'You, Nero' to Conclude Berkeley Repertory's Season

Today Tony Taccone, the artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, announced that the Tony Award-winning company will conclude its 2008/09 Season with the world premiere of a smart and sassy play featuring favorite local artists: YOU, NERO, a new comedy written by Amy Freed and directed by Sharon Ott, will rule the Thrust Stage from May 8 through June 21, 2009. Starring Danny Scheie as the preposterous emperor of ancient Rome, You, Nero will be produced in association with South Coast Repertory, where it debuts in January. It crowns an ambitious season that starts with the premiere of Itamar Moses' Yellowjackets and then brings a parade of brilliant artists back to Berkeley Rep's stage, including Delroy Lindo, Martin McDonagh, Sarah Ruhl, Les Waters, and Mary Zimmerman. This is the latest coup for Berkeley Rep: the Theatre repeatedly set box-office records in recent months while celebrating its 40th birthday – even after reducing ticket prices to the lowest level in ten years – and it has a Tony Award-winning musical on Broadway and two celebrated solo shows touring the nation.

"YOU, NERO is the perfect way to end the coming year, on a high note of incisive, satiric wit," Taccone remarked. "Modern American life bears a remarkable resemblance to Nero's Rome, and Amy Freed mines the parallels to wonderful comic effect. I've admired her work for quite some time and have been waiting for the right opportunity to introduce her to our audience. Since the show is being staged by Sharon – who makes up for lost time by directing two plays for us this season – it seems like the stars are aligned for this project."
 
"I've been pining to work at Berkeley Rep since I first started seeing shows there," Freed commented. "I love and admire the theatre. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most exciting theatres in the country, and I'm beside myself with jubilation that this day has arrived. The play is a full-throttle comedy that just exploded into my brain. It's great fun for the audience while also saying something that I passionately believe. And I wrote this part with Danny in mind – he's a terrific performer. So to see it come to fruition right here in our community is truly thrilling."
 
In this new comedy, not only does Nero fiddle while Rome burns, he fills the Colosseum with an incendiary mix of sex and decadence. The egotistical emperor commands a washed-up scribe to create an extravaganza that flatters his regime. But to stage the script he must survive the real spectacle at the palace, where his mother, his mistress, and an entourage of eunuchs play an elaborate game of deceit and seduction. You, Nero is the third collaboration for this talented team: Freed is a Pulitzer Prize-nominee known for hilarious scripts such as The Beard of Avon and Restoration Comedy, both of which enjoyed acclaimed productions under Ott's direction. Now she lets loose the tigers on a crumbling empire obsessed with shallow celebrities, violent sports, and sensational entertainment. When Rome unravels like its reality TV, everyone wants to get in the emperor's new clothes.

You, Nero is "an uproarious comedy set during the declining years of the Roman Empire," the New York Times raved after a recent reading at South Coast Rep during the Pacific Playwright's Festival. "Ms. Freed's gloriously funny play is its own argument for the continued viability of an endangered species, the stage comedy. I'm tempted to quote at length, but the play's delirious charm would surely fizzle in sober newsprint. For evidence of its irresistible appeal I'll just report that the audience staggered out into the sunny spring afternoon with stomachs sore from laughter, and that I await a New York production with unusual relish… A spoof of theater through the ages – from Sophocles to A Chorus Line – You, Nero makes lively sport of contemporary American culture, as Ms. Freed imagines the mincing Nero (a magnificent Danny Scheie – but Nathan Lane might want to call his agent now) commissioning an image-primping pageant from a down-on-his-luck dramatist."
 
You, Nero ends the season in place of the play originally scheduled in the seventh slot: Berkeley Rep has postponed its production of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face and hopes to present that show in the fall of 2009 before touring it to other cities.

See tomorrow's shows today at Berkeley Rep. Snatch up tickets now for the 2008/09 Season, and travel into the future of American theatre. Berkeley Rep is located on Addison Street in downtown Berkeley, close to BART and AC Transit bus lines. This year of fearless theatre is supported by BART and Wells Fargo, the official sponsors of Berkeley Rep's 41st season. For more information, call the box office at 510.647.2949 or toll-free at 888-4-BRT-Tix – or simply click berkeleyrep.org.

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