 | |
 | |
| Address | 2025 Addison Street Berkeley, California United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°52′16.06″N122°16′9.47″W / 37.8711278°N 122.2692972°W |
| Public transit |  O R Downtown Berkeley |
| Type | Regional theater |
| Capacity | Thrust Stage: 401 Roda Theatre: 600 |
| Opened | 1968 (company) 1980: Thrust Stage 2001: Roda Theatre |
| Website | |
| www | |
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley.
The company was founded in 1968, as the East Bay's first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company won the Regional Theatre Tony Award in 1997. The theater added the 600-seat proscenium Roda Theatre next door to its existing 400-seat asymmetrical thrust stage in 2001, as well as opening its Berkeley Rep School of Theatre the same year. Its current Artistic Director is Johanna Pfaelzer, who took on the position in September 2019. Susan Medak was the General Manager and a board member and former President of the League of Resident Theatres. Susie was replaced by Tom Parrish in 2022.
Productions are a mix of classic modern plays such as Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and Terrence McNally's Master Class, the latter featuring Rita Moreno as opera diva Maria Callas, and significant recent plays with many West Coast premieres such as Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project and Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul and even world premieres such as Kushner's Hydriotaphia and Charles Mee's Fetes De La Nuit.
In the past decade alone, Berkeley Rep has premiered new works by Culture Clash, David Edgar, Francesca Faridany, Leigh Fondakowski, Lillian Groag, Jordan Harrison, Geoff Hoyle, Naomi Iizuka, Charles Mee, and Stew. The Theatre has recently created a string of successes that transferred from Berkeley to Manhattan: Artistic Director Tony Taccone staged Sarah Jones' Tony Award-winning Bridge & Tunnel on Broadway in 2006, and helmed Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak's Brundibar in 2007. That summer, Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice and Stew's Passing Strange both enjoyed extended off-Broadway runs. Passing Strange opened on Broadway in March 2008.
Berkeley Rep bolsters its commitment to new works through The Ground Floor (Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work) [1] and year-long Fellowship Program [2] aimed at training the next generation of theatre professionals.
In 2001, the theatre opened Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, which offers training in various theatrical disciplines for all ages and abilities. [3] Located next door to Berkeley Rep's two stages, the School of Theatre also provides a home base for the company's outreach education programs with local teachers and classes. [4] The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre also has a Teen Council made for bay area high school students interested in theatre. The Berkeley Rep Teen Council is most noted for its annual Teen One Acts Festival, completely written, directed, produced, and acted by students. [5]
The theatre opened their 2009–10 season with the original stage production of the Green Day-inspired musical American Idiot , based on the band's concept album of the same name. The hugely popular show was originally scheduled to run from September 4 through October 11, but was extended twice, finally ending on November 15. [6] The show subsequently opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on April 20, 2010.
The musical Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations , a jukebox musical based on the story of the Motown group The Temptations, started performance at Berkeley Rep August 31, 2018. It was originally scheduled to run through October 8, but was later extended through October 22 and again through November 5. [7] The musical was the highest-grossing production in the theatre's history. [8] The show had runs at other regional theaters before transferring to Broadway, opening at the Imperial Theatre on March 21, 2019.
1994
1995
1998
2002
2003
2005
2006
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Thomas Edward Hulce is an American actor and theatre producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus (1984), as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" Kroger in Animal House (1978), Larry Buckman in Parenthood (1989), and Quasimodo in Disney's animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Hulce's awards include an Emmy Award for The Heidi Chronicles, a 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical as a lead producer for Spring Awakening, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Amadeus, and four Golden Globe nominations.
Anthony Robert Kushner is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for Angels in America, which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaimed HBO miniseries of the same name. At the turn of the 21st century, he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner is among the few playwrights in history nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
The culture of San Francisco is major and diverse in terms of arts, music, cuisine, festivals, museums, and architecture but also is influenced heavily by Mexican culture due to its large Hispanic population, and its history as part of Spanish America and Mexico. San Francisco's diversity of cultures along with its eccentricities are so great that they have greatly influenced the country and the world at large over the years. In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek voted San Francisco as America's Best City.
