In This Program

• A Welcome from the Artistic and Managing Directors
• The World of Play Creation
• Fictionalizing the Personal
• No Easy Atonement: When Making Amends Costs Us
• Show Program
• Print Edition
• More about Berkeley Rep

The World of Play Creation

School of Theatre Summer Programming

Though autumn is approaching, Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre is only now winding down from a thrilling two-month adventure in which we welcomed over 200 students from grades 1-12 with bespoke summer programming. At the core of each summer camp, Berkeley Rep’s mission remains the same: to center the joy of storytelling, uplift the creativity of young artists, and provide robust training for our future theatre professionals. 

In our Play Creation summer camps, elementary students ages 6–10 learned about the fundamentals of theatre and brought their favorite storybooks to life (Are You a Cheeseburger? and Pig Town Party, to name a few), featuring original songs, dances, and even scenic backdrops with art from each camper. Meanwhile, our middle and high school students were challenged with original plays written by local playwrights and had the opportunity to perform them right here on the Peet’s Theatre stage!  

“My favorite part of the Summer Intensive program has been the close community we’ve created — you can really see that every educator involved made an effort to foster something really special,” explains high school student Olivia Monika. “I’ve also really enjoyed getting to work with tons of different teachers who have various teaching styles, because it helps me to learn from multiple perspectives and find what methods work best for me.” 

Learning from specialized professionals is one of the highlights of Berkeley Rep’s summer programming. High school students in our Summer Theatre Intensive took acting classes with award-winning theatre artist Phil Wong whose most recent roles include Duch in Cambodian Rock Band’s National Tour and Louis in Revenge Song at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Meanwhile, students in our Summer Musical Theatre Intensive experienced daily music lessons with Daniel Feyer, the Drama Desk Award-nominated orchestrator, pianist, and musical director who recently served as Music Associate for Hamilton’s And Peggy tour. 

Even our youngest elementary students were supported by the many full-time theatre staff here at Berkeley Rep. “I have such profound gratitude to Berkeley Rep,” says Chesi Ho, a parent whose fourth-grade student learned about lighting design under the mentorship of our stage operations team. “I’m so glad my daughter was given the opportunity to be part of the creative process all while honoring her preference for behind-the-scenes work, rather than on-stage presence.”  

After finishing eight camps serving over 200 students and 11 total performances, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre is so proud of the joy and creativity we’ve fostered over the summer. The best part is... the fun isn’t over yet! Fall classes are just around the corner, and as students head back to school, Berkeley Rep will host a variety of after-school and weekend classes for students grade 1–12. Whether you are a budding artist, a class clown, or a creative storyteller, our programming welcomes students of all ages, skill levels, and interests.  

Thank you to the students, parents, and community members who made this summer unforgettable — we can’t wait to start even more adventures this fall!

Learn more at berkeleyrep.org/classes today!

Fictionalizing the Personal

A Conversation with Jake Brasch

Writing a play is always an act of emotional vulnerability. But in a semi-autobiographical piece like The Reservoir, the personal, spiritual, and brutally honest material asks even more from playwright Jake Brasch. We sat down with Jake to discuss the mechanics of turning life into art, how Jewish tradition can help us contend with uncertainty, and the importance of laughter in theatre — and in life. 

On Fictionalizing the Personal: 

Whenever people ask if the play is autobiographical, I say, “Uh-oh! You got me! I’m Shrimpy!” The play is semi-autobiographical. There’s a lot of me in Josh, but there’s also a whole lot of fiction. There’s a George Saunders quote I love: he says a story isn’t real life, it’s “like a table with just a few things on it, carefully chosen.” I wanted to focus foremost on telling a compelling story. I also wanted to put some distance between Josh’s family and mine. I take comfort in knowing that the audience can’t tell what’s true. 

Also, I found that a degree of artifice was actually helpful in sharing the gunkiest parts of myself. Paradoxically, I found that fictionalizing gave me the permission to tell the truth. 

