https://ccct.org/crowns/
When Brooklyn-born Yolanda goes down South after the death of her brother, she finds strength in the tales of the wise women who surround her—and the powerful rituals connected to their dazzling hats. This jubilant musical fuses Gospel music, hip-hop, and rich storytelling with abundant “hattitude” in this rousing coming-of-age tale.
https://www.soniafriedman.com/productions/dreamgirls
This musical gives us a brilliant look into the enormous impact that R&B groups like the Supremes, the Marvelettes and the Temptations had on American popular music. It follows the story of a young female trio from Chicago called “The Dreams”, who work their way to stardom and fight for their rights in an industry that was traditionally dominated by men. Dreamgirls was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, won six, and was made into a major motion picture.
https://www.hamilton.broadwaysf.com/Online/default.asp
Hamilton is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now.
https://www.berkeleysymphony.org/events/gershwin-zimmermann/
Observing the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, we contemplate our ideas of peace. British composer Roxanna Panufnik meshes Christian, Jewish and Islamic music traditions to tell the story of Abraham and Isaac in Three Paths to Peace. In a world premiere, Derrick Spiva’s music encourages us to spread joy and peace. We end with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, about which the composer wrote: “I conceived of it as glorifying the grandeur of the human spirit … praising the free and happy man - his strength, generosity, and the purity of his soul.”
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/theater/scott-joplins-treemonisha-volcano-theatre-company-with-the-moveable-beast-collective.php
In his masterwork Treemonisha, famed ragtime composer Scott Joplin created a story of black female empowerment that explored the aspirations of African Americans, telling the tale of an abandoned ex-slave girl who grows up to lead her community. The landmark work, written more than 100 years ago, never reached the stage during Joplin's lifetime, but the Toronto-based Volcano Theatre Company is resurrecting the opera and bringing Joplin's fictional African-American town in the post-Reconstruction South to vivid life in this reimagined and partially-staged production. The company has enlisted Leah-Simone Bowen to create a new libretto honoring the politics of Joplin's original, set to new orchestrations of the composer's vibrant and eclectic score, in which he fuses classical and folk sounds with gospel and ragtime.
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/world-stage/bollywood-boulevard.php
Romance! Drama! Hit songs! Spectacular dance routines! The lush visual spectacle and exuberance of Hindi cinema come to life onstage in this colorful theatrical tribute. With live music from beloved scores by R.D. Burman and A.R. Rahman; choreography inspired by the dance moves of superstars like Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra; and romantic leads based on classic heartthrobs like Raj Kapoor, this intoxicating, fully staged production takes us on a journey from the birth of India’s famous film industry to Bollywood’s present-day blockbusters. “A spectacular display” (News India Times).
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/family/yamato-the-drummers-of-japan.php
Direct from beautiful Nara Prefecture in Japan, this mesmerizing Japanese company visits with its newest production, a thrilling program that celebrates the unbridled passion and boundless energy of traditional Japanese drumming. With their spiky neon hairstyles and psychedelic punk-meets-samurai costumes, the youthful drummers perform with infectious spirit and masterful coordination on massive drums built from ancient tree trunks. "A genuinely theatrical experience, delivered with balletic grace and infectious humor" (The Times, London).
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/dance/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater.php
Now in its seventh decade, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater stands tall as an enduring cultural touchstone, especially when it comes to work that speaks directly to the times. With artistic director Robert Battle at the helm, the Ailey company has cultivated the best and brightest choreographers working today—gifted artists exploring themes of hope, sorrow, joy, and resilience. Programs will include classics from the Ailey repertoire, and new works that extend and honor the legacy of Ailey himself, whose masterwork Revelations "becomes brighter, its brilliance more memorable, every year" (The New York Times).
https://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1920/14546.asp
PLEASE NOTE DUE TO COVID-19 patrons were provided exclusive access to a recording of the performance through a partner that will also allow you access to their extensive library of productions, ranging from Shakespearean classics to modern musicals and dramas.
