Berkeley Rep Presents 16th Annual Teen One Acts Festival

Today the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre announced the presentation of its 16th annual Teen One-Acts Festival. The 2018 festival features two plays written by Bay Area high school students: Lucky, written by Lucy Urbano, a junior at Oakland School for the Arts, and Fig and Wasp, written by Eleanor Boes, a sophomore at Marin Academy. The festival will take place on Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 7:30pm at the Berkeley Rep Peet's Theatre. Adult tickets are $15 and youth tickets are $10. Tickets are available online at www.berkeleyrep.org/teenoneacts and in person at the performance.

Started in 2003, the Teen One-Acts Festival is an annual event produced by teens on the Teen Council at Berkeley Rep. The work is created primarily by teenagers, generating a unique event that allows high school students to build and produce theatre from the ground up. Teens are able to work in every area of theatre, and mentored by Berkeley Repertory Theatre's fellows, they touch every piece of the process. The festival gives the teens access to professional facilities and technology, allowing them a hands-on, educational venture into the arts world.

The 2018 festival focuses on the quest for fulfillment. Though set in different worlds, both plays explore what it means to grow into a complete person and how to find internal happiness in the face of external obstacles.

"This year the festival covers deeper subject matter," says Jesias Burrell, the teen artistic producer and a member of Berkeley Rep's Teen Core Council. "There are hidden meanings and metaphors in each of the plays that strengthen the intellectual and emotional experience."

ABOUT THE PLAYS

Lucky

The arrival of a newcomer causes four teenagers to forge friendships in the most unlikely of circumstances. Confined in a futuristic juvenile detention center, the young inmates must rebel against their own insecurities to survive the haunting loneliness of prison life. Lucky is a dystopian exploration of government, privilege, and the bravery to believe in oneself.

Fig and Wasp

What does it mean to grow up? Where do lost dreams go? Fig and Wasp illuminates the liminality between childhood and adulthood. While their parents are out of town, precocious and quirky Zoe leads her skeptical older brother Wyatt on a creative journey to rediscover his passion.

Lucky will be directed by Max Green, a senior at Berkeley High School, and Fig and Wasp will be directed by Zoe Larkin, a junior at Las Lomas High School.

The cast of Lucky includes Neo Barnes, Jude Bennett, Mirabel Connor, Fiona Deane-Grundman, and Devin Elias. The cast of Fig and Wasp is comprised of Fidela Bisseret Martinez, Noé Castrejon, Miya Drain, Rory Dreyfus, and Roan Pearl.

The creative team for the festival includes Adin Gilman-Cohen (scenic design for Lucky, props master), Alana Walker (scenic design for Fig and Wasp), Naseem Alavi (costume design), Hannah Portner (lighting design), Avery Martin (sound design), Milo Bailey (stage management for Lucky), and Marc Jensen (stage management for Fig and Wasp). Jesias Burrell and Avery Martin will produce.

For more information about the festival, visit www.berkeleyrep.org/teenoneacts.

Having first opened its doors in 2001, the School of Theatre offers programming as eclectic as the productions onstage at Berkeley Rep, reaching some 20,000 people in the Bay Area each year. Driven by an expanding community of inspired, curious, and creative theatre lovers, the School's programming provides opportunities for engagement on a variety of levels.

The Berkeley Rep Teen Council brings together a diverse group of teens (grades 9-12) from all over the Bay Area. They write, direct, and perform in their own productions, see plays at local theatres, explore different artistic departments through interactive workshops, and get a behind-the-scenes look at what happens at Berkeley Rep through interviews with professional artists.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its core values of imagination and excellence, as well as its educated and adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. In four decades, four million people have enjoyed nearly 400 shows at Berkeley Rep. These shows have gone on to win five Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, and many other honors. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Its bustling facilities - which include the 400-seat Peet's Theatre, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley - are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org

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