Julia Cho's AUBERGINE at Berkeley Rep Wins 2017 Glickman Award

 

Theatre Bay Area has announced playwright Julia Cho and Berkeley Repertory Theatre have been selected as the recipients of this year's prestigious Will Glickman Award for Aubergine, which received its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February 2016.

This is the first Will Glickman Award for Julia Cho and the sixth for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, having previously secured the award for Philip Kan Gotanda's Yankee Dawg You Die (1989), Anne Galjour's Hurricane/Mauvais Temps (1997), Leigh Fondakowski's The People's Temple (2006), Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) (2010), and Marcus Gardley's The House that will not Stand (2015).

Aubergine, which received wide critical acclaim during its run last year, tells the story of an estranged son, his ill father, a visiting uncle carrying their memories in tow, a woman without an appetite, and a refugee from a forgotten country in a bittersweet and moving meditation on family, forgiveness, and the things that nourish us.

The winner is chosen by a panel of top Bay Area theatre critics and has been administered by Theatre Bay Area since 2004. Theatre Bay Area executive director Brad Erickson will present the Award at the 2017 Annual Conference on March 13 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Says Erickson, "I am thrilled to present this year's Will Glickman Award to Julia Cho. For more than 30 years the Glickman has been the highest honor for new plays premiered in the Bay Area, and Julia Cho's Aubergine, produced last year at Berkeley Rep, beautifully carries forward that long tradition of outstanding playwriting."

Julia Cho's plays include Office Hour, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Winchester House, BFE, The Architecture of Loss and 99 Histories. Honors include the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Barrie Stavis Award, the Claire Tow Award for Emerging Artists and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwriting. Julia studied playwriting at Amherst College, NYU and The Juilliard School and is an alumna of New Dramatists. She currently writes for AMC's Halt and Catch Fire.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its core values of imagination and excellence, as well as its educated and adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. In four decades, four million people have enjoyed nearly 400 shows at Berkeley Rep. These shows have gone on to win five Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, and many other honors. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Its bustling facilities - which include the 400-seat Thrust Stage, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, the Osher Studio, and a spacious new campus in West Berkeley - are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.

The Will Glickman Award, established in 1984, is presented annually to the author and producing company in honor of the best new play to premier in the region. The awardee is chosen by a panel of leading Bay Area critics. This year the panel included Rob Avila, Karen D'Souza, Sam Hurwitt, Chad Jones, and Jean Schiffman. Theatre Bay Area has administered the award since 2004.

Theatre Bay Area, now in its 40th year, is one of the largest and most respected regional performing arts service organizations in the nation. Its membership is drawn from 11 Bay Area counties and includes 300 theatre companies and some 2,100 individual artists. The Bay Area is home to one of the most dynamic theatre communities in the country; the region boasts more theatre companies per capita than any other metropolitan area in the United States, houses the third largest community of Equity (union) actors, and premieres some 200 new plays each year.

Theatre Bay Area's mission is to unite, strengthen, promote and advance the theatre community in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on behalf of our conviction that the performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy and truly democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth. Visit theatrebayarea.org for more information.