Berkeleyside » Theater

Berkeley Rep’s “Ghost Light” resurrects pain of the past

Frances Dinkelspiel — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:00:48 +0000

Ted Deasy (l) and Christopher Liam Moore (r) in a scene from "Ghost Light". Photo: Jenny Graham/Berkeley Rep

The San Francisco political establishment came to Berkeley Wednesday night for the opening night of Ghost Light, Berkeley Rep’s play about the life and legacy of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, whose life was cut short when Dan White assassinated him and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, flanked by earpiece-wearing bodyguards, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and Moscone’s widow, Gina, were all in the audience. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, who once worked for Moscone, was there, too.

If those politicos came to see a play that recounted Moscone’s life and legacy, they were out of luck. Ghost Light, which was written by the Rep’s Artistic Director Tony Taccone, and directed by Moscone’s youngest son, Jonathan, now the artistic director of the California Shakespeare Theater, is the story of an imagined Jon Moscone and his struggles to come to terms with the loss of his father 34 years after his death. It is a play within a play, for the narrative centers on the fictional Jonathan trying to direct a production of Hamlet. He can’t seem to decide what the ghost in that play should look or act like, in part because his dreams are haunted by the ghosts of the past who just won’t leave him alone.(...)

Read the rest of Berkeley Rep’s “Ghost Light” resurrects pain of the past (1,010 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Berkeley Rep, George Moscone, Ghost Light, Gina Moscone, Jonathan Moscone, Nancy Pelosi, Tony Taccone, Willie Brown

Berkeley Rep’s The Wild Bride is fantastical theater

Guest contributor — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:35 +0000

Eva Magyar performs at Berkeley Rep in the American premiere of The Wild Bride, a new show from the creators of Brief Encounter. Photo: Steve Tanner/Berkeley Rep

By Emily S. Mendel

Berkeley Rep’s The Wild Bride is a fantastic theatrical experience. Fresh from England, the extraordinary Kneehigh Theatre traveled to Berkeley to bring us a rare holiday gift — an imaginative creation based on an ancient fairy tale, with a cast of only six ultra-talented actors/musicians/dancers. In the course of the evening, the troupe enchants us, scares us, moves us and jokes with us.

This haunting, yet animated theatrical event follows the Grimm Brothers’ version of the fairytale, The Handless Maiden, but is set in the rural South. A daughter is mistakenly sold to the devil by her naïve father. The daughter, aka The Girl, is too clean for the devil to take her, so she is bathed in excrement and mud. The devil, finding her still too pure, forces her father to cut off her hands. The Girl’s bloody arms emerge from a bucket. Thus, shamed, angry and amputated, The Girl escapes into the woods to begin the next phase of her life.(...)

Read the rest of Berkeley Rep’s The Wild Bride is fantastical theater (416 words)

By guest. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Berkeley Rep, Kneehigh Theater, The Wild Bride

Les Waters to leave Berkeley Rep for Kentucky post

Frances Dinkelspiel — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:30:30 +0000

Les Waters. Photo: Kevin Bern/Berkeley Rep

Les Waters, an Obie-winning Brit who has served as Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s assistant artistic director for eight years, is leaving the theater to take over as artistic director at The Actors Theater of Louisville, Kentucky.

Waters, 59, will assume the role in January, but will not take on fulltime duties until March, after he directs Berkeley Rep’s production of Red, the theater announced Tuesday.

“After eight years together, it is difficult to leave Berkeley – yet it is an honor and a privilege to take up the reins at Actors Theatre of Louisville, an organization I’ve long admired,” Waters said in a statement.

“I’ve had the opportunity to direct twice at Actors Theatre, and I was deeply impressed with the theatre, its staff, and the community at large. I am committed to making theatre there that is passionate and intelligent, funny and heartfelt, and look forward to leading Actors Theatre to new artistic endeavors.”(...)

