Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Berkeley Repertory Theater, had a particularly engaging and revealing interview with KQED’s Dave Iverson on this morning’s Forum program.
Under Taccone the Rep has established a strong record of originating works that go on to great acclaim in New York, including the current double-Tony winner American Idiot. In the interview, Taccone spoke frankly about the Rep’s constant struggle to focus on its local audiences rather than the lure of New York transfers, the kinds of works he thinks are right for the Rep, and the intrinsically precarious nature of theater: “We’re always three shows from the abyss,” he told Iverson. Pressed on the point, he conceded that the Rep is perhaps “four-and-a-half away”.
You can listen to the interview here:
