Keep an eye out for new events!

October 2024

Wicked

Broadway SF
Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Thursday, October 3 @ 7:30 PM
Ticket information coming soon!

WICKED, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

From the first electrifying note to the final breathtaking moment, WICKED—the untold true story of the Witches of Oz—transfixes audiences with its wildly inventive story that TIME Magazine cheers is “a magical Broadway musical with brains, heart and courage.”

December 2024

Hamilton

Broadway SF
Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Wednesday, December 4 @ 7:30 PM
Ticket information coming soon!

A revolutionary story of passion, unstoppable ambition, and the dawn of a new nation.

HAMILTON is the epic saga that follows the rise of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton as he fights for honor, love, and a legacy that would shape the course of a nation. Based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography and set to a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and Broadway, HAMILTON has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education. HAMILTON features book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. In addition to its 11 Tony Awards, it has won Grammy®, Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors.

Past Spring 2024 Events

Angélique Kidjo

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Friday, April 26 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Over the past four decades, Angélique Kidjo has cemented her status as one of the most adventurous and omnivorous artists on the international pop music scene. The five-time Grammy winner is known for making connections across genres, generations, and geopolitical boundaries, enlisting her clarion voice and dynamic, eclectic musical vision to address complex subject matter through radiantly joyful music. Kidjo’s recent projects range from her theatrical work Yemandja to a reboot of the Talking Heads’ classic 1980 album Remain in Light (both part of the Cal Performances 2021–22 season); a tribute to salsa queen Celia Cruz; and most recently, Mother Nature, a cri de coeur against climate change and political corruption featuring African millennial superstars. Throughout all this, “Kidjo’s voice is constant, an instrument of such power and clarity that it sounds equally capable of polishing glass or announcing Judgment Day” (The New Yorker).

Drum Tao

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Thursday, April 11 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

30th Anniversary Tour

A feast for the eyes and ears, Drum Tao’s mesmerizing productions combine thunderous traditional taiko drumming with dazzling staging, theatrical costumes, and dramatic lighting effects. The international troupe of 40 performers has seemingly done it all, having collaborated with the Bolshoi Ballet, staged sold-out productions off-Broadway, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and at the Olympics, and even recorded for Universal Music. Flute, marimba, and harp are added to the drum ensemble for dramatic effects, and high-octane choreography contributes fresh new energy to this centuries-old Japanese art form. “Extraordinarily talented percussion artists, and they’re seductive, alluring performers” (Chicago Tribune).

Dos Mujeres

SF Ballet
War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
Saturday, April 6 @ 2:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

CARMEN // WORLD PREMIERE
Choreographer: Arielle Smith
Composer: Arturo O’Farrill
Cuban-born choreographer Arielle Smith guides us into the story of Carmen, a strong and feisty woman who craves love and independence without the traps of obsession or jealousy. Smith, an Olivier Award winner, is carving out her space as a forward-thinking creator known for pushing the boundaries of dance, theater, and film. Together with a score from Grammy Award–winning Arturo O’Farrill bringing the story to life.

BROKEN WINGS // NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Choreographer: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Composer: Peter Salem, with featured Mexican folk song “La llorona”
Enter the colorful and creative world of Frida Kahlo with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s critically acclaimed Broken Wings. This mini masterpiece explores the life and art of the celebrated Mexican painter. An experience unto itself, it’s a unique opportunity to enter into the realms of the paintings themselves through the lens of Kahlo’s wildly creative spirit. Latin American guitar duo Los Macorinos and vocalist Geo Meneses will return to perform “La Llorona,” the popular Mexican folk song, during Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings, following their appearance at the 2024 Opening Night Gala.

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN DOS MUJERES AND FRIDA KAHLO AT THE OPERA HOUSE

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE AFTER DOS MUJERES
Join SF Ballet in the lobby immediately following each performance of Dos Mujeres for festive post-show ambiance including live music by the all-female Mariachi ensemble Mariachi Bonitas de Dinorah whose mission is to provide a platform for female mariachi musicians to express their deep love for this beloved musical tradition.

