Berkeley Rep to Present PARTY PEOPLE

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the Bay Area premiere of Party People, a high-wattage fusion of story and song about the legacy of the Black Panthers and Young Lords. In the 1960s these revolutionaries fought injustice, provided free food and medical care for their communities - and struggled against a government determined to suppress them. Written by UNIVERSES (Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, William Ruiz) and based on dozens of interviews, Party People imagines the Black Panthers and Young Lords reuniting today at an art opening curated by a couple of young counterculturists, where old wounds open and generations collide. Helmed by Liesl Tommy, associate director at Berkeley Rep, and developed in The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work, Party People asks, what is the price of being a revolutionary, and what happens to those who come after? Get ready for a hyperkinetic mix of live video, hip hop, jazz, rock, gospel, blues, Latin rhythms, and spoken word as the explosive theatre ensemble UNIVERSES rocks and unlocks the radical and complicated legacy of the Black Panthers and Young Lords.

Party People begins previews Friday, October 17, opens on Friday, October 24, and runs through Sunday, November 16. Press night for Party People will be held on Friday, October 24, 2014. Individual tickets start at $29 and can be purchased by phone at (510) 647-2949 or online at berkeleyrep.org.

"Party People is a boldly crafted ensemble piece, which originally premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. After an enlivening run in Ashland, we're developing a new version of the show for Berkeley Rep," says Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director. "Written and performed by acclaimed theatre trio known as UNIVERSES, the play is an attempt to re-examine and reclaim the Panther's and Young Lord's rightful place in history. I can't think of a more perfect play for Berkeley Rep and the Bay Area."

"Party People is a meticulously researched and passionately written musical production infused with raw energy and emotional catharsis," remarks Tommy. "The play presents the collective memories of veterans of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords and the complicated legacy they left behind. It's one of the more thrilling projects that I've worked on because the subject matter is extremely relevant and also very personally resonant. We are so proud and honored to bring this remarkable story to Berkeley Rep's stage."

Steven Sapp, co-founder of UNIVERSES adds, "We are direct recipients of the programs that were established by the Black Panthers and Young Lords. For us it's more than just a moment in history - it's part of our lives, of how we grew up, and how our communities grew up. It's natural for us to want to tell their story and to show that these movements were major moments in American history. It's a thrill for us to bring this story so close to the birthplace of the Black Panthers."

Party People's 2012 world premiere at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) was met with an enthusiastic reception from critics and audiences alike. KLCC Radio Eugene writes "'Party People' is an artful mixture of spoken poetry, hip-hop theatre, blues, jazz, gospel and rap. Mesmerizing monologues punctuate this well-balanced theatrical potpourri." Ashland Daily Tidings adds, "high-energy, vibrant, roller coaster ride - via dialogue, monologue, poetry, music and dance - of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords..."

UNIVERSES (Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, William Ruiz) is an international ensemble of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse poetry, theatre, jazz, hip-hop, politics, down-home blues, and Spanish boleros to create moving, challenging, and entertaining theatrical works. Of UNIVERSES critically lauded performances, The Village Voice raves, "An effervescent, racially mixed group who call themselves Universes...are as likely to kick some poetry as break out into a capella singing, to orchestrate a vocal exercise as they are to burst into a step show....Their energy and realness is unmatchable." Variety adds, "The group's musical sophistication is especially surprising. Blasting through the fractured syntax of New York urban culture, the quintet exhibits the melodic veracity of a seasoned doo-wop group and the contrapuntal percussion of an adroit rhythm section."

Liesl Tommy (Director) is Berkeley Rep's associate director and helmed the acclaimed production of Ruined. She is an award-winning international theatre director known for her world premieres of visceral, politically complex new plays and her fresh, highly theatrical revivals of classics. She directed the world premieres of Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Signature Theatre Company), Party People by UNIVERSES (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The White Man - A Complex Declaration of Love by Joan Rang (DanskDansk Theatre, Denmark), Peggy Picket Sees the Face of God by Roland Schimmelpfennig (Luminato Festival/Canadian Stage Toronto), Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (Yale Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth), The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson (the Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center), A History of Light by Eisa Davis (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), Angela's Mixtape by Eisa Davis (Synchronicity Performance Group, New Georges), Bus and Family Ties (Play Company for the Romania Kiss Me! Festival). Her other credits include groundbreaking and award-winning re-interpretations of LES MISERABLES, Hamlet, A Raisin in the Sun, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, as well as a four-city tour of Ruined. She has worked at California Shakespeare Theater, the Huntington Theatre Company, Center Stage in Baltimore, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and Sundance East Africa on Manda Island in Kenya, among others. Tommy's upcoming work includes two new musicals: Kid Victory by Greg Pierce and John Kander at Signature/Vineyard Theatre, and Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl and Todd Almond at Trinity Repertory Company. She also has three new musicals in development. She serves as a program associate at Sundance Institute Theatre Program and as an artist trustee with the Sundance Institute's Board of Trustees. Tommy facilitated the inaugural Sundance East Africa Theatre Director's Lab in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tommy has earned an Obie Award, a Lillian Hellman Award, and the Alan Schneider Award for directing, the inaugural Susan Stroman Directing Award from the Vineyard Theatre, the NEA/TCG Directors Grant, and the New York Theatre Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship. Almost every production she has directed has been nominated and won numerous awards for directing, production, best new play, design, choreography, or acting. She has taught or guest directed at Yale Repertory Theatre, Juilliard, NYU, and Brown University. Tommy is an alum of Trinity Rep Conservatory and a native of Cape Town, South Africa.

The creative team includes Marcus Doshi (scenic and lighting designer), Meg Neville (costume designer), Broken Chord (sound design, vocal direction, and original compositions), Alexander V. Nichols (projection designer), and Millicent Johnnie (choreographer). The stage manager for Party People is Kimberly Mark Webb.

The 2014-15 season is supported by BART and Wells Fargo, who have generously renewed their commitment as Berkeley Rep's official season sponsors. Berkeley Rep is also proud to have KPIX-TV (Channel 5) as a first-year season sponsor. Party People is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Strauch Kulhanjian Family and Jack and Betty Schafer. The executive sponsors for the show are Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau, and Gail and Arne Wagner.

Berkeley Rep's production of Party People gave us a unique opportunity to partner with various organizations in the East Bay - including the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), which, as the only museum dedicated to California art, history, and natural science, houses artifacts, art, and material culture about the Black Panther Party. OMCA will curate and install striking historical images in the Thrust Stage's lobby and on the Theatre's doors that help tell the story of both the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords.

In the fall of 2016, OMCA will present a major exhibition to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party's founding on October 15, 1966 in Oakland. This project will present a contemporary view of the Black Panther Party's legacy from multiple perspectives and show how the Party continues to inspire grassroots social justice and community empowerment efforts locally, nationally, and internationally. The project will in part consider the relevance of certain aspects of the Ten Point Platform today. This exhibition will include gallery displays of art, artifacts, and material culture in addition to off-site artist-driven community engagement projects in various locations in the East Bay.

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