February 14 – March 23, 2025 | Peet's Theatre
In This Program
- A Welcome from the Artistic and Managing Directors
- Strong Foundations: Berkeley Rep’s Next-Generation Fellowship Program
- What Uncle Vanya is Giving Us Now
- From Russia to Berkeley
- Show Program: Uncle Vanya
- Artist Bios
- Making Theatre
- Print Edition
- More about Berkeley Rep
Welcome to Berkeley Rep
To ensure the best experience for everyone:
While always encouraged, masks are required inside the theatres during Sunday and Tuesday performances for the first three weeks of a show’s run.
Food and drink: Beverages in cans, cartons, or plastic cups with lids are welcome in the theatre during unmasked performances. Food is prohibited in the theatre during all performances.
Courtesy reminder: To avoid disruption to everyone, please turn off your cell phones, beeping watches, and electronic devices, and refrain from unwrapping cellophane wrappers during the performance. For the comfort of all patrons, please avoid wearing strongly scented personal products.
Photos: Photos may be taken in the theatre before and after the performance and during intermission. Photos and videos during the performance are strictly prohibited. Photos posted on social media must credit Berkeley Rep and the show’s designers.
Smoking and vaping: Berkeley Rep’s public spaces are smoke- and vape-free.
One of the joys of live theatre is the collective experience. Audience members respond to the show in many different ways. We invite you to join together and enjoy the show! If there is anything we can do to make your experience more enjoyable, please see a member of the house staff.
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From the Artistic Director
On the first day of rehearsal for this production, Simon Godwin, our wonderful director, quoted Ian Rickson, the former Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre in London, who said “treat the classics like new plays, and the new plays like classics.” Which I interpret to mean bringing a sense of experimentation and boldness and perhaps even a little irreverence to the production of classic plays, and a deep respect and willingness to be guided by the essential soul of a new work to its production. Since the beginning of the year, we have had the opportunity to do both things simultaneously as The Thing About Jellyfish and Uncle Vanya have rehearsed in neighboring rooms, as their cast members have shared spaces here at the theatre, as well as in our Harrison Street pre-production facility, as our remarkable staff has gone back and forth between the creation of a country estate in turn-of-the-last-century Russia and the world as represented in the imagination of a 12-year-old girl in the United States of today.
Simon and this team of designers and cast have rigorously studied the environment within which Chekhov created Uncle Vanya, including having renowned scholars visit during rehearsal to share historical and political context for the work. At the same time, these artists have interrogated what it is to be a collection of individuals at this particular moment in time, from different countries, ethnicities, generations, and lived experiences, deeply committed to the exploration and inhabiting of one of the revered and canonical texts of Western theatre history. All of this work has been done with the express intention of creating a production that will come to life in partnership with this specific community, with you, our audience.
As we move into the second half of this season, and are deep into the planning process for the 2025/26 season (which we will share with you later this spring), I am deeply grateful to collaborate with you in bringing this wide range of theatrical work to the stage. Already this year, we have traveled together to the Rio Grande, to Harlem, to enchanted forests, and the deepest depths of the ocean. Thank you for joining us on these journeys. Onward, to the continued explorations ahead!
Warmly,
Johanna Pfaelzer
Artistic Director
From the Managing Director
We are thrilled to partner on this production of Uncle Vanya with Washington, DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, under the artistic direction of Simon Godwin, who is helming this production. Shakespeare Theatre Company is one of the country’s premier classical theatre companies. When paired with Berkeley Rep, one of the country’s premier contemporary theatres and new play incubators, this reimagining of Chekhov’s classic aims to bridge past and present.
Collaborations like this, known as co-productions, where two or more theatre companies share the costs and efforts of creating a piece of theatre that moves between their venues, were common before the pandemic and have become increasingly vital as we work to revitalize our organizations, rebuild audiences, and bolster contributions.
As we partner with others to keep costs down, I hope you will help us regrow support for Berkeley Rep by subscribing, resubscribing (special Early Bird access to 2025/26 subscriptions is available now before we announce next season in mid-April), bringing friends, gifting tickets, spreading the word, signing up for a class at our School of Theatre, or making a donation. While audiences are increasingly returning to the theatre, many could use your encouragement. Only through collaboration and mutual support can we emerge from the pandemic and continue to advance our mission to create ambitious theatre that entertains and challenges audiences, provokes civic engagement, and inspires people to experience the world in new and surprising ways.
For Early Bird subscriptions, renew for the full season before April 14 to lock in our best prices — saving at least 20% off individual ticket prices. Your trust and loyalty will be rewarded with waived subscription fees. Early Bird subscriptions secure your same seats if renewing for the same day and time and place you first in line for change requests.
Enjoy the show!
Tom Parrish
Managing Director
Strong Foundations
Berkeley Rep’s Next-Generation Fellowship Program
by Ashley Lim, School Of Theatre Marketing And Registrations Manager
Kaileykielle Hoga (left), 2024/25 season Harry Weininger Sound Fellow, and Mondara Ixchel (right), 2024 Education Fellow
It’s no secret that it takes a lot of work to produce the caliber of art on Berkeley Rep’s stages. Between our production, artistic, and administrative departments, Berkeley Rep employs anywhere from 100 to 200 full-time, part-time, and overhire staff at any given time. But how does one become a sound engineer, props artisan, marketing manager, or casting director at a Tony Award-winning theatre company? For many, the first step on that career path is through a fellowship program.
