Berkeley Repertory Theatre Announces Commissions for Daveed Diggs, Sarah Ruhl, Nico Muhly and More

Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer today announced her first set of commissions since joining the company in 2019. This dynamic group of artists' previous works encompass a wide range of genres, forms, and subject matter. The commissioned artists will be supported from inception to world premiere productions at Berkeley Rep over the next few seasons.

"I am so proud and grateful to be able to make commitments to this group of artists in this particular moment," says Pfaelzer. "Very early on in the pandemic, our Managing Director Susie Medak and I talked about these commissions as a commitment to our artistic community that Berkeley Rep would weather this storm, and a promise to ourselves and our audiences that there would be rich, complicated, beautifully theatrical stories to explore together on the other side. Sarah, Dipika, Rafael, Daveed, Nico, and Jack are each such extraordinary storytellers - the ability to support them in crafting new narratives, and anticipating the moment that we can gather together in a theatre in the presence of their imaginations is a source of inspiration for me in these profoundly challenging times."

Several of playwrights chosen have a strong connection to Berkeley Rep, including the writers/producers and stars of Blindspotting, Tony Award winner Daveed Diggs and writer/actor Rafael Casal, both of whom are from the Bay Area and were members of the Theatre's Teen Council. Diggs worked with Pfaelzer in her previous position as artistic director at New York Stage and Film. "We both grew up seeing countless productions at the Rep," says Diggs and Casal. "It has been vital to our development as Bay Area storytellers and artists. We couldn't be more excited to collaborate with the Berkeley Rep team to bring an original work to their iconic stage. Stay tuned."

Also featured among the group are Tony Award nominee Sarah Ruhl, whose plays have appeared six times on Berkeley Rep stages, most recently the world premiere Becky Nurse of Salem, and Dipika Guha (Yoga Play), a participant in Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab. Rounding out the esteemed company of artists are theatre veterans Jack Thorne and Nico Muhly. Their collaboration Set This House in Order will be a musical adaptation of the 2003 novel by Matt Ruff, directed by John Tiffany with choreography by Steven Hoggett (who first worked with Pfaelzer during the development of American Idiot at New York Stage and Film prior to its acclaimed production at Berkeley Rep). Thorne, Tiffany, and Hoggett are the team behind the international hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. "Five years ago Nico Muhly sent a copy of Set This House in Order to both Steven Hoggett and I, shortly after we all collaborated on The Glass Menagerie at the American Repertory Theater," says Tiffany. "Steven and I had the exact same response: this is an incredible story which is crying out to be shared with a theatre audience - and Jack Thorne has to adapt it - and we have to create it with Johanna at Berkeley Rep."

https://www.berkeleyrep.org/

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