Berkeley Repertory Theatreis producing six shows in its 2022-23 season, the company announced Thursday, May 19, in a refreshing return to near pre-pandemic numbers at a time when many companies still are forecasting many fewer productions than usual. (The Berkeley company frequently produces approximately seven shows in its season, with a couple of special presentations announced at a later date.)
The season commences in November with the return of English directorEmma Rice,whose“Tristan & Yseult”and“The Wild Bride”were lavish, eye-popping feats of imagination. This time, she helms an adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” Emily Brontë’s devastating novel of breathless passion.
2023 heralds “Clyde’s,” the dramedy from two-time Pulitzer Prize winnerLynn Nottagethat in autumn was part of an extraordinary wave of Black playwrights on Broadway.
Directed by Taylor Reynolds, the show follows sandwich shop employees, who all were formerly incarcerated, on a quest to construct the ideal sandwich.
Up next is “Cambodian Rock Band,” which was written by San Francisco nativeLauren Yee(“巨大的飞跃”“King of the Yees”) with music by Dengue Fever, a Los Angeles band known for its Cambodian rock and pop fusion sound. Berkeley Rep initially had slotted the show for spring 2021.
April brings “English,” which just concluded a hit run in New York. This play by Iranian-American writer Sanaz Toossi follows four adult students in Iran studying for the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
In May the company is slated to present a new project by playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany (the team behind“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,”currently in an open-ended run at the Curran in San Francisco), with movement direction by Steven Hoggett. “Let the Right One In” fuses murder mystery, young love and vampire tale.
The season concludes with the world premiere of “Out of Character,” a solo show by Tony Award winner and Berkeley native Ari’el Stachel (“The Band’s Visit”) about his decision to hide his Middle Eastern heritage in his youth after 9/11 and the crisis of identity and mental health that followed.
Former Berkeley Rep Artistic DirectorTony Tacconereturns to direct.
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