On the Use of Humor: 

In my family, humor is serious. It’s our currency, our coping mechanism, it’s how we connect. But it’s also how we evade, how we hide, how we get in our own way. I was curious to capture that dynamic in the play. 

The Reservoir is neither a comedy nor a drama. You could argue it’s a farce, but you could make an equally compelling argument that it’s a tragedy. I’ve come to trust the enigma. The play wants to unbalance you. It wants to pull the rug out from under you at every turn. That’s what it felt like to be inside a family in crisis. I firmly believe that you have to cry to laugh, and you have to laugh to cry. 

Also my grandparents were some of the funniest people I’ve ever met. To honor them, I knew I’d need to land the jokes. 

On Judaism:

This play is about an interfaith family, and yet it feels so deeply Jewish to me. I think that’s largely because of the way it engages with humor. Jews have survived through our humor.

But I also think it has to do with recovery — and with the way Josh approaches spirituality. He finds power in not knowing. He begins to understand that the questions are more essential than the answers. Many newly sober people are put off by the spiritual component of 12-step groups. I found joyful recovery when I realized that spirituality can mean ritual, food, stories, and conversation. It can be about curiosity more than belief. And that feels deeply Jewish to me. 

On Recovery and Dementia:

To anyone afraid that recovery is glum — fear not! Hanging out with sober drunks is a hoot. Meetings are way more entertaining than bars. It’s hard to imagine my life without the irreverence and gallows humor of recovery.    

As for dementia, I take comfort in knowing that one of the only things we can do to protect ourselves is to live a joyful life. The science backs this up. Yes, Alzheimer’s is a harrowing disease, and it’s also deeply human. It has touched nearly every family. We should talk about it more.

I hope the play offers a way to cry and laugh our way to engagement with the hard stuff, to relish mystery in growing older, and to believe in second chances for those who have lost their way.

It doesn’t escape me that a play about the hardest year of my life is opening so many doors for me. It just goes to show you: You never know what’s at the end of the tunnel. Keep going. Stay present. Take the next step. There’s light on the
other side. 

No Easy Atonement: When Making Amends Costs Us

by Rabbi Kendell Pinkney

Fall is a complicated time of year. At least it is for me. On the one hand, the body and mind feel the loss of summer’s ease: no more summer Fridays at the office, gone are the ample, long weekends to Instagrammable coastlines, farewell to summer empty nests purged of school-aged children. On the other hand, fall brings a palpable sense of purposefulness: the start of the school year, fuller work weeks matched with fuller expectations, the start of a new theatre season…ahem-ahem.

The 2025/26 season at Berkeley Rep opens with The Reservoir — a hilarious, madcap fever-dream-of-a-play about Josh, a charismatic, queer, Jewish twenty-something caught in the tottering throes of a journey towards sobriety. As a theatre artist and ordained rabbi, I devoured the play twice in one sitting. It is easy to love Josh, and equally easy to find him vexing. What is most surprising, however, is how poignantly this story of addiction and recovery maps onto the themes and concerns of Jewish ritual time.

The Reservoir’s run happens to fall during Judaism’s holiest day of the year: Yom Kippur, i.e., “the day of atonement” (October 1-2). A day characterized by somberness, self-reflection, lengthy prayers, contrition, and fasting, Yom Kippur is the ritual culmination of a month-long period where Jewish folks, at least traditionally, hope to attain atonement, or make amends for wrongs they have committed in the previous year. It also happens to be the one day of the year that large numbers of Jewish Americans, including many secular atheist Jews, actually go to synagogue.

While the above description gives an accurate, if bare-bones, snapshot of the holiday, I have long found Yom Kippur especially interesting because beneath its ritual and cultural specificity it addresses a set of profoundly universal questions: What does it mean for a human to make amends? What does atonement look like? How does one go about making things right? — all questions The Reservoir is intimately concerned with.

