Jon Carroll Hosts A Conversation With Rita Moreno 4/20

Acclaimed columnist Jon Carroll will host an evening in conversation with Tony and Academy Award-winning actress Rita Moreno to discuss her successful career Monday, April 20, 2009 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley. The evening begins with a cheese and no-host wine reception at 6pm, followed by the conversation on the main stage at 7pm. Tickets ($25) can be purchased online at www.ParkDaySchool.org or by calling 510-653-0317 x103. All proceeds benefit the academic and financial assistance programs at ParkDay School in Oakland.

Rita Moreno is the first actress, and remains the only Latina, to win an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Oscar. Moreno moved to New York City with her mother when she was five years old; by eleven, she was lending her voice to Spanish-language versions of American films and by thirteen had landed her first role on Broadway as "Angelina" in Skydrift. Her acting caught the attention of several Hollywood talent scouts. While she performed small roles in films such as Singin' in the Rain, her career took off when she was cast as "Anita" in Robert Wise's film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical, West Side Story. It was for this performance that Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1962. She would later receive the Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children (1972), the Tony Award for Best Featured or Supporting Actress in The Ritz (1975), and two Emmys for her appearances on The Muppet Show (1977) and The Rockford Files (1978). Currently a Bay Area resident, Moreno recently starred in a new cabaret show in San Francisco in November 2008.

Jon Carroll attracts an avid and passionate following for the column he has written for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1982, in which he skewers politicos, espouses moderate to liberal causes, and hilariously chronicles the lives of house cats and occasionally the World's Most Perfect Grandchild. Prior to this career, Carroll was an award-winning editor at publications including Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and New West Magazine. Carroll is the current winner of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Monday, April 20, 2009
6pm Cheese and no-host wine reception in lobby
7pm Conversation on the Main Stage
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley.
Tickets ($25) can be purchased in advance online at www.ParkDaySchool.org or by calling 510-653-0317 x103. All proceeds benefit the academic and financial assistance programs at Park Day School in Oakland.