If you grew up or have spent a lot of your adult life in the Berkeley area, you know all too well that there is no singular Berkeley, but several Berkeleys. From its political history to its fantastic food scene, there are lots of different sides to the city we live in and love.
That's why director Rebecca Novick and playwright Dan Wolf put together the new play "Daylighting: The Berkeley Stories Project."
After spending two years interviewing locals about what Berkeley means to them, their show, commissioned by the Shotgun Players, finally opens today at The Ashby Stage.
"We didn't just get a bunch of old revolutionaries who now drive vegetable-powered BMWs into a room to preach to the choir...We got a wide swath of people to illuminate their own version of Berkeley."
"Dan and I were kicking around ideas about what we think we know about Berkeley," says director Novick, 42, who launched the Triangle Lab in 2011 to generate civic dialogue through community-engaged performance. "Even outside the Bay Area, people think of that iconic image of Mario Savio in Sproul Plaza as if Berkeley's frozen in time. But that was 50 years ago, which is ancient history in terms of the pace of cultural change. So what's Berkeley's story now?"
Daylighting: The Berkeley Stories Project
Opens 8 p.m. Friday.
Also 8 p.m. Saturday,
5 p.m. Sunday.
$8-$25. Through June 22.
The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org.
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