served Roger com), is investor. amajor in Roda which capture company, (inventysinc. Inventys including acarbon companies, cleantech of three board the on is currently He ical. Med by acquired company Avanos recently technology amedical (gameready.com), systems Cool and in Oakland located now engine Ask.com, search the incubated Roda in Berkeley. company based development venture (rodagroup.com), ahigh technology Group is Roda chair He of The president. officer, as an executive and years including 22 last the for of trustees board Rep ley Berke the on has served Strauch Roger THE STRAUCHKULHANJIANFAMILY chapter of his alma mater, Brandeis alumni local the heads also Len board. of the secretary is and currently trustees of board Rep’s of Berkeley is amember llp Brown at Mayer real estate Coast West of the co-head and isLen apartner LEONARD X&ARLENE B.ROSENBERG in 1972. students were they since Theatre the attending have been Arne Gail and Foundation. Tiba as treasurer for serves and time, part math hightors school tu and teaches he lawyer. Inhis retirement, is aretired Arne Matibabu. with partnership in Kenya, of western district derprivileged in an un investing healthcare in community dation (tibafoundation.org), an organization Foun of Tiba founder is the She oncologist. and ahematologist was she where Leandro in San Kaiser from retired She president. as board serves now and years seven for trustee Rep aBerkeley Gail has been GAIL &ARNE WAGNER Arts. Machine Street at 5th welder Warren is and amachinist and Berkeley UC at of physics is dayFrances’ as professor job produces. continuously Rep Berkeley that theatre exceptional edge, cutting of the proud are very They White Noise. of to sign are thrilled as sponsors they on years, for Rep Berkeley Having loved End. West an annual pilgrimageand to London’s Rep Berkeley includes which live theatre, of Frances are avidWarren watchers and FRANCES HELLMAN&WARREN BRESLAU SEASON SPONSORS SPONSORS EXECUTIVE SPONSORS LEAD SPONSORS . He . He - 9/16/19 3:58 PM

- - - - - University, and serves on the Alumni Associ- ation board of directors. Arlene, a recovering lawyer, serves on the board of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame and chairs its social justice and social action initiatives. Len and Arlene have two fantastic sons. Len and Arlene have enjoyed deepening their attachment to Berkeley Rep over the years, and are delighted to be sponsoring White Noise. BART SEASON SPONSOR Bay Area Rapid Transit (bart) is the backbone of the Bay Area transit network and serves more than 100 million passengers annually. bart’s all-electric trains make it one of the greenest and most energy-efficient transit systems in the world. Visit bart.gov/bartable to learn more about great destinations and events that are easy to get to on bart (like Berkeley Rep!). At bart.gov/bartable, you can find discounts, enter sweepstakes offering fantastic prizes, and find unique and exciting things to do just a bart ride Who couldn’t use away. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for bartable This Week, a free, weekly email filled with the latest and greatest bartable fun! a little more drama? PEET’S COFFEE SEASON SPONSOR Be a Rep. Share the gift of live theatre. 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. berkeleyrep.org/giftcert In 1966, Alfred Peet opened his first store on 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 move- ment in America, Peet’s is dedicated to small- batch 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 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 headquar- tered 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.

2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 29

WN.program.emg.indd 29 9/16/19 3:58 PM WN.program.emg.indd 30 30 · 30 · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE THANKS TO OUR INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS Hotel Shattuck Plaza is the official hotel of Berkeley Rep. Berkeley of hotel official the Plaza is Shattuck Hotel Jonathan Logan Family Foundation Family Foundation Logan Jonathan Foundation Edgerton Foundation Shubert The Foundation Hewlett Flora and William The IN-KIND SPONSORS Express American CORPORATE SPONSORS Foundation Woodlawn Project Tournesol The Trust Charitable Steinberg Mimi and Harold The Foundation Osher Bernard The Arts the for Endowment National Foundation Koret FOUNDATION ANDGOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS 2019. August and May 2018 between gifts their made who Rep, to Berkeley We donors gratefully recognize these programs. outreach community and artistic Rep’s Berkeley by championing community our enrich who many partners We institutional the thank EXECUTIVE SPONSORS SEASON SPONSORS $50,000–99,999 OF GIFTS ABOVE AND $100,000 OF GIFTS EXECUTIVE SPONSORS visa u.s.a. visa llp Austin Sidley · Oil ·Shell Jr. Foundation Bechtel, ·S.D. ·Salesforce Studios Animation Pixar Morrison & Foerster ·norcal &Foerster Morrison · ·Microsoft &Co. Strauss ·Levi Laboratory National Livermore ·Lawrence Foundation Kresge ibm · ·Google Foundation ·GE ·Genentech Foundation ·Gap Foundation Group Fremont · Mangement Capital ·Farallon Outreach Arts ·Electronic ·Dolby ·Clorox Corporation Chevron · America of ·Bank Inc. ·Autodesk Materials ·Applied ·Apple Inc. Systems ·Adobe Accenture gifts. matches company your if out find to office HR company’s your contact Please Rep. to Berkeley contributions employees’ their matched have companies following The MATCHING GIFTS Corporation · Intel Corporation · John & Maria Goldman Foundation · Johnson & Johnson · · &Johnson ·Johnson Foundation Goldman &Maria ·John Corporation ·Intel Corporation , Inc. · The Walt Disney Company ·Workday Company Disney Walt ·The , Inc. S , San Francisco · Union Bank, The Private Bank · Varian Medical System · · System Medical ·Varian Bank Private The Bank, ·Union Francisco , San S Mutual Insurance Company · Oracle Corporation · · Corporation ·Oracle Company Insurance Mutual S EED LEGEND The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Foundation &Foerster Morrison The Management Wealth Bank Mechanics Inc. +Co., Schwab Charles Stanley atMorgan Group Andreason The Semifreddi’s Group Planning Rhoades llp Brown Mayer llp &Watkins Latham Catering Groman Hugh llp +Martell Farella Braun hdr Deloitte Armanino Foundation Lux Miranda jec Council Arts California Program Arts Civic Berkeley Gershwin S. Leonore and Ira The Anonymous Ramsay Family Foundation FamilyRamsay Foundation ubs Group Family Law Schoenberg Interests Panoramic Walter & Elise Haas FundWalter &Elise Haas Foundation Laurents/Hatcher SPONSORS SPONSORS CORPORATE PARTNERS $10,000–24,999 OF GIFTS $25,000–49,999 OF GIFTS Philanthropic Fund Philanthropic Foundation Remodeling Remodeling llp

