Berkeley Rep Presents GIRLFRIEND, Opens 4/14

Although he's already been at work for severAl Weeks, today it was revealed that Joe Goode has joined the creative team for the world premiere of Girlfriend at the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The renowned San Francisco choreographer is working alongside Berkeley Rep's associate artistic director, Obie Award-winner Les Waters, to stage this tender new show. Featuring music and lyrics by Matthew Sweet and a book by Todd Almond, Girlfriend begins previews on April 9, opens April 14, and closes May 9, 2010.

"I really enjoy collaborating with Joe," Waters remarks. "He's the perfect choreographer for this show, because his style always uses movement in service of storytelling and character. This touching and genuine story about two teenage boys falling in love needs a light touch, and he knows how to combine dance and narrative in ways that no one else can. Having him in the rehearsAl Hall has been delightful."

"I've known Les for a long time and always hoped to work with him," Goode comments. "He has such a keen eye for humor and for the human story. I feel a kinship with his irreverence for text and his desire for the big, bold moment. And I fell in love with this show. There is a real innocence and delicious awkwardness to the story, and the music is wonderfully suitable for propelling the story forward. The two young actors are just terrific, so believable and sympathetic. You find yourself really rooting for the characters, hoping they can find a way to get over their own reticence and actually kiss. That in itself is wonderfully subversive and makes me love the play."

This spring, romance unfolds in a new musical wound around the love songs of the landmark album Girlfriend. Meeting in homeroom. Holding hands. Cheering from the stands. That awkward first kiss. In the world premiere of Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep, boy meets boy. It's an eternal story turned upside down, a dual-Romeo duet that's innocent - and Sweet. "Girlfriend is the breathless testimony of a fool for love," raves Rolling Stone, "a rock ‘n' roll valentine that delivers subtle wisdom with an exhilarating kick." Fall in love with the boy next door at Girlfriend.

Joe Goode is a choreographer, writer, and director widely known as an innovator in the field of dance for his willingness to collide movement with spoken word, song, and visual imagery. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007 and the United States Artists Glover Fellowship in 2008. In 2006, Joe directed the opera Transformations for the San Francisco Opera Center. His play Body Familiar, commissioned by Magic Theatre in 2003, was met with critical acclaim. The Joe Goode Performance Group, formed in 1986, tours regularly throughout the US, and has toured internationally to Africa, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Goode is known as a master teacher; his summer workshops in "felt performance" attract participants from around the world, and the company's teaching residencies on tour are hugely popular. He is a professor in the department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Goode's performance-installation works have been commissioned by the Capp Street Project, Fowler Museum of Natural History, Krannert Art Museum, the M.H. de Young Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His dance-theatre work has been commissioned by AXIS Dance Company, Dance Alloy Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Zenon Dance Company, among others. He and his work have been recognized by numerous awards for excellence including the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards (Izzies) and the New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies).

The show stars two talented young actors, Ryder Bach and Jason Hite, and features a live band of top local musicians: Shelley Doty (lead guitar), ieela Grant (drums), Jean DuSablon (bass), and Julie Wolf (music director, rhythm guitar, and keyboards). The design team includes David Zinn (sets and costumes), Japhy Weideman (lights), and Jake Rodriguez (sound).

The executive producer of Girlfriend is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family, the production sponsor is the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre are BART and Wells Fargo.

Make a date with Berkeley Rep. Tickets to Girlfriend start at only $27 so that more people can experience the best theatre in the Bay Area. Additional savings are available for groups, seniors, students, and anyone under 30 years of age - meaning discounted seats can be obtained for as little as $13.50. Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage is located at 2025 Addison Street, near bus lines, bike routes, and parking lots - and only half a block from BART. For tickets or information, call (510) 647-2949 or toll-free at (888) 4-BRT-Tix - or simply click berkeleyrep.org.

ABOUT BERKELEY REP
Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to a national 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. The Theatre welcomes an annual audience of 180,000, serves 20,000 students, and hosts dozens of community groups, thanks to 1,000 volunteers and more than 400 artists, artisans, and administrators. With two stages, a school, and a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Berkeley Rep is proud to premiere exhilarating new plays. In the last five years alone, the company has helped send five shows to Broadway: American Idiot, Bridge & Tunnel, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Passing Strange, and Wishful Drinking. Come see tomorrow's plays today at Berkeley Rep.

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