Welcome Jessi Blue Gormezano

We're delighted to welcome our newest Featured Artist, Jessi Blue Gormezano.

Jessi has performed ReEntry at numerous theaters, hospitals and military bases across the USA and Europe. Regional: ReEntry (Actors Theater of Louisville, Round House Theatre, Off Center Festival), Equus, Smash, The Constant Wife (Asolo Repertory), The Good Body (The Players Theatre).  International Tours: ReEntry, The Sworn Virgin (World Premiere: a bilingual collaboration between Teatri ODA & Blessed Unrest in the Balkans). New York: A Christmas Carol (Blessed Unrest) Mark My Words (Emerging Artists Theatre), Epic Story of Love & Sex (Manhattan Theatre Source), Home of the Great Pecan, (Drilling Company Theatre), The Secretaries (Project: Theater).  MFA FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Her self-written solo show, Mark My Words, was accepted into the 2011 United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC.  She is the Associate Artistic Director of Project: Theater and the creator of OUR BAR, a site-specific monthly performance event.  www.jessiblue.com

American Records takes on american football

XO's and O's (A Gridiron Love Story)

By KJ Sanchez with Jenny Mercein
Directed by Tony Taccone
Main Season · Thrust Stage
Starts January 16, 2015
World premiere

Memory, myth, and football meet head on in this hard-hitting world premiere commissioned by Berkeley Rep and directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone. KJ Sanchez’s previous play ReEntry, featuring a moving portrayal of Marines preparing for and returning from combat, was an explosive off-Broadway hit. Now she brings us a gripping new docudrama about a love that is generous yet dangerous, life-giving yet lethal—and a passion that borders on addiction yet feels so much a part of our DNA. Dramatically based on brutally honest and heartrending interviews with players, their families, and their fans about traumatic brain injuries and their impact on the game,X’s and O’s (A Gridiron Love Story) takes an unflinching look at the lives and loves around this singularly American sport—and the lingering questions it asks of us all.

X’s and O’s (A Gridiron Love Story) was commissioned by Berkeley Rep and developed in The Ground Floor, Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work.