TREE OF LIFE AND DIEGO AND FRIDA GIANTS
Experience local artist Fernando Escartiz's large-format sculptures at the Opera House. Fernando Escartiz created the Tree of Life "México: Raíz y Fuerza," which represents the Mexican and Latin American communities in the Bay Area. His large format sculpture of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera was inspired by a portrait painted by Kahlo "where she shows herself small next to Diego Rivera. I see Frida as big, with the same height as the great muralist. That is the reason why, in my interpretation of the portrait, they are both the same size.”

PAPER FLOWER INSTALLATION BY CASA CIRCULO CULTURAL
Casa Circulo Cultural is a grassroots, community-based, multidisciplinary arts nonprofit dedicated to creating cultural programming reflective of the experiences of the Latino communities in the San Francisco Bay Area while promoting leadership development for the whole family.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Program A: Tuesday, April 2 @ 7:30 PM
Program B: Wednesday, April 3 @ 7:30 PM
Program C: Thursday, April 4 @ 7:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Continuing a 55-year relationship with Cal Performances, the magnificent dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater return to campus for the company’s annual residency with an exuberant selection of recent works and Ailey masterpieces. Steeped in the sounds of jazz, blues, and hip-hop, the Ailey repertory celebrates the Black American experience, offering music and movement as expressions of pure joy and as opportunities for reflection and resistance. Past favorites and new works come alive through the commitment and artistry of the company’s athletic, expressive dancers, who inhabit choreography by creators like Rennie Harris, Aszure Barton, Twyla Tharp, Jamar Roberts, and Artistic Director Robert Battle with the same conviction as they reinvent classic Ailey gems like Revelations.

PROGRAM A (Tue, Apr 2, 7:30pm)
RONALD K. BROWN Dancing Spirit (2009; music: Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead, War)
ELIZABETH ROXAS-DOBRISH Me, Myself and You (2023; BAY AREA PREMIERE; music by Duke Ellington, arr: by Damien Sneed and performed by Brandie Sutton)
HANS VAN MANEN Solo (1997; BAY AREA PREMIERE of NEW PRODUCTION [2023]; music: Johann Sebastian Bach)
ALVIN AILEY Revelations (1960; music: traditional spirituals)

PROGRAM B (Wed, Apr 3, 7:30pm)
ALONZO KING Following the Subtle Current Upstream (2000; BAY AREA PREMIERE of NEW PRODUCTION [2023]; music: Zakir Hussain, Miguel Frasconi, and Miriam Makeba)
AMY HALL GARNER CENTURY (2023; BAY AREA PREMIERE; music: various artists, including Count Basie, Ray Charles, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Rebirth Brass Band, Cyrus Chestnut, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
KYLE ABRAHAM Are You in Your Feelings? (2022; music: various artists, including The Flamingos, James Sullivan, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Drake, Shirley Brown, Maxwell, Summer Walker, Kendrick Lamar, and Jhené Aiko)

PROGRAM C (Thu, Apr 4, 7pm)
ALONZO KING Following the Subtle Current Upstream (2000; BAY AREA PREMIERE of NEW PRODUCTION [2023]; music: Zakir Hussain, Miguel Frasconi, and Miriam Makeba)
ELIZABETH ROXAS-DOBRISH Me, Myself and You (2023; BAY AREA PREMIERE; music by Duke Ellington, arr: by Damien Sneed and performed by Brandie Sutton)
ALVIN AILEY Revelations (1960; music: traditional spirituals; Score PERFORMED LIVE by vocalists Chenee Campbell, Nia Drummond, Sean Holland II, and Marvin Lowe; The Revelations Choir and Band, comprised of Bay Area musicians; conducted by Damien Sneed)

THE FAR COUNTRY

Berkeley Rep
Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St, Berkeley CA 94704
Friday, March 22 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

WEST COAST PREMIERE

Following a critically acclaimed debut in New York, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh and Obie Award-winning director Eric Ting bring The Far Country back to its roots in a triumphant West Coast premiere. In the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Moon Gyet has arrived at San Francisco Bay’s Angel Island Immigration Station with an invented biography and a new name, both given to him by a man who made the same arduous crossing several years earlier. But passage to San Francisco — and the dream of a better life for future generations — commands a very high price. Spanning two countries and three generations, Lloyd Suh’s breathtaking account of immigration, identity, and memory has been called “Artful…an act, loving and sorrowful, of reclamation…directed with sensitivity and spirit” by The New York Times (Critic’s Pick).

