Friday, January 11th, 2008

Danny Hoch Takes Over Berkeley

Bay Area heads are blessed with another premiere of world-class cutting edge hip-hop theatre when Danny Hoch’s new piece “Taking Over” opens tonight for previews at the Berkeley Rep. Opening night next Wednesday is sold out, but Danny will be doing talk-backs through the month. Check the calendar for those special shows.

“Taking Over” is a classic Hoch maneuver: a raw, wickedly humorous multi-character play looking at thorny urban issues, in this case, the role of hip-hop heads, hipsters, young artists and cultural workers in the gentrification of the global city. Here’s a taste of some of Danny’s flavors:

“This group ‘Artists Against Gentrification.’ You know how funny that is to me? You could make a sitcom. The artists are the advanced ground troops. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. That’s like the US Army Rangers deciding they’re against the occupation of Iraq.”

“I’m thinkin’, where did all these people appear from that’s waiting on line and made reservations for brunch? I been here 37 years, and there wasn’t no BRUNCH happenin’ in this neighborhood…People were eatin’ Ding Dongs for DINNER if they was lucky.”

The hotness happens here in the B-Town ’til February 10th. Then it’s coming to another gentrifying city near you.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 10:51 am | 0 Comments