Berkeley Rep Extends 'RED HOT PATRIOT' with Kathleen Turner

Audiences and critics agree, Tony and Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner's Berkeley Rep debut in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, is brilliant and powerful. Due to an enthusiastic reception, Berkeley Repertory Theatre is proud to announce that the show will extend for an additional week. In the one-woman show, Turner is all smarts and sass as beloved journalist and humorist, Molly Ivins. Written by twin sisters Margaret Engel and Allison Engel and directed by Obie Award winner David Esbjornson, this acclaimed production captures the red-headed reporter's indomitable character by weaving personal anecdotes with her colorful take on national politics. Originally scheduled to close Sunday, January 4, Red Hot Patriot now plays through Sunday, January 11, 2015. Individual tickets start currently at $39 and can be purchased by phone at (510) 647-2949 or online at berkeleyrep.org.

Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins had its world premiere in 2010 at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, where Turner originated the role. Now, Turner has won the hearts of Bay Area audiences in this moving tribute to one of America's greatest voices. "A love-fest... Turner - a solid presence in blue denim work shirt, jeans and flaming red hair - delivers her lines with a half-gracious, half-defiant Texas twang and timing that makes the wit land with comic precision.. Most of the words are by Ivins, and they had the audience roaring with laughter," proclaims San Francisco Chronicle. "Turner exudes charm and self-assurance as Ivins, the staccato rhythm of her breathy diction landing deftly on the punch lines... What really comes across is the aforementioned "kick-ass wit" of Ivins in one pithy zinger after another," declares Bay Area News Group.

Screen icon Kathleen Turner has garnered critical acclaim for her performances in various movies including Body Heat, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe; Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for each; Peggy Sue Got Married, which brought her both an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination; and War of the Roses with another Golden Globe nomination. Ms. Turner's extensive film credits also include The Man with Two Brains with Steve Martin, Jewel of the Nile with Michael Douglas, The Accidental Tourist, V.I. Warshawski, John Waters' Serial Mom, Naked in New York, Moonlight and Valentino, The Real Blonde, and Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. Ms. Turner has also starred on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, for which she received a Tony nomination; Indiscretions; The Graduate; and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, for which she received a second Tony nomination. Ms. Turner had a major recurring role as Sue Collini on Showtime's hit series, Californication. In the spring of 2010 Ms. Turner starred as Molly Ivins in the world premiere of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins at Philadelphia Theatre Company and immediately following that shot the starring role in an independent film called The Perfect Family. Ms. Turner most recently starred on Broadway in High, and in addition to her film and stage credits, she wrote of her many accomplishments and life experiences in her 2008 autobiography titled Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles, which secured a position on the New York Times Best-Seller List.

Michael Barrett Austin (Helper), a San Francisco Bay Area native, last worked with Berkeley Rep on The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Most recently, he was in the world premiere of Manic Pixie Dream Girl at the New York International Fringe Festival. Other theatrical productions include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (San Francisco Playhouse), Dracula (Center Rep), The Grapes of Wrath (TheatreFIRST), and The Internationalist (Just Theater). Austin has also played locally with 42nd Street Moon, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Aurora Theatre, TheatreWorks, California Shakespeare Theater, PlayGround, Pacific Repertory Theatre, the Carmel Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Stage and Brava, among others.

Margaret Engel (Playwight) was a reporter for the Washington Post, Des Moines Register, and Lorain Journal, and was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University. She directs the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation and was the managing editor of the Newseum, the museum for news, in Washington, DC. She co-wrote Food Finds: America's Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them with her twin, Allison, and helped turn the book into a show for Food Network, where it ran for seven years. It appears today on the Travel Channel. She serves on the boards of TheatreWashington/Helen Hayes Awards, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the Nieman Foundation. She chairs the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism awards board. She and her husband, Bruce Adams, wrote three editions of a travel guide to America's baseball parks, with the help of their children, Emily and Hugh.

Allison Engel (Playwright) has been a newspaper reporter for the Des Moines Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, and Pacific News Service and was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She has also been a political speechwriter and aide for former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack and lieutenant governor Sally Pederson. In Iowa, she was active in the Des Moines Playhouse, serving as president and head of play selection. She has been a food columnist for Saveur, an architecture columnist for Renovation Style, and has written for many other national publications. She recently spent five years as director of communications at USC before becoming the associate director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the university. She received an MA in screenwriting from USC in 2009.

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