Berkeley Rep to Stage West Coast Premiere of FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the West Coast premiere of FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY by Tony Award-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl and directed by Les Waters.

Sarah Ruhl returns to Berkeley Rep! Adored by Bay Area audiences for Eurydice; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Three Sisters, and Dear Elizabeth, the Tony Award-nominated playwright brings us a tender new tale, FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY - a fanciful and moving look at growing up versus growing old within a family. In the wake of their father's death, five siblings are driven to reconnect with childhood dreams and confront the inevitability of the passage of time. Les Waters helms this transcendent West Coast premiere.

Previews begin Friday, May 20, and the show runs through Sunday, July 3, 2016. Press night for Peter Pan on her 70th birthday will be on Friday, May 27. Individual tickets start at $29 and can be purchased online at berkeleyrep.org or by phone, 510 647-2949.

"Sarah Ruhl's singular imagination and poetic voice are on full display here," says Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. "Merging her own family history with the whimsical yearnings of a character who never loses her desire to fly, Sarah is able to illuminate the topography of yearning and connection in ways that resonate especially for my generation and where we are in our own lives."

"I'm so thrilled to be bringing my fifth play to Berkeley Rep," says Ruhl. "I love Bay Area audiences, and I feel like I'm coming home."

Award-winning stage actress Kathleen Chalfant (House of Cards) returns to Berkeley Rep as Ann in FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Chalfant last appeared at Berkeley Rep in Honour directed by Tony Taccone in 2005. Other cast members include David Chandler (John), Ron Crawford (George), Ellen McLaughlin (Wendy), Keith Reddin (Michael), and Charles Shaw Robinson (Jim).

The creative team includes Annie Smart (scenic designer), Kristopher Castle (costume designer), Matthew Frey (lighting designer), Bray Poor (sound designer), Drew Fracher (fight director), and ZFX Incorporated (flying effects).

FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY was commissioned by and premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville in the 2016 Humana Festival of New American Plays. This play was developed with support of a generous gift from Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily and an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

About Sarah Ruhl (Playwright) - FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY marks Sarah's fifth production at Berkeley Rep and her fifth collaboration with Les Waters; previous productions at Berkeley Rep include the West Coast premiere of Eurydice; the world premiere of In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; an adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters; and the West Coast premiere of Dear Elizabeth. In the Next Room went on to Broadway, playing at Lyceum Theatre. Sarah's other plays include The Oldest Boy, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Melancholy Play, Orlando, Late: a cowboy song, and Stage Kiss. Her plays have been seen off Broadway at Women's Project Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage Theatre, and Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Her select regional credits include Yale Repertory Theatre and the Goodman Theatre. Sarah received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Whiting Award, the Lilly Award, a PEN Award, and the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award. She has been a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee. Her book of essays, 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write, was published by Faber and Faber in the fall of 2014.

About Les Waters (Director) - From 2003 to 2011, Les served as associate artistic director at Berkeley Rep, where he directed Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, Three Sisters, and Dear Elizabeth. He also directed 15 other plays for Berkeley Rep, including the world premieres of Charles Mee's Fêtes de la Nuit, Jordan Harrison's Finn in the Underworld, Adele Edling Shank's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Naomi Iizuka's Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, and Todd Almond and Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend. As current artistic director of Actors Theatre of Louisville, Obie Award winner Les has directed Charles Mee's The Glory of the World, Rebecca Gilman's Luna Gale, Naomi Iizuka's At the Vanishing Point, Lucas Hnath's The Christians, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Will Eno's Gnit, Todd Almond's Girlfriend, and Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night for the company. Les also previously directed Big Love by Charles Mee at the Humana Festival in 2000, and the site-specific production of Naomi Iizuka's At the Vanishing Point at the 2004 Humana Festival. In the last 10 years, his shows have ranked among the year's best in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time Out New York, Time Magazine, and USA Today. His productions have been seen in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre Company, the Public Theater, Second Stage Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Connelly Theater, Clubbed Thumb, and Soho Rep, and regionally at theatres such as the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, and American Repertory Theater. In 2009, he made his Broadway debut with In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. He led the MFA directing program at University of California, San Diego from 1995 to 2003.

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, the Osher Studio, and a spacious new campus in West Berkeley - are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.

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