Susan Medak News

On Saturday night, April 2, nearly 350 of the Bay Area's finest arts supporters gathered at The Ritz Carlton, San Francisco to celebrate Berkeley Rep, the Tony Award-winning theatre company known for its innovative and challenging works. SPEAKEASY AT THE RITZ raised over $750,000 to support the Theatre's artistic and creative efforts, including education and outreach programming.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 season with the new emotional family drama AUBERGINE, written by Julia Cho and directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. This will be the first production presented on the newly renovated Thrust Stage and the second world premiere of the 2015 -16 season, following AMELIE, A NEW MUSICAL.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 season with the new emotional family drama AUBERGINE, written by Julia Cho and directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. This will be the first production presented on the newly renovated Thrust Stage and the second world premiere of the 2015 -16 season, following AMELIE, A NEW MUSICAL.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the reopening in January 2016 of its signature theatre space in downtown Berkeley, following nine months of renovation. The Thrust Stage, which opened in 1980 as Berkeley Rep's first permanent home, will be renamed the Peet's Theatre in recognition of a new major partnership with Peet's Coffee.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues its 2015-16 season with the new emotional family drama AUBERGINE, written by Julia Cho and directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. This will be the first production presented on the newly renovated Thrust Stage and the second world premiere of the 2015 -16 season, following AMELIE, A NEW MUSICAL.

 Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announces that it will present a three-city Northern California tour of Anna Deavere Smith's Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter, a one-woman show about the school-to-prison pipeline. Following a critically acclaimed three-week run at Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre, Smith will return to communities she visited during her research for the Pipeline Project to present excerpts of monologues from Notes from the Field. She will share her learnings and encourage dialogue and action to address the school-to-prison pipeline. The tour will also serve as an opportunity to spur youth within those communities to take action around racial inequities in the school system.

This month Berkeley Repertory Theatre proudly welcomes four exceptional new hires: General Manager Theresa Von Klug; Director of Marketing, Communications, and Patron Engagement Polly Winograd Ikonen; Associate Managing Director Sarah Williams; and Artistic Associate Sarah Rose Leonard. Together they bring to the award-winning Theatre a wealth of knowledge and extensive experience working in the arts and not-for-profit performing arts sectors.

Berkeley Rep is proud to announce that its annual OVATION Gala raised $675,000 for the Theatre's new play development, arts education, and community engagement programs. Held at the glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco, the event swept guests up in a masquerade fete filled with theatrical spectacle and surprise entertainment. The Gala was one of the most successful in Berkeley Rep's history, welcoming 330 attendees.

Building on its national and international reputation as a home for talented artists, Berkeley Repertory Theatre proudly announces its 48th season -- a trove of rich theatrical experiences featuring critically acclaimed productions and exhilarating new works.

At the recent Theatre Bay Area Awards, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Robinson Family Fund for the Arts announced the Charles Dean Award to celebrate and honor outstanding work by a local actor. The inaugural award was presented to longtime Bay Area actor Charles Dean. The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize endowed by the Robinson Family Fund for the Arts and administered by Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It recognizes a Bay Area actor who has dedicated his or her career to Bay Area theatre. Future awardees will be chosen by a panel of local theatre community adjudicators and presented annually at the Theatre Bay Area Awards.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a modest beginning in a storefront on College Avenue to one of the premier theatres in the country. The 46-year-old Theatre with an international reputation has served more than 4 million people, amassed numerous awards including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, presented nearly 400 productions, transferred 29 shows to New York, and premiered over 67 new plays. This year alone Berkeley Rep successfully served 23,000 young people through its School of Theatre, making a huge impact on the community. Now, the Theatre turns the page on a new chapter with the launch of the Create Campaign, a $50 million comprehensive campaign to strengthen the relationship between artists, audiences, and the community, and to transform Berkeley Rep into one of the foremost centers for new play development in the country. At the core of the three-year campaign are two major initiatives: the $14 million expansion of the Theatre's Harrison Street campus into a center for artistic innovation, and a $6 million renovation of the Thrust Stage, Berkeley Rep's signature performance space. The campaign will also bolster the Theatre's annual fund and capital reserve fund, and will invest in its staff. With the Create Campaign, Berkeley Rep is poised to re-invest in its commitment to make transformative, bold, and ambitious theatre for generations to come.

On Saturday, April 19, a host of distinguished guests descended on San Francisco's elegant Four Seasons hotel for Ovation, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's annual gala. Under the leadership of gala co-chairs Jill Fugaro and Jean Strunsky, the theatrical extravaganza raised $644,000 in support of the award-winning non-profit's creation of exciting new plays and its commitment to education and outreach programs for the local community.

Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces its 2013-14 board of trustees, a team of exemplary leaders and art advocates from the Bay Area's leading organizations and companies who will steer the Theatre through its 46th season. At its annual board of trustees meeting, the board elected author and retired McGraw-Hill executive Thalia Dorwick as its president, welcomed new and returning members, and reaffirmed its commitment to Berkeley Rep's mission to produce and present ambitious and innovative theatre.

As Berkeley Repertory Theatre prepares to open a new season of exhilarating plays, the Theatre today announces that it will partner with Theatre Development Fund (TDF), a New York-based nonprofit organization, to offer open-captioned performances during its 2013-14 season. This state-of-the-art technology will allow Berkeley Rep to open its doors to a wider community by making performances accessible to patrons with hearing loss. Open captioning will be available for one performance of every show. For Nina Raine's off-Broadway sensation Tribes - about a young deaf man finding his place in a cacophonous family and a bewildering world - Berkeley Rep will offer three open-captioned performances.

Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces that 16 young professionals - including seven California natives - have been awarded fellowships for the 2013-14 season. Each year, the brightest and best young minds from across the country are selected through a rigorous application process to take part in Berkeley Rep's Fellowship program. This prestigious training program provides hands-on practical experience with educational seminars that offers insight into the operation and inner workings of an award-winning theatre.

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre site on the Internet, is excited to announce a new feature to its comprehensive regional coverage - the Featured Regional Theater of the Week! Each week, BWW will introduce its readers to a regional theater located in one of our (over 130!) coverage cities. By exploring these different venues, their history and showcasing the production seasons, BWW continues its commitment to expand our presence in communities and cities across the United States. This Week's Featured Regional Theater: Berkeley Rep in Berkeley, CA

The Berkeley Community Fund has announced that it will award the 2013 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal to Susan Medak, managing director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The prestigious award, established in 1929, honors a person who has made significant, long-term contributions to the greater Berkeley community. The medal will be granted to Ms. Medak at the Fund's annual awards dinner on October 4.

Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced that 16 college graduates - including six California natives - have been awarded fellowships for the upcoming season. Each year, young leaders from across America are selected for this prestigious training program and proceed to learn their craft alongside accomplished professionals. In addition to being mentored by the experienced staff of a Tony Award-winning nonprofit, this new class of fellows will collaborate on productions with an incredible array of artists who have collectively earned five Tony Awards, 11 Obie Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize.

Today, the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced that it has opened another arts center in its community. Three new studios in the Arpeggio Building on Center Street are now buzzing with activity. With a 20-year lease on this 13,000-square-foot facility, Berkeley Rep is proudly forging partnerships with fellow nonprofits to continue transforming downtown into a destination for theatre lovers.

Today, Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced that it's giving away 3,000 free tickets for the world premiere of Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature in June. The Tony Award-winning theatre will deliver the free tickets to fellow nonprofit organizations and to government agencies that serve key constituencies, including at-risk youth, teens and young adults of both genders, and abuse victims of all ages, with priority given to groups that serve women and girls.