Brian Copeland's THE JEWELRY BOX is Coming to The Marsh Berkeley

Award-winning playwright and actor Brian Copeland’s family-friendly holiday show The Jewelry Box ushers in the season with two special performances at The Marsh. Written by Copeland and directed by David Ford, this hilariously heartwarming prequel to Copeland’s hit solo show Not a Genuine Black Man sees a young Brian as he heads to the “mean streets” of Oakland to buy his mom a Christmas present. When he finds the perfect gift – a jewelry box in the White Front store – six-year-old Brian sets out to earn the required $11.97 by Christmas.

Rife with references to 1970s Oakland, The Jewelry Box follows Brian’s adventures as he scours the “help wanted” ads, applies for jobs, and collects bottles, inching his way toward the perfect Christmas gift. The Jewelry Box will play at 5:00pm Saturday, November 29 at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley and 5:00pm Saturday, December 13 at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. For information or to order tickets ($25-$35 sliding scale, $50 and $100 reserved, plus a $3 convenience fee per ticket).

After making its world premiere in 2013, the show was an instant success, selling out shows and proving popular with audiences and critics alike. It was declared “destined to be a holiday classic” by The San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the show “glitters with bright comedy,” while Theatrius hailed the solo show as “an instant classic, an American ‘Christmas Carol’ that celebrates the lives of three women who loved the child.”  The Jewelry Box: A Memoir of Christmas, a book based on the play, was published in 2015.

Brian Copeland (Writer/Performer) began his show business career at age 18, when he first stepped onto the comedy stage. He quickly rose to become a headliner at clubs and concerts nationwide, opening for artists such as Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Ringo Starr, and Aretha Franklin, in venues ranging from The Universal Amphitheater to Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. He later expanded into television, with appearances on comedy programs for NBC, A&E, and MTV. Copeland spent five years as co-host of KTVU’s “Mornings on 2,” and two years as host of the Emmy Award-winning afternoon talk show 7Live on KGO-TV. His first network special, “Now Brian Copeland,” premiered on NBC following “Saturday Night Live” for West Coast audiences in January 2015. In 1995, KGO Radio debuted “The Brian Copeland Show,” which became the most listened-to program in its time slot with over 100,000 weekly listeners, thanks to his signature blend of humor and insight. Copeland made his theatrical debut in 2004 with Not a Genuine Black Man, a powerful exploration of race and identity that became the longest-running solo show in San Francisco history, with successful runs in Los Angeles, Off-Broadway, and more than 30 U.S. cities. His acclaimed works include The Waiting Period, a deeply personal look at depression; The Jewelry Box, The Scion, a true crime tale of privilege and murder; and The Great American Sh*t Show, created in collaboration with Charlie Varon. Copeland’s debut crime fiction novel, OUTRAGED, was published by Black Odyssey Media in April 2024, and nominated for the Macavity Award for “Best First Mystery.” In Fall 2025, Copeland was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.