Artistic Director Tony Taccone today announced the 2010-11 season for the Berkeley Rep, which includes plays about Steve Jobs and Afghanistan, Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, world premieres from Daniel Handler (better known as Lemony Snicket) and Rinne Groff, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage, and a new play by Taccone written for Berkeley resident Rita Moreno.

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle about the new season, Taccone said, “Yes, it’s eclectic. That’s become our trademark, I’d say. I’m really interested in a state of constant surprise, for ourselves and for our audience. We always look to see how wide we can stretch the menu.”

Steve Jobs (above) will be central to The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs by Mike Daisy, who had a popular hit with his 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com.  It’s described as “the epic story of a real-life Willy Wonka”.

The Great Game: Afghanistan, which will run for little more than two weeks in October and November, is the work of 12 playwrights covering 150 years of Afghan history. It runs over three nights or in a single marathon performance. When the work opened last year at the Tricycle Theatre in London, critic Michael Billington described it in The Guardian as a “mind-blowing achievement”.

Photo of Steve Jobs by Macinate on Flickr

Lance Knobel (Berkeleyside co-founder) has been a journalist for nearly 40 years. Much of his career was in business journalism. He was editor-in-chief of both Management Today, the leading business magazine...