Ground Floor donor

S S S

Donkey & Goat Winery &Goat Donkey Comal César atbampfa Babette Press Autumn Catering Aurora Catering Ann’s Kitchen Louisiana Angeline’s PARTNERS

S S School of Theatre donor The Reva and David Logan Foundation Foundation Logan David and Reva The Anonymous Gallagher Risk Management Services Management Risk Gallagher BluesCruise.com Bayer Bayer rhe rhe Foundation Ruppenthal &Alice Karl Family Fund Davis/Dauray Foundation Civic Foundation Brantman &William Joyce Foundation Reinhold Rainin Foundation Kenneth GIFTS OF $5,000–9,999 OF GIFTS PERFORMANCE SPONSORS GIFTS OF $1,000–4,999 OF GIFTS for the Arts the for 510 647-2904. 510 647-2904. at Hepps Daria call or support berkeleyrep.org/ visit details For community. in the education arts and arts the support and visibility, increase employees, reward clients, entertain to network, opportunities excellent offers program Partnership Corporate Rep’s Berkeley sponsor? acorporate company your Is Charitable Foundation Foundation Charitable S zino +Kitchen Bar Revival Picante ocho Note La Vineyard Hafner Restaurant Gather Fonda Eureka! K in-kind gift Candy S M matching gift S

9/16/19 3:58 PM

S THANKS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL DONORS 9/16/19 3:58 PM

S M

THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 31

S Kerstin Edgerton David J. Williamson Shirley Schild & Philip Beth Karren Michael Yovino-Young John K. Sutherland Barry Posner Lou Peoples Len & Arlene Rosenberg Rosalind & Sung-Hou Kim Eileen & Hank Lewis Susan & Moses Libitzky HelenM. Marcus memory in of Martin & Janis McNair & PatreceSteven Mills Dugan Moore & Philippe Lamoise Peter Pervere & Georgia Cassel Barbara L. Peterson Gary & Noni Robinson Joan Sarnat & David Hoffman & William SchaffCynthia Pat & Merrill Shanks Shirlen Fund, memory in of Vickie Soulier Foundation Lisa Taylor Dave & Cindy Trummer Susan West Wendy Williams Martin & Margaret Zankel Seymour Kaufman & Fred Karren,Fred memory in of Beth Weissman Elizabeth Werter & Henry Trevor PatriciaJeffrey & Williams Sam & Joyce Zanze Mark Zitter & Jessica Nutik Zitter Jane & Mark Zuercher Jeane & Roger Samuelsen Jackie Schmidt-Posner & Valerie Sopher Sally & Joel Spivack Karen Stevenson & Bill McClave Deborah Barrera Taylor Alison & Teeman Judy O’Young, MD & Gregg Hauser Sandi & Dick Pantages Mary Ann Peoples, memory in of Malcolm & Ann Plant Linda & Eric Protiva L.Teresa Remillard Bill Reuter & Ruth Major Audrey & Paul Richards Sheli & Burt Rosenberg, honor in of Joe Ruck & Donna Ito Monica Salusky & 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · M M