Pre-Show Community Salon with Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers and 2k Ave
Join us at Berkeley Rep on Friday, March 22nd in Michael’s Second Act bar for an In Dialogue Community Salon featuring a special performance from the Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers and Bay Area K-Pop dance and performance team, 2k Ave. Doors open at 7:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public. 

Postshow discussion: Join after the show for a postshow discussion, expertly guided by members of Berkeley Rep’s artistic team.

Graduate Student Diversity Day

UC Berkeley Office for Graduate Diversity
Resource Fair
Sunday, March 17

Night Out / Night Off for Graduate Students of Color will be hosting a booth at the Diversity Days Lunch & Resource Fair hosted by the UC Berkeley Office of Graduate Diversity. The Lunch & Resource Fair is part of the campus visit for admitted graduate students who are underrepresented or first gen/low-income. Newly admitted students can learn about the offices, organizations, and resources invaluable in their decision making. Prospective students can learn more about NO/NO and sign up for giveaways!

UNSCRIPTED: AN EVENING WITH RUPAUL, Live On Stage [3/14/24] UCB GRAD STUDENT OF COLOR RAFFLE

Calling all RuPaul fans!! Enter our raffle to see UNSCRIPTED: AN EVENING WITH RUPAUL, Live On Stage on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

RAFFLE DETAILS:
Send in your best pictures from any Night Out / Night Off event! 4 to 6 students with the best pictures will be chosen to get tickets to see UNSCRIPTED: AN EVENING WITH RUPAUL on Thursday, March 14 at Curran Theater. Bonus points if you have photos of you and any performance cast members!

RAFFLE RULES:
- Email your photo(s) to admin@nightoutnightoff.org 
- Entries must be received by Wednesday, March 6, 2024 to be considered
- Only current UC Berkeley Graduate Students of Color are eligible to win
- Winners will be emailed on Friday, March 8

Show details:
UNSCRIPTED: AN EVENING WITH RUPAUL

This isn’t the RuPaul you think you know.

If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, this is RuPaul stripped bare. Pop culture icon and international drag superstar RuPaul invites you to a spiritual awakening to celebrate the release of the highly-anticipated memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings. Allow your mind, body, and soul to be enveloped in RuPaul’s lyrically poignant stories on life, love, and finding your voice. During this special UNSCRIPTED event, RuPaul offers fans a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear RuPaul’s extraordinary story as told by RuPaul.

Each ticket includes a copy of The House of Hidden Meanings, provided in partnership with our friends at Book Passage.

OKAN

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Playhouse (Zellerbach Playhouse is at the northwest of Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720)
Friday, March 8 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Take a classically trained percussionist from Santiago de Cuba, add a one-time concertmaster from Havana’s Youth Orchestra, and stir in the sounds of Caribbean folkloric and dance music in the context of Toronto’s vibrant immigrant music community, and the unforgettable new sound of OKAN is born. Named for the word for “heart” in the Afro-Cuban religious practice of Santeria, this Juno Award-winning ensemble is led by vocalist and violinist Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist Magdelys Savigne. OKAN fuses its Afro-Cuban roots with American jazz, Dominican merengue, Brazilian samba, and folk music from across the globe in songs about immigration, courage, and love. “OKAN crafts jazzy, heady grooves informed by Afro-Cuban culture and a world of sound” (Chicago Reader)

Nathalie Joachim Ki moun ou ye (Who are you?)

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Playhouse (Zellerbach Playhouse is at the northwest of Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720)
Thursday, March 7 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

West Coast Premiere

In her immersive staged song cycle Ki moun ou ye (Who are you?), composer, flutist, and vocalist Nathalie Joachim invokes music, movement, and memory to explore personal history and the healing power of the voice. Performed in both English and Haitian Kreyòl, Ki moun ou ye travels deeper into the Haitian heritage introduced on Joachim’s Grammy-nominated Fanm d’Ayiti, and is set on the remote Caribbean farmland where her family has lived for generations. The music weaves together field recordings, electronic drones, vocals, and a seven-member chamber ensemble of winds, strings, and percussion. The evening-length work was developed as part of Joachim’s appointment as Creative Associate at Juilliard, and is a collaboration with fellow alum, choreographer Chanel DaSilva.

Join Cal Performances for a post-performance moderated discussion.

