Dan Hoyle's Critically Acclaimed BORDER PEOPLE Returns To The Marsh This April

Returning from a triumphant six-week run Off-Broadway, Border People will be presented at The Marsh Berkeley for a limited run. The newest solo show by award-winning actor and playwright Dan Hoyle, this hit is based on Hoyle's conversations with immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and border crossers of all kinds.

The show has been greeted with unanimous critical acclaim, earning the highest rating from the San Francisco Chronicle, which noted "This is what it is to witness a master of his craft. Dan Hoyle is one of our theatrical gems," and praised the production as "A testament to the core-to-nerve ending commitment and courage" of those living on borders of any kind.

Border People, developed with and directed by Charlie Varon, runs April 17 - May 30, 2020 with performances at 7:30pm Fridays and 5:00pm Saturdays at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($30-$35 sliding scale Fridays; $35-$40 sliding scale Saturdays; $60 and $100 reserved ALL NIGHTS) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1:00pm-4:00pm).

Hoyle began work on the show after the election of Trump in November 2016, working with increased urgency to complete the work as the American immigration debate continued to grow more heated. Border People is based on Hoyle's conversations and interviews along the Southwestern border and into Mexico, as well as at refugee safe houses on the Northern border with Canada, and in the courtyards of housing projects in the South Bronx. It offers a startling gallery of portraits of those, in Hoyle's words, "who cross borders, geographical or cultural, by necessity or choice." Border People continues Hoyle's brand of journalistic theater that has been hailed as "riveting, funny and poignant" by The New York Times and "hilarious, moving and very necessary" by Salon.

Border People was welcomed by critics, who called it, "Enthralling. Deeply moving. Sometimes heartbreaking, more often funny" (SF Examiner) and "Visionary. Seventy-five spellbinding minutes." (BroadwayWorld). In October 2019, Border People headlined the world's premier storytelling event-the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. After its closing run at The Marsh San Francisco, Border People made its Off-Broadway premiere at the Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres, where The New York Times applauded Hoyle for his "empathy and cultural border crossing." OnStage Blog called it "an exhilarating, linguistic rollercoaster of 75-minutes," adding that "Hoyle expertly paints strokes of the difficult, different realities of unique individuals wanting to be heard."

The Marsh has been home to Dan Hoyle's (Writer/Performer) World Premiere shows Each and Every Thing (2014), The Real Americans (2010), Tings Dey Happen (2007), and Florida 2004: The Big Bummer (2004). These shows have all received critical acclaim, with The Huffington Post praising Hoyle's brand of journalistic theater for its "emotional depth and intellectual breadth." The critically-acclaimed Each and Every Thing debuted at The Marsh in 2014, and was praised as "smartly constructed and highly entertaining" by the San Francisco Chronicle and a "poignant, funny comment on the digital age" by The Mercury News. The show's run was extended several times due to popular demand. The 2010 World Premiere of The Real Americans was an instant hit, and went on to receive critical acclaim from major news outlets, with The New Yorker praising his performance as "smart, entertaining, funny, insightful and surprising." In 2007, Tings Dey Happen was awarded the Will Glickman Award for Best Play, while The New York Times called it "funny and poignant." When discussing his work at The Marsh with East Bay Times, Hoyle proclaimed "The Marsh is to me the best place in the country to develop new work...there's nothing else like it."

Charlie Varon (Director/Co-Developer) is an artist-in residence at The Marsh. He has collaborated with Dan Hoyle on his solo shows Circumnavigator, Tings Dey Happen, Each and Every Thing, and The Real Americans. As a playwright and performer, Varon has collaborated with David Ford to create hit shows including Rush Limbaugh in Night School (1994), Rabbi Sam (2009) and his latest work, Great American Sh*t Show, an evening of monologues that Varon and Brian Copeland have performed around the Bay Area.

The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and now annually hosts more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company's two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh's specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest." The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area's best intimate theaters, calling it "one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible."

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