M Christopher Hudson Christopher Lalita Tademy Michelle Deane WarrenSharp memory of Helen Barber of John T. Knoxof John T. & GeraldLynn Ungar Nguyen, honor in of Rita Moreno ASSOCIATE SPONSORS ASSOCIATE Stephen & Cindy Snow Barry Lawson Williams & Linda Wolan & Steven WoytakFelicia Rasmussen & Steven Anonymous Shelley & Jonathan Bagg Edith Barschi Neil & Gene Barth Valerie Barth Michelle Branch & Dale Cook Brook & Shawn Byers CarmichaelLynne Cindy Chang, MD & John Dains PaulDaniels, honor in PeterYonka of Narsai David & Venus A.Cynthia Farner & MarkTracy Ferron GoldinSteven Ms. Wendy E. Jordan Ed & Liliane & SchneiderEd Laura & Nicholas Severino Nancy & George Leitmann, in Sidne Long & Hank Delevati MalloneeElsie Rebecca Martinez Henning Mathew & Wanda Kownacki Woof Kurtzman Hertz & Liz Jane Larkin, & Mike memory in of Randy Laroche & David Laudon Louise Laufersweiler & Vera & DavidVera Hartford Dan & Shawna Hartman Brotsky RuthHennigar HermanBonnie & Tom Richard N. & Nancy Hill Lundeen Elaine Hitchcock Bill Hofmann & Robbie Welling Erin McCuneErin Miles & Mary Ellen McKey Kirk McKusick & Eric Allman Mendel Stephanie Mickelson & DonaldToby Brody Andy & June Monach Morrison Ronald Jerry Mosher Carol J. Ormond Linda & Gregory Orr Janet Clyde & Ostler James C. Hormel & Michael P. Paula Hughmanick Berger & Steven Bill & Lisa Kelly KisperskyStephen F. Jean Knox, memory in S K David Beery SPONSORS Marianne Mills Pam & Mitch Nichter Norman & Janet Pease Randolph Marjorie Leonard X & Arlene B. Rosenberg Patricia Sakai & Richard Shapiro Anonymous Edward D. Baker Maria Cardamone & Paul Matthews David & Vicki Cox Anne & Anuj Dhanda Robin & Rich Edwards David & Vicki Fleishhacker Paul Friedman & Diane Manley Fugaro & Steve Jill Karen Galatz & Jon Wellinghoff Paul Haahr & Susan Karp Scott & Sherry Haber Jerry & Julie Kline JackKlingelhofer Michael H. Kossman Suzanne LaFetra Collier LambKen Sandra & Ross McCandless MesserlyEd & Sudha Pennathur BENEFACTORS Leslie Chatham & Sunny St. Pierre Betsey Cheitlin & Ken Barbara & Rodgin Cohen Julie & Darren Cooke Karen & David Crommie Cuthbertson Jim Dr. Barbara & Tim Daniels David Deutscher Corinne Doyle & Mike James Irving Emery & P. Merle & Michael Fajans Lisa & Dave Finer Thomas & Sharon Francis Lisa & Rod Franzel Mickels Herb & Marianne Friedman Mary & Stan Friedman Dennis & Susan Johann Gilardi Daniel & Hilary B. Goldstine Nelson Goodman Garrett Gruener & Amy Slater Migsy Hamasaki & Jim Bob & Linda Harris Anonymous (4) Norman Abramson, memory in of Martha & Bruce Atwater Nina Auerbach Anne M. Baele Linda Baker & Mike Michelle L. Barbour BluesCruise.com Broitman-Basri Foundation Ben Brown & Louise Rankin Don & Carol Anne Brown BrownTracy & Greg Holland Italo & Susan Calpestri RonnieCaplane & DeborahTerrence Carlin

K S S

William E. Jones VickyReich Dr. AndrewDr. Gunther Parlette-Edwards MargaretHart Edwards EXECUTIVE SPONSORS EXECUTIVE LEAD SPONSORS LEAD SEASON SPONSORS SEASON Barbara Bass Bakar SusanChamberlin & Diana CohenBill Falik Kerry Francis & John Jimerson Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney Jean & Michael Strunsky Gail & Arne Wagner Stewart & Rachelle Owen Mary Ruth Quinn & Scott Shenker Tomlinson & SteffanKelli Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau Casey Keller / Peet’s Coffee & GiseleKen Miller Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer Jack & Betty Schafer Michael & SueSteinberg The Strauch Family Kulhanjian PARTNERS Earl & Bonnie Hamlin J. & Dr. Hurley Pearce Lynda Kathleen & Chris Jackson Barbara E. Jones, memory in of Duke & Daisy Kiehn Dixon Long Peter & Melanie Maier Dale & Don Marshall Sumner & Hermine Marshall Charles Marston & Rosa Luevano Susan Medak & Greg Murphy Pure Dana Fund Sue Reinhold & Deborah Newbrun David S. H. Rosenthal & Jaimie Sanford Storey & Ted Beth & David Sawi Linda & Nathan Schultz & EllenEd Smith Audrey & Bob Sockolov SheilaWishek ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE SPONSOR CIRCLE SPONSOR We thank theWe generous individuals our in community who help Berkeley Rep produce adventurous, and thought-provoking, theatre andthrilling bring arts education thousands to these recognize gratefully donors We of young people to every year. Berkeley Rep, who made their gifts between 2018May and August 2019. gift your and make distinguished this join group, To or berkeleyrep.org/give 510 call visit 647-2906. Richard & Lois Halliday William Espey & Nancy & Jerry Falk Lily Fan Karen Grove & Julian Cortella Ms. Burns Teresa Gunther & Anonymous & Hirni Amin Tarang Berit Ashla & Aron Cramer BrakemanEd Jennifer & Sam Chaiken Hamilton Constance Crawford Thomas Edwards W. & Rebecca

We are pleased to recognize first-time donors pleased first-time are We recognize to to Berkeley Rep, whose names appearin italics. WN.program.emg.indd 31 S