The missionaries of mayhem are back with their unique, badass brand of Chicano satire! Born here in the Bay and Los Angeles-based, Culture Clash first brought their dangerous and subversive version of documentary theatre to Berkeley audiences with Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, gleefully skewering American culture through the lens of the Latino experience.
https://www.facebook.com/events/873600306353617/
Emmy Award-winning actress and LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox is best known for her groundbreaking role as Sophia Burset on the TV series Orange is the New Black. The first transgender woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show, Cox tells her own story—growing up in Mobile, Alabama, moving to New York City, and finding the courage to step into womanhood—to illustrate the unique challenges faced by the transgender community. Cox shares her views on race, class, and gender equality, communicating a powerful message of inner strength and self-acceptance.
Christopher Wheeldon—of An American in Paris fame—updates the timeless tale of Cinderella with stunning style and charming twists. Set to the gorgeous score by Sergei Prokofiev, this ballet leaves behind the fairy godmother and talking mice in favor of a delightfully human story full of mesmerizing visual effects and the signature choreography that has made Wheeldon a fan favorite. With colorful sets and costumes by Julian Crouch, magical projections by Daniel Brodie, and breathtaking puppetry designed by Basil Twist, Wheeldon’s Cinderella is a fairy tale for our time.
Winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, artist-in-residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and a featured performer at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the young cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has skyrocketed to fame as one of the shining lights of the classical music world. He and his elder sister, pianist Isata, perform a program that highlights the cello's magnificent expressive range: sumptuous Rachmaninoff, turbulent Barber, lyrical Lutosławski, and playful Beethoven (his variations on an aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute).
This spellbinding troupe of China's most gifted tumblers, contortionists, jugglers, and gymnasts returns by popular demand, with breathtaking feats and daring maneuvers steeped in 2,000 years of folk tradition. In vibrant costumes and accompanied by live music performed on an assortment of Chinese folk instruments, the rigorously trained acrobats dazzle with their agility and grace—in signature routines including trick cycling, precision tumbling, and awe-inspiring balancing acts.
The ironically titled Home of the Brave, a four-minute history of conquest and subjugation of Native people, offers a searing critique of settler colonialism. Drawing on archival materials, the experimental film lay claim to an island commemorates the 1969 American Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island. As Long as the Rivers Run documents a Nasqually transgenerational family’s struggle to ensure their fishing rights are honored. The documentary Beyond Recognition models an alternate activism. Rather than working through the courts to gain federal tribal recognition, these Bay Area Ohlone activists organize to buy and conserve land for indigenous people to live freely.
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/vocal-celebration/afropop-spectacular-sahara-soul-with-alsarah-and-the-nubatones-and-natu-camara.php
https://calperformances.org/performances/2019-20/vocal-celebration/afropop-spectacular-sahara-soul-with-alsarah-and-the-nubatones-and-natu-camara.php
An inspired double bill of Nubian electro-pop and electrified desert blues from Mali. Singer and guitarist Sidi Touré updates the hypnotic Malian guitar music first popularized by Ali Farka Touré through the sounds of his new electric band—exhilarating trance music that overflows with joy, carried by the beauty of Touré's singular voice. Born in Sudan and based in Brooklyn, vocalist Alsarah weaves classic East African pop sounds with subtle electronics, Middle Eastern oud, driving percussion, and lilting vocal harmonies in her enchanting music. "A sound that flows like silt through your fingers one minute and starts a fire beneath your feet the next…. Alsarah has the makings of an Afropop queen" (PopMatters).
HAMILTON is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, HAMILTON is the story of America then, as told by America now.
Exploring the on-screen representation of Native Americans over the course of forty years reveals varying interplays between how they see and how they are seen. The Silent Enemy, a 1930 feature-length melodrama based on detailed accounts of French missionaries, is a collaboration with Native American actors to recount Ojibwe life as it was before the arrival of European settlers. The educational short Ishi in Two Worlds relates the 1911 journey of the so-called last of the Yahi people from the Sierra foothills to the University of California Museum of Anthropology, where he lived—and was studied. In Geronimo Jones a young Papago-Apache boy torn between tradition and progress contemplates trading a tribal heirloom for a television set. Report from Wounded Knee, a fast-paced polyphonic collage of still and moving images, critiques the 1890 massacre in which three hundred Lakota people lost their lives.
The blossom of first love Sacrificed on the altar of pride and hate. Despite the senseless, bloody conflict between their warring families, two young lovers from opposite sides of the tracks commit to each other in life and death. Experience the rush of first love in one of the most epic tragic romances. Pene Pati and Amina Edris headline a powerful cast in this timeless classic.
