Event Listing - Theater

Tue Jan 22 - Sun Feb 10

Berkeley Rep Presents

Taking Over

written and performed by danny hoch

Tel. 510.647.2949
Website

Description

written and performed by danny hoch
directed by tony taccone
thrust stage
january 11–february 10, 2008
world premiere
running time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Like Sarah Jones, Anna Deavere Smith and other solo performers who brought stunning shows to our stage, Danny Hoch took Berkeley Rep by storm with Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop. Now Danny returns to unveil his latest work—a one-man tour de force that captures the indelible characters of his neighborhood, where the melting pot is boiling over with ethnic and economic tensions. Danny effortlessly transforms across the boundaries of race, age and gender, masterfully depicting a city in transition with compassionate and hilarious results. This highly anticipated world premiere is expertly staged by Artistic Director Tony Taccone.

from the play:
“If I see another white dreadlock kid in blankets sitting in the sidewalk, pierced all in your face, on Bedford Avenue with your dog, looking like a homeless person, begging for change in your Midwestern accent…I swear.”

“This group ‘Artists Against Gentrification.’ You know how funny that is to me? You could make a sitcom. The artists are the advanced ground troops. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. That’s like the US Army Rangers deciding they’re against the occupation of Iraq.”

“I’m thinkin’, where did all these people appear from that’s waiting on line and made reservations for brunch? I been here 37 years, and there wasn’t no BRUNCH happenin’ in this neighborhood…People were eatin’ Ding Dongs for DINNER if they was lucky.”

“I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for fucking Real Estate. I mean, I’m not the guy who’s building more jails. I build housing…I’m a risk-taker! None of these community board leaders or the little artists collectives that are threatening to sue me, what risks did they take? I took out a 300 million dollar loan!”

“It’s like, right when things start to get better. Less shootings, less crackheads. Supermarket finally got decent vegetables. We’re not allowed to be here anymore. We got to leave.”

the artists:
Danny Hoch is the founder of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival and the Obie Award-winning artist who created Whiteboyz; Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop; and the HBO special Some People. His work has been seen in 50 U.S. cities and 15 countries.

Tony Taccone took two shows from Berkeley Rep to New York City last year: he made his Broadway debut with Sarah Jones’ Bridge & Tunnel, which won a Tony Award for its star, and also directed a sold-out run of Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak’s Brundibar in Times Square. His other recent hits here at home include Continental Divide, Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell and Honour.
the buzz

“Mr. Hoch glides dazzlingly through a repertory of New York characters. He’s a master impersonator, the rhythms and cadences of his various people caught perfectly…Mr. Hoch is prodigiously gifted.”—New York Times (September 18, 1995)

“He has an astonishing range and command of accents, and his observations of the physical tics of the young are so acute that they alone argue that body language is as much a part of the generation as spoken language. But beyond that, Mr. Hoch has a genuinely literary touch in his writing, and an unsentimental but aching sympathy for his characters—even, or maybe especially, the flawed and difficult ones.”—New York Times (June 25, 2002)

“This is not stand-up but it is very funny—sometimes. And at other times you get so close to these people, in a few minutes, that they make you weep.”—Revolutionary Worker

“I think [Danny Hoch] is one of the best people I’ve ever seen do this kind of work. Ever.”—Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning writer and actress

“There is nobody on earth you want to develop a new work with other than [Tony Taccone]. He’s Tony Soprano mixed with Samuel Beckett and the brains of a rocket scientist.”—Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya

“Taccone’s skill as a theatrical midwife is legendary…His unusual ability to develop new work is particularly strong with artists who aren’t conventional playwrights.”—American Theatre

“a rare combination of acute observer, gifted writer and agile performer…he goes far beyond what normally passes for impersonation. Instead, he digs deep into his characters’ psyches, creating a fierce and specific inner logic for them. Then, like an expert tailor, he sews each tic and vocal inflection into a slightly flashy, perfectly fitting suit. Hoch brings to mind some sort of streetwise shaman, and moments in his show approach the truly mesmerizing…his observations are nothing short of sublime, and he strenuously avoids any party-line liberal preachiness…One of his strengths as a writer is his ability to have his characters use humor to mask their pain; he repeatedly undercuts laughs (and there are many) with personal revelations or angry outbursts. It’s not the easy choice, but Hoch isn’t interested in easy choices. In a sea of self-obsessed solo performers, Hoch floats to the top.”—Time Out New York

“Danny Hoch is the Muhammad Ali of solo performance. With the lightness of a butterfly and sting of a bee, the agile New York performer jabs and feints his way through 80 minutes of stunning character work set to a restless hip-hop beat…Baseball caps, a bluntly eloquent street vernacular and limber body language are Hoch’s simple tools. He works precise wonders with them…there may not be another solo performer who can churn up the sort of momentum Hoch does and deliver such a perfect jab in the midst of it.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“His timing is flawless. His are characters beautifully developed in an honest and virtuosic if at times quaint style…His strength, like Anna Deavere Smith’s, lies in his ability to represent people as they are rather than as political discourse would dictate.”—Village Voice

docent presentations
Every Tue and Thu—
30-minute look inside each play beginning at 7PM

post-show discussions
Jan 17, 25 and 29—
lively 30-minute post-show Q&A with the cast or other company members

30-below
Jan 11—pre-show Triple Rock beer tasting and the coolest post-show party for the under-30 crowd

book club
Feb 1—moderated discussion of There Goes the ‘Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up by Lance Freeman beginning at 6:30PM (reserve a space: e-mail Megan Spence or call 510.647.2916)