The co-production with Seattle Repertory Theatre, set to open Sept. 8 for a run through Oct. 17, will play at Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre.
Berkeley Rep has presented the adaptor-director's previous works The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Metamorphoses and Journey to the West. The new adaptation combines several European fairy tales ("elements from Beauty and the Beast with four lesser-known stories") in a new unique theatrical staging for grownups (and "our collective childhood subconscious").
"I've always loved fairy tales," stated Zimmerman in a release. "I think they perhaps led me to theatre rather than the other way around. As a child I wanted to invent a machine that could record my dreams, so I could watch them in the morning; or hire someone to draw the things I had in my head, because I knew I didn’t have the skill to do it myself. Theatre is that machine. I can make these images come to life and actually walk around inside them for a while.”
The Secret in the Wings was first presented by Zimmerman's home company, Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company for a short run in 1991, then in a longer incarnation in 2002. The Berkeley Rep production features several members of the original cast and some Zimmerman regulars. The work will next perform at New Jersey's McCarter Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theater.
The cast of The Secret in the Wings features Mark Alhadeff (The Odyssey, Seattle Rep), Christopher Donahue (Metamorphoses), Laura Eason (Secret original cast), Anne Fogarty (Metamorphoses, Lookingglass), Raymond Fox (Metamorphoses), David Kersnar (founding member of Lookingglass), Louise Lamson (Metamorphoses) Erik Lochtefeld (Metamorphoses, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci) and Tiffany Scott. The Secret in the Wings design team includes Daniel Ostling (scenic), Mara Blumenfeld (costume), T.J. Gerckens (lighting) and Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman (sound/composers). Cynthia Cahill serves as stage manager.
Berkeley Rep will host three post-show discussions following the evening performances on Sept. 23, Oct. 5 and 8.
Tickets to The Secret in the Wings, at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison Street in Berkeley, CA are available by calling (510) 647-2949 or toll free at (888) 4-BRT-tix. For more information, visit the website at www.berkeleyrep.org.
