Berkeley Rep Taps Frances McDormand & Kathleen Chalfant for Roles in 48th Season

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announces key casting for three highly anticipated productions of its 48th season. Tony and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand will star in Macbeth, actor Steven Epp will make his seventh Berkeley Rep appearance in Treasure Island, and award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant will play the lead role in the West Coast premiere of For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday. The Theatre previously announced the casting of award-winning British actress Samantha Barks in the title role in the world premiere of Amélie, A New Musical, set to begin its run in August.

"We're thrilled to have these esteemed and talented artists join us next season," says Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director. "It's a compliment to our vision of transformative theatre to have actors of this level of skill, pedigree, and ambition on board to fill these very pivotal roles. Frances is a signature artist whose body of work and commitment to the stage is unparalleled. We're pleased that she will finally be making her Berkeley Rep debut. Kathleen is a revered actress and I'm elated that she will be returning to our stage in a highly poignant new play. The season wouldn't be complete without Steven, a Berkeley Rep favorite who is talented in so many ways."

Award-winning actress Frances McDormand will star as Lady Macbeth in acclaimed and celebrated director Daniel Sullivan's highly anticipated production of Macbeth. On Broadway, McDormand received the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People directed by Daniel Sullivan. Other stage appearances include The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway, Caryl Churchill's Far Away directed by Stephen Daldry at New York Theatre Workshop, her Tony-nominated performance as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Sisters Rosensweig directed by Daniel Sullivan at Lincoln Center Theatre, The Swan at the Public Theater, A Streetcar Named Desire (this time as Blanche) at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and Dare Clubb's Oedipus at the Blue Light Theater Company. With the Wooster Group, she performed in To You, The Birdie!, North Atlantic, and Early Shaker Spirituals. Films include Olive Kitteridge, Moonrise Kingdom, Promised Land, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends with Money, Laurel Canyon, Something's Gotta Give, Wonder Boys, Madeline, Primal Fear, Short Cuts, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road, and in collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen, Burn After Reading, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, Raising Arizona, and Blood Simple. With her company Hear/Say, McDormand produced Every Secret Thing and Olive Kitteridge and is developing a screen adaptation inspired by Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. Macbeth will start its run February 2016. Casting for the title role of Macbeth will be announced at a later time.

Steven Epp will portray Long John Silver in Mary Zimmerman's Treasure Island, a visually tantalizing and exhilarating heart-pounding voyage filled with tales of swashbuckling gentlemen o' fortune, a malicious mutiny, and a deadly quest for fabled buried booty. Epp has appeared at Berkeley Rep in Tartuffe, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, Figaro, The Miser, Don Juan Giovanni, and he adapted The Green Bird. He is an actor, writer and co-artistic director of the Moving Company, based in Minneapolis. He was an actor, writer, and co-artistic director at Theatre de la Jeune Lune, winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre, from 1983-2008. A co-production with Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company, Treasure Island will start its run April 2016.

Kathleen Chalfant will play Kathy, the eldest of five siblings in the West Coast premiere of Sarah Ruhl's For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday, a fanciful and moving look at growing up versus growing old within a family. Chalfant has appeared on Broadway in Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Racing Demon, and Dance with Me. Her off-Broadway credits include Wit (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Connecticut Critics Circle, and Obie Awards), Tales from Red Vienna, Dr. Du Bois and, Nine Armenians (Drama Desk nomination), among others. Her film credits include Isn't it Delicious?, R.I.P.D., The Bath, In Bed with Ulysses, Lillian, Duplicity, Lackawanna Blues, and more. On television she most recently appeared in The Affair, The Americans, House of Cards. She is the recipient of an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence (1996), the Lortel Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance (2004), a Drama League Award, and a Sidney Kingsley Award. Directed by Les Waters, the West Coast premiere of For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday will start its run May 2016.

The 2015-16 season is supported by BART and Wells Fargo, who have generously renewed their commitment as Berkeley Rep's official season sponsors. Berkeley Rep is proud to have KPIX-TV (Channel 5) as a second-year season sponsor. Berkeley Rep is also delighted to have the Strauch Kulhanjian Family and Jack and Betty Schafer on board as season sponsors.

Get the best seats for these shows at the consistently lowest prices by subscribing to Berkeley Rep. The 7-play full season package guarantees tickets for Amélie, The Hypocrites' Pirates of Penzance, Disgraced, Aubergine, Macbeth, Treasure Island, and For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday. Best of all, subscribers have guaranteed seats to sold-out plays; 7-play full season packages are available from $175 to $598, while 5-play main season packages range from $125 to $426. In addition to significant savings, subscribers receive valuable advantages such as the ability to reschedule performances for free, discounts when purchasing tickets for friends, and the opportunity to secure seats before the general public for special events. Additional discounts are available for senior citizens and pre-K-12 educators. Students and patrons under 30 receive 50 percent off most subscription packages.