Theater

Snowflakes, or Rare White People

By Dustin Chinn Directed by Mina Morita May 1–10, 2020 * Online Audio Play Running Time: 80 minutes (no intermission) * Live performances scheduled for April 24–May 3 were cancelled due to COVID-19. Description

Stories and creative energy can be a balm to the soul in this moment, and with that spirit director Mina Morita and our resilient company of students have transformed Dustin Chinn's cuttingly smart satire from a stage production into an online audio play.

Delivered...

TDPS’ ‘Unstable Connection’ is strong portrayal of student life during pandemic (The Daily Californian)

November 18, 2020
Caitlin Keller

In the new norm of a virtual semester, it has been amazing to see the student response to the pandemic, especially in regards to the newfound creativity, ingenuity and persevering spirit that students have showcased in recent months. UC Berkeley’s own Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) department is no exception, as they present an original devised theater piece entitled “Unstable Connection.”

https://www.dailycal.org/2020/11/18/tdps-unstable-connection-is-strong-portrayal…

Beckett / Fornés / Pinter: Student-Directed One Acts

Directed by Benjamin Arsenault, Gabriela Pool, and Marie Shelton March 14–17, 2019 Durham Studio Theater Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission) Description

This student-directed showcase of unconventional, modernist plays explores how we try (and fail) to make sense of the world. The showcase features Footfalls (1976) by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, Silence (1969) by British playwright Harold Pinter, and Springtime (1989) by Cuban American playwright María Irene...

The House of the Spirits

By Caridad Svich Based on the novel by Isabel Allende Directed by Michael Socrates Moran April 26 – May 5, 2019 The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall Running Time: 135 minutes (with one 10-minute intermission) Description

The House of the Spirits follows three generations of the Trueba family — their loves, their ambitions, their spiritual quests, and their place in the post-colonial social and political turmoil embroiling South America. This darkly poetic adaptation...

70 Scenes of Halloween

By Jeffrey M. Jones
 Directed by Christopher Herold October 11–14, 2018 The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission) Description

70 Scenes of Halloween is a spooky, scrambled, and sly comedy that transforms the unraveling of a marriage into a frighteningly funny romp. A young couple seems set to spend Halloween on their couch in a state of mild boredom. But dark forces emerge and they must contend with ghosts and witches banging on windows and...

The Arsonists

By Max Frisch Translated by Alistair Beaton Directed by Patrick Russell March 12–13, 2020 * Durham Studio Theater Running Time: 95 minutes (no intermission) * Performances scheduled for March 14–15 were cancelled due to COVID-19. Description

In a nameless town. At an unknown time. A community is on edge as arsonists wreak havoc in the night, going door to door, setting homes ablaze. When the self-assured businessman Biedermann finds himself with the arsonists on...

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

By Bertolt Brecht Translated by Alistair Beaton Directed by Christine Nicholson November 15–24, 2019 The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall Running Time: 140 minutes (with one 10-minute intermission) Description

This captivating play within a play tells the corresponding stories of an agrarian land dispute and a young servant who sacrifices her own well-being to raise an abandoned child. Bertolt Brecht masterfully employs historification and distancing to reveal the hidden...

Who Shot La Miguelito?

Written & Directed by Sean San José
 October 17–20, 2019
 The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall Running Time: 70 minutes (no intermission) Description

This dynamic performance piece parallels the murder of a young street artist in San Francisco’s Mission District with the death of immigrant, working-class neighborhoods. Mapping the Mission in murals, tags, stickers, stencils, and socio-political protest art, the piece invites the audience to see, hear, and move with refugees,...

TDPS presents '70 Scenes of Halloween,' a sly, surreal comedy by Jeffrey M Jones

September 4, 2018

UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) opens its 2018-19 season with 70 Scenes of Halloween, a spooky, scrambled, and sly comedy that transforms the unraveling of a marriage into a frighteningly funny and fantastical romp. Written by experimental playwright Jeffrey M Jones, this fast-moving scuffle will be presented in an intimate configuration on the Zellerbach Playhouse stage on the UC Berkeley campus. Directed by Christopher Herold, 70 Scenes of Halloween runs October 11–14....

TDPS presents modern take on Moliére's daring comedy 'Tartuffe'

September 18, 2018

UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) continues its 2018–19 season with Tartuffe, a daring and witty comedy that tells the story of a crafty trickster who uses religion as a guise to flatter the vulnerability of a wealthy patriarch. Initially censored following its 1664 premiere, the play is one of Molière’s most famous works and will be presented at the Zellerbach Playhouse stage on the UC Berkeley campus. Translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur, and directed by Domenique Lozano, Tartuffe runs November 9–18. Tickets are $13 to $20...