S S Charitable Foundation for the Arts GIFTS OF$1,000–4,999 GIFTS OF$5,000–9,999 Kenneth Foundation Rainin Reinhold Foundation Joyce & William Brantman Foundation Civic Foundation Davis/Dauray Fund Family Karl & Alice Ruppenthal Foundation rhe Anonymous The Reva and David Logan Foundation WN.program.emg.indd 32 32 · 32 · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 ISSUE · ·2019–20 MAGAZINE REP BERKELEY THE THANKS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL DONORS cil · John & Izzie Crane Crane &Izzie John cil · Smikle &Collin Clay Andrea Christiani · & Linnea R. Frostad Frostad R. Chris Freed · &Dava Donald Francis · Dean Fleming · &Jessica James Flannery · Patrick Fishman · &Barbara Martin Feinberg · &Mary Ben Kemeny · &Judy Feigenbaum Paul Kalkstein · &Michael English Susan Palma · Di &Beppe Francine Crowley · McKinney · Andrew Leavitt & Catherine &Catherine Leavitt Andrew McKinney · &Scott Lavagnino Sherrill Land · E. Helen Lally · &Claudine Kevin Lakireddy · Susilpa Sykes · Dan & Kornegay Janet Staff · Rep ley Berke the of honor in Lynn Komaromi, Eve Ungvarsky · &Carole Killian Christopher Medak · Susie of honor Family, in Hornthal The Holve · &Janice Don Herdell · & Ardis Vaughn of memory in Herdell, Christina Henry · Elizabeth & Thomas Griffes · Peter & Anne Graves · &Nicholas Mary Gottlieb · K. Gale Mrs. Slyter · &Howard Ginsburg Gerald & Lynda Vurek-Martyn &Lynda Gerald Thompson · Tracy Rogers · & Stephanie Rick Redell · &Suzanne David Tom Moore · & Susan Luehrmann · &Arthur Martha 2019. 29, to August 7, 2019 August from received were contributions whose donors following the recognize We gratefully Beers Gerry & Don Beach · Stephanie Battuello · A. Lois Batson · &Jack Leslie & Ted Landau · Auerbach Tony of Naomi Taccone · honor in Argyris, &Marcia George (5) · Anonymous Brandenburger · Eric Brink & Gayle Vassar Vassar &Gayle Brink Eric Brandenburger · Naomi Black Black Naomi SUPPORTERS CHAMPIONS M · Lea Chang · Terin Christensen · Richard Richard Terin Christensen · Chang · · Lea William Espey & & Espey William Epstein &Susan Bill & W. Edwards Thomas Edwards &Robin Rich Thalia Dorwick Dicker Laina M. Taylor &Jody Daly Andrew Close Sofia Terin Christensen Watson &David Champagne Paula Cassidy K. Stephen McCall G. &Richard Carlton Bruce Family Broitman-Basri Linda Brandenburger Baskin &Barry Susan Barth &Gene Neil Barschi Edith Axelrod Nancy Avery &Joni Ken Pan &Aurora W. Arnoult Carl Ambler Sam Beery &David Abramson Norman (8) Anonymous 2019: September of as Sustaining members Christina Crowley members: new following the welcomes society The Kerry Francis Kerry & Follansbee E. Dr. Stephen Cohen &Diana Falik Bill · Robert Council & Ann Parks-Coun &Ann Council · Robert Rebecca Parlette-Edwards Rebecca Dr. Richard A. Wolitz Wolitz A. Dr. Richard Edwards Hart Margaret M · Kelli M. Frostad · Marjorie Marjorie Frostad · M. · Kelli M M · Caroline Beverstock · Beverstock · · Caroline · Marc Blakeman Blakeman · Marc

M · Lori & Michael &Michael · Lori

M · Linda · Linda or [email protected]. 647-2904 510 at Hepps Daria contact or berkeleyrep.org/mls at website our visit amember, becoming on information more For year. after year programs, outreach and education innovative with community the serve and work, new support excellence, artistic of standards highest the maintain to Rep Berkeley enables that stability financial the provide will they where funds, endowment board-designated Rep’s Berkeley of part a become gifts planned otherwise, specifies donor the Unless plans. estate their in Rep Berkeley designated have W. Leibert, Michael Director Founding of honor in is named which Society, this of Members - - Tony Taccone · Dr. David Schulz Schulz Tony Dr. David Taccone · of honor in Katz, &Sara Scharlin Dan mon · & Anne Rowe · Dace P. Rutland · Lisa Salo P. Lisa Dace Rowe · Rutland · & Anne Boyard Barnett · &Denise Rosenberg Galen Foundation · Community Bay East the at Fund Rockridge The Roberts · &Jody John Risley · James of memory in Risley, Maxine Richardson · Helen Ramos · &Mary David Pauley · &MaryJane Bob Park · Wharton Gerane Man · &Michael Pang Lynette Oken · &Richard Judith Oddone · Saarni &Barbara Oddone Piermaria Murphy · Daniel Morris · &Britt-Marie Brian Rand · &Marc Montgomery Tony Scott Taccone · of honor in Monheimer, Geri Miller · Dan Medak · Ruth Katsaros · &Peter Medak Joanne McCutcheon · &Michael Janet Martinelli · &Adolph Charlotte Marcus · &Selma Mose Weiland, Ruth of memory in Marcus, &Gary Lois Love · &Eileen Jay Linsky · &Roberta Mark Linn · C. Marcia Lindsay · S. Jennifer Levine · &Barry Ellen Glazeski · &Michael Lees Glennis Lewis · Margi Sullivan · Sarah Van Roo · Robert & & Robert Roo · Van Sarah Sullivan · Margi & Dyk van William Timnick · Henry Test · Sam Terris · Susan W. Strickberger · Monroe Stein · &Jana Gary So · &Scott Alice Smith · Collins Cherida Tubach · &Michael Singhal Amrita Simpson · &Lori David Silver · & Ivor Beryl Ph.D. · M.D., Shank, Buckhold Brenda Seidl · &Marva Andrew Schwab · & Bruce William & Lee Rust &Lee William McCalmont · &Camilla Tim Doebler · &Jennifer Kelly Pat Jensen · &Ann Joe Jacobs · &Mark Nancy Ferguson · & Lori Michael Barron · &Bill Linda Anonymous · CONTRIBUTORS Miles & Mary Ellen McKey Ellen &Mary Miles McGehee G. John McCulloch &Charles Suzanne LeValley McArthur Sarah Martinez Rebecca Marshall &Hermine Sumner Marshall &Don Dale Marcus M. Helen Lofstrom Dot Law & Kathy Scott Kossman H. Michael Lynn Komaromi Eve Killip McPherson Bonnie Kaslow Carlos &D. Kelly Janice Johnson C. Robin Hurley Pearce &Dr. J. Lynda Trust Family Hoskins/Frame Hill J. Douglas Hepps Daria Ruth Hennigar Hartwick Fred Harris &Bob Linda Harkness &Paul Julie Halliday &Lois Richard Grether &Becky Don Greene &Judy Sheldon Greene Elizabeth Graves &Nicholas Mary Slyter &Howard Ginsburg Marjorie McPherson &Phillip Gaskin David Fujii K. Laura Frykman Dr. John T. Friedman Paul Friedman &Antonia Joseph Freedman &Deana Dr. Harvey M · Teddy · Teddy - Wolfram & Peter Wolfram · Sally Woolsey Sally Wolfram · &Peter Wolfram Charles Willrich · Wendy Weisblatt · Sheila Daly Jordan-Koch · Kaarel Kaljot · Helmut Helmut Kaljot · Kaarel Jordan-Koch · Daly & Claudia Jones · &Margaret Reese Jones · Corrina Johnson · L. Ann Jensen · Douglas & Anne Jensen · D. C. Mr. &Mrs. Isbell · M. Harold Mr. &Mrs. Shepherd · & David Hoffman Al Hoel · Jeff Crowley · Christina & Hobe Peter Krois · &Jean Hertz Howard Hepps · &Robert Irene Grether · & Becky Tony of Don Taccone · honor in Greene, &Judy Sheldon Green · &Maya Rico Graham · Joy Linda Geier · &Kathleen Karl Thomas Culp Thomas & Wagner Charles Vinson · Nancy Adams · John St. Beatriz Rosenberg · Bettina Spector · & Steven Ripps Robert Reese · &Martin Estephania Radisch · · Marilyn Lunden Melissa Liu · Kim Kasl Elizabeth Joseph · Nadine Johnson · Carole Henri · Philippe