The Origin Story 16·Interviews with Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare 16·The program for The Good Book 25 THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE 2018–19 · ISSUE 6 GB_program.indd 1 4/12/19 5:07 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. With classes, exhibits, lectures, restaurants, shops and public transportation within walking distance, St. Paul’s Towers is urban community living at its best. Get to know us and learn more about moving to St. Paul’s Towers. For information, or to schedule a visit, call 510.891.8542. 100 Bay Place, Oakland, CA 94610 www.covia.org/st-pauls-towers A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia. License No. 011400627 COA# 327 GB_program.indd 2 4/12/19 5:07 PM IN THIS ISSUE 10 16 16 BERKELEY REP PRESENTS THE GOOD BOOK · 25 MEET THE CAST & CREW · 26 PROLOGUE Welcome to Berkeley Rep! A letter from the artistic director · 7 To ensure the best experience for everyone: Engaging and eclectic You’re free to bring beverages in cans, Late seating is not guaranteed. If you REPORTS cartons, or plastic cups with lids into are seated late, please follow the house Celebrating our 50th · 10 the house. manager’s instructions about where to sit. From School to stage · 12 If you leave during the performance, you in the East Bay. Doing Good · Food is prohibited in the house. will be reseated at an appropriate break. 14 Because, eww! Oakland is the gateway to the East Bay with a little bit of everything to offer, This is live theatre, and we’re all in Please keep Berkeley Rep’s outdoor and this together. Join with your fellow FEATURES and St. Paul’s Towers gives you easy access to it all. An artistic, activist, and indoor spaces free of cigarette smoke, theatregoers, and remember that people The Good Book: The Origin Story · 16 e-cigarettes, and vaping. respond to the show in different ways. intellectual Life Plan Community, St. Paul’s Towers is known for convenient One of the joys of live theatre is the Interviews with Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare · services, welcome comforts and security for the future. Phones that ring during the performance collective experience! 16 are a total bummer. For everyone. In constant evolution: Ensure that phones and other electronic Enjoy the show! The Bible in translation · 21 devices will not make noise. Video and/or With classes, exhibits, lectures, restaurants, shops and public transportation Breaking down the books of the Bible · 23 photographs of the performance within walking distance, St. Paul’s Towers is urban community living at its are prohibited. best. CONTRIBUTORS Foundation, corporate, and CONNECT WITH US ONLINE! THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE 2018–19 · ISSUE 6 in-kind sponsors · 33 facebook.com/ Individual donors to the Annual Fund · Get to know us and learn more about moving to St. Paul’s Towers. For berkeleyrep The Berkeley Rep Magazine is published at least seven 34 times per season. Michael Leibert Society · 36 information, or to schedule a visit, call 510.891.8542. @berkeleyrep For local advertising inquiries, please contact Pamela Webster at 510 590-7091 or [email protected]. @berkeleyrep Editor Writers Karen McKevitt Nina Feliciano ABOUT BERKELEY REP vimeo.com/ Sarah Rose Leonard Staff, board of trustees, and Graphic Designer Karen McKevitt berkeleyrep Kirsten Pribula Alex Moggridge sustaining advisors · 38 Madeleine Rostami berkeleyrep Visit our website berkeleyrep.org Contact Berkeley Rep We’re mobile! Box Office: 510 647-2949 Click berkeleyrep.org Groups (10+): 510 647-2918 Email [email protected] 100 Bay Place, Oakland, CA 94610 Download our free iPhone or Admin: 510 647-2900 www.covia.org/st-pauls-towers Google Play app. School of Theatre: 510 647-2972 A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia. License No. 011400627 COA# 327 2018–19 · ISSUE 6 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 3 GB_program.indd 3 4/15/19 12:08 PM May 2019 Volume 51, No. 6 music dance theater 2018/19 Cal Perform ances SEASON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Song of the Goat Theatre Songs of Lear Paul Heppner Directed by Grzegorz Bral President Music by Jean-Claude Acquaviva and Maciej Rychly Mike Hathaway Senior Vice President This award-winning production retells the tragic king’s story as a dramatic oratorio Kajsa Puckett blending