Read the rest of Les Waters to leave Berkeley Rep for Kentucky post (154 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Actors Theater, Berkeley Rep, Les Waters, Sarah Ruhl, Tony Taccone

Desdemona: The stories you didn’t read in Shakespeare

Lance Knobel — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:15:09 +0000

Desdemona, one of the highlights of the Cal Performances season had its opening last night in Zellerbach Hall. The work is a collaboration between Nobel-prize winning novelist Toni Morrison, singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré, and director Peter Sellars. Sellars talks about the genesis of the work in the video above.

As The New York Times detailed yesterday, the collaboration grew out of a furious argument Sellars had with Morrison a decade ago about Othello. Sellars thought it was a terrible, senseless play; Morrison disagreed. Sellars agreed to stage a production of Othello, while Morrison agreed to “talk back to Shakespeare”. Desdemona was originally staged at the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers near Paris. It has three further performances in Berkeley (tonight, Friday and Saturday), before moving to New York next week for two performances. It then transfers to Berlin and will be staged in London to coincide with the 2012 Olympics next summer.(...)

Read the rest of Desdemona: The stories you didn’t read in Shakespeare (141 words)

By lance. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Cal Performances, Focal Point Opticians, Peter Sellars, Rokia Traoré, Toni Morrison

Aurora: 20 years at heart of Berkeley’s cultural life

Tracey Taylor — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:30:46 +0000

Ken Grantham and Kimberly King discuss their "daughter" (Carrie Paff, rear) in "A Delicate Balance". Photo: David Allen

Edward Albee was in the audience for the opening night of “A Delicate Balance” at the Aurora Theatre earlier this month. He stood up at the play’s end, joining many others to give the actors a standing ovation. Tom Ross, who directed the play, had not told his cast that the renowned author of the play they were performing would be present on their first night. It would have given them the jitters, he said — even more than they probably already had.

As Artistic Director, Ross has been taking care of the actors at the Aurora this way for the past seven years. He has also been sustaining the Aurora’s reputation for top-quality theater that emphasizes language and ideas since 1991 when he inaugurated the company with Barbara Oliver.

Oliver, who was in her 60s at the time, worked as an actress at the Berkeley Rep, and she decided to go it alone after she realized that all the roles she was being given were one of a kind. ”They were either nannies or grannies,” she says.

The company’s first production, “Dear Master” by Dorothy Bryant, was performed to a 67-strong audience in the back parlor of the Berkeley City Club, the group’s first home, and it was a sell-out before it had even opened. “We understood then that we would have an audience for the type of plays we wanted to put on,” says Oliver.

The theatre’s name was inspired by the subject of that first play –the 13-year long correspondence between George Sand and Gustave Flaubert. Sand’s given name was Lucile Aurore Dupin.

Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross by the "Woz Wall", a corridor in the theatre whose historic 1960s graffiti has been preserved. The wall was dedicated by councilmember Gordon Wozniak, hence the name. Photo: Tracey Taylor

The Aurora moved to its current location in 2001, in the heart of what was then the city’s burgeoning arts district. Oliver, who is still involved with the company and will direct one of its 20th anniversary season’s shows, says they have much to thank her former employer for.

‘We have earned our success but we have also had good friends to help us along the way,” she says. She cites Susan Medak, the Rep’s Managing Director, who a decade ago was working with Berkeley’s then mayor Shirley Dean to establish a cultural hub downtown. Medak argued there should be more than one theater in the area.

The Aurora is sandwiched between Rep and the Jazzschool, and and across the street from another Berkeley cultural institution, the Freight & Salvage. The two theaters still help each other out, says Ross, although there is a friendly rivalry too. Ross, for example, says he likes the fact that people walking to the Rep from the east need to step across the Aurora light logo which is beamed onto the sidewalk under their entrance canopy.

The women's dressing room at the Aurora Theatre on Addison Street. Photo: Tracey Taylor

Not that the Aurora is struggling to fill its intimate, 150-seat thrust theater. Ross says the company has 2,800 subscribers and a 91% retention rate.

Over its 20-year history, the Aurora has become known for putting on the non-obvious plays, the B-sides if you will — some that have never even been seen on stage. “We like to resurrect little gems,” says Ross. “They don’t have to be the greatest hits.” They also favor scripts of substance, those that make the actors shine, he says.

