Berkeley Rep’s ‘aubergine’ Explores Hunger For Connections

The drama, which takes its title from the more graceful name for eggplant, traffics in the heavy-duty emotions of losing a parent and the deep connection between food, memory, loss and desire. The main character, Ray, is a chef and a first-generation Korean American who sets aside the chaos of the kitchen to care for his critically ill immigrant father. In the almost four years since then, the short play evolved into a full-blown piece and, in the process, broke Cho’s writer’s block. Madeleine Oldham, Berkeley Rep’s resident dramaturg and director of the Ground Floor, says she was thrilled that Cho wanted to take the play further. The original nugget of “Aubergine,” which was the original title, remains in the play, but now there are more characters and two acts. Julia is a gorgeous writer who has this insight and this way of being incredibly universal, Oldham says. Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone is directing the play, the first show in the newly renamed Peet’s Theatre (formerly the Thrust Stage) after an extensive renovation of the intimate 36-year-old space. “It’s fortuitous timing that Julia’s play is the first play in the new era of doing plays in this space,” Taccone says. [...] I started thinking about memories associated with food, and suddenly the play became about food and memory in a way I hadn’t expected and became less about loss. In retrospect, Cho sees the food angle as a way into a play that helped her deal with the loss of her father and a close friend. Sounded fun and light, with the great irony being that the more I tried to write away from things, the play kept bringing me right back.