Taylor Mac & Matt Ray’s Bark of Millions

A Parade Trance Extravaganza for the Living Library of the Deviant Theme

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Friday, February 23 @ 7:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

West Coast Premiere

Taylor Mac, writer, co-director
Matt Ray, composer, music director
Niegel Smith, co-director
Faye Driscoll, co-director, choreographer
Machine Dazzle, costume designer
John Torres, lighting designer
Brendan Aanes, sound designer
Oscar Escobedo, props designer
Zach Blumner, co-props designer

With
Ari Folman-Cohen, Bernice “Boom Boom” Brooks, Chris Giarmo, Dana Lyn, El Beh, Greg Glassman, Jack Fuller, Joel E. Mateo, Jules Skloot, Le Gateau Chocolat, Lisa “Paz” Parrott, Machine Dazzle, Mama Alto, Marika Hughes, Matt Ray, Sean Donovan, Steffanie Christi’an, Stephen Quinn, Taylor Mac, Thornetta Davis, Viva DeConcini, Wes Olivier

“If you’re not invited to the party, throw a better one.”
—Taylor Mac

Taylor Mac (a MacArthur Fellow, Kennedy Prize winner, and Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Obie award-winning composer Matt Ray visit with the West Coast premiere of Bark of Millions.

Part rock opera, part reimagined pride parade, this epic production will stage 55 original songs—one to mark each year since the landmark Stonewall uprising. It’s both a celebration and a gift to the queer canon, expanding the archive for generations to come.

Co-directed by visionaries Niegel Smith and Faye Driscoll and showcasing the extravagance of Machine Dazzle’s costume design, Bark of Millions will be brought to life at Zellerbach Hall by an international ensemble of 22 artists.

Bark of Millions is a transformative experience that celebrates the power of individuality and human connection. This once-in-a-lifetime event promises to shatter conventions, push boundaries, and bring a bold new perspective to our stage.

As in his legendary retelling of American history A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Mac and his artistic community use music, dance, and drag spectacle to subvert and deconstruct conventional narratives and joyfully, transgressively celebrate queerness in all its forms.

Note: This party-length performance has a running time of approximately four hours. While there is no traditional interval, there will be no lockouts. Patrons are welcome to take breaks as needed, including to access the bathrooms or bars, and will be admitted back to their seat at a suitable break in the performance. 

Praise for Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music

★★★★★
“Incredible. Nothing could prepare you for the brilliance…”
Sydney Morning Herald

“One of the great experiences of my life.”
The New York Times

★★★★★
“Explosive, spectacular, heartbreaking ‘dandy revenge’…”
The Guardian

Join Cal Performances for a post-performance moderated discussion.

Cal Black Alumni Association Inaugural Book Club

Cal Black Alumni Association
Online via ZOOM
Saturday, February 17 @ 10:00 AM
RSVP online at the link below

Join us as we dive into the profound insights and narratives presented in Black AF History by New York Times best-selling author Michael Harriot. This thought-provoking masterpiece offers a unique and powerful perspective on African American history and culture, and challenges readers to rethink and expand our understanding of historical events and their impact on present-day society. Mr. Harriot will join the event at the beginning for a 30-minute Q&A with moderator Veronica C. Cummings (MPP, ’19) and attendees.

“HALFWAY THROUGH, YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS NOT EVEN A BOOK ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, IT'S ABOUT HOW AMERICAN HISTORY IS BLACK AF.” — PHARRELL WILLIAMS, GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER

Co-sponsored by the Cal Black Alumni Association and Night Out / Night Off for Graduate Students of Color

Here I Stand: The Artist as Activist

Oakland Symphony
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Friday, February 16 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Program:

JOAN TOWER: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 6
CARLOS SIMON WITH LIBRETTO BY DAN HARDER:
Here I Stand: Paul Robeson
(World Premiere – Oakland Symphony Commission,
Generously Funded by The Robeson Centennial Committee)
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

Pre-concert talk from stage by John Kendall Bailey begins at 7:05 pm.

THE WIZ

Broadway SF
Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Friday, February 9 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $20 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

EVERYBODY REJOICE! THE TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL THE WIZ IS COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, and Ambassador Theatre Group present an all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical THE WIZ, adapted from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The highly anticipated Broadway revival of THE WIZ returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Pre-Broadway tour, the first one in 40 years. The tour begins in THE WIZ's original home city of Baltimore, where the show made its world premiere 50 years ago.

