Berkeley Rep Docent Talk: How Shakespeare Saved My Life

Join us for a docent talk on How Shakespeare Saved My Life in the intimate environment of the 4th Floor Board Room at Mechanics' Institute! Done in partnership with Berkeley Rep.

About the Play

Playing January 23 to March 1, at Peet's Theatre, get tickets here!

Written and performed by Jacob Ming-Trent | Directed by Tony Taccone | A co-production with Folger Theatre and Red Bull Theater

“America tried to take my life, and somehow a five-hundred-year-old white dude saved it.” In an autobiographical and music-filled tour-de-force, award-winning performer Jacob Ming-Trent dares to rescue himself from the “slings and arrows” of his past. Born with a gift for poetry but rejected as unfit to play the poet, his search for home yields results both hilarious and tragic. Invoking artistic geniuses like Biggie, Tupac, and Basquiat, he takes us on a propulsive ride that reaffirms the power of language and music. Directed by Tony Taccone, How Shakespeare Saved My Life begins with the Bard but becomes a ritual of communal salvation.

About the Docent Program

The Berkeley Rep Docent Program is part of the theatre’s commitment to provide education and enrichment opportunities about the plays it presents in each season. The Docent Program has grown steadily since its inception in 2005. It is part of Berkeley Rep’s goal to engage the theatre’s audience and the community in a dialogue of ideas.

Docents are volunteers who are theater-lovers. They facilitate Post-Show Discussions after matinees at Berkeley Rep to provide an opportunity for audience members to discuss their experience of seeing a play. Docents also give Talks in the community to provide information about each play and create shared experience through a discussion around plays. The talks cover historical and cultural context, the playwright’s intent, the process of the development of the play, and production elements. Talks also include discussion questions. Participants do not have to have seen a performance of the play to participate in the discussion. Both the Berkeley Rep Docent Post-Show Discussions at the theatre and the Docent Talks in the community broaden the conversation about theatre and the world it creates.

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