The fact that it is largely Berkeley residents who come to the Addison Street theater is also a significant factor for the company. ”We have an intelligent audience. We know that,” Ross says. “We have academics and Nobel Laureates, many intellectuals.” But the plays don’t necessarily reflect the liberal outlook Berkeley is know for. “Our audience doesn’t want to see pat-on-the-back pieces. They want to be challenged,” Ross says.

Ross goes as far as to say the theater’s relationship with Berkeley has been instrumental to its survival. “Berkeley has been so supportive. If we had started in San Francisco we might not be around today.”

The Aurora’s 20th anniversary season line-up is: “The Soldier’s Tale” with music by Igor Stravinsky, the Bay Area premiere of “Body Awareness” by Annie Baker, “Anatol” by Arthur Schnitzler, and the world premiere of “Salomania” written and directed by Mark Jackson.

The current production, “A Delicate Balance”, which stars Aurora co-founder Ken Grantham and his wife Kimberly King, who both appeared in two of the theatre’s inaugural plays 20 years ago, has been extended through October 23rd.

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: A Delicate Balance, Aurora Theatre, Barbara Oliver, Berkeley Rep, Edward Albee, Susie Medak, Tom Ross

New Yorker illustrator enlivens Cal Performances programs

Lance Knobel — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:31:30 +0000

Choreographer Mark Morris makes his Bay Area conducting debut. Illustration: Tom Bachtell

When concertgoers attend Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in the Zellerbach Hall tomorrow night, the opening performance of this year’s Cal Performances season, they’ll encounter famed choreographer Mark Morris in the novel role of conductor.

They’ll also catch the first sight of the whimsical caricatures by Tom Bachtell that will be gracing the Cal Performances programs this season.

Bachtell’s style is well known from his illustrations for The New Yorker‘s Talk of the Town, which he has been doing for the last 20 years. Bachtell trained as a pianist at the Cleveland Institute of Music and remains an active chamber player. He’s a self-taught artist.

In addition to the Morris illustration, Bachtell has drawn Russian composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, whose six symphonies will be performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev October 14-16, and actor John Malkovich, who stars in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer, October 21. Bachtell will be doing other illustrations throughout this year’s season.

Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. Illustration: Tom Bachtell

John Malkovich. Illustration: Tom Bachtell

By lance. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Cal Performances, Tom Bachtell

Rita Moreno’s life laid bare in “Life without Makeup”

Frances Dinkelspiel — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:40:30 +0000

Rita Moreno with Salvatore Vassallo (left) and Ray Garcia in Life Without Makeup. Photo by Kevin Berne via Berkeley Rep

When audiences entered Berkeley Rep’s Roda theater on Wednesday night, they passed by a table with a shiny display: an Oscar, a Grammy, two Emmy awards, a National Medal of the Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The awards, of course, belonged to Rita Moreno, the legendary 79-year old actress who is one of the few people to have won an EGOT, a popular term that describes the winning of all four major American entertainment awards. Moreno accomplished this remarkable feat by the age of 46.

But the exhibition of awards (the Tony was missing) was the only mention of plaudits during the opening night performance of Moreno’s biographical show, Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup. The new production, created by Berkeley Rep’s artistic director Tony Taccone, is the story of Moreno’s life, but it was written to emphasize Moreno’s earthiness, humor, and talent, rather than her star power. Thus, no mention of the EGOT.

Instead, for two and a half hours the audience got to see Moreno dance (wonderfully well for a woman close to 80), sing, talk, make fun of herself, and generally wow the crowd –and actually come across as a humble, albeit remarkable, woman. Still a star, but not the ego-grabbing kind.

The play, which Taccone wrote after hours of interviews with Moreno, opens with her reminiscing about the time she and her mother took a boat from Puerto Rico to America. Moreno was five and wasn’t quite sure why she was leaving and where she was going, and those feelings of uncertainty were compounded when the ship ran into a storm that sent it heaving through the seas, scaring her thoroughly. On the sixth day of the 1936 voyage, Moreno woke up to clear skies and the looming Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. She thought to herself how interesting it was to come to a country run by a woman.

