Press coverage

acclaim for our organization

About Berkeley Rep

“Berkeley Rep occupies two sleek, custom-built theaters. Gone are the days when actors had to dash outside and down an alley to enter on the stage’s far side. Yet under Tony Taccone, who is just its third artistic director in four decades, the company continues to pride itself on producing provocative, often overtly political theater, the kind that generates loud and clamorous debate…Berkeley Rep has a tradition of playing host to formidable talents before their big breaks, like Anna Deavere Smith, Mary Zimmerman, and Mary-Louise Parker. And it has long been a leader in producing writers of color. In recent years Mr. Taccone has put his weight behind producing another underserved group: emerging writers, including Stew, Ms. Ruhl (a recent recipient of a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant), and Jordan Harrison. Mr. Taccone’s approach—to offer emerging writers the same resources as established ones and to hold them to the same standards—has helped yield a string of hits. He is also able to offer new plays a very educated, broad-minded audience…And artists appreciate Berkeley Rep’s intimate 600- and 400-seat theatres, in which no seat is more than 49 feet from the stage…Increasingly, Berkeley Rep’s galvanizing productions have been traveling to New York. The rock musical Passing Strange, which opened on Broadway on Thursday, is the fourth show in two years with Berkeley lineage to transfer to a major New York stage…It is a striking body of work, a reminder of the importance of regional theaters as feeders to New York.”—Joy Goodwin, New York Times
“With a well-deserved reputation for producing a steady stream of challenging work that earned it the 1997 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater, Berkeley Rep continues to confound expectations…Founded in 1968, the Rep has grown into one heavyweight regional theater.”—Sam Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
“One of the more adventurous American theatrical enterprises outside of New York.”—David Littlejohn, Wall Street Journal
“Berkeley Rep, which won a Tony Award in 1997 for outstanding regional theater, was begun in a storefront by some university graduate students in 1968…It soon became a cultural tradition in Berkeley, with a yearly offering of seven or eight plays, a mix of classic and contemporary works…By design, it’s an eclectic and wide-ranging program.”—Bernard Weinraub, New York Times
“Known for stellar productions of the works of contemporary playwrights with political bents.”—Jean Schiffman, Variety
“In the past 10 years, Berkeley Rep has gained a national reputation as a theatre on the cutting edge of artistic expression.“—Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune
“One could see this string of accomplishments as inevitable, given the quality of the artists who seek out Taccone’s talent, or as the hard-earned culmination of a career as one of American theatre’s most versatile and generous collaborators.”—Ellen McLaughlin, American Theatre
“Berkeley Rep rules. Yeah, yeah, way to state the obvious, I know. This may be old news in these parts but the East Coast is just now catching on to the trend.”—Karen D’Souza, San Jose Mercury News
“It can’t be true that every old script that Berkeley Repertory Theatre touches turns to gold. It just seems that way.”—Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Examiner
“Let’s not quibble…Nobody’s perfect…But Berkeley Rep comes close with more consistency than any theatre in the region.”—Leo Stutzin, Modesto Bee
“Berkeley Rep offers visually outstanding stagings, top-notch tech, strong performances, great new scripts, and anti-war politics.”—Tom Kelly, SF Bay Times
“Berkeley Rep is the Bay Area’s most consistently excellent theater company.”—Judy Richter, Aisle Say
“Had I my druthers, every play would run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, easily the most theatregoer-friendly house in the Bay Area.”—Gerald Nachman, San Francisco Chronicle

About the Downtown Berkeley Arts District

“What is happening is the transformation of some forlorn streets of empty buildings and auto body shops into a potentially flourishing neighborhood anchored by a sleek new 600-seat theater that is the second stage for the 400-seat Berkeley Repertory Theatre…With the opening of the $20 million theater, which adjoins, via a courtyard, the older one, the Addison Street neighborhood is pulsing with activity…The second theater [is] the nucleus of a revitalized downtown.”—Bernard Weinraub, New York Times
“The new $20 million Berkeley Repertory Theatre is the anchor in downtown Berkeley’s revival.”—Kim Severson, San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s been a long struggle to make downtown Berkeley come alive again, and Berkeley Rep has been the driving force that has turned its block of Addison Street into an official, city-supported Downtown Arts District. That in turn has generated the growth of theater and live music attractions nearby.”—Robert Taylor, Contra Costa Times
“Artistic Director Tony Taccone and Managing Director Susan Medak met the challenge of creating a larger theater without sacrificing the intimacy for which Berkeley Rep is known and admired…Berkeley Rep’s two-theatre complex, along with the adjacent new Nevo Education Center, forms the lynchpin to the city’s emerging arts district.”—Belinda Taylor, Callboard
“Art envelops you in this town. On Addison Street, you can read poetry etched in the sidewalk, view paintings in a parking garage, catch a show at three stages run by two outstanding theater companies and hear some hot music at one of the nation’s only schools devoted entirely to jazz. And that’s just in one block.”—Sunset Magazine
“A world-class stage, state-of-the-art sound and lighting, brilliant acoustics and great sightlines…The new stage will help the theater operation look as brawny as its reputation. The relatively small Berkeley Rep, and its original 360-seat house, has an enormous reputation throughout the country, along with the regional Tony Award it received in 1997…The new theater will be the keystone of Berkeley’s new Addison Street Arts District, and Berkeley Rep will be a major player, not only with the two theaters, but with a new educational facility as well, located just on the other side of the existing theater.”—Pat Craig, Contra Costa Times

