Berkeley Rep’s leadership announced today that after being closed for a year and a half, the Tony Award-winning theatre will reopen for live performances on Friday, October 1. 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 Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play), a score by composer Michael Thurber, and conceived by director Saheem Ali. Goddess is infused with contemporary romance, ancient magic, and the irresistible vibes of African, jazz, and R&B music. Starts March 19, 2022
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. Eight internet-obsessed people meet in real life to share their stories and wrestle their demons, using nothing but a pitch pipe and the transcendent quality of their analog, a cappella voices. 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
Rounding out the season is the West Coast premiere of Sanctuary City by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok. 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.
the ripple, the wave that carried me home
By Christina Anderson
Directed by Miranda Haymon
A co-production with Goodman Theatre
World premiere
Peet’s Theatre
Starts Oct 1, 2021
Priority On Sale Jul 23
General On Sale Aug 6
In this world premiere commissioned by Berkeley Rep, playwright Christina Anderson brings us a poignant, transporting, and quietly subversive story of racial justice, political legacy, and family forgiveness. Janice’s childhood was steeped in her parents’ activism as they fought for the integration of public swimming pools in 1960s Kansas and taught scores of Black children to swim. But Janice later steps away from her parents’ politics and starts her own life and family far away – until she’s pressed into speaking at a ceremony honoring her father. the ripple, the wave that carried me home is a moving exploration of a family’s response to injustice and a daughter’s reckoning with her political inheritance.
Wintertime
By Charles L. Mee
Directed by Les Waters
Roda Theatre
Starts Nov 12, 2021
Priority On Sale Aug 20
General On Sale Sep 1
“Wacky, elegant and amazingly buoyant” (Variety). Berkeley Rep welcomes back Charles L. Mee and Les Waters, who have brought so much delight to our audiences with Fêtes de la Nuit and Big Love. Members of a gloriously eccentric family 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. With a wink to Magritte, a nod to Shakespeare, and a toast to the Greeks, this poetic and hyper-kinetic voyage through the human heart never lets us forget that love, like life, is eternal, messy…and wondrous.
Swept Away
Book by John Logan
Music and Lyrics by The Avett Brothers
Music Arrangements and Orchestrations by Chris Miller & Brian Usifer
Choreography by David Neumann
Directed by Michael Mayer
World Premiere
Peet’s Theatre
Starts Jan 9, 2022
Priority On Sale Oct 15
General On Sale Oct 28
Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) blew the roof off Berkeley Rep in 2009 with Green Day’s American Idiot. Now he returns with a captivating world premiere musical, this time 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.
1888, off the coast of New Bedford, MA. When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship, the four surviving souls – a young man in search of adventure, his older brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a worldly first mate who has fallen from grace – each face a reckoning: How far will I go to stay alive? And can I live with the consequences?
Produced by special arrangement with Matthew Masten, Sean Hudock, and MWM Live.
Goddess
Conceived by Saheem Ali
Music and lyrics by Michael Thurber
Book by Jocelyn Bioh
Additional material by Mkhululi Z. Mabija
Choreographed by Darrell Grand Moultrie
Directed by Saheem Ali
World premiere
Roda Theatre
Starts Mar 19, 2022
Priority On Sale Dec 15
General On Sale Jan 7
Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere of an exuberant new musical by award-winning playwright Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) and composer Michael Thurber, conceived by director Saheem Ali. A young man returns home to Mombasa, Kenya to marry his fiancée and step into his family’s political dynasty. But when he visits Moto Moto – a steamy afro-jazz club and the stomping ground of his youth – he finds himself drawn to a mysterious new singer. Inspired by the myth of Marimba, who created beautiful songs from her heartbreak, Goddess is a joyful infusion of contemporary romance, ancient magic, and the irresistible vibes of African, jazz, and R&B music.
Octet
A Chamber Choir Musical
By Dave Malloy
Directed by Annie Tippe
A co-production with Signature Theatre Company
West Coast premiere
Peet’s Theatre
Starts Apr 20, 2022
Priority On Sale Jan 26
General On Sale Feb 9
Three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) makes his Berkeley Rep mainstage debut with his latest award-winning off-Broadway hit. Eight internet-obsessed people meet in real life to share their stories and wrestle their demons, using nothing but a pitch pipe and the transcendent quality of their analog, a cappella voices. With witty lyrics, shimmering harmonies, and virtuosic solos, Octet sings of connection, redemption, hope – and how we can be truly present with each other. “You’ll feel reassured, alarmed, enlightened and truly thrilled by what you hear,” declares the New York Times. Octet was commissioned and received its world premiere at Signature Theatre Company, where Dave Malloy is resident playwright.
Cambodian Rock Band
Written by Lauren Yee
Featuring songs by Dengue Fever
Directed by Chay Yew
A Signature Theatre Production
Roda Theatre
Starts Jun 3, 2022
Priority On Sale Mar 11
General On Sale Mar 25
Guitars tuned. Mic checked. Get ready to rock! This darkly funny, electric new play with music tells the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in 30 years, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia’s most infamous war criminals. Backed by a live band playing contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time as father and daughter face the music of the past. Directed by Chay Yew, this intimate rock epic about family secrets is set against a dark chapter of Cambodian history.
Sanctuary City
By Martyna Majok
West Coast premiere
Peet’s Theatre
Starts Jul 8, 2022
Priority On Sale Apr 13
General On Sale Apr 29
Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok 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. Poignant, timely, and highly theatrical, Sanctuary City illuminates the triumphs and challenges these lifelong friends face, and how much they are willing to risk for each other when they have everything to lose.
Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and The Pool
Written and performed by Mike Birbiglia
Directed by Seth Barrish
Roda Theatre
Starts Jan 4, 2022
Priority On Sale Oct 12
General On Sale Oct 26
On the heels of his award-winning Broadway show The New One, comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia returns to Berkeley Rep with 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 story. It’s a rumination on middle age that celebrates life while making detours into pizza math, pulmonary tests, and glass jars of peanut M&M’s.
Fran Lebowitz
Roda Theatre
Starts Jan 21, 2022
Priority On Sale Oct 29
General On Sale Nov 12
Following her bingeworthy hit Netflix series, Pretend It’s a City, Fran Lebowitz returns for six performances only to Berkeley Rep where she played to sold-out crowds in our Roda Theatre in 2018. In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators. With her acerbic views on everything from current events and pet peeves to politics and the media, each performance promises to be unique and highly entertaining.
For the 2021-22 season, Berkeley Rep recognizes the generous support of BART and Peet’s Coffee, Berkeley Rep’s official season sponsors. Berkeley Rep is also delighted to recognize the support at the season sponsor level of Bruce Golden and Michelle Mercer, Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau, Gisele and Kenneth F. Miller, and The Strauch Kulhanjian Family.