Corsican folk music and Gregorian Vice President, Sales & Marketing chant—a production the New York Times Genay Genereux called “viscerally awe inspiring.” Accounting & Office Manager May 11 & 12 ZELLERBACH PLAYHOUSE Production Susan Peterson Vice President, Production Jennifer Sugden Los Angeles Master Chorale Assistant Production Manager Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of Saint Peter) Ana Alvira, Stevie VanBronkhorst SINCE 1968 BERKELEY REP HAS STOOD FOR Orlando di Lasso, composer Production Artists and Graphic Designers AMBITIOUS ART, RADICAL DISSENT, AND RAW TALENT. Grant Gershon, conductor Peter Sellars, director Sales WE CONTINUE TO REPRESENT Visionary director Peter Sellars returns Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed TRUTH, COMPASSION, BRAVERY, San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives to Cal Performances with a profound and ACTING UP, SPEAKING UP, stirring a cappella work by one of the Devin Bannon, Brieanna Hansen, Renaissance’s most revered composers. Amelia Heppner, Ann Manning AND SAYING WHAT OTHERS ARE TOO AFRAID TO SAY. Performed in Italian, with English supertitles. Seattle Area Account Executives “A major accomplishment for the Carol Yip WE REPRESENT FEARLESS AUDIENCES. Master Chorale, which sang and Sales Coordinator AUDIENCES THAT DON’T SIT BACK AND WATCH. acted brilliantly. It is also a major Marketing accomplishment for music history.” THEY ENGAGE. Shaun Swick —Los Angeles Times Senior Designer & Digital Lead AUDIENCES LIKE YOU. May 17 ZELLERBACH HALL Ciara Caya Marketing Coordinator SO JOIN US. BE A REP. Harrison in and Randy Faridany Francesca Encore Media Group Eifman Ballet 425 North 85th Street The Pygmalion Effect (US Premiere) Seattle, WA 98103 A ballet by Boris Eifman p 800.308.2898 | 206.443.0445 Johann Strauss, Jr., music f 206.443.1246 Zinovy Margolin, set design Olga Shaishmelashvili, costume design [email protected] Alexander Sivaev and Boris Eifman, lighting design www.encoremediagroup.com For 40 years, the defiantly controversial choreographer Boris Eifman has created Encore Arts Programs and Encore Stages are published monthly productions punctuated by sumptuous by Encore Media Group to serve musical and theatrical events Perestroika Angels in America, Part Two: costumes, exquisite dancing, and riveting in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights drama. Here, the company presents the reserved. ©2019 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without United States premiere of his brand new written permission is prohibited. ballet, set to a score by Johann Strauss Jr. May 31–Jun 2 ZELLERBACH HALL BY POPULAR DEMAND! Added performance – Saturday, June 1, 2pm (photo by Kevin Berne) (photo by Kevin Season calperformances.org/tickets Sponsor: 4 · THE BERKELEY REP MAGAZINE · 2018–19 · ISSUE 6 GB_program.indd 4 4/12/19 5:07 PM GB_program.indd 6 4/12/19 5:07 PM SINCE 1968 BERKELEY REP HAS STOOD FOR AMBITIOUS ART, RADICAL DISSENT, AND RAW TALENT. WE CONTINUE TO REPRESENT TRUTH, COMPASSION, BRAVERY, ACTING UP, SPEAKING UP, AND SAYING WHAT OTHERS ARE TOO AFRAID TO SAY. WE REPRESENT FEARLESS AUDIENCES. AUDIENCES THAT DON’T SIT BACK AND WATCH. THEY ENGAGE. AUDIENCES LIKE YOU. SO JOIN US. BE A REP. Harrison in and Randy Faridany Francesca Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika Perestroika Angels in America, Part Two: (photo by Kevin Berne) (photo by Kevin GB_program.indd 6 4/12/19 5:07 PM My legacy. My partner. 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Untitled-2 1 12/17/18 4:39 PM PROLOGUE from the Artistic Director I can’t say that I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover. Call it a case of arrested development. I was raised Catholic, you see, and went to parochial schools for much of my life. But any love I had for God or religion was beaten out of me by a host of nuns and priests who chose to exert their authority using techniques left over from the Spanish Inquisition. I’m exaggerating. A little. Not all my teachers were mean-spirited, but enough possessed streaks of sadism so robust that, to this day, I cannot enter a Catholic church to do anything other than admire the artwork. Yet the Bible retains a strange fascination for me. As a piece of literature, it contains some spectacular writing. As a political tool, it can support nearly every argument anyone wants to make about anything.