This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway—from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping 70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world. Audiences get to enjoy the epic grooves of such beloved, timeless hits as “Ease on Down the Road,” which became the show’s break-out single, and the bona fide classic “Home” in this spectacular revival.

Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”), Amber Ruffin (additional material), and Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements) conjure up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before.

THE WIZ design team will include scenic design by Academy Award-winning Hannah Beachler (Black Panther, Beyonce’s Black is King and Lemonade), costume design by Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls), lighting design by Barrymore Award-winning Ryan J. O’Gara (Thoughts of a Colored Man) and wig design by Academy Award-winning Mia Neal (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).

A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop brings a whole new groove to easing on down the road. So everybody rejoice! An all-new 21st-Century WIZ is sliding into an Emerald city near you.

Past Fall 2023 Events

Black Women's Roots Festival

Freight & Salvage
Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
Sunday, December 10 @ 4:00PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (No guest tickets, grad students only)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Join us for a special NO/NO early entry at 2:45pm with Freight & Salvage Managing Director, Clayton Shelvin, and some snacks and refreshments!

The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol
Mary Stallings
Kito Kamili
Miko Marks
Emerging Artist Alecia Harger 

The third annual Black Women's Roots Festival celebrates powerful, pioneering Black women of blues, jazz, country and roots music. Showcasing a dynamic lineup of legendary artists, renowned performers, and emerging talent, this intergenerational, interdisciplinary program features the best vocalists, instrumentalists, and poets of roots music that you'll find anywhere in the world! Join us for what is sure to be an historic afternoon of music and culture.

The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol is known as an icon in the Bay Area and beyond, highly regarded for her powerful voice, astonishing versatility, and gift of connecting with her audience.  Equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, funk, latin, and hip-hop, she has developed her own authentic sound and unique delivery, delighting audiences young and old across the globe. After beginning her career with gospel music, Faye Carol made her name singing with Oakland blues and funk legend Johnny Talbot & De Thangs before forming her own trio and gaining fame in San Francisco's jazz, blues, and cabaret clubs of the 1970s and 80s. Over a 60-year career in music, this living legend has developed her own unique acoustic sound and style in Black Music - drawing from funk, blues, gospel, and straight ahead swingin' - and cultivated an audience that remains as diverse as her uplifting music. She has maintained a high level of musicianship in her groups, mentoring some of the Bay Area's brightest young talent including pianist Benny Green, bassist/composer Marcus Shelby, and her daughter, pianist/compser Kito Kamili. Her vocal proteges include international superstars Kehlani and Ledisi. 

———
“On this special and poignant evening, the singer delivered a wonderful gift, making those present feel so much through her artistry. We can only hope that a new holiday tradition has begun in Prague: Jazz at the National Theater with greats like Mary Stallings.”

These were the words of the Czech music critic reporting on Mary Stallings’ appearance at the Prague National Theater on December 23, 2011 – the first time any jazz artist has appeared at the iconic home of classical, opera and ballet since it was constructed in 1881! That the Prague people would select Mary Stallings to bring jazz to their hallowed hall speaks volumes on Mary’s voice and talent. Mary Stallings is a classic example of how it takes time, musical seasoning and living a full life to mature as a vocalist and to address a lyric properly. While youthful instrumentalists may have something to say, Stallings brings a lifetime of emotional intelligence that enables her to truly inhabit a lyric.

Born and raised in San Francisco, the middle child of 11 siblings, Stallings started performing professionally before the age of 10 with her mother and two older sisters in a family gospel group. She got her first real taste of jazz at home, sitting in at rehearsals with her uncle, tenor saxophonist and bandleader Orlando Stallings. Stallings’ career got off to an early start in the late ’50s and her supple voice landed her in rarified air: performing with such luminaries as Ben Webster, Cal Tjader, Earl Hines, Red Mitchell, Teddy Edwards, and the Montgomery brothers (Wes, Monk, and Buddy) in Bay Area night clubs such as Hungry i, The Purple Onion and El Matador.

———
Kito Kamili is a pianist, vocalist, composer, songwriter, producer, and educator. She began her career as a pianist at the age of 16 in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. Born into a musical family, her father began teaching her music at the age of 3. Her mother, legendary jazz vocalist Faye Carol, provided the young musician with the opportunity to develop her unique style & gain experience as a musical director, bandleader, and businesswoman.

