'Figaro' Begins at Berkeley Rep April 25

This spring, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's 40th birthday party comes to a gorgeous crescendo with the West Coast premiere of Figaro. After bringing The Miser in 2006, the Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune returns for another eccentric take on a timeless text. Inspired by Mozart and Beaumarchais, Figaro is adapted by Steven Epp and Dominique Serrand, who also perform the lead roles alongside exceptional actors, superb singers, and a live string quartet. Presented in Berkeley Rep's state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this magical production begins previews on April 25, opens April 29, and closes June 8.

"Figaro marries music from Mozart's magnificent opera with famous characters from the plays of Beaumarchais to create an accessible and exceptional new show. In this West Coast premiere, Figaro and the Count recall their rivalries years later – amidst the bloodshed of the French Revolution. Steven Epp – the Miser himself – tackles the title role, while director Dominique Serrand portrays his fallen master. Lush video sets the scene as a cast of accomplished singers surrender to intrigue and seduction. In Figaro, juicy love triangles bed down with ruthless satire of a class-conscious culture. It's a revolutionary experience that's the perfect birthday gift for Berkeley Rep," press notes state.

The show's executive producers are the Strauch Kulhanjian Family and Jean and Michael Strunsky; production sponsors include American Express, Downtown Restaurant, the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Fund, and the Bernard Osher Foundation; and a co-sponsor is the Mechanics Bank. BART and Wells Fargo toast Berkeley Rep as the official sponsors of the Theatre's 40th season.

Dominique Serrand is the artistic director and co-founder of Theatre de la Jeune Lune. A native of Paris, he studied at the National Circus School and the École Jacques Lecoq in France. For more than 27 years, Serrand has acted, conceived, directed, and designed for most Jeune Lune productions. His directing credits with the company include 1789, The 3 Musketeers, The Bourgeois Gentleman, Children of Paradise: Shooting a Dream, Gulliver, The Kitchen, The Little Prince, Lulu, The Pursuit of Happiness, Queen Elizabeth, Red Noses, Romeo and Juliet, The Seagull, and Tartuffe. He has staged several operas including Carmen, Così fan tutte, Don Juan Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Maria de Buenos Aires, and Mefistofele. Berkeley Rep audiences will recall his work on Don Juan Giovanni, The Green Bird, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and The Miser. He has also directed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.), The Children's Theatre Company (CTC), the Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Serrand is a USA Ford Fellow and was knighted by the French government in the order of Arts and Letters.

At Berkeley Rep, Steven Epp portrayed Harpagon in The Miser and Sganarelle in Don Juan Giovanni, as well as adapting the script for The Green Bird. He began working with Jeune Lune in 1983, and has performed with the company at numerous theatres including Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Alley Theatre, A.R.T., La Jolla Playhouse, The New Victory Theater, the Spoleto Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, and Yale Rep. He played the titles roles in Crusoe, Gulliver, Hamlet, The Miser, and Tartuffe and major roles in The Little Prince, The Magic Flute, Maria de Buenos Aires, The Seagull, and Twelfth Night. Epp adapted and directed Medea, adapted The Deception, and collaborated on scripts for The 3 Musketeers; Amerika, or The Disappearance; Children of Paradise: Shooting a Dream; Don Juan Giovanni; The Green Bird; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Magic Flute; and Mefistofele. He is the recipient of a 1999 Fox Fellowship.

Epp and Serrand perform with a harmonious cast of actors and singers. Christina Baldwin (Cherubino) played the title role in Jeune Lune's Carmen, as well as appearing in its productions of Don Juan Giovanni and Maria de Buenos Aries. She has been a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, performed on NPR's Prairie Home Companion, and worked with noted companies such as A.R.T., the Guthrie, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and The Minnesota Opera. Bryan Boyce (Young Figaro) portrayed Don Giovanni in Jeune Lune's Don Juan Giovanni in Minneapolis and Boston. He also performed as Colline in La Bohème and Olin Blitch in Susannah with Theater Latté Da, as well as Littore in L'incoronazione di Poppea and the Denver Politician in The Ballad of Baby Doe for Central City Opera. Next season, Boyce will be part of The Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist Program. Bradley Greenwald (Count Almaviva) has collaborated with Jeune Lune for the past 14 years as a performer and music adaptor for Carmen, Cosí fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Maria de Buenos Aires, and Mefistofele – and, in addition to being in the cast, he adapted the music for Figaro. He has performed concerts, recitals, musical theatre, opera, and theatre in the Twin Cities with Ballet of the Dolls, CTC, the Guthrie, the Jungle Theater, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Nautilus Music-Theater, Ten Thousand Things, and others. Carrie Hennessey (Marcellina) has worked almost exclusively with composer Hiram Titus since 2003, developing, performing, and premiering his original art songs and theatrical works in recital. Their latest collaboration is her debut CD, A Prelude to Summer. Bryan Janssen (Bartolo) has performed with the Bach Society Chorus, Kansas City Rep, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Minnesota Chorale, the Minnesota Orchestra, North Star Opera, the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, and The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. For the last 20 years, he has been the bass soloist and section leader at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul. Justin D. Madel (Basilio) has performed with Theatre de la Jeune Lune in The Ballroom, Carmen, and Carmina Burana. He has also worked with the Columbia Festival of the Arts, Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Minnesota Opera, the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Skylark Opera, and the Silver Bay Music Festival. Jennifer Baldwin Peden (Countess) appeared at Berkeley Rep in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Her credits with Jeune Lune include The Ballroom, Carmen, Carmina Burana, Cosí fan tutte, Don Juan Giovanni, Fishtank, The Magic Flute, Maria de Buenos Aires, and Mefistofele. She has also worked with A.R.T., the Guthrie, The Minnesota Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Skylark Opera, as well as providing her voice for the animated film Jona/Tomberry, which won the Grand Prix Canal at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. Momoko Tanno (Susanna) previously performed with Jeune Lune as Donna Anna in Don Juan Giovanni and Frasquita in Carmen. As a soprano soloist, her recent engagements include Bach's B-minor Mass with the Bach Society of Minnesota, as well as two international engagements with the Heinrich Schütz Choir: Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Heilbronn, Germany and Mendelssohn's Elijah and Bach's St. John's Passion in Tokyo. Figaro also features Casey Creig, Anna Hersey, and Julie Kurtz.

