John Logan (Photo courtesy of Berkeley Rep)

Berkeley Rep To Open for Live Performances in October

Berkeley Rep’s leadership recently announced that after being closed for a year and a half, the Tony Award-winning theatre will reopen for live performances on Friday, October 1.

Here’s a video illustrating the lineup.

The 2021-22 subscription season kicks off with a Berkeley Rep commission, Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home, directed by Miranda Haymon. This world premiere was developed as part of the Theatre’s Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab and explores a family’s response to racial injustice and a daughter’s reckoning with her political inheritance.

“We are beyond delighted to finally have a date on which we can all return to our theatres,” says Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer. “I know artists and audiences alike have been longing for this moment, when we can once again gather together to share these deeply human stories. We are counting the days ’til October 1!”

Berkeley Rep welcomes back playwright Charles L. Mee and director Les Waters for Wintertime, the story of a gloriously eccentric family who arrive at their summer house in the winter woods for supposedly secret rendezvous – and soon bodies collide, doors slam, dishes fly, and everyone’s perfect plans go fantastically awry. Starts November 12, 2021.

Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer returns with a captivating world premiere musical, Swept Away, featuring a book by Tony Award-winning stage and screen writer John Logan (Red, Broadway’s Moulin Rouge!, Skyfall, Gladiator), and music and lyrics by “America’s biggest roots band” (Rolling Stone) and multiple Grammy Award nominee The Avett Brothers.

Originally scheduled for our 2019-20 season, Swept Away was necessarily postponed. Berkeley Rep is thrilled that the creative team along with Tony Award-winning actor John Gallagher, Jr. and Tony Award nominee actor Stark Sands will all be able to join the world premiere production. Starts January 9, 2022.

Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere musical Goddess, with a book by award-winning playwright score by composer Michael Thurber, and conceived by director Saheem Ali Three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) makes his

Berkeley Rep debut with his latest off-Broadway hit, Octet.

Octet was commissioned and received its world premiere at Signature

Theatre Company, where Dave Malloy is resident playwright. Starts April 20, 2022

The summer of 2022 revs up with Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band. Directed by Chay Yew, this intimate rock epic about family secrets is set against a dark chapter of Cambodian history.
Starts June 3, 2022.

Sanctuary City brings us the powerful story of two young DREAMers who fight to establish a place for themselves in America, the only country they know as home. Starts July 8, 2022

Managing Director Susie Medak has this to say about safety: “We have taken this last year to evaluate all our facilities in the context of safety regulations and are pleased to share that our theatres meet or exceed the safety standards as determined by the CDC. We will continue to follow CDC and State of California safety standards as they evolve over time.”

In addition to a full seven-show season, celebrated comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia will return to Berkeley Rep in January 2022 with his new piece The Old Man and The Pool, a tale of life, death, and his visits to a highly chlorinated YMCA pool.

Like all of Birbiglia’s shows, it blends absurd jokes and surprising stories for what amounts to one single narrative. And after sold-out engagements at Berkeley Rep two years ago, Fran Lebowitz returns in January 2022 for six conversations showcasing her particular brand of humor and 21st-century social commentary.

These extraordinary, limited-run engagements are not part of Berkeley Rep’s subscription or ticket packages, but the public can purchase tickets early by becoming a Rep 7-play subscriber or a Rep-Flex or Rep-Passport holder, with packages starting as low as $68. The Birbiglia and Lebowitz shows will sell out, so patrons are encouraged to buy subscription or ticket packages early for priority access.

All Berkeley Rep subscribers receive valuable advantages such as the ability to reschedule performances for free, discounts to Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre, and priority access before the general public. Rep 7-Play season ticket subscription starts as low as $196. Additional subscription discounts for senior citizens, pre-K–12 educators, and patrons under age 35 make the cost of Rep 7-Play subscription as low as $122.50. Rep-Flex is $300 for All Access Flex (any performance) or $240 for Weekday Flex (Tue-Fri), and Rep-Passport is $68.