Marsh Berkeley Extends THAT DON REED SHOW

The Marsh Berkeley announces the extension of That Don Reed Show created by acclaimed comedian/playwright, Theatre Bay Area (TBA) 2018 nominee, and 2016 TBA winner Don Reed. Saturday Night Live said Don was "too white," while the network executive for In Living Color said he wasn't "black enough." So Don created That Don Reed Show-his own sketch variety show-bringing Bay Area audiences an evening of irreverent sketches, edgy stand-up, and music. That Don Reed Show, currently scheduled to close December 23, will be extended December 29, 2018-February 2, 2019 with performances 8:30pm Saturdays and 5:30pm Sundays at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1pm-4pm).

Shunning roles that don't convey the full scope of urban characters, Don has never put obvious black stereotypes without some redeeming factor in any of his work. And now, after five award-winning solo shows, a run Off-Broadway of East 14, appearances with The Tonight Show, Netflix, Amazon Prime, NBC, comedy clubs, and corporate events, Don will play all the original characters, and impersonate all the celebrities and public figures he wants in That Don Reed Show (and he cautions, "yes, you might notice a couple of characters that are 'too white.'"). A hilarious hybrid of SNL and In Living Color, with some touching beats of The Carol Burnett Show, That Don Reed Show premiered in November 2018 at The Marsh Berkeley Cabaret.

Don Reed is a recent 2018 nominee for the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Outstanding Solo Production, as well as the 2016 TBA winner and the 2017 TBA nominee for the same award. He is also a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominee and NAACP triple nominee for Best Actor and Best Playwright. He is presently co-starring in the Amazon Prime series Bartlett, where Reed plays the boss in a struggling ad agency alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (The Mindy Project). Reed can be seen in the movie Unleashed starring Kate Micucci (The LEGO Batman Movie), Justin Chatwin (Doctor Who), and Steve Howey (Shameless), now on Netflix. Reed has performed, written, and directed for film, television, and theater. As a producer and writer, he has also been working on transforming Charlotte Burley and Lyah Beth LeFlore's best-selling book Cosmopolitan Girls into a television series. Reed was the opening act/warm-up comedian for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for more than 1,000 episodes and is presently the warm-up comedian for Snoop Dogg's game show The Joker's Wild. His voice can be heard on: Spiderman, Johnny Quest, Captain Planet, The Voice, Law & Order, SNL and as the voice of the cat on 2 Broke Girls. He has created promos for The Voice, The Golden Globes, The Academy Awards, MLB, Chappelle's Show, Tyler Perry Films, and the Olympics. Additionally, he has written, directed, produced, and starred in the HBO shorts: Lucky: The Irish Pimp and Pookie Watson: Hood Detective. Reed has written and starred in work for Oprah Winfrey's OWN. He is also a board member of the thriving 51Oakland foundation which aims to keep music and the arts alive in Oakland Public Schools.

The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and now annually hosts more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company's two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh's specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest." The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area's best intimate theaters, calling it "one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible."

Photo credit: Waylon Broadmax