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Press coverage

praise for past productions

season 11/12

About Emotional Creature

San Francisco Chronicle feature by Chad Jones
San Jose Mercury News feature by Karen D’Souza
SF Weekly feature by Lily Janiak
East Bay Express feature by Rachel Swan
SF Bay Guardian feature by Nicole Gluckstern
San Francisco Examiner feature by Christina Troup
TheaterMania feature by Bethany Rickwald
Berkeleyside feature by Frances Dinkelspiel
30-minute interview on KPFA-FM (mp3)
KCBS-AM with Melissa Culross (mp3)
“Infectious…with an evangelical zeal at times more befitting a revival meeting than a play…As staged with mounting enthusiasm by Jo Bonney and choreographer Luam, and performed by six engaging, energetic young women, [Emotional] Creature is a collage of monologues, chat sessions—about body image, dieting, sex, abortion—and lively dance breaks…Some of the monologues are deeply unsettling and performed with dynamic emotional resonance.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s hard to resist. Ensler appeals to the child at the heart of all of us in a rallying cry to save the world, one girl at a time. An ensemble of six young women leap from one monologue to the next [introducing] many unexpectedly endearing heroines…All have a refreshing sense of exuberance, a genuine quality that’s endlessly appealing in our cynical age of packaging and spin. Ensler’s gift is chronicling unthinkable travesties with insight and discipline. [She] targets the girl’s steel, her strength of will and her capacity to endure.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Wonderful…Ensler’s show bursts with positive energy, powerful stories and inspiring performances. The songs, with music by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder and lyrics by Ensler, are a lively addition to the mix (Vagina Monologues was only spoken word), and Luam’s choreography expresses ferocity and strength and erupting joy in equal measure. Director Jo Bonney delivers a slick show that feels like activist vaudeville—song, dance, story, poetry slam, laughter, tears and mobilization of the troops…As an ensemble, these women are absolutely delightful, and as individuals, delivering monologues, they are compelling and compassionate…Ensler and her troupe leave us with a powerfully upbeat manifesto for young women and the people who love and admire them.”—Theater Dogs
“Dazzling…The acting was superb, raw and gutsy…The show exemplifies the spirit and heart of Ensler’s best-selling book I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World, shedding light on the joys and challenges as well as the violence faced by girls across the globe. Playing now through July 15 at the cutting-edge Berkeley Repertory Theater, Emotional Creature is a theatrically lit match that will light a fire in your heart and has the potential to spark a girl revolution…It’s empowering for women and teen girls but it is potentially a wakeup call for men and teen boys. Everyone should see this.”—Broadway World

About Black n Blue Boys / Broken Men

“Genius…incisively written and masterfully performed…The words ‘magnetic’ and ‘versatile’ can’t quite convey the mesmerizing intensity of Dael Orlandersmith onstage, or the ease with which she transforms herself into characters of every age, ethnicity, shape or gender. Both qualities are on full display in Black n Blue Boys / Broken Men, even though Orlandersmith is only playing one gender in her latest show—male…Orlandersmith is a riveting performer with an urgent tale to tell…As in Yellowman, the writing is fierce, uncompromising and alive with sharply observed, humanizing detail…The characterizations are indelible. Without altering her all-black shirt-and-pants ensemble (by Anita Yavich), Orlandersmith simply modifies her stance, accent and demeanor to become a half dozen Puerto Rican, Irish, African American and other boys and men—and sometimes the same boys growing into adulthood.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Devastating…Orlandersmith, who riveted audiences with the Pulitzer-nominated Yellowman, lends this play such a piercing sense of honesty that it’s hard to believe it’s not documentary theater. This is the sort of play that has you gasping one moment and squirming the next…There’s no shaking the intensity of the experience as Orlandersmith transforms her formidable stage presence into one fractured soul after another [and] taps into bottomless rage with a ferocity that is hard to shake. Inspired by her days working as a social worker in a shelter for runaway kids, Black n Blue Boys isn’t afraid to sting the ears…It takes great courage to create a theater piece like this so perhaps it’s fitting that it also takes some courage to watch it.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Expertly performed and designed…Orlandersmith wrote and performs these grim stories, and she doesn’t pull any punches as she plays six men/boys of varying ages and ethnicities. Under the direction of Chay Yew, Orlandersmith is such a graceful, powerful performer that you can’t take your eyes off of her, even when the material makes you flinch.”—Theater Dogs

