We yearn to move about freely, even while we are aware of the risks. We long for connection, even while it is that very intimacy that has made us drive each other crazy over the last year. And some of us have had more solitude than we would wish.

Many of us have had far more than our share of togetherness over the last 18 months. It seems almost too perfect that it’s a play about family, all of whom end up - somewhat against their will - crowded into a remote house, together.

I am particularly pleased to welcome you back with Wintertime! What a delight to come together now with Les Waters, whose relationship to Berkeley Rep goes back many years, and his long-time collaborator, Chuck Mee, in the company of this glorious band of actors, many of whom have been part of Bay Area theatre for decades. I am deeply grateful to everyone whose generosity brought us to this place - to our audience members who have once again committed themselves to the particular delight of this shared experience to our staff members who have reimagined how to make theatre safely and more equitably to the Board of Berkeley Rep, whose clear thinking and profound care for this company have helped to sustain us and to the intrepid artists who have taken on so many experiments in form over the last many months, and have now stepped back into these rooms with such openness and grace. When we stepped out of this theatre on March 16, 2020, not one of us could have known that it would be almost 20 months before we had the opportunity to gather again in this space that we hold so dear.īut we are here today, together. I have been waiting a very long time to say those words to you… what a joy to finally be able to.

With rare oedipe paris opera pulls