2009–10 season

2009–10 Season

Welcome! Please follow the links below to learn more about

limited season

September 4–November 15, 2009 (see calendar)
American Idiot follows working class characters from the suburbs to the city and to the Middle East as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration. With an on-stage band and a cast of 19, American Idiot will take you on an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day’s electrifying songs.

April 9–May 9, 2010 (see calendar)
Romance unfolds in a new musical wound around the tender love songs from Matthew Sweet’s landmark album, Girlfriend. Meeting in homeroom. Cruising through town. Holding hands. Cheering from the stands. That awkward first kiss. In the world premiere of Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep, boy meets boy. It’s an eternal story turned upside down, a dual-Romeo duet directed by Les Waters that’s innocent—and Sweet.

October 16–November 29, 2009 (see calendar)
Travel to the moon—and to the afterlife—with Laura Bush, Nixon’s analyst, the queen of Albania and a host of real-life tax evaders, all adrift in an increasingly fragile world. Tony Kushner brings his brilliance and humor to bear in a sparkling string of one-act plays—and his gilded language is guided, as always, by an unwavering moral compass.

December 4, 2009–January 31, 2010 (see calendar)
Welcome to Aurélia’s Oratorio, where the impossible happens before your eyes. Aurélia Thierrée literally grew up in the circus and has charmed audiences around the world with this dazzling display of stage illusion. Behind her velvet curtain lies a surreal world of surprises, a topsy-turvy time of tricks and transformations. With dancing, puppetry, acrobatics and more, Aurélia’s Oratorio is an inventive adventure set to a quirky score of chamber music and gypsy jazz.

January 15–February 28, 2010 (see calendar)
Time magazine calls Athol Fugard “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world.” Now South Africa’s master dramatist comes back to Berkeley Rep with a new show. Ten years after running off to the city to pursue her dreams, Veronika returns in rags. Among her meager belongings, she carries a desperate secret—and determination to plant the seeds of a new life for her son. In Coming Home, Fugard once again confronts the hard truths of his homeland while celebrating the power of hope.

February 26–April 11, 2010 (see calendar)
Well before the digital age, the camera selected, filtered and obscured the truth—even as it promised to provide an authentic look at distant lands. Naomi Iizuka explores the intersection of art and authenticity in a hauntingly intricate world-premiere play commissioned by Berkeley Rep.

May 14–June 27, 2010 (see calendar)
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 21st-century American politics.