About In Paris

San Francisco Chronicle feature
KGO-TV / ABC-7 interview
KQED-FM / NPR interview
“Spectacular but also intimate…Mikhail Baryshnikov scarcely dances at all until the haunting finale of In Paris. But the ballet legend shows such a genius for movement that his body language is an art unto itself in this fearlessly inventive theatrical adventure. The dancer has such a striking physical presence, even at 64, that he elevates the smallest movements into epic moments of truth. He is mezmerizing as an aging Russian general exiled to 1930s Paris, shuffling about the city in a kind of existential gloom. The way he holds his head, pulls out a chair, stands when he knows the love of his life is watching—each movement’s subtext seems to flow from the subconscious. These are some of the most poignant aspects of Dmitry Krymov’s stark, uncompromising multimedia tableau…It’s an ephemeral dream of last romance, which floats from lovely to surreal [and] keenly captures the ache of solitude and the fleeting bliss of romance.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Haunting and buoyant…Set in a 1930s ex-pat Paris embodied in cleverly manipulated giant sepia-tinted postcard images, Krymov’s Paris—adapted from a short story by Ivan Bunin—is a moody, wryly comic blend of engaging visuals, enchanting found-object music and a romance…Sinyakina is a delight [and] Baryshnikov holds the stage with seemingly effortless charisma, from before the show begins until its end. His concentrated, slow movements can be riveting. His short dance moments—a quick burst of frustrated flamenco; a graceful toreador routine (choreography by Alexei Ratmansky)—add welcome dramatic punctuation.”—San Francisco Chronicle

About Red

Feature in the San Francisco Chronicle
Interview with Les Waters
Feature in the Napa Valley Register
“Scintillating…Beautifully mounted…Chandler, whose stillness gazing deep into an unseen canvas is both hypnotic and revelatory, is deliciously sharp delivering Rothko’s insights…Waters and his actors bring out the best in its drama of Rothko’s ideas [and] their priming of a huge canvas in thick, rich red is a showstopper.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Raw and real…A primer in the volatile life and work of Mark Rothko, this Tony-winning drama about aesthetics, psychology and fate marks the swan song of director Les Waters who will soon decamp from Berkeley Rep to take over the noted Actors Theater of Louisville. Smartly framed by Waters, the play’s finest qualities stem from its ability to capture the unruly nature of the artistic process, the thud of paint smacked across the canvas, the rustling of brushes being cleaned, the deep abyss of the painter’s stare. Dominated by massive light-reflecting orbs (Rothko loathed natural light), empty buckets and encrusted paint splatter, Louisa Thompson’s gorgeous set design captures the ache of a space dedicated to art. The stormy Rothko (David Chandler) saw himself as an oracle and the studio became his altar. Peeking inside the dark corners of the creative soul is a heady proposition and there are moments of great exhilaration here. The first time Rothko strikes a brush against the canvas, the action is so raw and startling…The play careens between theory and emotion.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group