In Judaism — at least according to the medieval Egyptian-Spanish commentator, Maimonides — making amends is an arduous process. For example, let’s say you’re out with friends for a night on the town. You settle into a booth at your favorite haunts. Spirits are high, cups are full, the music is blaring, and just as festivities are revving up you accidentally insult and deeply offend one of your friends. According to Maimonides you will need to go to this friend, look them in the eyes, name your precise misdeeds, and ask their forgiveness. If they don’t accept your apology, you’re not off the hook. You are then required to grab three friends (presumably the other friends who witnessed the offense) to accompany you to return and ask forgiveness, again. If your friend still won’t accept your apology, well, I’ll give you two guesses as to what comes next and you won’t need the second guess. In short, atonement is harder than it looks.

The process of making amends in Alcoholics Anonymous is no less rigorous: the alcoholic is required to make a personally “searching and fearless moral inventory,” they must make a list of people they have harmed, they are then urged to develop the courage to make amends with people they have harmed, and finally, they must develop the discernment to ensure that they do not cause more harm in the process of making amends.

If you are anything like me, reading the above Jewish and AA accountability guides provoked an allergic reaction. That is completely understandable. It is much more comfortable to wade in the shallows of our intentions and private mistakes than it is for us to tread into the deep waters of publicly owning how we have harmed others, wronged those we love, and let ourselves down. To face such a reality feels perilous, potentially exposing us to waves of guilt and shame that threaten to completely overwhelm us. Both Judaism and AA’s approaches to accountability are so sobering because they are achingly relational, vulnerable, communal, and counter-cultural.

Perhaps this is why the traditions of Jewish atonement and AA’s 12 Steps refuse to offer easy absolution. They believe atonement should be thorough. It should cost us something. They insist that we sit with discomfort, that we return again and again to the work of repair, that we allow our communities to witness our vulnerability. In a culture increasingly comfortable with easy apologies and excuses, these ancient and modern practices remind us that genuine reconciliation requires something more radical: the willingness to be changed by the process itself. Whether it’s the Jewish devotee approaching Yom Kippur in trembling and awe or the alcoholic counting days of sobriety, both understand that atonement isn’t a destination but a way of being ­— one that transforms not just our relationships with others, but our very understanding of what it means to live with integrity. And maybe, in this delicate moment as the season changes and our perspectives shift along with it, The Reservoir can remind us that that’s exactly the kind of transformation we need.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director | Tom Parrish, Managing Director

presents

The Reservoir

Written by
Jake Brasch

Directed by
Mike Donahue

Scenic Design
Afsoon Pajoufar

Costume Design
Carolyn Mazuca

Lighting Design
Alexander V. Nichols

Sound Design
Jake Rodriguez

Movement
Erika Chong Shuch

Music Direction
David Möschler

Casting
Caparelliotis Casting
David Caparelliotis CSA
and Joe Gery

Stage Manager
Elisa Guthertz

Assistant Stage Manager
Emma Walz (Sep 5–28, Oct 6–12)
Anthony Lopez (Sep 29–Oct 5)

Director of Marketing and Audience Services
Voleine Amilcar

Associate Producer — New Work
victor cervantes jr.

General Manager
Sara Danielsen

Director of Production
Audrey Hoo

Director of the School of Theatre
Anthony Jackson

Director of Finance
Sam Linden

Director of Development
Ari Lipsky

Associate Artistic Director/Director of in Dialogue
David Mendizábal

Director of Human Resources and Diversity 
Modesta Tamayo

Director of Operations
Amanda Williams O’Steen

Co-World Premiere Produced by Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company,
Alliance Theatre, and Geffen Playhouse.
The Reservoir was originally produced and featured in the 2022 Colorado New Play Summit
at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Chris Coleman, Artistic Director.
The Reservoir was originally commissioned and developed by
The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project.
The Reservoir is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
www.concordtheatricals.com

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS

Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Jonathan Logan & John Piane
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner

SEASON SPONSORS

Marcia Grand
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
The Hearst Foundations

EXECUTIVE SPONSOR

Christina Crowley

CAST

(in alphabetical order)

Michael Cullen … Hank
Ben Hirschhorn … Josh
Barbara Kingsley … Irene
Pamela Reed … Bev
Jeffrey Omura … Hugo/Others
Peter Van Wagner … Shrimpy
Brenda Withers … Patricia/Others

UNDERSTUDIES

Nancy Carlin … Bev/Irene
Jennifer McGeorge … Patricia/Others
Joel Ochoa … Josh/Hugo/Others
Victor Talmadge … Shrimpy/Hank

Understudies never substitute for listed performers unless a specific announcement or notice is made at the time of appearance.

