Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Where: 2025 Addison St, Berkeley , CA
Call: (510) 647-2949
Web: http://www.berkeleyrep.org/
Tags: Music, Venues

About

Founded in 1968, Berkeley Repertory Theatre has established itself as one of this country’s top-ranking professional resident theatre companies, known for its consistently high-quality productions. Winner of the 1997 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, its national reputation draws theatre artists from around the country to work on a variety of productions from September through July. The season consists of seven productions of the finest classic, contemporary and new plays. In March 2001, Berkeley Rep opened The Roda Theatre, a 600-seat proscenium theatre that complements the existing 400-seat thrust stage, creating a vital and versatile performing arts complex. In December 2001, the company opened the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, housed next-door in the Nevo Education Center. The School of Theatre offers a wide variety of educational programs designed to enrich the theatre-going experience through extensive training...

Articles

Girlfriend

Flat but Fun
04/16/2010, by Ann Taylor
Girlfriend captures the uncertainty, embarrassment, unfairness, and soaring joy of first love with Matthew Sweet’s mellow, melodic music.... More »
Tiny Kushner

Rollicking and Wrenching
11/13/2009, by Ann Taylor
Tiny Kushner, in its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theater, defies these traditional expectations of drama, providing an evening of incredibly intense yet utterly riveting... More »
American Idiot

Style over Substance
09/25/2009, by Nirmala Nataraj
Upon walking into Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre to see the world premiere of the rock opera “American Idiot", you will get a cordial high decibel warning in the form of ear plugs. Just to be on the safe... More »
Crime and Punishment

Dostoevsky Distilled
03/19/2009, by Ann Taylor
Three actors, two chairs, a table, and a bed: this is what Berkeley Rep’s production of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment has reduced the story to, yet the ultimate power of the novel... More »
In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)

An Electrifying Take On A Touchy Subject
02/06/2009, by Ann Taylor
Few are perhaps aware that one of the first devices to benefit from the harnessing of electricity was, in addition to the toaster, the vibrator. Yes, that kind of vibrator. In the 19th century, doctor... More »
The Arabian Nights

A Sensuous Garden of Delights
01/05/2009, by Ann Taylor
The stories of the 1001 Nights conjure exotic images of glittering jewels, desert caravans, magic genies in long-forgotten lamps, and evil viziers plotting to overtake the kingdom. Ho... More »
Yellowjackets

Ambitious But Uneven
09/26/2008, by Nirmala Nataraj
Playwright Itamar Moses’ “Yellowjackets” is creating quite the stir on Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, which has been impressively thrown into relief by Annie Smart’s vivid, graffiti-spackled set and a t... More »
Figaro

A Mammoth Achievement
05/02/2008, by Nirmala Nataraj
The Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s masterful revision of the Mozart opera “The Marriage of Figaro” is less classical redux and more the sort of performance that brings a much-needed draught of fresh air... More »
Wishful Drinking

Leave Before Last Call
03/08/2008, by Nirmala Nataraj
Let’s face it—the one-person show is typically the refuge of the very interesting or the very narcissistic. And when the person in question happens to be a prime specimen of cinematic and cultural arc... More »
Theater!

Live Performance – the Antidote to the Movie Monotony
06/13/2007, by SFS Staff
These articles are a mix of teen-friendly venues and events. They were written to fill in the lack of all ages venues and clubs listings in the media. Because there are not enough places for teens to... More »
Oliver Twist at Berkeley Rep

A Dark Rendition
05/24/2007, by Nirmala Nataraj
If you’ve never actually read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, which is perhaps the most paradigmatic rags-to-riches story ever written, well…consider yourself at home. As adulated as D... More »
All Wear Bowlers

The Spaces Between Film and Stage
12/07/2006, by Chrissy Loader
A bare stage with a projection screen, the image of two men walking amidst a dusty, black and white cinematic landscape, the sounds of piano rumblings reminiscent of the music from the silent film era... More »
The Miser at Berkeley Rep

A Comic Gag That Hasn’t Lost Its Edge
06/16/2006, by Nirmala Nataraj
Bad manners, lowly comic gags, and jejune slapstick humor never looked as good as they do in Jeune Lune’s ribald contemporary adaptation of Molière’s "The Miser". A 1668 play about a simpering curmudg... More »
The Glass Menagerie at the Berkeley Rep

Blowing the Dust off the American Classic
04/23/2006, by Nirmala Nataraj
Few classic plays lend themselves well to modern interpretations, no matter how true to the iconic original, and Tennessee Williams is the American exemplar of this very basic dramaturgical principle.... More »
Zorro in Hell at Berkeley Rep

A Hero for Our Troubled Times
03/31/2006, by Nirmala Nataraj
When Chicano performance trio Culture Clash were approached by Berkeley Repertory Theatre artistic director Tony Taccone to collaborate on a play that would lampoon California's original masked maraud... More »
9 Parts of Desire @ Berkeley Rep

Giving Voice to the Women of Iraq
01/26/2006, by Nirmala Nataraj
Heather Raffo's exquisitely written, tautly acted play "9 Parts of Desire" is the kind of one-woman show that leaves viewers breathless at the very outset. For one thing, it's both topical and startli... More »
Master Class at Berkeley Rep

The Diva Behind the Diva
06/25/2004, by Nirmala Nataraj
She was known simply as "La Divina", the paragon of grace and glamour. Wherever she took the stage- at La Scala, La Bastille and La Monnaie- she ripped the hearts right out of her audiences. Her mezzo... More »
The Mystery of Irma Vep

Gay Camp Weds Gothic Romance
05/21/2004, by Nirmala Nataraj
Swimming in references to Poe, Joyce, Shakespeare, and the Brontë Sisters, The Mystery of Irma Vep, which is now enjoying the stage at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is a 'penny dreadful': a... More »