About A Doctor in Spite of Himself

San Francisco Chronicle feature
Photos on Broadway World
“Ingenious…There’s seemingly no end to the comic invention in this Doctor. Bayes, Epp and the rest of the wickedly funny cast cram the play with expertly executed classical routines, shtick, slapstick, sight gags, musical gags, political digs and a lot more…It’s a visual fun fest, from the ongoing interplay between Matt Saunders’ farcical stage and puppet sets and Kristin Fiebig’s array of 17th century and silent-film costumes to the puppetry of Renata Friedman. And it’s a musical treat, from the clever rap, soul, Broadway and opera singing and Aaron Halva’s score to the fine-tuned musicians Greg C. Powers and Robertson Witmer. Epp pours his considerable comic genius into Sganarelle, the loutish woodcutter cudgeled into pretending to be a ‘genius doctor’—and finding he rather likes it (the role originally played by Molière, who allowed himself plenty of room for improvisation). His tongue-twisting arias of mock Latin, medical jargon and phallic wood-whacking terms are crudely polished gems. He gets plenty of support at every turn. Allen Gilmore is outstanding as the bulbous, rap-operatic Géronte—the wealthy man seeking a doctor to cure his daughter, as are Friedman as goth-girl feigned invalid Lucinde and a pop-idol Chivas Michael as her beloved, ‘the fabulous Léandre.’ Julie Briskman is a delight as the titillated wet nurse who catches the fake doctor’s eye. Justine Williams is a bumptious caricature as Sganarelle’s scrappy wife and Liam Craig and Jacob Ming-Trent turn in deft comic duets as Géronte’s servants.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Gleefully ridiculous…Ludicrousness is raised to the level of high art…The pranksters pour Molière into a blender with nonstop boob jokes, hip-hop beats, an Occupy lampoon and, apropos of nothing in particular, ABBA tributes (count ‘em, three!). The shtick flies. While the bawdy show, seen at the Wednesday opening, comes dangerously close to an overdose of nonsense, it’s hard to quibble while you giggle…The restorative power of this Doctor sneaks up on you in the 90-minute commedia homage. From LOL-worthy pop-culture nods to hoary old sight gags, this farce never met a punch line it didn’t like. A co-production with Yale Rep, the ingenious all-you-can-mock-buffet continues through March 25…Shout-outs to everything from Orinda and Rita Moreno to The Music Man come so fast you risk a kitsch hangover. And at its best, Doctor is a surprisingly wistful commentary on the evanescence of life and the need to savor every last belly laugh along the way.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Absolutely hysterical…A blissful 90 minutes…Watching Epp work his comic magic is such a tremendous pleasure—his Sganarelle, a doofus lumberjack who fools everyone into thinking he’s a doctor, is a master class in how to get laughs by doing just about anything and everything but knowing exactly when and how to do it. Happily, Epp is surrounded by actors and musicians who are as adept as he and having almost as much fun. This is wonderfully stupid comedy played by experts—it feels like a lark, but it’s masterful frivolity…This cast creates an extraordinary comedy machine, and each performer is a vital moving part. Liam Craig and Jacob Ming-Trent are sort of a Tweedle Dum-Tweedle Dee pair, and just about everything they do, whether in tandem or individually, brings a smile. I was especially delighted by Craig’s deadpan delivery and Ming-Trent’s tendency to punctuate jokes with vocal runs…Allen Gilmore as a doddering and fading member of the French aristocracy offers clowning of the highest (sometimes hip-hoppiest) order. A Doctor in Spite of Himself could exhaust you with its onslaught of throw-away jokes and comedic bits, but Bayes’ careful direction varies the pace and tone just enough to keep the audience relaxed and, more importantly, happy. Winter blahs be damned. This production is just what the doctor ordered.”—Theater Dogs

About Ghost Light

30-minute KQED-TV documentary on the show
New York Times feature by Jesse McKinley
Wall Street Journal feature by Vauhini Vara (PDF)
Interview on NPR’s Forum with Dave Iverson
ABC-TV report from Don Sanchez
NBC-TV coverage from Joe Risoto
Coverage from CBS-TV and KCBS-AM
KGO-AM report from Peter Finch (2.4MB mp3)
KQED news report from Cy Musiker
San Francisco Chronicle feature by Chad Jones
San Francisco Examiner feature by Robert Sokol
Bay Area Reporter feature by Richard Dodds
SF Arts Monthly feature by Jean Schiffman (PDF)
“Brave, evocative and surprisingly funny…It’s an impressive and courageous project…Taccone’s sharp, acerbic humor keeps the show afloat. The historic material is enlightening and, in the end, the play’s emotional core comes through in some deeply moving images of the charming and elusive father.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Beautifully written…Undeniably powerful. Ghost Light burns with the need to burnish a father’s legacy…Fuses the personal and the political with explosive results. From cheeky inside jokes about the theatuh to penetrating insights about the nature of grief, Ghost Light is radiant indeed in its world premiere co-production at Berkeley Rep…The play bubbles over with insights into the way the death of a loved one can spiral into an inconsolable sense of loss, how our memories shape our identity and how vulnerable children are to the fickle hand of fate. All of this unfolds on a set dominated by the august facade of San Francisco City Hall (design by Todd Rosenthal), which is fitting, because it’s the weight of history that gives Ghost Light its intensity…The combination of Moscone’s bracing candor, Taccone’s lacerating wit and San Francisco’s legendary history imbues the play with a deeply cathartic sense of the tragicomedy of existence.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Haunting, insightful and often mordantly funny…Taccone’s cerebral script slips freely between anguished dreams, sexual advances and political discourse. At the heart of the play is Jon’s struggle to restore his father’s place in history…Moore is outstanding. Sarcastic, fiercely intelligent and deeply wounded, his Jon is a riveting portrait of a man at odds with himself. When, like Hamlet, he finally claims his birthright, it’s the stuff of great theater.”—San Francisco Examiner
“This is a brave piece of work and an artful demonstration of fact and fiction fusing into something authentic and undeniably powerful…I expected Ghost Light, a co-production of Berkeley Repertory Theatre (where Taccone is artistic director) and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where the play had the first leg of its world premiere last summer, to be about grief and the complicated relationship between fathers and sons. It is about those things. How could it not be, seeing as how it deals primarily with the effect of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone’s assassination in 1978, when his son Jon was 14 years old. But what struck me about the play—a strange, fascinating, complex and challenging drama—was how much it’s about art and the act of creativity.”—Theater Dogs

