Berkeley Repertory Theatre Elects Officers For Next Year

As it concludes a season in which three of its shows opened on Broadway, the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre has elected officers to lead it through another year of fearless theatre. At the annual meeting for this renowned nonprofit, leaders from the Bay Area's top firms renewed their commitment to Berkeley Rep's board of trustees and pledged their support for its 43rd season, which presents eight adventurous shows here at home and sends another acclaimed production to London. This year's board includes respected executives in finance, law, real estate, and technology, as well as prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists.

"Many people do not realize that Berkeley Rep is a nonprofit," remarks Susan Medak, the Theatre's managing director. "Like all nonprofits, we rely on generous volunteers who donate their time, their talent, and their treasure to ensure that we succeed. We are enormously grateful for the altruistic individuals in our community who express their passion for theatre by serving on our board. The strong leadership of these trustees is the key to our success, and I look forward to working with them to deliver another season of world-class theatre."

The officers of Berkeley Rep's board, elected to one-year terms, are as follows:

President: Marjorie Randolph, senior vice president for Walt Disney Studios
Vice President: William Falik, managing partner of Westpark Associates and visiting professor at UC Berkeley's School of Law
Vice President: Sandra R. McCandless, partner at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal
Treasurer: David Cox, retired president and CEO of Cowles Media Company
Secretary: Scott Haber, corporate partner at Latham & Watkins LLP
Chair of the Trustees Committee: Kerry L. Francis, partner at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP

They lead a team that totals 28 trustees, including the following eminent local citizens:

Thalia Dorwick, an author and editor retired from McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Oz Erickson, owner of the Emerald Fund, Inc
William T. Espey, private wealth advisor
John Field, retired chairman of Field Paoli Architecture
David Fleishhacker, president of the Fleishhacker Foundation
Dr. David Hoffman, associate director for external collaboration with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at Stanford University
Wayne Jordan, president of Jordan Real Estate Investments
Julie Matlof Kennedy, lecturer at Stanford Law School and litigation trainer for Morrison & Foerster LLP
Carole S. Krumland, community leader
Dale Rogers Marshall, president emerita of Wheaton College
Helen Meyer, executive vice president of Meyer Sound
Mary Ann Peoples, president of the Boyd Family Foundation
Peter Pervere, retired financial officer for Sybase and Commerce One
Patricia Sakai, learning and organizational development consultant
Jack Schafer, president of Jack Schafer Associates
Emily Shanks, senior vice president and market executive for Bank of America
Sally Smith, corporate spokeswoman and project manager for clients in the corporate, private, and nonprofit sectors
Roger Strauch, chairman of the Roda Group
Jean Strunsky, vice president of administration for the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts
Felicia Woytak, managing director of the 65th Street Development Company

Two Berkeley Rep staff members also serve on the board: Ms. Medak and Artistic Director Tony Taccone.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to a national 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. The Theatre welcomes an annual audience of 180,000, serves 20,000 students, and hosts dozens of community groups, thanks to 1,000 volunteers and more than 400 artists, artisans, and administrators. With two stages, a school, and a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Berkeley Rep is proud to premiere exhilarating new plays.

In the last five years alone, the company has helped send five shows to Broadway: American Idiot, Bridge & Tunnel, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Passing Strange, and Wishful Drinking. All told, the Theatre has helped send 13 shows to New York in the last 13 years. This list of hits also includes Danny Hoch's Taking Over (2008), Ruhl's Eurydice (2007), Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak's Brundibar (2006), Naomi Iizuka's 36 Views (2002), Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses (2000), Hoch's Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop (1998), Anne Galjour's Alligator Tales (1997), and Philip Kan Gotanda's Ballad of Yachiyo (1997).

Berkeley Rep has also announced its second London transfer. Following in the footsteps of Continental Divide, which played at the Barbican in 2004, Tiny Kushner is headed to London's Tricycle Theater this fall.

See tomorrow's plays today at Berkeley Rep. The current season concludes with the world premiere of another daring new show: In the Wake from Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman, the Obie Award-winning creative team behind Broadway's Well. This summer's Fireworks Festival is already underway with a series of colorful and explosive solo shows from John Leguizamo, David Sedaris, Dan Hoyle, and Wes "Scoop" Nisker. Subscriptions are also on sale for the upcoming season, which features new work from Lemony Snicket, Rita Moreno, Mike Daisey, Rinne Groff, Sarah Ruhl, and other beloved artists. For details, call (510) 647-2949 or toll-free at (888) 4-BRT-tix - or simply click berkeleyrep.org.

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