Writer Fran Lebowitz Comes To Berkeley Rep

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has announced a special presentation of Fran Lebowitz in Conversation. Following her bingeworthy hit Netflix series Pretend It's a City, Fran Lebowitz returns for six appearances only at Berkeley Rep where she played to sold-out crowds in the Roda Theatre in 2018.

In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators. With her acerbic views on everything from current events and pet peeves to politics and the media, each discussion promises to be unique and highly entertaining.

The conversations will run Friday, January 21 - Wednesday, January 26. Each event will feature a dialogue with a different local luminary, followed by an open question & answer session with the audience.

Schedule (subject to change)

Friday, January 21, 7:00pm: Dacher Keltner (Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and founding director of the Greater Good Science Center)

Saturday, January 22, 2:00pm: Jose Antonio Vargas (Founder of Define American)

Sunday, January 23, 1:00pm: Mark Danner (Writer and Educator)

Monday, January 24, 8:00pm: Scott Shafer (Senior Editor for KQED's Politics and Government Desk)

Tuesday, January 25, 8:00pm: Anna Sale (Creator and host of the WNYC podcast Death, Sex & Money)

Wednesday, January 26, 7:00pm: Peter L. Stein (Peabody Award-winning documentary maker, film programmer and interviewer)

Tickets can be purchase online at berkeleyrep.org or by phone, 510 647-2949. Proof of vaccination required and mask must be worn at all times.

Fran Lebowitz has worked odd jobs, such as taxi driving, belt peddling, and apartment cleaning ("with a small specialty in Venetian blinds"), before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview. That was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book, a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, was a bestseller, as was a second collection, Social Studies. By turns ironic, facetious, deadpan, sarcastic, wry, wisecracking, and waggish, Lebowitz's prose is wickedly entertaining. Her two books are collected in the Fran Lebowitz Reader, with a new preface by the author. Lebowitz is also the author of the children's book, Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas. Between 2001 to 2007, Lebowitz had a recurring role as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television drama Law & Order. She also had a part in the Martin Scorsese-directed film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). A raconteur if ever there was one, Lebowitz has long been a regular on various talk shows including those hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, and Bill Maher. In an interview with the Paris Review, Lebowitz said "I'm not a nervous person. I'm not afraid to be on TV. I'm only afraid when I write. When I'm at my desk I feel like most people would feel if they went on TV." She can also be seen in various documentary films including the American Experience series on New York City, as well as Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016), Regarding Susan Sontag (2014), and Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), among others. In 2010 Martin Scorsese directed a documentary about Lebowitz for HBO titled Public Speaking. A limited documentary series, Pretend It's a City, also directed by Martin Scorsese, premiered on Netflix in 2021, and was nominated for the 2021 Emmys in the Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series category. In 2021 she was given the Forte dei Marmi Festival della Satira Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lebowitz was named to Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 2008. She remains a style icon. Lebowitz lives in New York City, as she does not believe that she would be allowed to live anywhere else.

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