The actors and stage managers on this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

This theatre operates under agreements with the League of Resident Theatres, Actors’ Equity Association (the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States), the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and United Scenic Artists.

Opening Night: September 10, 2025
Peet’s Theatre

The Reservoir will be performed with one 15-minute intermission.

For This Production

Assistant Director … Elena Sanchez (Peter F. Sloss Artistic Fellow)
Rabbinical Consultation … Rabbi Eliana Kayelle 
Assistant Scenic Designer … Brandon Roak
Assistant Costume Designer … Azucena Dominguez
Assistant Lighting Designer … Claire Chesne (Electrics Fellow)
Assistant Sound Designer … Riley Oberting (Harry Weininger Sound Fellow)
Production Assistant … Olivia Spreen (Stage Management Fellow)
Wardrobe Crew … Barbara Blair (Supervisor), Caz Hiro (Assistant Supervisor),
Dieyla Diop, Malia Sittler (Sub), Linda Wu (Sub)
Lighting Programmer/Board Op … Des Alcocer 
Sound Crew … Angela Don (A1), Courtney Jean (A2)

Scenic Fabrication by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Scenic & Paint Shops
Backdrop Photography provided by … Jeremy Patlen Photography
Additional Scenery Fabricators … Carl Martin, Maggie Wentworth, Cameron Edwards, Troy McClendon, Cassidy Carlson, Isla Hofmann (Scenic Construction Fellow)
Additional Scenic Artists … Julie Ann Brown, E. Wayman-Murdock,
Courtney Sutherland (Scenic Art Fellow)

Props Fabrication by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Properties Shop
Additional Prop Artisans … Jason Joo, Sofie Miller, Amelia Reyes-Gomez (Props Fellow)

Costumes Built by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Costume Shop
Additional Costume Technicians … Chris Weiland, Breanna Bayba,
James Calhoun (Costumes Fellow)

Lighting Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Lighting Department
Additional Lighting Technicians … A. Chris Hartzell, C. Swan-Streepy, Margaret Linn, Charlie Mejia, Hannah Linaweaver, Nori-Hayden Quist, Jacob Hill, Trinity Wicklund, Matthew Sykes, Taylor Rivers, Zoya Nanale, Leila Suess

Sound Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Sound and Video Department
Additional Sound Technicians … Courtney Jean, Camille Rassweiler

Production Manager … Kali Grau
Assistant Production Manager … Alex Hamm (Production Management Fellow)
Company Manager … Ryan Duncan-Ayala
Assistant Company Manager … Katelin Shum (Company Management Fellow)
Additional Casting … Karina Fox 

Medical Consultation for Berkeley Rep provided by
Mari Bell MPT (UCSF), Ed Blumenstock MD, Charissa Chaban DPT, Cindy J. Chang MD (UCSF), Christina Corey MD, Neil Claveria PT, Patricia I. Commer DPT, Kathy Fang MD PhD, Steven Fugaro MD, Anjali Gupta MD (Kaiser), Olivia Lang MD (Berkeley Pediatrics), Allen Ling PT, Liz Nguyen DPT, Desiree A. Unsworth DPT, Christina S. Wilmer OD, Eric Yabu DDS, and Katherine C. Yung MD 

Michael Cullen

Hank
Michael’s stage credits include Orpheus Descending (TFANA), King Liz (Second Stage), Finks (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Bug (Barrow Street Theatre), One Shot, One Kill (Primary Stages), Bus Stop (Circle in the Square Theatre), and The Subject was Roses (Penguin Repertory Theatre). He has appeared in the films The Place Beyond the Pines, Dead Man Walking, Clockers, Malcom X, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and The Bride. His TV credits include Law & Order (including SVU, Trial by Jury, & Criminal Intent), The Blacklist, Claws, New Amsterdam, FBI: Most Wanted, and Blue Bloods.