Berkeley Rep’s Next Generation Fellowship program aims to cultivate future leaders of the American theatre by offering an immersive training experience that dives deep into the art and business of producing theatre. This 11-month immersive program allows fellows to spend approximately one full season at the theatre where, in addition to provided housing and stipends, they receive direct mentorship from Berkeley Rep staff (including members of senior leadership), professional development workshops led by staff and guest artists, and shadowing opportunities across the organization to provide holistic insight into the theatre’s day to day operations.
“The highlight for me has been the accessibility I have to explore between all departments,” elaborates Mondara Ixchel, 2024 Education Fellow. “As a multi-hyphenate artist, being able to expand my knowledge base and work alongside most every position, from actors and directors to marketing and development administrators in addition to my team of educators, I feel that there is nothing I am barred from learning if I’m hungry enough to pursue the opportunity.”
In addition to learning across disciplines, Berkeley Rep fellows also have unique opportunities to contribute to mainstage shows. “Working on Mexodus, I was given the opportunity to program a wheel that, when spun by the performers on stage, changed the tempo of the song that was being built into a live-looping soundscape,” explains Kaileykielle Hoga, 2024 Harry Weininger Sound Fellow. “It was incredible to be supported to pursue this project and bring my full self to the production. The wheel is something that will move on with the show in its next life, and I’m so grateful that as a fellow I am supported to collaborate on mainstage productions in an impactful way!”
Applications for next season’s cohort of Next Generation Fellowships will open this February. If you or someone you know is interested in the program, our fellows all agree: Apply! “It’s not only a great learning experience in a professional setting, but a fun environment to connect with other fellows,” says Kaileykielle. “If you have any questions,” adds Mondara, “Don’t be shy! We’re here to answer them.”
As we celebrate a momentous season at Berkeley Rep, we are especially grateful to the hard work, craftsmanship, and new perspectives from our 2024/25 season fellows. We can’t wait to follow their journeys into the world of professional theatre!
Pictured at top: Kaileykielle Hoga (left), 2024/25 season Harry Weininger Sound Fellow, and Mondara Ixchel (right), 2024 Education Fellow
What Uncle Vanya is Giving Us Now
DAVID MENDIZÁBAL: What drew you to each other as artistic leaders and brought about this collaboration between Berkeley Rep and Shakespeare Theatre Company?
JOHANNA PFAELZER: What I remember is an afternoon in San Francisco where there was a screening of the beautiful Romeo and Juliet that Simon directed for the National Theatre, and I was so moved by what he had made. When the screening ended, we were both meant to be chatting with other guests, but we found ourselves together in a corner in a really fun and lively discussion of what Simon had made, and a bit of commiserating over the challenges of leading theatres in that moment. What I remember from that conversation was some electricity and an appetite for making something together.
SIMON GODWIN: Yes, it was so kind of you to come on that day because we were just emerging out of the pandemic. So, it was a very tentative moment culturally for us all. Your enthusiasm for the work really boded well for a shared quest and the fact that we were both new to running theatres also was bonding. We took over our respective organizations at a similar time, and there was a similar hunger to take these classic texts and find something that was both loyal to their core, but also adventurous about their form.
JP: This question of what the classics would be under my leadership at Berkeley Rep had been ongoing because I’m such a new play person. Berkeley Rep has always had a place for the classics, especially for classics as imagined through the vision of an exciting contemporary artist. So, I thought here was a way that Simon could really help answer a need for Berkeley Rep. And you said, “Well, what do you love?” And I said, “Chekhov.” And I think you very quickly said, “Well, Uncle Vanya.”
SG: I was hungry to do a Chekhov play after a long time of not doing one, and Shakespeare Theatre Company has never produced a Chekhov play before. So, for us, it almost has the status of new work. There’s a phrase that Ian Rickson, who used to run the Royal Court, coined: approach a new play like a classic; and approach a classic like a new play. And that’s something I try to do. Joyfully confront the classic and not live in the classic’s past but live in its present opportunities. Not to feel reverential about a classic, but to really ask bold urgent questions about what it’s doing now.
DM: Why Uncle Vanya? And how did Hugh Bonneville come to the project?
SG: I think all great works of art change as we change. And I think masterpieces are, in a way, not instructions for living, but a sort of guide to how we might survive.
JP: Somewhere between instructions and cautionary tales.
SG: Yes, I think, somewhere between instruction and prayer.
JP: Better.
SG: Hugh was similarly entranced by the play. After doing such wonderful work on screen, I think he found himself suddenly hungry to be back on stage.
DM: There are many translations of Uncle Vanya. How did you both arrive at Conor McPherson’s?
SG: I was looking for a version that was colloquial but that didn’t sacrifice the grand and intense poetry of the play. I’ve loved Conor’s writing ever since I saw his play The Weir at the Royal Court. His Irish sensibility has a sort of earthy quality that doesn’t feel dissimilar to Chekhov. His translation is a gritty version of the play that still looks after the mystery of the original.
JP: It was a fun process where Simon, Hugh, and I read a pile of different translations, and it was interesting to see where things are core to the piece, and where different writers took certain liberties. And what moved me about Conor’s version is it felt very true, or as true as we know how to be in English, to Chekhov’s text. And what you say about that kind of contemporary sense of it, his version didn’t feel like a dumbing-down. It has an urgency and a muscularity that feels so playable, without being reductive.
SG: And it feels high-stakes and rather exciting.
DM: Can you share a bit about what you’re hoping to unlock with this specific production of Uncle Vanya?
SG: Peter Brook has this nice phrase: the journey of rehearsal is to discover the secret play that lies under the play. The secret play is the story you all make as a company at this very moment in time. Together, I want to interrogate the idea of Chekhov being a steadfastly naturalistic writer; he was always pushing against Stanislavski’s description of him as being that. For example, we’re searching for a way of bringing the audience with us on a journey. Is there a first gesture which allows those watching into our process as we build our story?