Gluskin · &Riitta · Alan P.Eric Essman Chin · Celeste Allen · &Roy Absey Julie Alim &Azlynda Friedland Daniel Fisher · Louis & Brigitte Estey · J. Sue Edwards · Peek ton Bur Drucker · Linda Sabin · &Alix Drooker Nancy Kelly · &Greg Down Kathy Dennis · &Susan Harry DeHart · Bill Damron · Kathleen Custer · &Evan Jill Crane · Mike & Wu ·Pam &Margaret Cox Ciara Chenel · Laura Cant · &Margaret Robert Family · & Campbell Don Brock · Peter Brandriff · &Barbara Bob Filipek · &David Blatt erly Bev Bittenbender · Patti Bischoff · Steve Biondi · A. James Berman · &Kathi Richard Barham · Francis Dr. &Mrs. Leonard · &Jonathan Alkon Abbey (13) · Anonymous FRIENDS ADVOCATES Dorothy Walker Dorothy Wagner &Arne Gail Turner Kate Janis Trapp &Melody Phillip Tiphane Guy Timnick Henry Susskind &Duncan Andrew Mary, Strunsky Jean Stewart &Anne Dr. Douglas Steinberg &Sue Michael Sopher Valerie Shoemaker Kevin Ph.D. Shank,M.D., Buckhold Brenda Shapiro &Richard Sakai Patricia Ruth Dashow Deborah Rowson E. Tracie Rovno David Tom Roberts Trust Living Ring Bonnie Richardson Gregg Marjorie Randolph Phillips Margaret Regina Phelps Peterson L. Barbara Amy Pearl Parodi Ott Sharon Osborne G. Sheldeen Nichter &Mitch Pam Smits &Bernard Nelson Theresa Nedham &Joe Shirley Toni Mester Stephanie Mendel Murphy &Greg Medak Susan Medak Ruth McKibben &Winton D. Margaret M · David Gaskin & Phillip McPherson · McPherson · Phillip & Gaskin David · · Carol Tanenbaum & John &John Tanenbaum · Carol Derek T. Knudsen · Derek · · - - Estate of Grace Williams Grace of Estate Weininger Harry of Estate Sloss Peter of Estate honor in Schaefer, C. Stephen of Estate Robinson &Ivy Leigh of Estate Purvine Margaret of Estate Perez-Mendez Gladys of Estate Patterson A. Timothy of Estate Markell Richard of Estate Manning A. & Helen E. John of Estate Lewandowitz R. Ines of Estate Faye LeDuff Zandra of Estate Lasson J. Audrey of Estate Glauser Rudolph of Estate Field &John Carol of Estate Croley Nancy of Estate Paula Carrell of Estate Bryans Jill of Estate Berteaux Nelly of Estate Berg B. Carole of Estate Benesch Fritzi of Estate Barber Helen of Estate Adams Suzanne of Estate Anonymous Rep: Berkeley by received Gifts Martin & Margaret Zankel &Margaret Martin JD Yang, Anders Work &Henry Karen West Susan Family Trust—Weil Family Weil Walter &Holly Barry of Jean and Jack Knox Knox Jack and Jean of Tim Kientzle Kientzle Tim & Beth Neff · &Colleen Kapczynski H. Pine Pine F. James Phelps · Jr. · Regina Peckham, M. Robert of honor in & Toni Peckham, Bob Parsons · D. Brian Olson · S. Suzette Ogle · Judy Nakayama · Ron Nakao · & Emi Aki Miner · Jeff McRee · Brian McGuinn · &John Karen Soriano · &K. Mathews M. Marineau · &Phil Sue Mann · & Bruce Naomi Partlow · &Pamela Maigatter Bruce MacClelland · &Kathy Gerry Lurie · & Bob Jane Marduel · &Alix Tom Lockard Linn · C. Marcia Lasinski · &Thomas Barbara P. Carol LaPlant · Kulander · &Monica Ken the Berkeley Rep staff. Rep Berkeley the supports which Fund, Development sional Profes Randolph Marjorie The establishing for Randolph Marjorie to thanks Special Moe & Becky Wright · Stan Zaks Stan Wright · &Becky Moe Wornick · &Anita Ron T. Weston · Robert Webster · William Mr. &Mrs. Walker · Larry & Louise Wade · Lisa Steen · Van Leon Mr. Turbow · &Ellen Mike Trautner · Rick Piller · &Geoff Tiedemann Karen Thomas · E. Nancy Snider · Sigrid Smith · & Camilla George Smallwood · &Dick Jerry Slyman · Suzanne Sleight · Carra Sirott · & Matthew Arlene Shortell · &Susan Steve Shaver · E. Sarah Schnobrich · Joyce Saxe · R. Dorothy Argue · &John Sales Mitzi Winkel · Steven & Sahm P. Leo Barbara of Ruth · memory in Ruth, Dashow Deborah Robison · C. William Mrs. Rebischung · Danielle Allen · &Diane Quenneville Kathleen Preston · M · F. Anthony Placzek · Roxann R. R. Roxann Placzek · · F. Anthony M · Peggy Kivel · Susan Kolb · Kolb · Susan Kivel · · Peggy