Ben Hirschhorn

Josh
Ben most recently starred in the off-Broadway world premiere of Room 1214, and was previously nominated for an LA Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in the West Coast premiere of Trayf at the Geffen Playhouse. Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Los Angeles Short Film & Script Festival for his performance in the film Practice Funeral. A native New Yorker, Ben studied acting at LaGuardia High School prior to graduating from USC's BFA acting program. Next up, you can catch Ben directing his award-winning animated short film A Few Perfect Heads, starring Kate Burton (Grey's Anatomy) and Nolan Gould (Modern Family).

Barbara Kingsley

Irene
Barbara has appeared in over 200 stage productions. Recent credits include Madame Desmortes in the APT production of Ring Round the Moon, Princess Dragomiroff in the Syracuse Stage production of Murder on the Orient Express, Babs in the off-Broadway, NY Times Critic’s Pick Life Sucks, August: Osage County (Broadway & National Tour), and Uncanny Valley (off-Broadway). Her film credits include Honeydew, Ticket Out (with Ray Liotta), Older Than America (with Bradley Cooper), and Sweet Land (directed by Ali Selim). TV: Elsbeth, Servant, Hello Tomorrow!, and New Amsterdam. Barbara’s play, Under This Roof, was produced at the Guthrie Theater in 2018.

Jeffrey Omura

Hugo/Others
Jeffrey recently appeared in the first New York production of James Joyce’s Exiles in 50 years. In NYC he’s worked with The Public Theater, Playwrights Realm, Ma-Yi, and NAATCO; across the country with Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, St. Louis Rep, Weston Playhouse, and more. On screen, he’s popped up in Succession, Hawaii Five-0, Elementary, Limitless, The Blacklist, Gossip Girl, High Maintenance, and more. His voice can be heard in 75+ films and TV shows. Off stage, Jeffrey helped found Fair Wage Onstage, Be An #ArtsHero, and @QueersforAction, and he’s been elected three times to Actors’ Equity’s National Council. A proud Carnegie Mellon Drama alum. Follow @jeffreyomura | www.jeffreyomura.com

Pamela Reed

Bev
Pamela is a veteran of theatre, film, and television. She has worked on and off Broadway and has received a Drama Desk Award and the Obie for Sustained Excellence of Performance. She was last seen at Berkeley Rep as Becky in the world premiere of Becky Nurse of Salem. Notable film and TV credits include Kindergarten Cop, The Long Riders, Melvin & Howard, The Right Stuff, Tanner 88 (Cable Ace Award, Best Actress), Parks and Rec, and most recently The Burial. Having received her Actors’ Equity card in 1975, she is delighted to celebrate her 50th year as a working actor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Peter Van Wagner

Shrimpy
Peter began his stage career in Chicago in 1981 doing shows at The Practical Theatre Company, Organic Theater, Goodman Theatre, and many others. Broadway credits include A Thousand Clowns at Roundabout and Grand Horizons at Second Stage. Off-Broadway shows include Othello at Delacorte, Letters From Cuba directed by Maria Irene Fornes at Signature, and The Chimes at The Public. Regional credits include The Price at Two River in NJ, The Reservoir at Denver Center (world premiere) and Alliance, Prayer For The French Republic at Huntington, and Choir Boy at Denver Center. He won a SAG award for his work on Boardwalk Empire.

Brenda Withers

Patricia/Others
Brenda is an actor, playwright, and co-founder of the Harbor Stage Company on Cape Cod. Onstage credits include the Guthrie Theater (Emma), American Repertory Theater (Gloria: A Life), Actors Theatre of Louisville (This Random World), Hartford Stage (Abundance), and the McCarter Theatre (Crimes of the Heart). Her plays (Off Peak, The Ding Dongs, Northside Hollow) have been produced at places like Portland Stage, 59E59, Northern Stage, and Two River. She is a lyricist with BMI's Musical Theatre Workshop, a Huntington Playwriting Fellow, and a beach person.