About The Wild Bride

San Francisco Chronicle feature
“Enthralling…Acrobatic and expressive…The Devil is at the crossroads, a girl is in peril and love is gloriously indestructible in the exhilarating The Wild Bride that opened Wednesday at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. This latest taste of the inexhaustible creativity of England’s Kneehigh Theatre is a feast of timeless story, irresistible music and wildly imaginative theatricality…It’s enchantingly realized through the magic of Rice’s ingenious theatrics as executed by this brilliant cast…Bride is a gift that keeps on giving. What starts in an enchanted, bluesy folktale world dips into creepy nightmare terrain and sails aloft on wings of grit, resolution and fantasy. It’s a fairy tale for adults.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Hypnotic…The Wild Bride will steal your heart from start to finish…One of the most enchanting holiday shows in recent memory, this whimsical tale of wonder and woe runs through Jan. 1 at Berkeley Rep. The Brothers Grimm enter distinctly Southern Gothic territory in this fiendishly clever fairy tale…Rice makes the adventure magical and unexpectedly moving [with] an ingenious marriage of dance, theater, puppetry and music…Once upon a time has rarely been so intoxicating.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Wild Bride is a devilishly entertaining fairy tale. The best fairy tales have always been a mix of the magical and the macabre, and The Wild Bride achieves an ideal blend. Emma Rice’s Kneehigh Theatre production, which premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre last week, is no cuddly bedtime story. Deliciously dark and endlessly imaginative, it turns a minor tale from Grimm’s into a gripping theatrical event…The Wild Bride is a wild ride. Anyone who believes in magic should see it.”—San Francisco Examiner
“Magnificent…Such joy. Such wicked, delicious, heart-pounding joy. That’s what it feels like at the end of The Wild Bride, the dark fairy tale come to life on Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda stage. This is, without question, the great treat of the holiday theater season…The Wild Bride is unrestrained and magnificent. Rice and her performers dazzle us with humor, surprise us with movement and blow us away with the sheer force and imagination of their storytelling…Here comes the Bride indeed—in the most unexpectedly charming and poignant fashion you can imagine…Wild Bride feels organically wild, bold and brave and full of the kind of sights, sounds and stories that make theater the most thrilling art form on the planet.”—Theater Dogs

About How to Write a New Book for the Bible

San Francisco Chronicle feature
“Bracingly personal, smart, funny, affecting…The degree to which we like all these people, and the various doctors and others played by Blakely and Marks, not only draws us into the way they handle the natural process of dying but also strikes a refreshingly unique chord. Even their squabbles are endearing, not to mention funny. Nicholson, who directed the Marin Theatre premiere of 9 Circles, enhances the appeal with crisp, clear and seductively smooth stagings on Scott Bradley’s ingeniously lovely set of suspended windows, lamps, curtains and shards of glass.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Tenderly crafted…A profound meditation on the shared narratives that hold a family together through the vagaries of life and death. The intimacy of his remembrance gives this memory play its shattering resonance. The playwright is giving a blessing to his family in the form of theater, and there’s no denying the beauty of that ritual…We recognize ourselves or those we love in the minutiae of this family’s life.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Brilliant…Profoundly wonderful and deeply personal…An extraordinary play…Sometimes you experience a work of art—for me that art is usually theater—and it connects you with something bigger and more powerful than your individual experience. You connect with the other audience members, the actors, the designers and, especially, the writer. When that connection is made, the communal heart of theater is so alive, so vast and so inexplicably moving that transcendence does, however temporary, seem a viable option. Bill Cain’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible is one of those experiences…I was in tears multiple times, and it wasn’t always because what was happening on stage was sad. When you’re not being moved, chances are good Cain is making you laugh, often at his own expense.”—Theater Dogs
“Stunning…Some plays are more beguiling and moving than you expect them to be, at least upon hearing the basic outline, and that’s definitely the case with Bill Cain’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible…Bible is a meditation on suffering, and family that somehow manages to be incredibly funny at the same time…Cain’s point is that every family’s story, or at least every death, deserves this kind of holy recording. It’s a loving tribute, and at many moments a painful one to watch. But as Cain says in the program notes, ‘I think of the play as joyous,’ and when you hear the audience laugh for the fiftieth time in two hours, you’ll understand.”—SFist

About Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup

San Francisco Chronicle cover story
Diablo Magazine feature
Latina.com interview
AARP Viva interview
Theatre Bay Area cover story
TheaterMania interview
Broadway World interview
San Francisco Examiner feature
Bay Area Reporter feature
“Moreno—past and present—is a pleasure…Written by Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone, in his local playwriting debut, developed with Moreno and directed by David Galligan, Rita is an idiosyncratic cross between star showcase and intimate memoir. Two backup dancers and music director-pianist César Cancino’s polished onstage quartet are on hand for the expected career-highlight numbers. But most of Rita is the story of a Puerto Rican girl’s journey from childhood through the highs, lows and racism of show biz. It’s the tale of the successes, missteps, passions and regrets of Rosita Dolores Alverio as she tried to make her way…She looks great and commands the stage with ease, in Annie Smart’s svelte gowns, as choreographer Lee Martino makes good use of the athletic Ray Garcia and Salvatore Vassallo to fill in Robbins-based or Gene Kelly-ish moves in numbers from West Side Story and Singin’ in the Rain. Her very funny recreation of her Tony-winning turn from Terrence McNally’s The Ritz is a show-stopper.”—Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
“Rita Moreno has never been the kind of actress who needed sequins to sparkle. She started dancing her heart out when she was 5, and she’s been hoofing it ever since. Now almost 80, the star recounts her glitzy life story in Life Without Makeup. In its world premiere at Berkeley Rep, it’s a highly pleasurable showbiz memoir steeped in the nostalgia of the Golden Age of Hollywood…Moreno crafted the solo show with Tony Taccone (who had been trying to talk her into the project for years), and it’s definitely a showcase for her strengths, among them an absolute command of the spotlight. The first—and still one of only a few—performers to have nabbed an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, Moreno is an old hand at working a crowd…You feel like she’s an old friend spinning yarns over cocktails instead of a legend looking back on a storied career…She still electrifies in the musical numbers. Reprising her indelible performance as Anita in West Side Story or sending up her comic shtick from The Electric Company, Moreno mesmerizes.”—Karen D’Souza, San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“An amazing, engaging, important night of theatre. From Singin’ in the Rain to Brando heartbreak to West Side Story, this remarkable woman has a story to tell. From the seemy underside of Hollywood and the glamour of Broadway, from climbing to the top, being knocked down and fighting to get back up, Rita gives us dancing, singing, true tales of Broadway slave drivers and Hollywood thugs. Raw, honest, fun, inspiring. What a life in show biz is all about. Hats off to Rita. Do not miss this show!”—Jan Wahl, KCBS-AM/KRON-TV
“Fabulous…It’s an astonishing evening of fantastic entertainment…Rita Moreno—winner of a Tony, an Oscar, a Grammy and two Emmys—tells her life story in song, dance and dialogue…There’s plenty of good humor and—at 79—some spry dancing by Rita. She hasn’t lost a step. And she looks terrific and wears some dazzling gowns. When I say, ‘not to miss,’ I really mean it with this show…Believe me, you’ll fall in love with her all over again.”—Jerry Friedman, KGO-AM
“Thrilling and moving…Life Without Makeup, had its world premiere Wednesday to a sold-out audience. The show was at turns funny, moving, exhilarating, and inspiring, not the least of which was because Moreno is as limber and probably twice as candid as most women half her age. It is a well-crafted piece of memoir, and for that we have to compliment Taccone, who took the often messy and epic pieces of a life story and distilled them into a first-rate piece of entertainment. But keeping the show moving, and keeping the audience agape at her enthusiasm and joy for performing, is Moreno herself…One leaves the theater feeling lucky to have seen and heard this woman’s story, performed in this way, while the woman herself is still so insistently alive and able to tell it.”—Jay Barmann, SFist
“Spectacular…A once in a lifetime experience…Speaking directly to the audience Moreno tells her story with candor and grace, her vibrant authenticity and charm shining through at every turn. One thing is for sure, Moreno knows how to entertain and for two hours we are treated to an actress whose life and work span from Garland and Gable to Hanks and Hallie Barry, not to mention TV’s Fran Dresher!…She is unstoppable. At age 79 the svelte Puerto Rican triple threat from Hollywood’s bygone golden age continues to bring the house down…Rita’s still got it!”—Linda Hodges, Broadway World

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