2023 In Review & Looking forward to 2024!
Actors Ensemble is the longest-running theatre organization in Berkeley, founded in 1957. We aim to produce quality theatre emphasizing the ensemble, with a community flavor. This year, our first full year out of the pandemic, we overcame many challenges to provide the community with a rich and varied theatrical experience - THREE significant productions, Three For Thought, Part II + One at LaVal's Subterranean Theatre and two productions at the John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre, A Room with a View and Faeries of the Moonlight, our first full productions in that beautiful venue since 2018.
Next year we hope to do even more! We are currently in negotiations for significant space for indoor productions as well as planning on two productions at John Hinkel Park in 2024.
Shameless Request for Donations!
https://www.aeofberkeley.org/donate
Thank you again for your support and patronage. It was wonderful seeing audience members, both folks we were glad to see again and new faces we were happy to welcome! Costs as you are probably aware continue to increase - in fact, our rent at John Hinkel Park has doubled for 2024 and our outlays for space for indoor productions are also expected to increase substantially. We continue as well to work to increase compensation for expenses for actors, directors, and folks helping backstage, as we all know living in the Bay Area is not cheap! Please consider contributing to Actors Ensemble so we can continue to bring you quality theatre in 2024! Actors Ensemble is a volunteer-run 501(3)c community theatre company, all your contributions go directly towards putting productions on the stage.
Our 2023 season was full of highlights, but we lead with two world premieres, which also functioned as our return to the fabulous John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre.
Our first production for Summer 2023 was a brand-new adaptation by Stuart Bousel, directed by Andrew Calabrese, of A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster. This production played to packed houses and was a rousing success for both audiences and critics:
A Room with a View
Final bow, A Room with a View, July 4th, 2023 performance. Photo by Jerome Solberg
View from the top of the Amphitheatre, A Room with a View, July 2023. Photo by Jerome Solberg
We followed this production with the world premiere of the musical Faeries of the Moonlight, by Mercedes Cohen, directed by Michael R. Cohen. In this production we brought to the stage a combination of Irish music and faerie magic, which delighted full houses of all ages.
Faeries of the Moonlight
Cast of Faeries of the Moonlight, Photo by Vicki Victoria.
Faeries of the Moonlight production photo by Anna Kaminska, August 2023.
Finally, began the year with a sequel to our successful set of one acts from 2023, Three for Thought, Part II + One, four one-acts performed together, directed by Tracy Baxter and produced over two weekends in the Spring of 2023 at LaVal's Subterranean Theatre in north Berkeley:
Three For Thought, Part II + One
Cast of Three For Thought, Part II + One, photo by Jerome Solberg.
In 2024 we'd like to present just as much or more, but we can only do it with your help. We are a volunteer-run community theatre company, dedicated to presenting innovative but accessible works with a community feel, and providing opportunities for people to engage or re-engage with the transformative art of theatre. Please consider contributing, either electronically via our Paypal account, or via check or money order mailed to our post-office box below. Recently we also set up a Venmo account @Actors_Ensemble, which you can also use to donate directly. As we have no employees all your contributions go directly towards supporting the work on-stage, and since we are a 501(3)c organizations, all your contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you again for your support and patronage. We cannot do it without our volunteers, our contributors, and most importantly without YOU, our audience!
One more Shameless Plug for Donations!:
https://www.aeofberkeley.org/donate
Actors Ensemble
P.O. Box 663
Berkeley, CA 94701
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.aeofberkeley.org
A 501(3)(c) organization
