Susie Medak will step down as managing director in August 2022
“It has been an honor and a privilege to lead this company for so many years,” says Susie Medak, Berkeley Repertory Theatre Managing Director, “I have had the rare opportunity to do the thing I loved (almost) every day for the last 32 years. Making theater, making really good and impactful, entertaining and provocative theater has brought me into contact with so many simply remarkable people. As far as I’m concerned, this has been the best job in the world. It is time for me to make room for someone new. Johanna Pfaelzer, our current artistic director, is a superb leader with a dynamic vision. She is also a thoughtful partner who will be a joy for whomever comes next. She deserves an equally dynamic partner so that together, they can shape this company for a new generation of theater lovers and theater makers.”
“I am unbelievably fortunate to have had Susie by my side for the last two and a half years,” returns Johanna. “Neither of us could have foretold that we would find ourselves in a partnership forged in the fire of a pandemic that has created more vulnerability in our field that anyone could have imagined, but I am deeply grateful to have had her wisdom and cool head as we have steered Berkeley Rep though the last two years. Susie’s legacy will be in the generations of artists, artisans and organizational leaders she has championed over the years, and whose impact on this art form is immeasurable.”
During Susie’s tenure as Berkeley Rep’s managing director, we received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Over the past three decades, we’ve presented more than 80 world, American, and West Coast premieres and delivered 34 shows to New York, two to London, and one to Hong Kong. Shows that originated at Berkeley Rep and found their way to Broadway include: Paradise Square (set to open in spring 2022), Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations, No Man’s Land, Amelie, American Idiot, Passing Strange, Bridge and Tunnel, and Wishful Drinking.
Under Susie’s leadership, Berkeley Rep took on many ambitious projects, including the unveiling of the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, the renovation of the Peet’s Theatre, and the creation of the School of Theatre, and most recently the construction of 2009 Addison Street, a new building that will hold 45 apartments for guest artists and fellows and a studio for showcasing new work. Susie helped transition Berkeley Rep from a theatre committed to adventuresome classics to a company known for its dedication to new work. A titan in the theatre community, she has also expanded professional growth opportunities for young people by deepening Berkeley Rep’s commitment to our fellowship program and by training 20 aspiring theater managers who graduated from The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
In addition, Susie served on the board of Theater Communications Group, and, for six years, as president of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). Locally, she served on the board of the Downtown Berkeley Association for 20 years, and was the board chair for five. She co-founded the Berkeley Cultural Trust, the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee, and the East Bay Cultural Alliance. She was also instrumental in the creation of the Berkeley’s Downtown Arts District.
Johanna speaks for all of us at Berkeley Rep when she says, “It’s hard to picture Berkeley Rep without Susie, but we will move forward holding fast to her commitment to the people of this company and this community.”
(l to r) Susie Medak, Sharon Ott, and Tony Taccone accepting Berkeley Rep’s Tony Award in 1997