9/16/19 3:58 PM - Artistic Director Managing Director Johanna Pfaelzer Susan Medak STAFF AND BOARD General Manager Theresa Von Klug

ARTISTIC ELECTRICS House Managers Lisa Anne Porter · Diane Rachel · Elizabeth Anne Bertolino · Rolf Saxon · Elyse Shafarman · BOARD OF DIRECTORS Director of Casting & Master Electrician Jerry Chirip · Maggie Collette · Dalia Arje Shaw · Joyful Simpson · Artistic Associate Frederick C. Geffken President Garcia · Aleta George · Cleavon Smith · M. Graham Smith · Gail Wagner Amy Potozkin Assistant Master Electrician Aaron Higareda · Matisse Michalski · Elizabeth Vega · James Wagner · Director, The Ground Floor/ Sarina Renteria Angelica Phung · Tuesday Ray · Dan Wolf Vice Presidents Debra Selman Resident Dramaturg Production Electrician Teaching Artists Bruce Golden Madeleine Oldham Kenneth Coté Lead Concessionaires Miriam Ani · Nicole Apostol Bruno · Stewart Owen Molly Conway · Nina Gorham · Michael Curry · Shannon Davis · Literary Manager Felicia Woytak Sarah Rose Leonard SOUND & VIDEO Johnny Lloyd · Nichelle Pete Adrian Gebhart · Maya Herbsman · Artistic Associate Concessionaires Clara Kamunde · Rebecca Longfellow · Treasurer Katie Craddock Sound & Video Supervisor April Ancheta · Herman Angulo · Dave Maier · Carla Pantoja · Henning Mathew Lane Elms Jessica Bates · Katie Braninburg · Bryan Quinn · Radhika Rao · Artists under Commission Lindsey Schmeltzer · Adam Smith · Secretary Todd Almond · Christina Anderson · Sound Engineers Suleekho Muse Nicole Bruno · Angela Don Jason Brunswick · Benji Carver · Teddy Spencer · Zoe Swenson- Leonard X Rosenberg Lisa Peterson · Sarah Ruhl · Graham · Joshua Waterstone · Tori Sampson · Joe Waechter Michael Kelly Si Mon’ Emmett · Lorenz Gonzales · Michelle Hernandez · Julian Islas · Elena Wright · Noelle Viñas · Chair, Governance Committee Associate Sound & Video Supervisor Alejandra Wahl Michelle Branch Chase Nichter Evan Lester · Mikayla McLaurin · PRODUCTION Suleekho Muse · James Oh · Teen Core Council Win Wallace · Marissa Wolden Milo Bailey · Simon Bhuller-Riordan · Chair, Audit Committee Production Manager Kerry L. Francis Audrey Hoo ADMINISTRATION Ticket Services Manager Fidela Bisseret Martinez · Finance Director Dora Daniels Eleanor Boes · Bianca Carmango · Board Members Associate Production Manager Lilly-Karin Dandenell · Scarlette De Zoey Russo Jared Hammond Box Office Supervisor Berit Ashla Beauvior · Dina Fukunaga · Carrie Avery Associate General Manager Julie Gotsch Maera Klein · Malia Lee · Tatiana Lira · Amanda Williams O’Steen Edward D. Baker STAGE MANAGEMENT Subscription Manager Grace Nelligan Zohar Naaman · David Cox Executive Assistant Laurie Barnes Alex Pansino · Roan Pearl · Anne Nemer Dhanda Production Stage Manager Madeleine Riskin-Kutz · Jade Rogers · Kate Horton Box Office Lead Robin Edwards Michael Suenkel Avelina Rivezzo-Weber · Bookkeeper Alina Whatley Jill Fugaro Stage Managers Sarah Schecter Karen Galatz Kristine Taylor Box Office Agents Lisa Iacucci · Kelly Montgomery · Docent Co-Chairs Steven Goldin Associate Finance Director Chelbi Dickens · Topher Hester · Libby Unsworth · Chris Waters Matty Bloom, Content Scott Haber Eric Ipsen Oliver Kampman · Victoria Phelps · Joy Lancaster, Recruitment Casey Keller Assistant Stage Managers Timothy Quirus · Alina Whatley Chiquita Lu · Sofie Miller · Payroll Administrator Selma Meyerowitz, Off-Sites Michael Kossman Megan McClintock · Leslie M. Radin Katie Riemann and Procedures Jonathan C. Logan Production Assistants CRM Project Manager OPERATIONS Sandra R. McCandless Tait Adams · James McGregor · Destiny Askin Facilities Director 2019–20 BERKELEY REP FELLOWSHIPS Susan Medak Sofie Miller Mark Morrisette Sudha Pennathur Bret C. Harte Directing Fellow Johanna Pfaelzer DEVELOPMENT Facilities Manager Nailah Harper-Malveaux Laura Severino Ashley Mills STAGE OPERATIONS Director of Development Company Management Fellow Richard Shapiro Stage Supervisor Lynn Eve Komaromi Building Engineer Reagan O’Malley Roger Strauch Julia Englehorn Thomas Tran Jean Z. Strunsky Associate Director of Development Costume Fellow Kelli Tomlinson Daria Hepps Building Technician Anthony Fiore Steven C. Wolan Kevin Pan PROPERTIES Director of Individual Giving Development Fellow Past Presidents Properties Supervisor Laura Fichtenberg Facilities Assistants Samuel Levit Lemont Adams · Theresa Drumgoole · Helen C. Barber Jillian A. Green Stewardship Officer Education Fellow Sophie Li · Guy Nado · Jesus Rodriguez · A. George Battle Woof Kurtzman Zandra Starks Associate Properties Supervisor LeRoy Thomas Carole B. Berg Amelia Burke-Holt Institutional Giving Manager Graphic Design Fellow Robert W. Burt Shih-Tso Chen Props Artisan Julie McCormick Haly Roy BERKELEY REP SCHOOL OF THEATRE Narsai M. David Dara Ly Special Events Manager Harry Weininger Sound Fellow Thalia Dorwick, PhD Abbey Bay McSweeney Director of the School of Theatre Jaime Tippett Rachel Hull Nicholas M. Graves SCENE SHOP Individual Giving Manager Lighting/Electrics Fellow Richard F. Hoskins Kelsey Scott Associate Director Hannah Solomon Jean Knox Technical Director MaryBeth Cavanaugh Jim Smith Grant & Communications Marketing/Digital Robert M. Oliver Coordinator Program Manager, Training and Communications Fellow Stewart Owen Associate Technical Director Maddie Gaw Community Programs Katherine Gunn Marjorie Randolph Matt Rohner Anthony Jackson Harlan M. Richter Development Coordinators Peter F. Sloss Literary/ Shop Foreman Richard A. Rubin Nina Feliciano · Alexandra Josefski Education Communications and Dramaturgy Fellow Sam McKnight Partnerships Manager Edwin C. Shiver Development Database Charlie Dubach-Reinhold Roger Strauch Master Carpenter Marcela Chacón Coordinator Production Management Fellow Martin Zankel Jamaica Montgomery-Glenn Jane Voytek Data and Tessitura Analyst Kali Grau Carpenters Katie Riemann Sustaining Advisors Properties Fellow Rena Bransten Patrick Keene · Read Tuddenham Community Programs Administrator MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Del Hanson Diana Cohen Modesta Tamayo Director of Marketing and Scenic Art Fellow William T. Espey SCENIC ART Communications Education Youth Associate Samantha (Sam) Welsing William Falik Si Mon’ Emmett David Fleishhacker Charge Scenic Artist Peter Yonka Scenic Construction Fellow Lisa Lázár Faculty Paul T. Friedman Director of Public Relations Kathryn Bosch Nicholas M. Graves Tim Etheridge Bobby August Jr. · Erica Blue · Jon Burnett · Rebecca Castelli · Stage Management Fellow David Hoffman COSTUMES Communications & Digital Eugenie Chan · Iu-Hui Chua · Elizabeth Kamla Richard F. Hoskins Costume Director Content Director Jiwon Chung · Sally Clawson · Dale Rogers Marshall Maggi Yule Karen McKevitt Deborah Eubanks · Susan Garner · Helen Meyer Senior Marketing Manager Christine Germain · Nancy Gold · Dugan Moore Tailor Peter Pervere Kathy Kellner Griffith Seth Macari Gary Graves · Marvin Greene · Susan-Jane Harrison · Gendell Marjorie Randolph Draper Webmaster Patricia Sakai Christina Cone Hing-Hernández · Melissa Hillman · Star Rabinowitz William Hodgson · Andrew Hurteau · Jack Schafer First Hand Video & Multimedia Producer Anthony Jackson · Kasey Klem · William Schaff Janet Conery Benjamin Michel Krista Knight · Julian López-Morillas · Michael Steinberg Dave Maier · Reid McCann · Michael Strunsky Wardrobe Supervisor Program Advertising Patricia Miller · Alex Moggridge · Martin Zankel Barbara Blair Pamela Webster Edward Morgan · Jack Nicolaus · Front of House Director Slater Penney · Greg Pierotti · Kelly Kelley Founding Director Front of House Manager Michael W. Leibert Debra Selman Producing Director, 1968–83

