{"id":152323,"date":"2026-01-27T23:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152323\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:14:10","slug":"world-premiere-at-berkeley-rep-confronts-race-and-the-bard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152323\/","title":{"rendered":"World premiere at Berkeley Rep confronts race and the Bard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Improbably, by rejecting the poetic ambitions of a young boy and subjecting him as a Black man in America to all manner of everyday micro and macro racist transgressions, the world gained a master storyteller.<\/a> Which means there are multiple bards in Berkeley Repertory Theatre\u2019s<\/a> upcoming production, \u201cHow Shakespeare Saved My Life.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The autobiographical and music-filled solo show is written and performed by Jacob Ming-Trent and directed by former Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone<\/a>. Opening Jan. 28 in Berkeley Rep\u2019s Peet\u2019s Theatre, the world premiere production finds Ming-Trent channeling the words of \u201cThe Bard of Avon,\u201d the white English poet whose works continue to sing sweet and bitter truths more than 400 years after his death. Joining Shakespeare and no less prominent are modern day maestros of spoken\/sung words such as hip-hop\u2019s Biggie and Tupac \u2014 along with Ming-Trent himself.<\/p>\n

Says Taccone: \u201cJacob is a remarkable actor. I wouldn\u2019t take on directing a solo project if I didn\u2019t think the performer showcased extraordinary craft. He\u2019s a dramatic and equally comic actor, a fantastic singer, and a really good writer. I didn\u2019t realize his level of writing skills until recently. I already knew he\u2019s an incredibly diligent artist: the first guy to the theater and the last to leave. He showed me his writing and I was knocked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taccone suggests many things can mask a play\u2019s flaws, but \u201cyou can\u2019t escape bad writing.\u201d Even if a show tap dances around and tries to cover it up with firework-like acting or production elements, the play will lack spark. \u201cTrying to hide a bad script, it\u2019s like that phrase: \u2018putting lipstick on a pig.\u2019 Jacob\u2019s a great writer and that was a learning curve for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-Trent was born in Boston and raised in Pittsburgh. At age 17, he moved to New York City, completed his training at the Stella Adler Conservatory, and was accepted into the\u00a0 American Conservatory Theater\u2019s MFA Program. His award-winning stage, television and film credits are extensive. He refers to his return to the Bay Area as a \u201cfull-circle\u201d give-back to a community that helped shape his identity and artistry.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone is helming the new show “How Shakespeare Saved My Life.” (Kevin Berne\/Berkeley Repertory Theatre)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taccone says \u201cHow Shakespeare\u201d both tests and proves Ming-Trent\u2019s wide-ranging skills, especially the ability to shift between immensely different characters. Ming-Trent is fluid and has special facility with language, rhythm, and movement. Even so, Ming-Trent brought choreographer Tiffany Rachelle Stewart into the process. \u201cShe has been absolutely brilliant; crafting signature movement of each character,\u201d says Taccone.<\/p>\n

The director added that Ming-Trent is \u201cdedicated to 1,000-percent truthfulness. He really won\u2019t go forward until he understand the rightness of what he\u2019s pursuing.\u201d The performer will halt rehearsals if he senses truthfulness is lacking.<\/p>\n

The narrative of the show involves how Shakespeare was MIng-Trent\u2019s lifeline as a young man and what he learns from modern-day brilliant bards such as Tupac and others. \u201cThey provide insight into his inner life and psychological profile. They provide understanding into his position in society as an actor, Black man, and other (identities) that he grapples with because of his personal history. Their different languages are important to access if he\u2019s going to understand his own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the play, the obstacles MIng-Trent describes not only increase dramatic intensity but reflect the realities of life. \u201cThere are many, sizable problems covering family, religion, race, profession \u2014 all of it,\u201d Taccone notes. \u201cThey become part of the truth of his story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story\u2019s arc begins in bright, pleasant territory and moves into a portal of darkness. \u201cWe\u2019re talking oil, like a Caravaggio (painting). He starts slipping, getting rejected by various outlets. He ends up in a dark place he has to crawl out of. It goes from there into an invitation for the audience to crawl out with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is warmth, humor, pain, full-throttle delivery and, with most of the show underscored, Taccone says, \u201cYou\u2019ll see him bust a move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if working on this show might alter the way he directs Shakespeare\u2019s works, Taccone answers affirmatively. \u201cDefinitely. He puts exactly how Shakespeare impacts his life through the lens of a Black man in 2025, with the contradictions of trying to glean from a guy who\u2019s been dead for over 400 years. It\u2019s the hook for the show. It\u2019s a re-examination in a personal way of Shakespeare, informed by class and race. It\u2019s where Jacob\u2019s experience begins, but doesn\u2019t end there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solo shows are not radical in and of themselves, but Taccone insists this one is. While offering a critique of a life, it welcomes people into a way of viewing the world that is other than their own and invites them to find new ways of being in community. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole point of the play. We need to regather around what we think is meaningful and what is essentially human. The theater is a secular church. It\u2019s a place where people come to a shared experience and try together to move the needle forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taccone believes people today are incredibly siloed; doubling down on their devices and staying home. \u201cYou can be surrounded by your phones and your three loved ones. Going out is almost a radical act. But we\u2019re social animals and if we stop being with each other, we pay the price. We get more fractured and all we do is look for an echo chamber to validate how we think about the world. What Jacob does is try to bust that open.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the final weeks of rehearsal, Taccone says his role involves primarily listening and resisting the urge to race ahead. The show is ambitious and the step-by-step approach allows time to fully understanding each beat. Internal truths appear organically from every song, scene, transition and requirements of the language. Final days will stitch everything together and Taccone ends the conversation with a tease, saying the end is so beautiful, he won\u2019t ruin it by describing the details.<\/p>\n

\u2018HOW SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE\u2019<\/p>\n

Written and performed by Jacob Ming-Trent, presented by Berkeley Repertory Theatre<\/p>\n

When: Jan. 28-March 1<\/p>\n

Where: Berkeley Rep\u2019s Peet\u2019s Theatre<\/p>\n

Tickets: $25-$135; www.berkeleyrep.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Improbably, by rejecting the poetic ambitions of a young boy and subjecting him as a Black man in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[647,967,1533,181,971,143,145,144,182,1058,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-152323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-keywee","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-oakland","14":"tag-oakland-headlines","15":"tag-oakland-news","16":"tag-pm-report","17":"tag-theater","18":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}