Photo Flash: The Marsh Berkeley presents WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT LOVE

The Marsh welcomes a new solo show to the Berkeley stage, What They Said About Love by Steve Budd, which was awarded the "Best of Fringe" at the 2016 San Francisco Fringe Festival. In this absorbing solo show, Steve wonders why other people can-and why he can't-tie the knot. Budd sheds light on how people meet and make it to the altar, the push and pull of relationships, singles who can't seem to settle down, and more. The Oakland based actor captures the physical and vocal nuances of more than a dozen Bay Area characters, using their own words taken from hours of interviews, and weaves in his relentless search for "the one." What They Said About Love, directed by Mark Kenward and developed with David Ford, will be presented 8:00pm Fridays and 8:30pmSaturdays February 2-March 3, 2018 (press opening: February 9) at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved), the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh box office at 415-282-3055 (open 1pm-4pm, Monday through Friday).

In What They Said About Love, audiences meet a cast of characters including a New Age couple who could swear they met before they met, an Oakland artist who can't resist homeless guys, and a pair of metal heads who thought it would be a hoot to get married on 6-6-6 (June 6, 2006), as well as others. Previous versions of this funny and touching documentary theater piece appeared in the September 2016 San Francisco Fringe Festival, as a Marsh Rising in November 2016, and in the June 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Talkin' Broadway hailed What They Said About Love as "theater at its best. Funny, poignant, thoughtful, and revealing about the search for love." This solo show was also developed with assistance from David Ford, John Coppola, and Slater Penney; Skye Pelicrow served as script consultant.

Steve Budd is an actor, writer, storyteller, standup comic, and solo performer living in Oakland.

He has acted with many local theater companies, including San Francisco Playhouse, Custom Made Theatre Co., New Conservatory Theatre Center, Impact Theatre, and Marin Shakespeare Company. Budd has also been seen at numerous Bay Area venues, including The Marsh, The San Francisco Fringe Festival, Tell It On Tuesday, T.M.I., Busting Out, The Shout, The Vent, and Stage Werx's Solo Sundays.

Mark Kenward (Director) a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Nominee and two-time selection for the Best of San Francisco Solo Series, has performed his work in more than 40 cities throughout the US and Canada, including a reception for The House of Representatives and several runs at The Marsh. He is the creator and performer of eight solo shows, receiving kudos as "a commanding storyteller" (San Francisco Weekly) and "a master of the craft" (Contra Costa Times). Kenward is the director of more 30 full-length solo shows, including several that have had runs at The Marsh: David Kleinberg's Hey, Hey, LBJ!, Kurt Bodden's Steve Seabrook: Better Than You, Howard Petrick's Rambo: The Missing Years, Houston Robertson's Victory for the Recycled Virgin, and Jill Vice's A Fatal Step. Other directing credits include Wayne Harris's Tyrone 'Short Leg' Johnson and Some White Boys, David Caggiano's Jurassic Ark, and Jeremy Greco's Keeping Up with the Jorgensons, all three of which won 'Best of SF Fringe' honors.

David Ford (Developer) has been collaborating on new and unusual theater for three decades and has been associated with The Marsh for most of that time. The San Francisco press has variously called him "the solo performer maven," "the monologue maestro," "the dean of solo performance," and "the solo performer's best friend." Collaborators include Geoff Hoyle, Echo Brown, Brian Copeland, Charlie Varon, Marilyn Pittman, Rebecca Fisher, Wayne Harris, and Marga Gomez. As a director, Mr. Ford has directed both solo and ensemble work regionally at The Public Theater, Second Stage, St. Clement's, Dixon's Place, One Dream Theatre, and Theatre for the New City (NY), Highways Performance Space (LA), and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (DC), as well as at theaters around the Bay Area including Magic Theatre and Marin Theatre Company. He is also a published playwright.

The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and now annually hosts more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company's two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh's specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest." The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area's best intimate theaters, calling it "one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible."

Photo credit: Cheshire Isaacs

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