06/07 season
by adele edling shank
based on the novel by virginia woolf
music composed by paul dresher
directed by les waters
the roda theatre
february 23–march 25, 2007
limited season
WORLD PREMIERE
running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes,
including one 15 minute intermission
the show
hear the music
Listen to a 2-minute sound clip from the show (3.9MB mp3)
Last season, director Les Waters gave Bay Area audiences a breathtaking production of The Glass Menagerie. Now the Obie Award-winning director reflects upon another family with To the Lighthouse, a world-premiere adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s landmark novel. Waters and his cast bring Woolf’s incandescent characters to life on stage, and a live string quartet uses brilliant new music by Paul Dresher to further illuminate the Ramsay house. Here, a couple lives, loves and endures; children play, fight and grow; and a painter struggles to capture the transient beauty of daily life.
the artists
Known as both an essayist and novelist, Virginia Woolf’s innovative style exploded the boundaries of prose to shed light on the inner lives of women through works that include A Room of One’s Own, Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando.
Director Les Waters won an Obie at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for Big Love. The New York Times placed his production of Eurydice at Yale Rep among the Top 10 Plays of 2006, and Time Out New York named his off-Broadway production of Apparition one of the Best 5 Plays of 2005. Last year, he directed Rita Moreno in Berkeley Rep’s hit revival of The Glass Menagerie.
Composer Paul Dresher is just back from India. His work has been heard around the world—including at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A current Guggenheim fellow, he has applied his signature style to collaborations with diverse artists such as choreographer Margaret Jenkins, poet June Jordan, playwright Charles Mee and director Robert Woodruff.
Playwright Adele Edling Shank is known for her six-play cycle, The California Series. The editor of TheatreForum and head of the playwriting program at UC San Diego, she also wrote Rocks in Her Pocket, which features the ghosts of Diane Arbus, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf.
The cast includes Broadway performers Monique Fowler, Edmond Genest and Rebecca Watson, as well as several hot local talents.
the buzz
“Les Waters’ brilliantly orchestrated staging of Adele Edling Shank’s canny adaptation of one of the greatest chapters in 20th century literature lights up Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda Theatre…Lovingly prepared and served to perfection by all…It’s a dish to be savored for years to come.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Breathtakingly wonderful. A true multimedia show, the play pushes the rules of theater in various new directions by blending dialogue, sound, scene, music and even silence into a captivating evening that not only sheds considerable light on life on the island, but manages to look at Woolf’s material in a fresh and innovative new light…Not only an evocative piece of storytelling, but a unique piece of art.”—Contra Costa Times
“Shot through with flashes of genius…Like the novel, the play has an essentially experimental soul. It takes thrillingly big risks that push the act of viewing into a new realm…The play approaches performance art, a multimedia concert that encompasses text, music and video but is bounded by none of them. There is something revelatory in the dissonance.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Lighthouse shines…Director Waters’ command of multimedia combined with the adept efforts of his cast create an invigorating, captivating theater experience…Woolf’s complex prose has been necessarily simplified for the stage, but the actors, especially Rebecca Watson as spinster painter Lily Briscoe and David Mendelsohn as testy scholar Charles Tansley, cast shadows that, like so many pieces of this show, feel authentically Woolfish.”—Oakland Tribune
add value—free events
free docent presentations
Free docent presentations offer a look inside each play and its development at Berkeley Rep. A 30-minute presentation takes place one hour before every Tuesday and Thursday 8PM performance.
These presentations are made possible by support from American Express.
post-show discussions
Post-show discussions take place on March 1, 9 and 13. Stick around for a lively 30-minute Q&A with the cast or other company members.
press photos
production sponsors
season sponsors