Nancy Carlin

u/s Bev/Irene
Nancy is happy to return to Berkeley Rep where she appeared in The Pillowman, Hedda Gabler, and Kabuki Medea. She has performed and directed extensively in regional theatres, including American Conservatory Theater, Cal Shakes, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Aurora, Jewel Theatre, and Center REP. Favorite recent roles include Ouiser in Steel Magnolias (TheatreWorks), Ma in Torch Song (Marin Theatre), and Marilyn in Ripcord (Rogue Theater). A former company member of ACT and associate artist with Cal Shakes, she holds a BA in comparative literature from Brown University and an MFA in acting from ACT. Films include Eleanor Coppola’s Love is Love is Love and Jon Jost’s Frameup. nancycarlin.com

Jennifer McGeorge

u/s Patricia/Others
Jennifer is thrilled to be returning to Berkeley Rep, where she was last seen in Aubergine. She has appeared most recently with the Ross Valley Players in Crossing Delancey (a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award-winner) and Our Town. Some favorite Bay Area credits include Rita in Casa Valentina (NCTC), Margery in Vinegar Tom (Shotgun Players), and Rosie in Mamma Mia! (Mountain Play Association). She has also worked with Livermore Shakespeare (SPARC), Marin Shakespeare Company, Prospect Musicals (NYC), McCarter Theatre Education Department, and Williamstown Theatre Festival among others. Jennifer would like to thank her family for their
unwavering support.

Joel Ochoa

u/s Josh/Hugo/Others
Joel is excited to be making his Berkeley Rep onstage debut after working behind-the-scenes as a child guardian for The Thing About Jellyfish last season! Joel has worked on stage and screen with many companies in the Bay Area including: SF Playhouse, Marin Shakespeare Company, 42nd Street Moon, Presidio Theatre, SF Shakespeare Festival, Checkr, About Face, Pegasus Solar, SF Fire Department, and Exo Inc. He is in the upcoming feature Under the Lights and was in the short films Take Me There and The Healer, which have premiered at film festivals worldwide. BA in theatre from Millikin University, MFA in acting from Academy of Art. Instagram: @joelocho

Victor Talmadge

u/s Shrimpy/Hank
Victor is very pleased to be back at Berkeley Rep after an almost three-decade absence. He has appeared in the Bay Area at Cal Shakes, Marin Shakes, Aurora, ACT, TheatreWorks, SF Playhouse, Z Space, OTP, Magic Theatre, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare. He has worked extensively in New York, regional theatres, and most recently in the Broadway world premiere of David Mamet’s November. He played the King in the Tony Award-winning production of the Broadway National Tour of The King and I and Scar in the LA production of The Lion King. Victor boasts extensive film and television credits, most notably as a recurring character in Manhattan and Vegas. His play The Gate of Heaven was awarded The Nakashima Peace Prize. It was the first live theatre produced at the US Holocaust Memorial and has been subsequently performed around the country. He has most recently served as Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor and Professor of Practice at Mills College at Northeastern University. 

Jake Brasch

Playwright
Jake is a writer + performer + composer + clown and a recent graduate of The Juilliard School. Their plays and musicals have been produced/developed by the Atlantic Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Denver Center, Alliance Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Acting Company, and Geffen Playhouse. Jake recently received both national awards named for hero Paula Vogel — one from the Kennedy Center and the other from the Vineyard Theatre. Jake is a co-founder of American Sing-Song, a duo that writes and performs filthy musicals. This one is for Grandma B and for those on their way to a joyous life in recovery. jakebrasch.com
Pronouns: (he/they)

Mike Donahue

Director
Mike’s credits include the LA premiere of Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance (Geffen); Little Shop of Horrors with Michaela Jae Rodriguez, George Salazar, and Amber Riley and Martin Crimp’s adaptation of Cyrano with Chukwudi Iwuji (Pasadena Playhouse); World premieres of Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, Geffen, Denver Center), Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage (MCC, Woolly Mammoth), and The Roommate (Humana Festival, Williamstown); Ana Nogueira’s Which Way To The Stage (MCC) and Highway Patrol with Dana Delany (Goodman). Mike’s award-winning debut short film, Troy, has screened at numerous festivals internationally, including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Troy is currently featured online with The New Yorker.