DM: In act four of the play, when faced with a bleak future, Sonya offers Vanya a message of hope. For both of you as artistic leaders, what gives you hope for the future?
JP: The gathering of people together still gives me hope. To see people come together around an idea, a dream, a possibility, gives me hope, and that is what making a production is. The idea that we’re going to gather all these people from multiple cities and countries and ask them to carve out time in their schedule, but more importantly in their heads and their hearts, feels like nothing but an exercise in hope.
SG: Yes, that’s brilliant, Johanna. This sense of investing so deeply. I think of Astrov talking so passionately in the play about the threat to the environment. It’s just one example of characters striving to find agency. Indeed, balancing living in the present with a responsibility to the future is a central theme of the play.
JP: I love the fact that Chekhov then becomes this call to action. Uncle Vanya is often thought of as a set of passive people who lounge on sofas and wish for their lives to be different in some way, and I think that’s the watercolor cliche of Chekhov. As you said, this play is full of people with enormous yearning, passion, disappointments, and appetites. There’s a real sense that if action is not taken, there is an inevitable decline. So, who amongst them is going to rise to that challenge?
From Russia to Berkeley
by victor cervantes jr., associate producer – new work
Fifty years ago, Berkeley Repertory Theatre took on the vital challenge of sharing Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with audiences for the first time. Today, we return to this story of disconsolate souls who are working hard to better their everyday lives.
When Chekhov died in 1904, he had only completed five major plays and speculated his plays would only be produced for seven years, at most. For over a century, artists from all over the world have been returning to these works: mining them, interpreting them, translating them, and even breaking them apart to get to the core of... well, what is at the core of Chekhov’s work that continues to compel artists to tell his stories? Why do storytellers like director Simon Godwin return to Chekhov’s narratives, specifically, Uncle Vanya?
To try to understand Chekhov’s enduring spirit, let’s look at a wide range of ways Uncle Vanya has been interpreted by radically different artists throughout the last 125 years.
1899 — Moscow Art Theatre (MAT): The play had its metropolitan premiere at the newly formed MAT under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski (who also portrayed Astrov) following an exhaustive rewrite of Chekhov’s earlier play The Wood Demon, which flopped after its 1889 premiere when half the cast forgot their lines and audiences booed. Upon its premiere, Uncle Vanya was also a failure. Tolstoy, after seeing the production, reportedly shouted, “Where is the drama? What does it consist of?” It played in the provinces for two years before its MAT premiere, earning deep love from theatregoers and amateur theatre makers beyond Moscow. With the subtitle, Scenes from Country Life, its popularity with audiences who lived hundreds of miles from Russia’s two main cities is a part of Chekhov’s legacy: reflecting the rural person’s everyday life.
1962 — Chichester Festival Theatre: After launching a new theatre with two unsuccessful (non-Chekhovian) productions, Artistic Director Laurence Olivier depended on the success of its third production for Chichester’s survival. With an interpretation of Uncle Vanya that referenced the fall of Edwardian aristocracy and “demise of manners,” Olivier took inspiration from Stanislavski to direct and play Astrov with a company that included Michael Redgrave (Vanya), Rosemary Harris (Yelena), and Joan Plowright (Sonya). Hugh Bonneville’s Downtown Abbey co-star Penelope Wilton recently shared her memory of this particular production as the theatrical experience that changed her life: “Chekhov understands that it’s the dreams people have that are so heartbreaking – the shattering of those dreams, but also how you manage afterwards.”
1990s — Vanya on 42nd Street: For three years, acclaimed director Andre Gregory led volunteer actors through workshop performances of Uncle Vanya and other plays to better understand Chekhov’s work. With actors in their street clothes and on a bare, dilapidated stage, the company performed to an invite-only audience. Louis Malle was so moved by what he witnessed that he agreed to capture this ephemeral experience in the film Vanya on 42nd Street, with actors walking through the Theatre District and meeting at the then-abandoned New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City, where they staged Uncle Vanya. Using David Mamet’s adaptation of Chekhov’s text, Wallace Shawn as Vanya proclaims, “What’s new? Nothing’s new. Everything’s old.”
2007 — Lake Lucille: Through and around the home of directors Brian Mertes and Melissa Kievman on Lake Lucille in New City, N.Y., a company of actors would escape to a house from the 1800s for a weeklong Chekhovian retreat. Over the course of many years, they would rehearse for six days and then complete an all-day performance of different plays by Chekhov. In 2007, with two-time Tony-winner Bill Irwin as Vanya (who started the play on an abandoned boat) and Tony-nominee Marin Ireland as Sonya (who ended Act IV on a 30-foot ladder), the company was so focused that even their daily chores supported the crafting of the production: “Irwin served as sommelier, and Ireland, who had spent as much time as she could at the house before the retreat to feel like the ‘lady of the house,’ took out the trash.”
2020 — West End / BBC: After premiering in January 2020, the West End production of Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of Uncle Vanya, directed by Ian Rickson, shut down early due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The production was subsequently recorded in August 2020 at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre, becoming one of the first theatre productions to be filmed during the pandemic, starring Richard Armitage and Toby Jones.
2023 — Off-Broadway: Apparently, one doesn’t need much space to stage Uncle Vanya. Directed by Jack Serio, this retelling reunited Marin Ireland (as Sonya) and Bill Irwin (as Professor Serabyakov) in an apartment loft in New York City alongside titans from the American theatre including Tony-winner David Cromer as Vanya and Tony-winner Will Brill as Astrov. This “hyper-intimate” production was capped at 40 audience members, and the location was kept secret and “off the beaten path” for theatregoers – with a couple characters’ action starting on the fire escape of the loft.