This accomplished cast is accompanied by live music from the Seventh Avenue String Quartet, the ensemble that performed last year during Berkeley Rep's world premiere of To the Lighthouse. The quartet features Alex Kelly (cello), Justin Mackewich (first violin), Katrina Weeks (viola), and Sarah Jo Zaharako (second violin).

Serrand designed the sets and projections for this production, and collaborated with a talented team to bring Figaro to life. Sonya Berlovitz (costume design) has designed more than 45 productions for Jeune Lune, including Berkeley Rep's presentations of The Green Bird, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and The Miser. Her work has also been seen at CTC, the Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Prague Quadrennial. Marcus Dilliard (lighting designer) previously worked at Berkeley Rep on Jeune Lune's productions of Don Juan Giovanni, The Green Bird, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and The Miser. He has also designed for countless theatre and opera companies throughout North America and Europe. Zach Humes (sound designer) has created sound for Jeune Lune's productions of The Ballroom, The Deception, Don Juan Giovanni, Fishtank, and The Golem. He has also worked with the Brave New Workshop, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Mixed Blood Theatre Company. Barbara Brooks (music director/conductor) has worked as a vocal coach and music director with Berkshire Opera Company, the Canadian Opera Company, Des Moines Metro Opera, Kentucky Opera, The Minnesota Opera, the New Orleans Opera Association, and Opera Banff, as well as the University of Minnesota Opera and the University of North Texas Opera. The stage manager for this production is Glenn D. Klapperich.

This year, Berkeley Rep introduced exciting new prices that make theatre a luxury everyone can afford. Tickets to Figaro start as low as $27 – the lowest price in 10 years! Additional discounts are available for groups, seniors, students, and anyone under 30 years of age. This change makes Berkeley Rep more accessible to people in the community who are just starting school, starting careers, and starting families – because lower prices are available for every performance.

The Roda Theatre is located at 2015 Addison Street, one block from Berkeley's downtown BART station and close to AC Transit bus lines. The box office is next door at 2025 Addison Street. For tickets or information, call 510.647.2949 or toll-free at 888-4-BRT-Tix – or simply click berkeleyrep.org.

ABOUT BERKELEY REP

Born in a storefront on College Avenue, Berkeley Rep has moved to the forefront of American theatre – and is still telling unforgettable stories. Founded in 1968 by Michael Leibert, the Theatre quickly earned respect for presenting the finest plays with top-flight actors. In 1980, with the support of the local community, Berkeley Rep built the 400-seat Thrust Stage where its reputation steadily grew over the next two decades. It gained renown for an adventurous combination of work, presenting important new dramatic voices alongside refreshing adaptations of seldom-seen classics. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. The company celebrated by unveiling a new 600-seat proscenium stage in 2001, the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre. It also opened the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, the permanent home for a 22-year tradition of outreach and education programs. The addition of these two buildings transformed a single stage into a vital and versatile performing arts complex, the linchpin of a bustling Downtown Arts District which has helped revitalize Berkeley. In four decades, nearly four million people have enjoyed 300 shows at Berkeley Rep, including more than 40 world premieres. The Theatre now 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. In the last two years, four shows seen at Berkeley Rep have gone on to New York: Bridge & Tunnel, Brundibar, Eurydice, and Passing Strange. Now a series of gifted guests arrives with amazing stage presents for Berkeley Rep's 40th birthday. 

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