Afsoon Pajoufar

Scenic Design
Afsoon is a New York-based set designer for plays, opera, and other live performances. Recent credits include Five Models in Ruins, 1981 (Lincoln Center), Cold War Choir Practice (Clubbed Thumb), Fuente Ovejuna (TFANA), English (Studio Theatre), Wish You Were Here (South Coast Repertory), and Cyrano de Bergerac (Pasadena Playhouse). Opera credits include Adoration (Beth Morrison Projects/LA Opera), Lady M (Heartbeat Opera), and Proving Up (SFCM). Her work has also been seen at BAM, Bard SummerScape, Alte Münze (Berlin), and Schauspiel Köln (Cologne). She is a member of USA 829. afsoonpajoufar.com

Carolyn Mazuca

Costume Design
Carolyn is a Texas-born and LA-based costume designer for stage and screen. Her work is inspired by her love of character and arts background. Carolyn’s theatrical work includes the productions of Cyrano de Bergerac at Pasadena Playhouse, La Havana Madrid at South Coast Repertory, and Mother Road at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Arena Stage. Her film work includes the designs for Three Years Gone (post-production) and Merry Kisscam on Hulu. Carolyn is a member of the IATSE Costume Designers Guild as an assistant costume designer. Carolyn earned her BFA in costume design from Carnegie Mellon University. carolynmazuca.com

Alexander V. Nichols

Lighting Design
Alexander is excited to return for his 37th production with Berkeley Rep. He is a Bay Area native and designs lighting, scenery, and projections for theatre, opera, music, and dance. His work has been presented on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in opera houses, concert halls, theatres, warehouses, and vacant lots throughout the world. Recent projects include Fidelio at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Yuri Possokhov’s Swan Lake at Hong Kong Ballet, and Alonzo King’s The Beauty Of Dissolving Portraits at LINES Ballet. Upcoming projects include Chanel Dasilva’s Wabash & You at Joffrey Ballet, Jacob Ming-Trent’s How Shakespeare Saved My Life at Berkeley Rep, and Nixon in China at Washington National Opera.

Jake Rodriguez

Sound Design
Jake is a sound designer and composer working in theatre and based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His recent theatrical credits include Don’t Eat the Mangos (Huntington); Mother Road (Berkeley Rep); Between Two Knees (Perelman Performing Arts Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Frankenstein Revived (Stratford Festival); and Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2 (ACT). Jake is the recipient of a 2004 Princess Grace Award and received an honorary MFA from ACT in 2021. Find sounds at soundcrack.net.

Erika Chong Shuch

Movement
Erika is a choreographer, director, and performance maker who’s work spans devised experimental performance and social practice, and produces unexpected forms of audience engagement. She co-founded For You, a performance collective that has been commissioned to create work by Court Theatre, The Momentary, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival with support from Creative Capital and NEFA. Erika has worked as a choreographer for theatres including Arena, Round House Theatre at the Getty Villa, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, TFANA, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Pittsburgh Public, Portland Center Stage, ACT, Folger Theatre, and Kennedy Center. Erika is a fellow at Headlands Center for the Arts and a guest artist at Stanford University.

Caparelliotis Casting

Casting
Caparelliotis Casting’s Broadway work includes Good Night and Good Luck, Eureka Day, Mary Jane, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Cost of Living, Macbeth, Skeleton Crew, The Minutes, The Boys in the Band, and Jitney. Their credits off-Broadway include Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature, Atlantic, and Ars Nova. Select Regional credits include The Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, and Donmar Warehouse (consulting US casting director). Their TV/Film credits include New Amsterdam (NBC series casting) and Boys in the Band (Netflix original casting).