2019–20 · ISSUE 2 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 33

WN.program.emg.indd 33 9/16/19 3:58 PM MAKING THEATRE CHANGE THE NARRATIVE

TAKE ON

KNOCKING DOWN SOCIETAL NORMS... THE STAGE AND BOWLING PINS, TOO Bowling is a shared pastime for the characters in White Noise, so the artistic team took a short trip down REGISTER NOW San Pablo Avenue to bond over a few games at Albany Bowl, while the cast FOR FALL CLASSES! (playing as their characters, as you can see on the screen) took lessons BERKELEYREP.ORG/CLASSES from Irene Wilson and Tim Cagle II. Fun fact: Like playwright Suzan-Lori 510 647-2972 Parks, actors Nick Dillenburg and Chris Herbie Holland each spent a lot of their youth at bowling alleys, with parents who were devoted bowlers. BE A STUDENT. BE A REP.

34 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 2019–20 · ISSUE 2 PHOTO COURTESY THERESE BARBATO

WN.program.emg.indd 34 9/16/19 3:58 PM CHANGE THE NARRATIVE

TAKE ON THE STAGE

BE A STUDENT. BE A REP.

WN.program.emg.indd 35 9/16/19 3:58 PM SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES AND SINGLE TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

Dianne Wiest in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS JOIN US FOR

Culture Clash (Herbert Siguenza, Suzan-Lori Parks Richard Montoya, and Ric Salinas) Jocelyn Bioh Lisa Peterson John Gallagher, Jr. Michael Mayer The Avett Brothers EXCLUSIVELY NEXT UP A world premiere from one of Berkeley Rep's beloved playwrights! FOR YOU Out of work and out of love, Becky Nurse is an BECKY NURSE OF SALEM ordinary but strong-willed grandmother just BY SARAH RUHL trying to get by in post-Obama America. She’s also DIRECTED BY ANNE KAUFFMAN the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter MAIN SEASON · PEET’S THEATRE of Rebecca Nurse, who was infamously executed YOUR TICKET TO DEC 12, 2019–JAN 26, 2020 for witchcraft in 1692—but things have changed for women since then, haven’t they? WHITE NOISE STILL TO COME... UNLOCKS A TON

WORLD PREMIERE CULTURE CLASH (STILL) IN AMERICA SWEPT AWAY MUSICAL! OF GREAT PERKS! WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CULTURE CLASH BOOK BY JOHN LOGAN RICHARD MONTOYA, RICARDO SALINAS, MUSIC & LYRICS BY THE AVETT BROTHERS AND HERBERT SIGUENZA MUSIC ARRANGEMENTS & ORCHESTRATIONS ADD JUST 2 MORE SHOWS TO DIRECTED BY LISA PETERSON BY CHRIS MILLER & BRIAN USIFER BECOME A SUBSCRIBER! MAIN SEASON · PEET’S THEATRE DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MAYER FEB 20–APR 5, 2020 LIMITED SEASON · PEET’S THEATRE YOU'LL GET... JUN 14–JUL 26, 2020 DISCOUNTED PRICES INFECTIOUS COMEDY SCHOOL GIRLS WITH TEETH! GUARANTEED SEATS OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY PLUS A SPECIAL NONSUBSCRIPTION EVENT FREE TICKET EXCHANGES BY JOCELYN BIOH BENEFITS FOR FRIENDS DIRECTED BY AWOYE TIMPO THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX MAIN SEASON · RODA THEATRE BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY DISCOUNTS ON CLASSES MAR 19–MAY 3, 2020 PIGPEN THEATRE CO. BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KATE DICAMILLO AND AND SO MUCH MORE THE UNIVERSAL PICTURES ANIMATED FILM HAPPY DAYS DIRECTED BY MARC BRUNI AVAILABLE ONLY BY PHONE BY SAMUEL BECKETT AND PIGPEN THEATRE CO. DIRECTED BY JAMES BUNDY SPECIAL PRESENTATION · RODA THEATRE CALL 510 647-2949 WITH DIANNE WIEST NOV 21, 2019–JAN 5, 2020 LIMITED SEASON · RODA THEATRE USE CODE WNSUB MAY 26–JUL 5, 2020

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