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The Hills of California

Fri 31 Oct - Sun 7 Dec
Fri Oct 31
-
Sun Dec 7

Tickets now on sale

By Jez Butterworth
Directed by Loretta Greco
A co-production with The Huntington
West Coast premiere
Roda Theatre

Internationally renowned Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman, Jerusalem) weaves the compelling, tender, and savagely funny tale of the Webb sisters’ return to their childhood home in an English seaside town. As girls, their fierce and ambitious mother trained them for a singing career à la The Andrews Sisters. Now, past and present collide within the once-vibrant guesthouse as memories resurface with haunting clarity. The Hills of California explores how sibling bonds both sustain and suffocate, and how songs of youth echo through life. Loretta Greco returns to the Bay Area to direct the West Coast debut of this masterwork, following its acclaimed West End and Broadway productions.

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“Four sisters harmonize — and scream — beautifully…One sequence constitutes the most breathtaking entrance in recent Bay Area theater memory.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“There’s dramatic gold…the towering set spins around like a slow-motion tornado of time.”
Theater Dogs
“Dreamy, savage and sometimes tender…The acting is top-notch.”
BroadwayWorld
“A vibrant, physically realistic show…Watching and listening to the youthful quartet in close harmony is sheer pleasure.”
Local News Matters
“Absolutely and brilliantly directed by Loretta Greco…truly moving performances that lingered long after the curtain call.”
Broadway with AJ and Sarah
“Four sisters harmonize — and scream — beautifully…One sequence constitutes the most breathtaking entrance in recent Bay Area theater memory.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“There’s dramatic gold…the towering set spins around like a slow-motion tornado of time.”
Theater Dogs
“Dreamy, savage and sometimes tender…The acting is top-notch.”
BroadwayWorld
“A vibrant, physically realistic show…Watching and listening to the youthful quartet in close harmony is sheer pleasure.”
Local News Matters
“Absolutely and brilliantly directed by Loretta Greco…truly moving performances that lingered long after the curtain call.”
Broadway with AJ and Sarah
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Amanda Kristin Nichols and Karen Killeen in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Amanda Kristin Nichols, Karen Killeen, and Aimee Doherty in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Mike Masters, Nicole Mulready, Meghan Carey, and Chloé Kolbenheyer in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Kate Fitzgerald and Allison Jean White in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Chloé Kolbenheyer, Kate Fitzgerald, and Nicole Mulready in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Meghan Carey, Kate Fitzgerald, Allison Jean White, Chloé Kolbenhyer, and Nicole Mulready (on floor) in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Karen Killeen (on floor) with (rear, l to r) Amanda Kristin Nichols, Kyle Cameron, and Aimee Doherty in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Allison Jean White in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Allison Jean White and Meghan Carey in The Hills of California. Photo: Liza Voll
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Production information

  • Runtime: Approximately two hours and 40 minutes including one 15-minute intermission
  • Age recommendation: Suitable for ages 14 and older due to mature and sensitive themes
  • Stage effects advisory: Use of herbal cigarettes and theatrical haze
  • Content advisory: Includes depictions of physical and verbal child abuse; also contains discussions of end-of-life care and past sexual abuse of a child and makes mention of illicit drug use and past forced abortion
  • A note on the dialect: The Hills of California features authentic Blackpool dialect. This intentional artistic choice by the writer and director reflects the characters’ specific working-class Northern English roots. We encourage you to give your ears a few minutes to adjust (as you would to Shakespearean language, for example) and to allow yourself to listen for emotional tone and context.
Liner notes from Loretta Greco

I’m over the moon to be back in the Bay Area and the actual hills of California to share this stunning piece of theatre with you. Some plays are so resonant you instantly feel they are speaking directly to you. The Hills of California is one of those plays. To discover that the brilliant muscular writer of such masculine prowess as Jerusalem and The Ferryman had written an epic homecoming play centered on eight women was the most welcome of surprises — and I knew that Johanna and I had to find a way to bring it to you.

This sweeping family drama follows the four Webb sisters as they return to the seaside guesthouse where they grew up, called home by the decline of their fierce goddess of a mother, Veronica. Veronica hitches her aspirations to an American dream of transformation through the power of a song as her girls’ path to a larger, better life: salvation through the alchemy of harmonizing siblings.

For me, the beauty of Jez’s play lies in how these sisters are drawn together to reckon with the slippery business of truth and trauma as the present literally collides with both the joy and tyranny of the past. The chance to experience the Webb sisters as they are evolving at ages 12, 13, 14, and 15 in 1955 — and as grown women in 1976 in all their complexity is such a visceral treat. It really could only happen in the theatre.

As the eldest of the five Greco girls who recently gathered in our childhood home to hold and honor our dad as he passed, I know what it means to be both close and distant to my own sisters — to share a history that is equal parts devotion and rivalry, laughter and heartache.