2023-2025 — West End / Lucille Lortel Theatre: After a sold-out run, Andrew Scott (Ripley, All of Us Strangers) brings all nine characters to life in Tony-winner Simon Stephens’ (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) one-man adaptation titled Vanya, premiering at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End and subsequently filmed by National Theatre Live. During the development process, Scott, Stephens, Rosanna Vize (Set Designer and Co-Creator), and Sam Yates (Director and Co-Creator) shared ideas for the characters through WhatsApp voice messages, and the show features a one-man sex scene. It will make its American debut in March 2025 when it premieres Off-Broadway at the prominent Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Through all these productions, we learn that Chekhov’s stories are simultaneously canonical and ripe for reinvention. In an 1899 letter to his wife Olga Knipper, Chekhov declares, “Art, especially the theatre, is a world you cannot enter without stumbling over the threshold… You must prepare for it, expect it, and follow your path.”
Show Program
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director | Tom Parrish, Managing Director
presents
A co-production with Shakespeare Theatre Company
Uncle Vanya
by
Anton Chekhov
Adapted by
Conor McPherson
Scenic Design
Robert Brill
Costume Design
Susan Hilferty
Heather C. Freedman
Lighting Design
Jen Schriever
Sound Design
Darron L. West
Wig Design
Satellite Wigs, Inc.
Fight and Intimacy Consultant
Danielle O’Dea
Casting
Danica Rodriguez
Karina Fox
Stage Manager
Elisa Guthertz
Assistant Stage Manager
Anthony O. Bullock
Director of Marketing and Audience Development
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 Development
Ari Lipsky
Associate Artistic Director
David Mendizábal
Director of Human Resources and Diversity
Modesta Tamayo
Director of Operations
Amanda Williams O’Steen
SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS
Anonymous
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Jonathan Logan & John Piane
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner
SEASON SPONSORS
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer
Kelli & Steffan Tomlinson
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR
Marcia Grand
SPONSORS
Robin & Rich Edwards
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS
Cindy J. Chang, MD & Christopher Hudson
CAST
(in order of appearance)
Kina Kantor
Ensemble
Nancy Robinette
Marína Timoféevna
‘Nana’, an elderly nanny/nursemaid to the family
John Benjamin Hickey
Mikhaíl Ástrov
a doctor
Sharon Lockwood
Maríya Voinítsky
‘Grandmaman’, mother of the professor’s first wife
Hugh Bonneville
Iván Voinítsky
‘Vanya’, Maríya’s son
Tom Nelis
Aleksándr Serébryakov
‘Alexandre’, a retired professor
Craig Wallace
Ílya Ílyich Telégin
‘Waffles,’ a former landowner, lodging with the family
Melanie Field
Sófya Aleksándrovna
‘Sonya’, Alexandre’s daughter from his first marriage
Ito Aghayere
Eléna Andréevna
‘Yelena’, Alexandre’s second wife
UNDERSTUDIES
Anne Darragh
Maríya Voinítsky, Marína Timoféevna
Kina Kantor
Eléna Andréevna, Sófya Aleksándrovna
James Whalen
Iván Voinítsky, Mikhaíl Ástrov, Ensemble
John Leslie Wolfe
Aleksándr Serébryakov, Ílya Ílyich Telégin
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 agreement 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.
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights, and actionable under United States copyright law.
Opening Night: February 19, 2025
Peet's Theatre
There will be one 15-minute intermission
For This Production
Assistant Director
Xiaoyu (Mary) Liu (Peter F. Sloss Artistic Fellow)
Assistant Scenic Designers
Elizabeth Barrett, Miike Kaukl, Nicholas Ponting, Tzu Yu Su
Costume Assistants
Krista Intranuovo Pineman, Katharina Windemuth
Associate Lighting Designer
Andrew Cissna
Assistant Lighting Designers
Isaac Castillo, Renata Taylor-Smith (Electrics Fellow)
Associate Sound Designer
Ryan Matthew Hall
Assistant Sound Designer
Kaileykielle Hoga (Harry Weininger Sound Fellow)
Hair and Makeup Design
Susan Hilferty
Associate Hair & Makeup Design
Satellite Wigs
Production Assistant
Trinity Wickland (Stage Management Fellow)
Deck Crew
James McGregor (Head Stage Technician and Automation), Isaac Jacobs, Brittany Johnson, Hannah Linaweaver
Wardrobe Crew
Barbara Blair (Wardrobe Supervisor), Jessa Dunlap, Mika Rubinfeld
Hair and Wigs Crew
Alexander Class, Letzy Lugo
Lighting Programmer/Board Operator
Desiree Alcocer
Sound Show Crew
Courtney Jean (A1)
Scenic Fabrication by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Scenic & Paint Shops
Additional Scenery Fabricators
Cameron Edwards, Jamaica Montgomery Glenn, Isaac Jacobs, Caleb Knopp, Carl Martin, Drea Ronquillo, Chris Russell, Matt Sykes, Maggie Wentworth, Cassidy Carlson (Scenic Construction Fellow)
Additional Scenic Artists
Kenzie Bradley, Julie Ann Brown, Katie Holmes, Allie Kranyak, Cayla Ray-Perry, Wyn Di Stefano, E Wayman-Murdock, Caitlyn Brown (Scenic Art Fellow)
