Berkeley Rep Holds Free Talk for THE COMPOSER IS DEAD, 12/13

The writer is alive (at least for now). Berkeley Repertory Theatre is preparing its new holiday show, Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead, and audiences can get an earful of what they're in for at Page to Stage. Daniel Handler - Snicket's stand-in - will be interviewed about this preposterous production at 7:00 PM on Monday, December 13 in the Roda Theatre. Madeleine Oldham, Berkeley Rep's literary manager and dramaturg, will moderate the conversation, which will also explore the dreadfully successful career of the bestselling author who penned A Series of Unfortunate Events.
 
Theatres are usually dark on Mondays, but Berkeley Rep makes those evenings glow with Page to Stage, a series of talks that engage brilliant artists in sparkling conversation. Past programs have featured luminaries such as David Edgar, Danny Hoch, Tom Hulce, Sarah Jones, Tony Kushner, Michael Mayer, Terrence McNally, Rita Moreno, Salman Rushdie, and Mary Zimmerman. No tickets are necessary for these free events, but seating is limited. Each talk begins at 7:00 PM. The lobby and café open at 6:00 PM, and the theatre opens at 6:30 PM for general-admission seating. Donors to Berkeley Rep get an opportunity to meet the guests of honor at an exclusive reception catered by Left Coast Catering, Peet's Coffee & Tea, and Raymond Vineyards.
 
"Berkeley Rep's Page to Stage is a wonderful opportunity to be up close and personal with a variety of dynamic and exciting artists," Snicket comments. "Of course, December 13th will be an exception, offering nothing more than the unhinged musings of an utter fraud. Still, it might be raining, and people might like to come indoors."
 
Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now underwater, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendor of the Snicket Villa which has since become a factory, a fortress, and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa. Though his formal training was chiefly in rhetorical analysis, he has spent the last several eras researching the travails of the Baudelaire orphans. This project, being published serially by HarperCollins, takes him to the scenes of numerous crimes, often during the off-season. Eternally pursued and insatiably inquisitive, a hermit and a nomad, Mr. Snicket wishes you nothing but the best. Due to the world-wide web of conspiracy which surrounds him, Mr. Snicket often communicates with the general public through his representative, Daniel Handler. Mr. Handler has had a relatively uneventful life, and is the author of three books for adults, The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, none of which are anywhere near as dreadful as Mr. Snicket's.
 
The show must go on? But the actor is mute, the director is crying, the dancer is lazy - and the composer is dead! This holiday season, Berkeley Rep presents a deliciously silly world premiere from beloved Bay Area artists. Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead features text by bestselling author Lemony Snicket and a score by (living) composer Nathaniel Stookey. It's a new theatrical adaptation of this wildly popular piece. Tony Taccone's raucous production unleashes laughs through classic clowning and plenty of uppity puppets from the pioneering Phantom Limb Company (Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, co-artistic directors). When Geoff Hoyle pops up as an outlandish inspector bent on solving a murderous riddle, the show crescendos into comic absurdity. To the delight of children and adults alike, The Composer is Dead comes alive on stage.
 
This highly anticipated new show runs from November 26, 2010 through January 15, 2011. For more information about Page to Stage or tickets to the show, call (510) 647-2949 or (888) 4-BRT-tix (toll-free) - or simply click www.berkeleyrep.org.