Berkeley Rep’s new season: From Mexican underground railroad to a Holocaust mystery
A hip-hop musical about the underground railroad to Mexico, a mystery over Holocaust-era photographs, new takes on “The Magic Flute” and “Uncle Vanya,” and a hit Broadway comedy about the doings at a Harlem salon frequented by West African immigrants are among the shows headed to Berkeley Repertory Theatre as part of the company’s 2024-25 season.
The new season announced recently by the award-winning company also includes two world premieres: Korean American playwright Jiehae Park’s meditative look at life and aging, “the aves”; and “The Thing About Jellyfish,” a stage adaptation of Ali Benjamin’s best-selling novel about a 12-year-old girl dealing with loss.
Despite serving up a season of new and recently developed productions, the company is also bringing back several favorite artists that Berkeley Rep patrons have seen in the past, including playmaker Mary Zimmerman (“Metamorphoses,” “The White Snake”), playwright Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project (“The Laramie Project”) and Jocelyn Bioh (“Goddess”).
All told, the season will be about “telling stories both timely and timeless, allowing us to use theater to interrogate some of the most pressing issues of this moment, and also to escape into worlds both imaginative and fantastical,” said company artistic director Johanna Pfaelzer. “It feels fitting and necessary that the season will give us the shared opportunity to travel from the enchanted forest of Mozart’s Magic Flute to Nazi-occupied Poland; from Harlem’s 125th Street to the Mexico/Texas border, and countless places along the way. I look forward to the journey in the company of this incredibly engaged community.”
Subscription packages for the seven-play season, starting at $224, are now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date.
Here’s a peak at the new season, in chronological order.
“Mexodus” (Sept. 13-Oct. 20): Described as “hip-hop meets history,” the musical by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson focuses on the estimated 4,000-10,000 U.S. slaves who escaped to freedom in Mexico. The score is created live during each show using instruments and live-looping technology.
“The Matchbox Magic Flute” (Oct. 18-Dec. 8): Playmaker Mary Zimmerman, who has enchanted Berkeley Rep audiences with her evocative and minimalist staging of classic stories, employs a cast of 10 singers and five musicians to re-invent Mozart’s popular opera about Prince Tamino’s quest to free an imprisoned princess.
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” (Nov. 8-Dec. 15): Jocelyn Bioh, who wrote the book for the exuberant hit musical “Goddess,” which played at Berkeley Rep to years ago, returns with stage comedy about the denizens of a popular Harlem hair salon where talk turns to love, family, neighborhood gossip and the forces of gentrification.
“The Thing About Jellyfish” (Jan. 31-March 9): Ali Benjamin’s 2015 novel about a middle-school girl immersing herself in the life and science of jellyfish after the death of a more-popular friend was a runaway best-seller and a National Book Award finalist. Keith Bunin’s adaptation of the book gets its premiere at Berkeley Rep.
“Uncle Vanya” (Feb. 14-March 23): The plays of Anton Chekhov seem to be a magnet for adaptations and satires — especially this one. Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s widely praised 2020 adaptation comes to Berkeley starring “Downton Abbey’s” Hugh Bonneville in the title role.
“Here There Are Blueberries” (April 5-May 11, 2025): Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project’s docu-drama style of theatrical production created an unforgettable work in “Laramie Project,” which focused on the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. The company returns to Berkeley Rep to present this play, written by Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, about the stunning mystery that arose when an album of Nazi-era photographs arrived at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“the aves” (May 2-June 8, 2025): This world premiere by Jiehae Park centers on an elderly man and woman in a park, and their humorous, insightful and slightly surreal discussion of just abut everything.