BERKELEY CA, OCTOBER 17, 2005
Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced the names of the lucky, local youth chosen to appear in its highly anticipated production of Brundibár. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner and children’s author Maurice Sendak have teamed up to create this musical fable for the whole family—and bringing it to the stage requires a chorus of 29 talented children. So, this fall, residents of the following 12 communities should watch for a familiar face on Berkeley Rep’s stage: Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Sobrante, Hercules, Mill Valley, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasant Hill, San Francisco, San Ramon and Walnut Creek.
“Brundibár is all about the power of community, so I’m thrilled that we can involve children from local schools in this production,” remarked Berkeley Rep’s artistic director, Tony Taccone, who will stage the show. “The 29 children in the chorus are from all over the San Francisco Bay Area and represent both the diversity and the tremendous talent of our youth.”
The children’s chorus is an essential part of the multigenerational cast, singing the show’s moral: “Let us be brave, and make bullies behave!” The kids perform alongside a stellar cast of Broadway and off-Broadway actors led by Euan Morton in the title role. The following local youth were selected to tread the boards with the pros:
• Three children from Alameda: 11-year-old Brigette Lundy-Paine, a sixth-grader at Wood Middle School; 12-year-old Alec Mathieson, a seventh-grader at Lincoln Middle School; and 10-year-old Madeline Silverman, a fifth-grader at Amelia Earhart School
• One girl from Albany: 10-year-old Nikaela Bradford, a fifth-grader at the Walden School
• 11 children from Berkeley: nine-year-old Misha Brooks, a fourth-grader at the Walden School; 12-year-old Matia Emsellem, a seventh-grader at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School; 13-year-old Lia Friedman-Salaverry, an eighth-grader at Albany Middle School; 11-year-old Gideon Lazarus, a sixth-grader at the Crowden School; 11-year-old Yael Platt, a sixth-grader at the Berkeley Montessori School; 13-year-old Nicole Raynor, an eighth-grader at the Crowden School; 12-year-old Brendan Reilly, a sixth-grader at St. Theresa Elementary School; 10-year-old Erin Reilly, a fourth-grader at St. Theresa Elementary School; nine-year-old Sophia Sinsheimer, a fourth-grader at Prospect Sierra School; 10-year-old Gabriel Vergez, a fifth-grader at Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley; and 12-year-old Marnina Wirtschafter, a seventh-grader at Tehiyah Day School
• One teen from El Sobrante: 13-year-old Elizabeth Goings, an eighth-grader at the Oakland School for the Arts
• Two sisters from Hercules: 10-year-old Maggie Franks and eight-year-old Julia Franks, a fifth- and third-grader respectively at Hanna Ranch Elementary School
• One girl from Mill Valley: 12-year-old Allison McCoy, a seventh-grader at Mount Tamalpais School
• Three children from Oakland: 11-year-old Faith Bowman, a sixth-grader at the School of the Madeleine; 12-year-old Elena Garrido-Shaqfeh, a seventh-grader at St. Paul’s Episcopal School; and 12-year-old Ariele Scharff, a seventh-grader at Montera Middle School
• One boy from Piedmont: 12-year-old Mason Heller, a seventh-grader at Piedmont Middle School
• Three children from Pleasant Hill: 12-year-old Forest McMillin, a seventh-grader at Pleasant Hill Middle School; 10-year-old Evan Neiman, a fifth-grader at the Walnut Creek Christian Academy; and eight-year-old Amanda Neiman, a third-grader at the Walnut Creek Christian Academy
• One girl from San Francisco: 12-year-old Oriana Schaaf, a sixth-grader at the Synergy School
• One girl from San Ramon: eight-year-old Amber Solberg, a fourth-grader at Hidden Hills Elementary School
• One teen from Walnut Creek: 13-year-old Michelle Roginsky, a ninth-grader at Northgate High School
An allegory of innocence triumphing over evil, Brundibár was originally composed in the ominous years leading up to World War II and was performed by children imprisoned at Terezin, the Nazi’s notorious “model ghetto.” In 2003, Kushner and Sendak published a picture-book version of this classic tale; now audiences can enjoy it live! The show will be performed alongside the pair’s adaptation of Comedy on the Bridge, an absurdist commentary on war also written in Czechoslovakia in the thirties. A co-production between Berkeley Rep and Yale Repertory Theatre, this extraordinary work begins previews in Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre on November 11, opens on November 16 and closes December 28, 2005.
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