This story resonates deeply for me in the way the past can hover quietly and then suddenly crash into the present, the way love and damage can exist in the same breath, and just how fragile and complicated the inexplicable bonds of sisterhood are. Jez weaves love and loss, music and memory together seamlessly so that the harmonies themselves usher a path towards unlocking truths.

A few things you might look and listen for:

We’ve all experienced the way music has the power to transport us in an instant to another time and place, but here its power is elevated exponentially by the singular magic of these close harmonizing siblings.

The Blackpool dialect is another thing to listen for — it’s not posh. Blackpool is a Northern English coastal town about 30 miles north of Liverpool, so the sound you’ll hear from most of the characters in the play is very working class — more like the Beatles than, say, an episode of The Crown. We’ve worked hard to find a sound that is authentic and lifts the specific score of the text while still allowing everyone to gain access.

The set is yet another character. It’s an enormous and intricate guest house set atop a turntable in which the two periods of the play can flow — the results of a world-class design team coming together and of our mighty shops engineering this incredible feat. One of the things that struck me when I first saw the play in London was how Jez was redreaming Sam Shepard who made so many of his great plays here in the Bay Area at the Magic Theatre. The epic stairs in our set are a kind of homage to Sam’s original Buried Child stairs.

The play is beautifully constructed in three acts and takes place in both periods over the course of 24 hours. And because it is centered on family, it is full of both big, messy pathos and delicious humor. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Enjoy!
Loretta

 

Important dates

  • Masks required: Nov 2, Nov 9 (matinee and evening), Nov 11, and Nov 16 (matinee)
  • Closed captioning: evenings Nov 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12; and every matinee through Dec 4
  • Audio description: Dec 6 matinee
  • Postshow discussions: Nov 20, Nov 25, and Dec 5 — guided by members of Berkeley Rep’s artistic team
  • Docent-led postshow discussions: after all matinees

 

Events and extras

  • Theatre Explorers: While you enjoy the Nov 22 matinee, your K–5 student can dive into an exciting, age-appropriate workshop just next door at our School of Theatre! Professional teaching artists lead theatre games and hands-on art projects designed to spark imagination. Registration is $35 per child; advance reservation required.

Who’s who

Cast

Karen Killeen* | Jillian
Patrice Jean-Baptiste* | Penny/Biddy
Lewis D. Wheeler* | Mr. Potts/Luther St. John
Aimee Doherty* | Ruby/Mrs. Smith
Chloé Kolbenheyer* | Patty/Young Ruby
Jack Greenberg | Tony/Mr. Halliwell/Mr. Smith
Amanda Kristin Nichols* | Gloria
Mike Masters* | Bill/Joe Fogg/Dr. Rose
Kyle Cameron* | Dennis/Jack Larkin
Allison Jean White* | Veronica
Meghan Carey* | Young Gloria
Nicole Mulready* | Young Jillian
Kate Fitzgerald* | Young Joan
Allison Jean White* | Joan
Aimee Doherty* | Dance Captain
Annika Bolton | Understudy Young Gloria, Young Joan
Lila Grace English | Understudy Patty/Young Ruby, Young Jillian
Kate Fitzgerald* | Understudy Jillian
Jack Greenberg | Understudy Joe Fogg
Bridgette Hayes* | Understudy Gloria, Ruby/Mrs. Smith, Veronica/Joan
Zachary Kautter | Understudy Tony/Mr. Halliwell/Mr. Smith
Yewande Odetoyinbo* | Understudy Penny/Biddy
Michael Poignand* | Understudy Mr. Potts/Luther St. John, Dennis/Jack Larkin, Bill/Dr. Rose

 

Creative team

Jez Butterworth | Playwright
Loretta Greco | Director
Andrew Boyce | Co-Scenic Design
Se Hyun Oh | Co-Scenic Design
Jennifer von Mayrhauser | Costume Design
Russell H. Champa | Lighting Design
David Van Tieghem | Sound Design
J. Jared Janas | Hair, Wigs, and Makeup Design
Kyle C. Frisina | Dramaturg
Misha Shields | Choreographer
Daniel Rodriguez | Music Director
Ashleigh Reade | Voice and Dialect Coach
Jesse Hinson | Fight and Intimacy Coordinator
Janet Foster | Casting
Kevin Schlagle* | Stage Manager (through Nov 5)
Ashley Pitchford* | Assistant Stage Manager (through Nov 5), Stage Manager (as of Nov 6)
Sofie Miller* | Assistant Stage Manager

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

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Accessibility

Berkeley Rep is wheelchair accessible and offers assistive listening devices (ALDs), closed captioning, and audio description for the hearing-impaired.

Health and safety

In the 2025/26 season, masks are encouraged for all performances, but are required in our theatres on select Sunday and Tuesday performances.

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