About the Roda Theatre

“The vast stage—which can be reconfigured, lighted and set in an almost infinite number of ways—is remarkably intimate. With long ranks of seats facing forward, clear sightlines and acoustics and nothing in the house to distract you, the play is definitely the thing.”—David Littlejohn, Wall Street Journal
“When the burgundy curtain rose, The Roda got down to business and did what it will clearly do best for years to come. The new theater became a strikingly responsive instrument, tuned to the actors and spectacle on stage. The relationship of audience to art is everything the Rep had hoped it would be…a stunningly big picture on intimate terms…Lines spoken in a husky whisper carry cleanly to the back of the house…The deep cherry-wood wall surfaces and a towering airspace crowned with lofty catwalks and exposed air ducts vanish into plush darkness when the house lights go down. The show, as it always should be, is the thing.”—Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s certainly not too early to sing the praises of the newly dubbed Roda Theatre: it’s a warm, elegant, vibrant space that manages to combine scale and intimacy, featuring great acoustics and a state-of-the-art proscenium that makes some truly striking stage imagery possible. As performances spaces in the Bay Area disappear at an alarming rate, this handsome brand-new theater is little short of a miracle.”—Brad Rosenstein, SF Bay Guardian
“The new theater and the arts development along Addison Street signals an eastward shift in the Bay Area theater scene. The theater already had a national reputation, winning a regional Tony Award in 1997. Now it’s getting facilities to match…The new, 27,000-square-foot auditorium features state-of-the-art lighting and acoustics, great views from every seat, and a design heavy on wood-textured concrete and real wood…Berkeley Rep is the centerpiece.”—Tony Hicks, Contra Costa Times
“Check out the spacious yet intimate new theater and all of its bells and whistles: a 90-foot scenery storage tower, state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems and—something of which Berkeley Rep is extremely proud—13 stalls in the women’s room. But if you’re not a woman, please knock before going in.”—Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune
“The most dominant characteristic of the company’s new proscenium theater is its intimacy…its design whispers Berkeley. With an architectural flavor that at times suggests the Maybeck style—think Craftsman crossbred with Frank Lloyd Wright—the theater [has] a rawness and elegance that is undeniably East Bay.”—Mark de la Viña, San Jose Mercury News
“In 1968, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre occupied a simple storefront. Things have changed since then: This month, a new three-story, 600-seat theater premieres with a grand-opening dinner and a performance of The Oresteia. The addition joins an existing 401-seat facility as well as a theater school in the Nevo Education Center next door. Together, the three comprise a true performance complex on the Addison Street arts corridor in downtown Berkeley.”—Chiori Santiago, Sunset Magazine
“For a year and a half, the 2000 block of Addison Street has been a hive of activity, reminiscent of the bustle and community involvement that attended the construction of medieval cathedrals…Politics and enlightened citizenry can be found in the gifts that have helped make the theatre possible: $4 million from the City of Berkeley, $2 million from Ask Jeeves, Inc., and a spectacular sound system by the world-famous Berkeley-based Meyer Sound Laboratories…The ingenious design from ELS Architects keeps the audience close to the action. No seat is farther than 49 feet from the stage, and the stage itself is large, with capacious trap room below and fly room above, increasing scenic possibilities.”—Belinda Taylor, Performing Arts Magazine
“Yes, it’s going to be different, but it’s going to be a good different. The Rep has made every effort to retain the things that matter most to its dedicated audience: intimacy, clarity, and a lack of pretension…even the cheap-ticket SRO area is going to be a better ‘seat’ than you can find in the expensive part of certain other theatres.”—Lisa Drostova, East Bay Express
“Indeed, the closeness of the boxes and the loge to the stage lend the intimately scaled site the feel of a European jewel box theater…The mixed elements of stone and wood evoke Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Waters house. The theater is masculine and majestic in its strong lines and rough textures…Entering the tech booth, there’s a feeling you’ve stepped into the cockpit of the starship Enterprise. The sleekly molded console is studded with gazillions of sliding buttons and gadgets.”—Pamela Fisher, San Francisco Examiner
“Berkeley Repertory Theatre has created a classic of its own: a facility capable of housing epic productions while maintaining the intimacy between actor and viewer that is live theater’s greatest reason for existence…Even viewers at the rear of the orchestra or mezzanine should be able to see every grin and grimace without resorting to binoculars: No seat is more than 49 feet from the stage…The two stages will give the company a one-two punch in theatrical flexibility.”—Leo Stutzin, Modesto Bee
“Berkeley Repertory Theatre has sprouted wings and Bay Area theatergoers will be uplifted as well in the sleek new theater that seats 600 but has the same intimate feel as the one next door.”—Lee Brady, Pacific Sun
“A lovely 600-seat proscenium theater with a huge stage opening and terrific sight lines.”—Erika Milvy, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
“Berkeley Rep has given the Bay Area the glorious gift of a major new theatrical venue…the expansive stage of the new Roda Theatre. The auditorium itself, a hard-edged modernist take on traditional proscenium theatres, proves a surprisingly intimate companion to such a large stage.”—Richard Dodds, Bay Area Reporter

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