MOTHER'S MILK Comes To The Marsh Berkeley, April 26-May 31

Wayne Harris' award-winning, music-infused, spiritual, and uplifting Mother's Milk will return to The Marsh Berkeley. Original songs, traditional blues, and gospel classics come together to underscore an intricate and uplifting narrative on life, death, and the Baptist Church (not to mention the best recipe ever for banana pudding). Set against the background of the civil rights movement, a losing battle with breast cancer, and a slightly inebriated preacher, Mother's Milk tells the story of a young black man finding his way back home.

Mother's Milk, directed by David Ford, will be presented April 26 - May 31 (press opening: May 3) with performances 8:00pm Fridays and 2:00pm Sundays at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved) or for 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).

Mother's Milk enjoyed a successful run at the San Francisco Fringe Festival, with the San Francisco Chronicle describing it as, "Gorgeously sung... a moving, thoughtful tale. His stylings of the likes of 'St. Louis Blues,' 'I Stood on the Banks of Jordan,' and 'God Bless the Child' are pure bliss." Following its 2012 run at the San Francisco Fringe Festival, Mother's Milk debuted at The Marsh in 2015 and enjoyed an extended run. Critics described the show as "heartwarming and fun," (TheatreEddys), with the San Francisco Examiner adding "Whether he's channeling various characters or just singing as himself, he mesmerizes."

Wayne Harris (Actor/Playwright) is an award-winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator, and musician. He has written and starred in five full-length solo plays, including Train Stories, The May Day Parade, and Tyrone "Shortleg" Johnson and Some White Boys, for which he received the 2012 "Best of Fringe" Award at the San Francisco Fringe Festival. Harris is the head of the Marsh Youth Theater Program, and has worked with The Marsh since 1996, where he was first exposed to storytelling through theater. He is also committed to music education, directing, and designing performances for schools and pageantry groups. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Harris' work has often centered on his childhood.

Randy Craig (Music Arrangements) is an actor, composer, and musician who has worked with numerous Bay Area organizations including the famed Pickle Family Circus, which he co-founded. Craig has won a BATCC Award for Best Score and scored an Academy Award-nominated documentary. He performs in jazz, funk, and rock groups around the Bay Area.

Bassist John McArdle (Music Arrangements) has been part of the San Francisco music scene as a performer, producer, and recording artist for over 40 years. He has experience in a wide range of musical styles including R&B, swing, Latin, and jazz. McArdle has performed with artists from Lesley Gore and Lou Rawls to Liberace and Pharaoh Sanders.

David Ford (Director) has been collaborating on new and unusual theater for three decades and has been associated with The Marsh for most of that time. The San Francisco press has variously called him "the solo performer maven," "the monologue maestro," "the dean of solo performance," and "the solo performer's best friend." Collaborators include Geoff Hoyle, Echo Brown, Brian Copeland, Charlie Varon, Marilyn Pittman, Rebecca Fisher, Wayne Harris, Marga Gomez, and Irma Herrera. As a director, Ford has directed both solo and ensemble work regionally at The Public Theater, Second Stage, Theatre for the New City (NY), Highways (LA) and Woolly Mammoth (Washington, DC) as well as at theaters around the Bay Area including Magic Theatre and Marin Theatre Company. He is also a published playwright.

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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