Tony Vincent is an American actor, songwriter, and singer based in New York City and Nashville.
Caroline, or Change is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics and book by Tony Kushner. The score combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music.
Stark Sands is an American actor. He is known for his role as Tunny in the original Broadway cast of American Idiot, and originating the role of Charlie Price in Kinky Boots on Broadway. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee. He is also known for the roles of Lance Sussman in Die, Mommie, Die! and Lt. Nathaniel Fick in Generation Kill. He starred as Dash Parker in FOX's series Minority Report.
David Esbjornson is a director and producer who has worked throughout the United States in regional theatres and on Broadway, and has established strong and productive relationships with some of the profession's top playwrights, actors, and companies. Esbjornson was the artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington, but left that position in summer 2008.
Oskar Eustis has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.
Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.
John Howard Gallagher Jr. is an American actor and musician best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also played Johnny in Green Day's Broadway musical, American Idiot, Lee in the 2011 Broadway production of Jerusalem, Edmund in the 2016 Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night, and Mate in the 2024 Broadway production of Swept Away. He portrayed Jim Harper in Aaron Sorkin's drama series The Newsroom, starred in the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge, and played Emmett DeWitt in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Michael Mayer is an American theatre director, filmmaker, and playwright. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2007 for directing Spring Awakening.
Jeffrey Finn is a Tony-Award winning American theatrical producer. He is the Vice President of Theater Producing and Programming at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Artistic Director of Broadway Center Stage. He received the Commercial Theater Institute's 2013 Robert Whitehead Award for outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing. Finn is the President of Jeffrey Finn Productions and Hot On Broadway. He attended Connecticut College, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1992. He attended Beaver Country Day School from 1984 to 1988. He is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Governors of The Broadway League and is a part of The Independent Presenters Network.
Tony Taccone is an American theater director, and the former artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California.
Harriet Newman Leve is an American theater and movie producer. She is best known for her work with Broadway shows, including Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2014), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), An American in Paris (2019), and Life of Pi (2023). She was also the executive producer of the films A Call to Spy (2019) and Radium Girls (2018). Plays that she co-produced on Broadway have received Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards, Olivier Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and four Tony Awards.
American Idiot is a sung-through rock musical based on the concept album of the same name by rock band Green Day. After a run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009, the show moved to the St. James Theatre on Broadway. Previews began on March 24, 2010, and the musical officially opened on April 20, 2010. The show closed on April 24, 2011, after 422 performances. While Green Day did not appear in the production, vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong performed the role of St. Jimmy occasionally throughout the run.
The Hypocrites is a Chicago storefront theater company founded in 1997 by Sean Graney, Brandon Kruse and Christopher Cintron. The company is currently run by Sean Graney and Kelli Strickland. One of Chicago’s premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience through unusual staging and direct engagement. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising, and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets well-known works for contemporary audiences, reveling in the absurd while revealing the core of what makes classics classic.
“The Hypocrites, who with each new production, continue to rise not just to the rank of one of our city’s best storefronts but one of Chicago’s best theaters period.” – Newcity Stage
Theo Stockman is an American actor, singer, and DJ, known for his roles in Broadway musicals such as Hair, American Idiot, and American Psycho, numerous roles on television including Alaska Daily, Inside Amy Schumer, High Maintenance, Private Practice, The Following, Shades of Blue, Law & Order: SVU, and for his role in Stephen King's A Good Marriage. He plays the recurring characters of Josh on Netflix's Bonding and Jacob on Apple TV's WeCrashed.
Dominique Morisseau is an American playwright and actress from Detroit, Michigan. She has written more than nine plays, three of which are part of a cycle titled The Detroit Project. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2018.
Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations is a 2017 jukebox musical with music and lyrics by The Temptations and a book by Dominique Morisseau. Based on the story of The Temptations, the musical had a series of regional productions and opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre in March 2019.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