Kito’s recently released EP entitled WE REMEMBER GREATNESS pays homage to the great contributions of African American musical pioneers & highlights her skills as a lyricist, music producer, vocalist, and pianist. Her current band, Kito Kamili & IOP (Instruments of Praise) features various combinations of musicians who also share a love & mastery of genres of music ranging from the Blues to Jazz to Hip-hop.

———
Finding freedom through music is something that Miko Marks knows all too well. But it’s more than just freedom. It’s liberation. Deliverance. After living what seems to be multiple lives over, Miko has finally come into the life she was born to live. And she’s more than ready to live it to the fullest - one of truth, authenticity, vulnerability, joy and honesty. There’s a clip on YouTube that is quite striking. It’s an interview from a local Bay Area news channel featuring Miko Marks talking about her journey as a Black woman in country music. “For me, being a country music singer-songwriter, I’m truly dedicated to the work, so it’s an uphill battle, but it’s one I’m willing to climb.” That clip is from 2007. The conversations and the questions 15 years later, in 2022, are the same. Miko has answered them time and time again, but there’s more to her story than the barriers she bridles. She has more to give than the small confines of that one line of questioning. Miko’s life as a Black woman in country and roots music is only a small part of the story. As she readies her latest album, Feel like Going Home, for release (October 14, 2022 via Redtone Records), it’s beyond time to dig deeper.

———
Alecia Harger is a Bay Area born and raised artist and activist whose work focuses on simultaneously documenting, creating and enacting black art and activism in the Bay Area. Alecia discovered a love for jazz when they were young and since have had the honor of receiving instruction from icons like Miss Faye Carol and Amikaeyla Gaston, among other incredible artists. As they learned from Miss Faye, Alecia seeks to put their own twist on jazz and blues standards while still maintaining the underlying flavor that originally brought the songs to popularity.

In 2017 Alecia was a finalist in the Bay Area Jazz Search West. After largely putting music on hold to pursue a degree in African American Studies from UC Berkeley, Alecia is now merging their passions for music and Black Studies by creating a project through the UC Berkeley Black Studies Collaboratory that seeks to document the history and present of Black art and activism in the Bay Area in video which combines traditional interviews, newly recorded music and documentary footage into an artistic archival text.

Urban Bush Women: Hair & Other Stories

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Playhouse (Zellerbach Playhouse is at the northwest of Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720)
Friday, December 1 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Bay Area Premiere

The formidable Brooklyn-based performance ensemble Urban Bush Women visits with Hair & Other Stories, a full-length dance-theater work exploring race, identity, and concepts of beauty through the lens of Black women’s hair. Inspired by founder and 2021 MacArthur Fellow Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s HairStories (2001), the participatory performance is a work of activism, awakening, and engagement, asking the audience to move, to comment, to reflect, and to bear witness. Choreographed and directed by co-artistic directors Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, Hair & Other Stories was developed from personal narratives gathered from participants at “Hair Party” sessions the company held with women across the country, as well as through the company’s ongoing collaboration with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s “Undoing Racism” workshops. “The Urban Bush Women are committed, triple-threat performers who dance, sing, and act with a sometimes searing sense of truthfulness” (The New York Times).

Run time for this performance is approximately 2 hours 30 minutes including intermission. 

Join Cal Performances for a post-performance moderated discussion.

THE LION KING

Broadway SF
Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Wednesday, November 29 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $20 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
**Family Event Ticket Policy** Each GSOC attendee must purchase their own ticket. You may purchase any number of additional tickets for family members (spouse, children, etc.) at the guest price.
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the phenomenon of Disney’s THE LION KING, and now you can, too, when San Francisco's best-loved musical returns to the Orpheum Theatre. Winner of six Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, this landmark musical event brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway. Tony Award®-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award®-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice. There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.

SPECIAL NO/NO RECEPTION: Join Night Out / Night Off for a special reception before the show at 6pm with food, a raffle, and NO/NO goody bags!!