Props Fabrication by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Properties Shop
Additional Props Artisans
Kat Demith, Katelyn Fitt, Zoe Gopnik-Mcmanus, Jack Grable, Sofie Miller, Becca Salsburg-Frank, Jason Joo (Props Fellow)
Costumes Built by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Costume Shop
Additional Costume Technicians
Breanna Bayba, Kathleen Crowley, Sophia Gallegos, Crafts-Kelly Koehn, Hannah Velichko, Chris Weiland, Amanda Geyer (Costumes Fellow)
Additional Costumes Built by STC Costume Shop, Alex Zeek Costumes, Myrrhia Fine Knitwear
Lighting Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Lighting Department
Additional Lighting Technicians
Frankie Aranguren, Emma Buechner, Angelina Costa, Brittany Cobb, A.Chris Hartzell, Jacob Hill, Hannah Linaweaver, Charlie Mejia, Riley Richardson, Erin Riley, Taylor Rivers, C. Swan-Streepy, Matthew Sykes
Sound Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Sound and Video Department
Additional Sound Technicians
Elliot Orr, Camille Rassweiler, Chris Thompson
Guitar Coach
Maggie Forti
Piano Coach
Yana Reznik
Dramaturgical Consultants
Olga Ovcharskaia, Dr. Carol Rocamora
Production Manager
Kali Grau
Production Management Associate
Octavia Driscoll
Assistant Production Manager
Rhea Mehta (Production Management Fellow)
Company Manager
Ryan Duncan-Ayala
Assistant Company Manager
Katie Anthony (Company Management Fellow)
Company Management Assistant
LeeAnn Dowd
Medical Consultation for Berkeley Rep provided by
Agi E. Ban DC, John Carrigg MD, Cindy J. Chang MD, Christina Corey MD, Neil Claveria PT, Patricia I. Commer DPT, Kathy Fang MD PhD, Steven Fugaro MD, Olivia Lang MD, Allen Ling PT, Liz Nguyen DPT, Mari Onoyama PT, Christina S. Wilmer OD, and Katherine C. Yung MD
Artist Bios
Ito Aghayere
Eléna Andréevna
Ito is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut! She brought Guinan to life in Star Trek: Picard and shared laughs with Patricia Heaton in Carol’s Second Act. On Broadway, she tackled powerful roles in Junk (Ayad Akhtar) and Bernhardt/Hamlet (Theresa Rebeck). Off-Broadway highlights include Mlima’s Tale (The Public), The Liquid Plain (Signature), Familiar (Playwrights Horizons, Lucille Lortel nomination), among others. You’ve seen her in films like Logan Lucky and Fear the Night and TV shows like Chicago Med, The Blacklist, and more. Next up: leading and producing her first feature, directed by her husband, Leon Hendrix III. Proud Duke grad and Columbia alum. IG: @itoaghayere. AEA Member.
Hugh Bonneville
Iván Voinítsky
Hugh Bonneville’s film credits include Notting Hill, Iris, The Monuments Men, I Came By, and the Paddington movies. Paddington in Peru is now in theatres and the third Downton Abbey film will be released in September. His television roles include the BAFTA-winning Twenty Twelve and W1A (BBC) and Robert Crawley in ITV’s global hit, Downton Abbey, for which he received nominations for a Golden Globe and two Emmys. The cast won three SAG Awards for Outstanding Ensemble. Hugh recently played the title role in the mini series Douglas Is Cancelled and appears in The Agency on Paramount+. The second season of The Gold, a six-part BBC drama about a famous gold bullion robbery in 1983, will be broadcast on PBS later this year. Hugh’s stage career spans more than three decades and includes seasons with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His most recent appearances were in Enemy of the People and Shadowlands, at Chichester Festival Theatre. His memoir, Playing Under the Piano is now available in paperback. Hugh is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, The National Youth Arts Trust, Scene & Heard, and The Primary Shakespeare Company.
Melanie Field
Sófya Aleksándrovna
Melanie is thrilled to be making her Berkeley Rep debut with this gifted team. TV: A League of Their Own (Amazon), American Horror Stories (Hulu), Heathers (Paramount Network), Florida Girls (POP TV), The Angel of Darkness (TNT), Shrill (Hulu), You (Netflix), Killing It (Peacock). Broadway: The Phantom of the Opera, Evita. Tours: Wicked. Proud graduate of NYU and Yale School of Drama. For my Kitty Girl and Mr. Wells.
John Benjamin Hickey
Mikhaíl Ástrov
John Benjamin Hickey has appeared on Broadway in Love! Valour! Compassion!, Cabaret, The Crucible, Mary Stuart, The Inheritance (Tony nomination), and The Normal Heart (Tony Award). He recently directed the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite, which also played the West End. His films include Lilly (upcoming), Salem’s Lot, Sublet, Pitch Perfect, Flags of Our Fathers, The Anniversary Party, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Taking of the Pelham 123, and Mapplethorpe. On TV, he was Emmy-nominated for his role on Showtime’s The Big C. Additional credits include Daredevil: Born Again, In Treatment, Manhattan, Gossip Girl, Sex and the City, Modern Family, Hannibal, Law & Order (all of them), The Good Wife, and The Good Fight. He is proudly making his Berkeley Rep/Shakespeare Theatre debut with Uncle Vanya.
