LES WATERS
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF
IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD WOLINSKY
Les Waters has served as associate artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre since 2003. In the last five years, his shows have ranked among the year’s best in The New Yorker, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, Time Magazine and USA Today. Waters has a history of collaborating with prominent playwrights like Caryl Churchill, Charles Mee and Wallace Shawn, and champions important new voices such as Will Eno, Jordan Harrison, Sarah Ruhl and Anne Washburn. In 2009, Waters and Ruhl made their Broadway debuts with In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), which began in Berkeley. Waters’ other credits at Berkeley Rep include the world premieres of Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld and To the Lighthouse; the American premiere of TRAGEDY: a tragedy; the West Coast premiere of Eurydice; and extended runs of The Glass Menagerie, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman and Yellowman. Les Waters directs two productions during the 2009-2010 Berkeley Rep season, Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, which ran through mid-April, 2010, and Girlfriend, running April 9-May 9, 2010.
Founded in 1968, Berkeley Repertory Theatre has established itself as one of this country’s top-ranking professional resident theatre companies, known for its consistently high-quality productions. Winner of the 1997 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, its national reputation draws theatre artists from around the country to work on a variety of productions from September through July.
Les Waters discusses directing productions of
Strange Devices from the Distant West and
Girlfriend, and talks about growing up in
England, and his early days
as a director. The program was recorded on
March 5, 2010 and aired on March 12, 2010.
heard on Open Book, KPFA-FM,
Pacifica Radio Berkeley California
Friday March 12, 2010, 3 pm
