In the Wake 09/10 - Berkeley Repertory Theatre

2009–10 season > In the Wake

written by lisa kron
directed by leigh silverman
in association with center theatre group
main season | roda theatre
may 14–june 27, 2010
world premiere

Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes,
including one 15 minute intermission

the play

Berkeley Rep and Center Theatre Group present a powerful world premiere from the creators of Broadway’s Well. After an idyllic Thanksgiving filled with food, football, family and friends, a woman discovers how one passionate act can affect everything—her faith in love, her faith in country, her faith in herself. This tale of heartache and hope unfolds amidst the turmoil of American politics in the 21st century. Obie Award-winners Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman reunite for a searing show which questions whether we as Americans appreciate our freedom.

the players

Lisa Kron’s plays have been performed on Broadway, off Broadway and around the world. The recipient of many grants and awards, she teaches playwriting at Yale and helped begin an award-winning theatre group called the Five Lesbian Brothers.

Leigh Silverman has staged premieres of many important plays, including Neena Beber’s Jump/Cut, Eve Ensler’s The Treatment, David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face and Lisa Kron’s Well. She works at renowned theatres throughout the United States and directed Wit on London’s West End.

the buzz

“The characters are smart, quick and attractive. But what’s astonishing is the ease and wit with which Kron and director Leigh Silverman—the same team that created the brilliant Well—make the rapid volley of political arguments and artistic concepts not only exciting but also funny, moving and undeniably sexy. The heady blend of smart dialogue and characters, depicted by a superb cast, at times makes it a candidate to be the Angels in America of the Bush II decade…You’ll want to be able to say you saw it.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A smart and savory feast of angst and ideas…bursting with equal parts metaphor, romance and rhetoric. The personal and the political collide in this riveting world premiere…It’s impossible to deny the relevance of its themes, such as the legacy of Bush America in the world today.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group

“Elections. Breakups. Thanksgivings from hell. Lisa Kron’s new play follows a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown: Type-A journalist Ellen, whose certainty about politics and love gets blown out of the water…The Wake promises to generate plenty of conversation—no matter whom you voted for in the last election.”—LA Times

“Exquisite…a major American work for our time…The women’s scenes crackle with sensual fire, and the conundrum created—in which Ellen tries to protect her own stability while hurting neither lover—isn’t just an intensely modern take on relationship building. It’s also damn good playwrighting. Having assembled a superb ensemble with nary a weak link, helmer Leigh Silverman expertly manages a wealth of detail to persuade us these folks have known each other forever.”—Variety

“Ms. Kron is on a level with sterling monologists like Spalding Gray, autobiographers who combine novelistic complexity with stage smart impudence…Wonderfully evocative and often seriously funny, she sets off emotional vibrations that just won’t stop.”—New York Times