The opening scene of Life Without Makeup starts regularly enough, with Moreno, dressed in a bright red pantsuit and red high heels, situated in front of a large screen where a picture of the ship is projected. But then she starts describing the storm and Ray Garcia and Salvatore Vassallo, two stunningly handsome and athletic dancers (and would Moreno want any other type?) come onto the stage. The monologue suddenly becomes a Broadway dance spectacle complete with leaps and and moving sections of a ship’s deck.

It’s fun and is the first hint that the show doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a smart move because Moreno has accomplished so much in her life that if she didn’t poke fun at herself every once in a while she would come off as a prima donna. That she doesn’t is a testament to her self-regard.

Rita Moreno's Oscar, her two Emmys, and other awards

The first act is tinged with bitterness as it examines the racial prejudices that ruled show business. Moreno won her first Broadway role in 1944 at the age of 13 and quickly moved to Hollywood where she found herself typecast as a generic ethnic seen more for her long legs and lovely eyes than for her acting and dancing talent.

Moreno was signed to two Hollywood studios, and had her contracts terminated early both times. She went long stretches when the phone didn’t ring, and when it did, was offered parts like the beautiful Indian mute. Rich moguls and studio heads pawed her.

Of course, there were moments of triumph in her early years, such as parts in Singing in the Rain, The King and I, and her face on the cover of Life magazine. When she was 23, she walked into a film makeup room and spotted – and fell in love with — the young Marlon Brando. For five years they had a passionate and turbulent relationship, which Moreno refers to the “romantic sinkhole that was Marlon Brando.” To get back at him, she briefly dated Elvis Presley. When the affair sizzled, she swallowed a handful of sleeping pills.

The first act ends before Moreno’s big triumph – her Oscar-winning role as Anita in the film production of West Side Story. When the curtain on Act Two went up, I expected to learn about Moreno’s achievement and feel my heart swell with emotion as she finally succeeds in a world dominated by narrow minds. But for some reason, Taccone decided to have the second part of the show start with a funny bit of Moreno dressed up as Miss Googie Gomez, a character she played in The Ritz on Broadway (Moreno won a Tony in 1975 for her performance) and then segue into a description of her five-year run on PBS’ The Electric Company.

While these parts are entertaining, they interrupt the narrative arc of the play and prevent the audience from really feeling Moreno’s artistic triumphs. Although Moreno does go on to talk about West Side Story and do a fabulous rendition of the song America (and a great dance with Garcia and Vassallo) it kind of falls flat. Nor does Moreno delve deeply into her personal feelings, like the loss in 2010 of Lenny Gordon, her husband of more than 25 years. Those missed opportunities leach a lot of emotional impact from the play.

But these are small quibbles. The play is new and will probably evolve with time. (And I bet it goes to Broadway). The evening with Rita Moreno was fabulously fun and entertaining. Even though she comes across as the kind of person you would love to sit next to at a dinner party, she is a diva. And I mean that in the best possible way. Her talent is immense. Her magnetism oozes out with every word and dance step. And she sure can move.

Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup, plays at Berkeley Repertory Theater from Sept. 2 to Oct. 30. The 2.5 hour play was written by Tony Taccone and developed by Moreno and Taccone. It was staged and directed by David Galligan and choreographed by Lee Martino. It stars Moreno and features Ray Garcia and Salvatore Vassallo. The four-piece band includes Cesar Cancino (music director, Sascha Jacobsen (bass), Alex Murzyn (reeds) and David Rokeach (percussion).

To find out what is going on in Berkeley and nearby, be sure to check out Berkeleyside’s recently launched Events Calendar. We encourage you also to submit your own events.

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Life Without Makeup. Berkeley Rep, Ray Garcia, Rita Moreno, Salvatore Vassallo, Tony Taccone

More than 30 years of “thinking sound” in Berkeley

Robert Mills — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:00:32 +0000

Meyer Sound factory off Heinz Avenue. Photos: Meyer Sound

Sound is life at the Meyer Sound facility on San Pablo. The 32-year-old Berkeley business continues to churn out professional sound products for concert halls, churches and traveling bands from around the world.

