About Us

Berkeley Playhouse is a professional theatre that produces artistically excellent, relevant and intelligent drama and musicals that brings together multigenerational audiences in a multi-sensory experience that fully engages them as both a participant and audience. It is also a growing school for theatre arts with classes in performance, singing, and dance where children get to train in tandem with real-life opportunities and experience in professional mainstage productions.

In November 2008, Berkeley Playhouse will launch our first full season with the The BFG, the Roald Dahl classic, directed by the young prodigy, Jon Tracy; Once on This Island by Ahrens and Flaherty, directed by Kimberly Dooley; and the fantasy family musical, Peter Pan, directed by Eliz McKoy. All productions will be at the Ashby Stage, a 120 seat capacity theatre situated in Berkeley.

A Berkeley Playhouse performance is a new theatre experience for many theatre goers. As an audience member, they are encouraged to become involved with the production on a number of levels even before the show begins. Lobby installations invite interaction that engage all senses -  touch, feel, sight, sound, art, writing, movement, which immediately deepens the audience experience and understanding of the performance. Audiences are inspired to think critically, act creatively, reflect imaginatively and connect more deeply with the worlds they are about to experience. In this way a Berkeley Playhouse production redefines the way an audience experiences the theatre.

Berkeley Playhouse was founded in 2007 by Artistic Director, Elizabeth McKoy, a professional theatre actor, director, and teacher for over 20 years. Originally trained in New York, Elizabeth has performed in New York, Seattle and in the Bay Area. She also served as education Director at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, creating and providing exciting and creative teacher training for schools, after-school programs and pre-professional development programs and on the faculty at the internationally known Seattle Children's theatre for five years. Elizabeth was Teaching Artist in Residence in many Seattle public and private schools and assisted with the development of an interdisciplinary curriculum for them-based education for 5th and 6th graders in public schools.  

As a lover of musicals and a devotee of enriching family experiences Elizabeth has always wanted to infuse her community’s life with the riches and benefits of enlivening theatrical experiences. Five years ago, she founded the Imagination Players, a children's musical theatre performing troupe, which she directed in numerous performances, including The Music Man Jr, Into the Woods and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. 

Elizabeth ’s vision for the Berkeley Playhouse includes multileveled children’s theatre programs, an educational theatre outreach program and the new Berkeley Playhouse - a professional theatre performing top quality musicals and plays for audiences of all ages. Berkeley Playhouse promises to showcase the wit, intelligence and musical diversity of everyone’s favorite productions with direction and performances that appeal to the cultural sophistication of the hip, east bay arts audiences.

Listen to an inspiring interview with Elizabeth at Radio Disney.