Kina Kantor
Ensemble, u/s Eléna Andréevna, Sófya Aleksándrovna
Kina is a Bay Area actor, artist, and cellist. Kina is honored to return to Berkeley Rep. Selected Bay Area credits include: the West Coast premiere of Mrs. Christie (TheatreWorks), Naomi Iizuka’s world premiere of Garuda’s Wing in repertory with her PlayOn! translation of Richard II (The Magic Theatre/Campo Santo), originating the role of Gao-Ming in the world premiere of The Great Khan (San Francisco Playhouse), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (San Francisco Playhouse), Tiny Beautiful Things (San Francisco Playhouse), The Far Country u/s (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Great Wave u/s (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). Other credits include: American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and The San Francisco Mime Troupe. Kina is a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and PlayGround SF. Kina is a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and PlayGround SF. She is a teaching artist for SF Shakespeare Festival, StageWrite, and the Academy of Art University in SF. Film: Free (2024), You’ll Lose a Good Thing (2024) @kinakantor PRONOUNS: She/her
Sharon Lockwood
Maríya Voinítsky
Sharon is pleased to return to Berkeley Rep, continuing a relationship that began nearly 40 years ago. Among her favorite credits are Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike (Bay Area Critics Circle Award), Wintertime, Volpone, and Zorro in Hell. She has performed regularly at A.C.T. including 16 seasons of A Christmas Carol, and spent many summers playing the parks and touring with Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. In her regional work, Sharon originated the role of Barbara in Nickel and Dimed, directed by Bartlett Sher which played the Mark Taper in Los Angeles. Among her other regional credits are La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Rep, and the Alley Theatre—most recently as Deirdre in The Humans. Sharon was honored with a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship for her regional career, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Theatre Bay Area. She appeared in the films Mrs.Doubtfire, Long Road Home, and the video game Psychic Detective for Electronic Arts.
Tom Nelis
Aleksándr Serébryakov
Broadway: Girl From the North Country, Indecent, The Visit, Enron, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Aida. Recent Off-Broadway: Ragtime (City Center), King Lear and The Beautiful Lady (Cafe La Mama). International: The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Suzuki Company of Toga, SITI Company, and international tours with Laurie Anderson, Songs And Stories From Moby Dick and Richard Foreman, Pearls For Pigs. Awards: Eliot Norton Outstanding Performer (Prospero - The Tempest), OBIE (Marshall McLuhan - The Medium), Drama League Nominee (Leonard Bernstein - Score). Founding member of SITI Company, MFA, UC San Diego. Tomnelis.com
Nancy Robinette
Marína Timoféevna
Nancy Robinette is new to Berkeley Rep, but not to the Shakespeare Theatre, where she most recently played in Everybody, and earlier Sweet Bird of Youth, Way of the World, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Little Foxes, An Ideal Husband, The Rivals, The Imaginary Invalid, The Silent Woman, Henry IV, Twelfth Night, and The Winter’s Tale. On Broadway she performed in Prayer for the French Republic (Outer Critic’s Circle nomination) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Film and TV: Serial Mom, The Three Christs, Soldier Jack, The Hunley. She received the Helen Hayes Tribute for her many years of work in Washington.
Craig Wallace
Ílya Ílyich Telégin
DC Area select: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Numerous productions including Our Town and King Lear (directed by Simon Godwin); Round House Theatre: Radio Golf, Ink, Master Harold and the Boys; Folger Theatre: Othello (Othello), Twelfth Night; Ford’s Theatre: Fences (Troy), Death of a Salesman (Willy Loman), The Laramie Project, A Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Scrooge); Arena Stage: All the Way, The Great Society, K2; Signature Theatre: Primary Trust, Angels in America; Regional: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Education: Howard University, BFA. Pennsylvania State University, MFA. Royal National Theatre, London.
Anne Darragh
u/s Maríya Voinítsky, Marína Timoféevna
Anne is thrilled to be part of this amazing team. Previous productions at Berkeley Rep include Suddenly Last Summer and The Life of Galileo. She has performed in numerous world premieres including the Eureka Theatre production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and (most recently) 180 Days. To Die. To Live. by Stephanie Weisman at The Marsh, and The Kind Ones by Miranda Rose Hall at the Magic Theatre. Other world premieres include works by Neena Beber, Michelle Carter, Anthony Clarvoe, Anne Galjour, Barry Gifford, Rebecca Gilman, Allan Havis, Julianne Jigour, Denis Johnson, Lynne Kaufman, Julie Marie Myatt, Peter Nachtrieb, Bill Talen, and Brian Thorstenson.
James Whalen
u/s Iván Voinítsky, Mikhaíl Ástrov, Ensemble
James is delighted to be at Berkeley Rep for the first time. He was last seen as Sir Lawrence Wargrave in And Then There Were None at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Among his favorite recent productions are Ragtime and Daphnes’ Dive at Signature Theatre, Shipwreck (Woolly Mammoth), The Heiress (Arena Stage), and Small Mouth Sounds (Round House Theatre). He has also performed at The Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, The Olney Theatre Center, Mosaic Theatre, and Theatre J. Regionally he played Dracula at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Some of his favorite TV and film credits include House of Cards, VEEP, I Love You But I Lied, Money Matters and A Beautiful Mind.
John Leslie Wolfe
u/s Aleksándr Serébryakov, Ílya Ílyich Telégin
New York: Broadway: Sarava, Evita, Passion, Parade. NY City Opera: Brigadoon, Most Happy Fella. Tours: Phantom of the Opera/Las Vegas, Parade, Evita, Martin Guerre, Brightstar. Regional: Kennedy Center: Passion, Golden Child. Signature Theatre: Sweeney Todd, Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, Titanic, Three Penny Opera, Passion. Arena Stage: Mother Courage, Damn Yankees. Ford’s Theatre: Ragtime, 1776, Christmas Carol, Captains Courageous, To Kill a Mockingbird. TV: House of Cards, The West Wing, The Wire, Homicide. Film: HBO’s Something the Lord Made, Amira and Sam, The Invasion, Step Up, Invincible. Photography: www.jlwfaces.com.
