Live looping musical and hip-hop remix Mexodus is set to kick off the upcoming season at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. (note: the lead photo is not from the show).
The Rep’s 2024/25 season features seven productions in total, closing out with the world premiere of Jiehae Park’s the aves. More details below.
“I am delighted to include in the coming season artists who are long-time Berkeley Rep favorites including Mary Zimmerman, Moises Kaufman, and Jocelyn Bioh, and to introduce our community to the extraordinary talents of Brian Quijada, Nygel D. Robinson, Jiehae Park, and Keith Bunin,” says Berkeley Rep’s artistic director Johanna Pfaelzer. “And of course it will be a thrill to welcome Simon Godwin and Hugh Bonneville as they share Chekhov’s prescient masterpiece, Uncle Vanya. These artists are telling stories both timely and timeless, allowing us to use theater to interrogate some of the most pressing issues of this moment, and also to escape into worlds both imaginative and fantastical. It feels fitting and necessary that the season will give us the shared opportunity to travel from the enchanted forest of Mozart’s Magic Flute to Nazi-occupied Poland; from Harlem’s 125th Street to the Mexico/Texas border, and countless places along the way. I look forward to the journey in the company of this incredibly engaged community.”
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
2024/25 Season
MEXODUS
September 13 – October 20, 2024
History meets hip-hop in MEXODUS, an electrifying live-looping musical, composed in real-time by multi-talented writer/performers Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson. MEXODUS explores the often-untold stories of the Underground Railroad that led south into Mexico.
THE MATCHBOX MAGIC FLUTE
October 18 – December 8, 2024
Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses, The Arabian Nights, The White Snake) returns to Berkeley Rep with this West Coast premiere, a mesmerizing adaptation of Mozart’s iconic Magic Flute, using only 10 singers and five musicians. Join Tamino on a daring quest to rescue the captive princess Pamina. Encounter dragons, birdmen, and trials by fire in this enchanting microcosm of wonder where magic and music intertwine.
JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING
November 8 –December 15, 2024
Direct from a twice-extended run on Broadway, Berkeley Rep will next present the West Coast premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s new comedy. Step into the vibrant world of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, a beloved Harlem hotspot where West African immigrant braiders work their magic on the locals’ locks. Amidst the lively buzz of a scorching summer, love ignites, dreams soar, and secrets unravel. But beneath the surface lies a current of uncertainty, pushing this close-knit community to confront the challenges of being outsiders in their own neighborhood.
THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH
January 31 – March 9, 2025
During the last week of summer vacation, 12-year-old Suzy Swanson learns that her best friend Franny has drowned. Desperate to make sense of Franny’s death, Suzy immerses herself in her own imagination, where she can circumnavigate the globe, plunge into the terrifying depths of the ocean, explore the collapsed stars of the most distant galaxies, and perhaps even solve the mysteries of the universe.
UNCLE VANYA
February 14 – March 23, 2025
Conor McPherson’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. When the distinguished elderly owner of a rural estate returns with a new, young wife, chaos erupts. Tensions run high, marriages reach their limits, confessions—and vodka—flow freely, and weapons are drawn.
HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES
April 5 – May 11, 2025
In 2007, a mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs arrived at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist. As curators unraveled the shocking truth behind the images, the album soon made headlines and ignited a debate that reverberated far beyond the museum walls.
the aves
May 2 – June 8, 2025
In the summer, an old man and an old woman sit on a park bench, talk about the birds, and bet on the rain…but things aren’t as simple as they may seem.
“Building on this incredible season and our strong momentum right now, the 2024/25 season beautifully centers and elevates our values of storytelling, rigor, innovation, equity, discovery, and sustainability,” says managing director Tom Parrish. “As a leading regional theatre with a national and international reach, Berkeley Rep continues to meet the moment with ambition and relevance not only on stage, but offstage as well through our School of Theatre, In Dialogue community engagement programming, and The Ground Floor, which is providing bespoke support and development for what is new and next in the American theatre.”
Berkeley Rep says full season (7-play) subscriptions start at $224. Performances take place at the 600-seat Roda Theatre and 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, Medak Center, and a campus located in West Berkeley.
Since 1968 over 6 million people have enjoyed more than 500 show at Berkeley Rep, including 85 world premieres.
Stark Insider wishes all a successful season!
Photo credit: Alessandra Mello/Berkeley Repertory Theatre