BULRUSHER

Berkeley Rep
Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St, Berkeley CA 94704
Thursday, November 16 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Berkeley native Eisa Davis’ lyrical coming-of-age story follows a multiracial girl found as an infant floating in a basket on the Navarro River in Mendocino County. It’s 1955, and Bulrusher is 18 and restless, with a gift for clairvoyance that makes her feel like a stranger even amongst the eccentric, dialect speaking folks of her predominantly white enclave of Boonville. When a mysterious young Black woman from Birmingham comes to town, Bulrusher discovers new facets of her identity — and uncovers her place in the world. A Pulitzer Prize finalist called “captivating and lushly poetic” by the LA Times, Bulrusher is infused with rhythmic language, passion, and down-home humor.

Postshow discussion: Join after the show for a postshow discussion, expertly guided by members of Berkeley Rep’s artistic team.

Truth to Power

Oakland Symphony
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Friday, November 10 @ 8:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Program:

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Fidelio Overture
ANTHONY DAVIS: You Have The Right To Remain Silent
MARGARET BONDS: Montgomery Variations (selections)
IGOR STRAVINSKY: Symphony of Psalms

Pre-concert talk from stage by John Kendall Bailey begins at 7:05 pm.

OMAR ***Second date added!***

SF Opera
War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
Sunday, November 5 @ 2:00 PM ***Opening night***
Tuesday, November 7 @ 7:30 PM ***New date added**
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

“The anticipation is palpable at the Opera House as they are gearing up to open Omar, an autobiographical account of a courageous and indomitable man: Omar Ibn Said. This work, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, is a story of identity, faith and the creative human spirit.”

REMEMBER HIS NAME.

Writing is the preservation of identity in the new opera Omar from Grammy award-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels. A true story of an indomitable faith enshrined in a two-hundred-year-old autobiography in an opera acclaimed by The New York Times as a “sweeping achievement.”

In the early 1800s, Islamic scholar Omar Ibn Said is forcibly taken from his village in West Africa and sold into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina. Attempting to flee, he is imprisoned in Fayetteville and taken to the plantation of another slaveholder, eager to convert him to Christianity. There Omar records his story in Arabic, transforming his world into an expansive canvas of text and faith, profoundly realized in Kaneza Schaal’s transcendent production.

Synopsis
The true story of a 19th century Islamic scholar from West Africa, enslaved in South Carolina, but finding identity and faith through the written word.
Full synopsis here.

NO/NO Extras: Snacks, refreshments, and a guided tour of the David Gockley and the Hume Family galleries, and a chat with DEC’s Content Curator, Cole Thomason-Redus about opera, its history, the history of the Company, as well as the production Omar exclusive to NO/NO attendees!

Pre-opera talk from resident artist and educator Michael Mohammed. The talk begins 55 minutes prior to the start of the show.

***Second date added! Don’t Miss OMAR!!***

Playlist: Angela Davis

Oakland Symphony
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Saturday, October 21 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Program:
The Oakland Symphony’s signature Playlist returns to celebrate Angela Y. Davis. Activist. Educator. Conscience of a generation. She will share the music that inspired her courage and her commitment. Hosted by W. Kamau Bell, Oakland Symphony’s 2018 Playlist honoree.

With Special Guests:
Goapele
Viveca Hawkins
Francisco Herrer
Martin Luther McCoy
PHER
Elena Pinderhughes
Valerie Troutt
CO-LLAB CHOIR
Oakland Symphony Chorus
& MORE!

Angela Davis
W. Kamau Bell, sociopolitical comedian
Rickey Minor, conductor

AMERICAN KALEIDOSCOPE

Berkeley Symphony
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Sunday, October 15 @ 4:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Embark on an extraordinary symphonic voyage where vibrant melodies and cultural connections intertwine. Experience the rare harmonies of Barber's Essay for Orchestra No. 2, the jazz-infused brilliance of Johnson's Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody with the Marcus Roberts Trio, and the introspective introspections of Peter S. Shin's Relapse. Prepare for the timeless allure of Gershwin's iconic Rhapsody in Blue, a dazzling fusion of classical, jazz, and popular music. This captivating program celebrates the evolution of American music, offering a spellbinding kaleidoscope of sounds to ignite your passion for live music.