Elisa Guthertz

Stage Manager
Elisa has been a stage manager in the SF Bay Area for over 30 years. Most recently she stage managed Uncle Vanya at Berkeley Rep and Shakespeare Theatre Company, Data at Arena, Bulrusher at McCarter and Berkeley Rep. Other credits include Big Data, Testmatch, Seascape, and Sweat at ACT. Mother Road, English, at Berkeley Rep. Sanctuary City at Berkeley Rep and Arena. A Thousand Splendid Suns at ACT, The Old Globe, and Theatre Calgary. Big Love at Long Wharf Theatre, Goodman, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Vagina Monologues with V (formerly Eve Ensler) at Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. The Good Body with V at ACT and Booth Theatre on Broadway.

Emma Walz

Assistant Stage Manager
Emma was the assistant stage manager for Cult of Love (Berkeley Rep), and has worked as a deckhand on the ripple the wave that carried me home, Clyde’s, Galileo, and The Thing About Jellyfish. ACT credits include A Whynot Christmas Carol, Poor Yella Rednecks, The Wizard of Oz, 2023’s A Christmas Carol, and Co-Founders. Bay Area Children’s Theatre credits include The Imaginaries, Llama Llama Red Pajama Live, Elephant & Piggie, and Frog and Toad. Before moving to the Bay Area in 2022, Walz worked in Arizona at All Puppet Players and The Phoenix Theatre Company. 
Pronouns: (She/Her)

Anthony Lopez

Assistant Stage Manager
Anthony is thrilled to be returning to Berkeley Rep. Anthony was most recently a stage management production assistant on The Thing About Jellyfish. Anthony started at Berkeley Rep as the Stage Management Fellow in 2023/24 season. Other Bay Area stage management credits include Ride the Cyclone (NCTC, 2024), Carrie: The Musical, Hadestown: Teen Edition (Young Conservatory at ACT), and many shows with the Education and Community programs department at ACT.

Johanna Pfaelzer

Artistic Director
Johanna joined Berkeley Rep in 2019 as its fourth artistic director following 12 years as the artistic director of New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), a New York City-based organization dedicated to the development of new works for theatre, film, and television. Notable works developed under Johanna’s leadership at NYSAF include Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Humans by Stephen Karam, Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac, The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu, The Great Leap by Lauren Yee, John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses, The Jacksonian by Beth Henley, and Green Day’s American Idiot. In addition, Johanna has developed the work of many notable artists including Jocelyn Bioh, Zach Helm, Halley Feiffer, Billy Porter, Lucy Thurber, Duncan Sheik, V (formerly Eve Ensler), Steven Sater, Jaclyn Backhaus, Patricia Wettig, and Marcus Gardley. Since arriving at Berkeley Rep, Johanna has produced multiple world premieres as well as projects that have gone on to notable future productions including Swept Away, Galileo, Mexodus, and Cult of Love. She was formerly a producing director of Zena Group and served for five years as the associate artistic director of American Conservatory Theater. Johanna is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice program and has taught in the MFA theatre program at Columbia University School of the Arts. She lives in Berkeley with her husband Russell Champa and their son Jasper. 

Tom Parrish

Managing Director
Tom has served as a theatre leader and arts administrator for over 20 years, with experience in organizations ranging from multivenue performing arts centers to major Tony Award-winning theatre companies. Prior to Berkeley Rep, he served as executive director of Trinity Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre and as associate managing director/general manager of San Diego Repertory Theatre. His work has been recognized with a NAACP Theatre Award for Best Producer and “Forty Under 40” recognition in Providence, Rochester, the Merrimack Valley, and San Diego. He received his MBA/MA in arts administration from Southern Methodist University; BA in theater arts and economics from Case Western Reserve University; attended the Commercial Theater Institute, National Theater Institute, and Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management; and is certified in Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by Northwestern University. He and his husband live in Berkeley.

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