Student matinees

Berkeley Rep’s Student Matinee Series makes the theatrical art form accessible and affordable to middle school and high school students. We have chosen four plays from Season 08/09 that we feel are particularly relevant to a student audience. These productions combine Berkeley Rep’s high level of artistic excellence with educational subject matter that meets curriculum standards. If you have specific content concerns, please contact us before purchasing tickets.

yellowjackets

September 10, 2008 / noon
September 24, 2008 / noon
October 8, 2008 / noon

The season kicks off with the world premiere of an incisive play set in Berkeley and written by a Berkeley native. Nationally known playwright Itamar Moses returns to his hometown with a script set just around the corner in the halls of his alma mater, Berkeley High. When the school newspaper publishes an insensitive story, students suddenly find themselves embroiled in a volatile controversy—and even their teachers seem unprepared to deal with the repercussions. Artistic Director Tony Taccone directs Yellowjackets, a compelling collision of race and class that forces us to examine familiar surroundings with fresh eyes.

joe turner’s come and gone

November 12, 2008 / noon
December 10, 2008 / noon

Renowned actor Delroy Lindo returns to Berkeley Rep with the play that netted him a nomination for the Tony Award—but this time, he’s in the director’s chair. Following last year’s triumph with Tanya Barfield’s Blue Door, Lindo takes on August Wilson’s African-American epic, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Haunted by seven years on a chain gang, Herald Loomis appears in Pittsburgh to reunite his family. Surrounded by the vibrant tenants of a black boarding house, he fights for his soul and his song in the dawning days of a century without slavery.

the arabian nights

December 3, 2008 / noon
December 17, 2008 / noon

Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika was a sold-out, seven-week sensation. Now she returns to Berkeley Rep with her remarkable take on The Arabian Nights. The Tony Award-winning creator of Metamorphoses made her career by reanimating ancient myths, and here she breathes new life into the legend of the 1,001 nights. To save her life, a beautiful bride must spin hypnotic tales of genies, jesters, thieves and kings—winning her freedom by eventually winning her husband’s heart. As he falls under Scheherazade’s spell, Zimmerman enchants the audience as well with her signature style that transforms simplicity into the sublime. Amidst a thousand tales of honor, revenge and humor, only love emerges victorious.

crime and punishment

March 11, 2009 / noon
March 18, 2009 / noon

Sharon Ott returns to the stage where she earned her national reputation with a gripping production of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic Crime and Punishment. As a police inspector interrogates a man about murder, we journey through the mind of a criminal. What did he do? Why did he do it? And what would you be capable of in certain circumstances? Before Law & Order, there was Crime and Punishment. Performed in 90 minutes with only three actors, this chamber piece compresses all the tension and pathos of the novel into a powerful evening of theatre. Dive into the greatest crime story ever written, a tale of murder, motive and redemption that plumbs the depths of the human soul.

Student Matinee tickets are $10 each. One complimentary chaperone ticket is provided for every ten students. Study guides, which reinforce California Department of Education content standards in English-language Arts, Historical-Social Science and Theatre by providing relevant activities and exercises, are developed to enhance understanding of the productions. Performances listed as “Student Matinees” are exclusively for student groups and are followed by Question and Answer Sessions with the cast. Other performance dates are available for student groups of 15 or more for $15 per ticket. Click here for more information about group tickets.

For more information or to book a group for the Student Matinee Series, please call Amelia Bird at 510 647–2978 or e-mail abird@berkeleyrep.org.