Our 2010 season consists of four productions. See Below:

Season ticket holders enjoy a discount off single ticket prices and get greater flexibility. (Season ticket holders simply call our reservation hot line to reserve seats for the performances of their choice, instead of having to commit to specific dates and times at the time tickets are purchased.)

A season ticket for all four 2010 productions costs just $45.00.

SEASON TICKETS ONLINE:
Purchase your season tickets with a credit card or PayPal.

Individual tickets for single performances may be purchased online by clicking the "tickets" link on the left side of this page. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office. Please note that at the box office we can only accept cash and checks—no credit cards.

SEASON TICKETS BY MAIL:
Season tickets can be obtained by mail by sending a check or money order to our PO Box for the amount of $45.00 made out to Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, with a note requesting season tickets. Please make sure to include your name and return address.

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley
P.O. Box 663
Berkeley, California 94701

ANTIGONE
By Jean Anouilh
Directed by Bruce Coughran
January 22 through February 20, 2010

Jean Anouilh's play Antigone is a tragedy inspired by Greek mythology and the play of the same name (Antigone, by Sophocles) from the fifth century B.C. In English, it is often distinguished from its antecedent by being pronounced in its original French form, approximately "On-tea-GONN."

The play was first published in 1943, during the period when the Nazis occupied France. The character of Antigone took on the role of the French Resistance and Creon took on the role of the Vichy Government, symbolising the power struggle present in France at the time. Due to this fact, the play, both in print and performance, placed Anouilh in a dangerous position, though he himself would experience no lasting consequences.

The play was first performed in Paris on February 6, 1944, not insignificantly during the Nazi occupation thereof. Produced under Nazi censorship, the play is purposefully ambiguous with regard to the rejection of authority (represented by Antigone and the acceptance of it (represented by Creon). The parallels to the French Resistance and the Nazi occupation are clear, however.

From Wikipedia

CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
By Sam Shepard
Directed by Robert Estes
April 23 through May 22, 2010

Hmm! Bacon! Yes, actual frying bacon on stage. Who could resist the enticing smell? Or the darkly comic, hauntingly mythic portrait of the American family in Curse of the Starving Class. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard, Curse is at once poetic, violent, lyrical and outrageous. Set in California in the 1970s, the play surreally chronicles a farm family as they dream of a better life while dealing with an increasingly bizarre present life. Veering from everyday concerns (such as bacon!) to flights of theatrical invention, this curse never lets us forget the deeply conflicted yet seemingly inescapable ties of family.

BLITHE SPIRIT
By Noël Coward
Directed by Hector Correa
July 23 through August 21, 2010

Everyone likes ghost stories, but when Charles holds a séance to do research for his new book, he gets more than he bargains for. The medium calls up the spirit of Charles’ ex-wife (who died seven years before) and the spirit, delighted to be with Charles again, decides to stay. This is upsetting to Charles, but more so to his current wife, Ruth. Soon the two women and the two worlds are both fighting over Charles. Exasperated, Charles calls back the medium to try and set things right, and they only go more wrong. This much beloved play is a Noel Coward favorite.

THE WINTER'S TALE
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Jeremy Cole
October 22 through November 20, 2010