“We’re a family-run company, privately owned still,” said Helen Meyer, executive vice president of Meyer Sound. “We’re still private to this day. That’s kind of a unique feature of our company.”

I sat down with the Meyers to discuss sound, local lifestyles and new technologies.

CEO John Meyer founded the company in 1979 after he and Helen attended an inaudible Donovan concert at the Oakland Coliseum. When they sat down to take in the performance from one of their favorite folk singers, the couple soon realized they couldn’t hear a thing.

“It was barely louder than if someone was just there without anything,” John said. “Everyone in the audience was dead quiet and we still couldn’t hear. We said, ‘there’s got to be a better way.’ “(...)

Read the rest of More than 30 years of “thinking sound” in Berkeley (277 words)

By robertmills. | Permalink | 11 comments |
Post tags: Ashkenaz, Berkeley Rep, Meyer Sound

Aurora’s Metamorphosis: a black farce that might bug you

Guest contributor — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:00:12 +0000

Gregor (front, Alexander Crowther) runs from his father (r. Allen McKelvey) as his sister Grete and mother (c. l-r, Megan Trout, Madeline H.D. Brown) look onPhoto: David Allen

By Niclas Ericsson

What does one do when a close family member one day turns into a man-sized insect? Invite him to join you for dinner and serve him some old cheese carvings? Or do you gradually turn into a fascist asking for his extermination? Then again, you could simply pretend like nothing has happened.

Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka’s iconic novella from 1915, is a cruel and absurd drama about the incomprehensible and dark side of the seemingly mundane everyday life. It has been adapted to other forms numerous times – opera, graphic novel, dance, theater.

The Aurora Theater Company is now presenting an apt stage adaption of Metamorphosis done by by David Farr and Gísli Örn Gardarsson and skillfully directed by Mark Jackson. It’s worth seeking out.

Gregor Samsa, the main character of the play and a traveling salesman, is late for work one day. Gregor still lives with his parents and his sister. As they knock on his door to inquire what has happened, they find him transformed into a giant, insect-like creature.(...)

Read the rest of Aurora’s Metamorphosis: a black farce that might bug you (1,099 words)

By guest. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Alexander Crowther, Allen McKelvey, Aurora Theater, David Farr, Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Madeline H.D. Brown, Mark Jackson, Megan Trout, Metamorphasis, Patrick Jones

Anna Deavere Smith astonishes in ‘Let Me Down Easy’

Frances Dinkelspiel — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:54:02 +0000

Anna Deavere Smith in Let Me Down Easy. Photos by Joan Marcus

Anna Deavere Smith’s latest one-woman play “Let Me Down Easy” is like a novella of stories – the individual vignettes are bold and interesting, but are only loosely linked.

From her spot-on impersonation of Lance Armstrong, whose body is so kinetic it can’t stay still, to pretending to be the bed-ridden, cancer-stricken film critic Joel Siegel, to her poignant portrayal of Kiersta Kurtz-Burke, an intern who was shocked by the way her superiors at Charity Hospital in New Orleans treated Katrina victims, Smith is mesmerizing in her ability to channel the words and quirks of her characters.

The 105-minute play is based on interviews with more than 320 people on three continents over a ten-year period. Smith focuses on 20 of those characters and uses their verbatim interviews to create a heart-wrenching portrait of our attitudes toward our bodies, their strengths and weaknesses, and our feelings about death.

On a stage sparsely decorated with a white couch, a dining table with chairs, and huge hanging mirrors, Smith changes lightening-fast from one person to another. She dons a piece of clothing or picks up a prop like a bottle of beer or coffee mug to delineate each character, and then discards those items on the stage as the play progresses. It’s almost a metaphor for her overarching theme: that life is ethereal and short. We are here and then we are not. The props are of use and then they are not, but traces of them remain.(...)

Read the rest of Anna Deavere Smith astonishes in ‘Let Me Down Easy’ (256 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Post tags: Anna Deavere Smith, Berkeley Rep, Let Me Down Easy