Conor McPherson
Adaptor
Conor McPherson was born in Dublin. His plays include The Weir, Girl from the North Country (with Bob Dylan), The Seafarer, The Night Alive, Shining City, Port Authority, This Lime Tree Bower, and St Nicholas. Honors for his work include the Laurence Olivier Award, New York Critics Circle Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics Circle Award, and five Tony Award nominations.
Simon Godwin
Director
Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. He has served as Associate Director of the National Theatre of London, Royal Court Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and Royal & Derngate Theatre. STC: Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens, and the 2024 production of Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, which also played in Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London. Washington National Opera: Romeo & Juliet. International: UK: National Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing (ft. Katherine Parkinson and John Heffernan), Romeo and Juliet (ft. Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley and filmed for Sky Arts/PBS), Antony and Cleopatra (ft. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo), Twelfth Night, Sunset at the Villa Thalia, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Man and Superman, Strange Interlude. Royal Shakespeare Company: Timon of Athens (ft. Kathryn Hunter and reimagined in 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience and STC), Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Royal Court Theatre: Routes; If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep; NSFW; The Witness; Goodbye to All That; The Acid Test; Wanderlust. Japan: Theatre Cocoon: Hamlet. Awards: Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director (2012).
Robert Brill
Scenic Design
For Berkeley Rep: Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, The Laramie Project. Broadway credits include Hell’s Kitchen (Tony nomination), How to Dance in Ohio, Dancin’, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Ain’t Too Proud (Tony nomination), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Assassins (Tony nomination), set and club design for the acclaimed revival of Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Guys and Dolls (Tony nomination), Buried Child, Design for Living, among others. Brill is a founding member of Sledgehammer Theatre, a recipient of the Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration, and a member of design faculty at UC San Diego. Visit robertbrilldesign.com or follow @brill_robert.
Susan Hilferty
Costume Design
Berkeley Rep credits include Swept Away, Compulsion, Dream of a Common Language, The Illusion, Born in the RSA, Road to Mecca, Twelfth Night, Woman Warrior, Tooth of Crime, and Convict’s Return. Hilferty has designed sets and costumes for over 400 productions across the globe. Broadway: Wicked (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle), Swept Away, Parade, Funny Girl, Present Laughter, Spring Awakening, Lestat, Into the Woods. Directorial collaborations: Athol Fugard (40-plus productions), Joe Mantello, Yaël Farber, James Lapine, Michael Mayer, Richard Nelson, Tony Kushner, JoAnne Akalaitis, Des McAnuff, Rebecca Taichman, Sharon Ott, Tony Taccone. Other: Opera (Aida, Metropolitan Opera), dance (Alvin Ailey), circus (Ringling Brothers) and concerts (Taylor Swift). Many honors include three lifetime achievement awards. Faculty: NYU/Tisch Graduate/Design (25 years as chair). susanhilferty.com
Heather C. Freedman
Costume Design
Heather C. Freedman is a visual artist and designer for theatre, opera, and film. Recent costume design work includes: Tina Howe’s Where Women Go, world premiere, HERE Arts Center (Henry Hewes nomination: Best Costume Design); Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, NYU Steinhardt; Newtown Odyssey, a floating opera on and for Newtown Creek co-created by composer Kurt Rohde, writer Dana Spiotta and artist Marie Lorenz; Play House, Brown University. Broadway credits include Assistant Costume Design for Swept Away and Funny Girl (designer: Susan Hilferty) and Caroline, or Change (designer: Fly Davis). Heather is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and NYU Tisch Design for Stage and Film, where she is adjunct faculty. She lives in New York City.
Jen Schriever
Lighting Design
Berkeley Rep: What the Constitution Means to Me, Angels in America, Chinglish. Broadway: Eureka Day, Mother Play, A Strange Loop (Tony Nom), Death of a Salesman (Tony Nom), 1776, Birthday Candles, Lackawanna Blues, What the Constitution Means to Me, Lifespan of a Fact, Eclipsed, Ghetto Klown. Regional: The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical (ACT), A Transparent Musical (CTG). Opera: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera), Die Fledermaus, Pearl Fishers (Metropolitan); Faust, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Traviata (Mariinsky, Russia); and The Pearl Fishers (ENO). Obie Award for sustained excellence in design. Adjunct Professor, Purchase College. Mom: Henry. www.jenschriever.com.
Darron L. West
Sound Design
Darron is a Tony and OBIE Award-winning sound designer whose 30-year career spans theatre and dance, Broadway and Off-Broadway, and numerous regional theatres. His work has been heard in over 700 productions all over the United States and internationally in 15 countries. Additional honors include the Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco, and Princess Grace Foundation Statue Award, among many others. Thirty year company member designing the productions of Anne Bogart’s SITI company. At Berkeley Rep: Cult of Love, Chinglish, Compulsion, To The Lighthouse, and Finn In The Underworld.
Satellite Wigs, Inc.