Joseph Young, conductor

BARBER, Essay for Orchestra No. 2
JOHNSON, Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody
Marcus Roberts Trio
PETER S. SHIN, Relapse
GERSHWIN, Rhapsody in Blue

PRE-CONCERT CHAT 1 hour before the show
These informative and engaging pre-concert talks offer fascinating insights into the music you are about to experience. Learn about the program’s cultural and historical context, along with guided listening. Additionally, there will be live interviews with guest artists, composers, and orchestra musicians! Music talks take place one hour before all Symphonic Series concerts, excluding the opening night concert. Admission is free to all ticket holders.

Approximate run time is 2.5 hours with intermission and post-concert reception (complimentary for all attendees) included.

Celebrating Fil-Am History Month with The Sampaguitas and Friends

Freight & Salvage
Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
Thursday, October 5 @ 8:00PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

The Sampaguitas celebrate Fil-Am History Month with Theresa Calpotura, Genesis Fermin, Lenny San Jose (aka Ukulenny), and Kaisahan AfroCubalintang. Join us for an evening of Philippine folk songs in three-part harmonies, soulful interpretations, sing-a-longs, excerpts from Theresa's 100-year-old grandmother’s life, Filipinx mythology, and Kulintang-AfroCuban island roots fusion, honoring the late Kulintang master, Danongan Kalanduyan. The Sampaguitas also celebrate the release of their debut album, The Sampaguitas: Folk Songs from the Philippines and Beyond, with non-profit label Little Village Foundation.

Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran (Asin cover)

The Moth StorySLAM - ADULTING

Freight & Salvage
Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
Wednesday, October 4 @ 7:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

ADULTING: Prepare a five-minute story about the highs and lows of coming of age and the trials and tribulations of getting there. Old enough to know better or wishing someone else would grow the heck up. Faking it 'til you make it, rites of passage and the great onslaught of responsibility. You know what they say: age is just a number.

Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories told live and without notes.

Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.

The Moth was founded by the novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. The first New York Moth event was held in George’s living room and the story events quickly spread to larger venues throughout the city.

Through ongoing programs in more than 29 cities, The Moth has presented over 30,000 stories to standing-room-only crowds worldwide and it currently produces more than 500 live shows each year. Additionally, The Moth runs storytelling workshops for high school students and adults in underserved communities through their Education and Community Programs.

The Moth has an enthusiastic following for all of its content. The Moth podcast is downloaded more than 50 million times a year, and each week, the Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour is heard on over 480 radio stations worldwide. The Moth’s first book, The Moth: 50 True Stories was a NYT Bestseller and its newest book, All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown was released March, 2017.

Ai Weiwei with Peter Sellars and Orville Schell

Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Sunday, September 24 @ 2:00 PM
Special GSOC Price: $10 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

Ai Weiwei’s World of Art Lost and Found:
A Conversation About Life, Art, and Politics

Returning to the Berkeley campus for the first time in 15 years, renowned artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei discusses art, politics, and modern life in a conversation with respected theater director Peter Sellars and Orville Schell, Director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society. Ai’s unprecedented installation on Alcatraz in 2014–15, @Large, left an enduring mark on the Bay Area’s cultural landscape, an effort the Los Angeles Times called “an always-poignant, often-powerful meditation on soul-deadening repressions of human thought and feeling.” Ai addresses issues of exile, imprisonment, repression, and advocacy that have infused his personal life and artistic work with fellow artist Sellars, himself an avid student of Chinese history and culture, and Schell, a leading expert on China and the Far East. This program continues a series of campus talks about China led by Schell, who is former Dean at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

HADESTOWN

Broadway SF
Orpheum Theater, 1192 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Friday, September 15 @ 7:30 PM
Special GSOC Price: $15 (you may purchase one guest ticket)
All tickets will be available for pick up one hour before the show at will-call, unless otherwise noted.

COME SEE HOW THE WORLD COULD BE.

Welcome to HADESTOWN, where a song can change your fate. Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theater Album, this acclaimed new show by celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) is a love story for today... and always.

HADESTOWN intertwines two mythic tales — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, HADESTOWN is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs you and never lets go.

PRE-SHOW: Starting at 6:30pm, grab a drink/snack from the no-host bar and relax in our Sun Room lounge before the 7:30pm curtain. Seating is limited, so come early.

POST-SHOW: Meet cast members/get an autograph/picture at the STAGE DOOR immediately following the performance. Stage door is located on Market St., your immediate left as you exit the theatre. Note: it’s not a guarantee which cast members will come out after the show.