Wig Design
is a tale of 2 Sara(h)s with over 20 individual Broadway credits between them. Sara Donovan (most recently the hair supervisor of & Juliet, Broadway) & Sarah Levine (most recently the associate hair & makeup designer for Swept Away, Broadway) met as hair & makeup apprentices at The Juilliard School. While working together in television they formed a wig making company focused on creating high end wigs, facial hair & custom pieces for personal, professional theatrical, and cinematic needs. Their work can be seen most recently on stage and in film for A Wonderful World (Broadway), Babes, Smile 2, & Companion. @satellitewigs
Danica Rodriguez
Casting
STC: Leopoldstadt, Babbitt, Comedy of Errors, The Matchbox Magic Flute, Macbeth, The Lehman Trilogy, As You Like It, Macbeth In Stride, Evita, Here There Are Blueberries, King Lear, Jane Anger, Much Ado About Nothing, Red Velvet, Our Town, The Merchant of Venice. New York: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: cullud wattah*, Romeo y Julieta, Soft Power, for colored girls..., Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park), Mojada, Ain’t No Mo’*. Regional: Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes*, Incendiary; The Kennedy Center: The Day You Begin; JAG Productions: Next to Normal; The Civilians: El Condor Magico, and others. Awards: Theatre Communications Group 2021 Rising Leader of Color. Personal: she/her, Founding Trainer with Broadway for Racial Justice Casting Directive, Training: Dartmouth College, BA in Film & Media Studies. Instagram: @danicarodriguezcasting. DanicaRodriguez.com (*World Premiere)
Karina Fox
Casting
Karina has been working as a Casting Director, Producer, and Director in the Bay Area since 2017. Now on her third season at Berkeley Rep, Karina has worked on the casting of over ten mainstage shows as well as The Ground Floor Summer Lab. Before joining Berkeley Rep in 2022, she was at Magic Theatre serving as the Producing and Casting Director. Previous Magic Theatre casting credits include The Kind Ones, Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play), The Resting Place, and The Virgin Play Series (2018–2022).
Elisa Guthertz
Stage Manager
Elisa has been a stage manager in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. Most recently she stage managed Data at Arena Stage, and Bulrusher at McCarter Theatre Center and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Some of her many shows at American Conservatory Theater include Big Data, The Headlands, Fefu And Her Friends, Testmatch, Seascape, and Sweat. Other credits include: Mother Road, English, the ripple, the wave that carried me home, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Toni Stone at A.C.T. and Arena Stage; Sanctuary City at BRT and Arena Stage; A Thousand Splendid Suns at A.C.T., The Old Globe, and Theatre Calgary; Big Love at Long Wharf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Brooklyn Academy of Music; The Good Body with Eve Ensler at A.C.T. and the Booth Theatre on Broadway; The Vagina Monologues with Eve Ensler at Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco.
Anthony O. Bullock
Assistant Stage Manager
Berkeley Rep debut. New York: Off-Broadway: Classic Stage Company: The School for Lies; Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals: A Nation Grooves (workshop) and The Night Falls (workshop). Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Arena Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, TheatreSquared, Shakespeare & Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Passage Theatre, among others. He has spent the last five seasons as the Resident Stage Manager at Theater J in Washington DC. International: Wuzhen Theatre Festival/ The Goodman Theatre: The White Snake (dir. Mary Zimmerman). Training: Oklahoma City University: BFA in Stage Management. PRONOUNS: he/him/any
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Co-Producer
For more than 35 years, the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has dedicated itself to being the nation’s premier classical theatre. STC tells vital stories in audacious forms, stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if (and especially when) they are not written by Shakespeare. By focusing on works with profound themes and complex characters, STC’s artistic mission is to use the past to illumine urgent questions in the present.
Johanna Pfaelzer
Artistic Director
Johanna joined Berkeley Rep in 2019 as its fourth artistic director, following 12 years as artistic director of New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), a New York City-based developer of new works for theatre, film, and television. Johanna is proud to have developed work by notable established and early career writers like Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Goddess by Saheem Ali, Michael Thurber, and Jocelyn Bioh; 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; Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses; The Jacksonian by Beth Henley; and Green Day’s American Idiot. Johanna previously served as associate artistic director of American Conservatory Theater and is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Actors Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Program. 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 multi-venue 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.
Making Theatre
Meet the Artisans Who Build Our Shows
By Creative Director DC Scarpelli
Berkeley Rep’s shop artisans are among the very best in the industry, and they’re often challenged to create sets that use innovative techniques and unique problem-solving to achieve the set designer’s vision. Think of their use of water, as in last season’s Bulrusher, or turning a vintage truck into a metamorphosing centerpiece, as in Mother Road, or creating a set that integrates intricately coordinated audio and video triggers, as in Mexodus. The possibilities are infinite, and the solutions ingenious.
Sometimes, big jobs look deceptively small. But here we have Double fireplaces, double floors, and, as Matt says, “so many doors!”
And then, sometimes, the challenges are simply a matter of logistics…
For co-productions, where a show moves from one co-producing theatre to the next, the set, costumes, props, and any integrated lighting and sound equipment is usually shipped to the next theatre after our run closes. There’s usually enough time between closing at Berkeley Rep and first day of technical rehearsals at the next venue to allow for shipment by truck and load-in at the new venue.
For Uncle Vanya, though, the scheduling has worked out so that the cast will start tech rehearsals at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC (where director Simon Godwin is artistic director) just a week after the show closes here.
The solution? Berkeley Rep’s shop artisans have built, concurrently, two nearly-identical sets for Vanya — one for Berkeley Rep and a second for STC — that will truck shortly after our production opens. STC will get their set and install it while our production is still running. Berkeley Rep co-technical director Matt Rohner says the questions around such a move are myriad: “How much time will STC have to devote to the carpentry details — hanging doors, finishing trim, etc.? Most small details like this will be resolved here, we hope. STC may have their own challenges, but we want to give them the best possible product.”
“It’s a big challenge keeping track of all the bits and pieces of any large, naturalistic, four-wall set. Building two of the same thing simultaneously was a lot to juggle, label, and keep track of. On top of that, the two sets are slightly different from each other. The thrust stage at STC is a different size from the Peet’s, so their set has some extra pieces and a few extra doors. So many doors!”
But, despite the time and labor crunch, thanks to all the hard work in Berkeley Rep’s shops, Vanya will have a nearly identical country house in both Berkeley and Washington, DC — for as long as he’s allowed to stay in it!
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