Don Reed's Acclaimed EAST 14th Returns To The Marsh Berkeley This Month

Just in time for the holiday season, The Marsh Berkeley announces a limited run of comedian Don Reed's East 14th, a bold and innovative peek into an extraordinary childhood intertwined with Christmas stories. Winner of the 2016 Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Award for "Outstanding Presentation of a Solo Production," this acclaimed autobiographical hit invites audiences to 1970s Oakland when Reed tried to resist the evangelical recruiting by his Jehovah's Witness stepfather.

All Reed wanted was to be just like dear old Dad, not knowing that Dad was a pimp. East 14th is the first installment in Reed's hilarious coming-of-age trilogy and includes elements of the unforgettable story "I Miss Toni" that was featured on NPR podcast "Snap Judgment." As a producer, Don is co-producing noted director/writer Robert Townsend's (Hollywood Shuffle, The 5 Heartbeats, Eddie Murphy's Raw, The Last OG) one-man show Living the Shuffle for The Marsh. East 14th will be presented 8:30pm, Saturday December 21 and 5:30pm, Sunday, December 22 at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale; $55 and $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, 1:00pm-4:00pm).

Originating in 2009 Los Angeles, East 14th traces Reed's irregular teen years throughout the 1970s when he was torn between his mother and conservative stepfather on one side of the Oakland thoroughfare, and his enigmatic father on the other. After making its Bay Area premiere at The Marsh San Francisco in 2009 and extending more than 20 times, East 14th transferred to Off-Broadway, where it also had an extremely successful run. East 14th has been welcomed by critics, who called it "hilarious" (The New Yorker), "hard not to love" (The New York Times), and "an underground hit" (San Francisco Chronicle), with The Daily Californian praising Reed for his ability to "easily inhabit all the roles of a sprawling cast of Oakland residents."

"I Miss Toni," an excerpt from East 14th, was featured on the popular NPR podcast "Snap Judgment" and won the 2016 "Snap Judgement" Performance of the Year award. Hosted by Glynn Washington, winner of the 2008 Public Radio Talent Quest, "Snap Judgment" is a weekly radio hour that brings together dramatic tales, killer beats, and refreshingly edgy talent in storytelling. "I Miss Toni" was so groundbreaking that it helped Reed close both a feature film deal and a television deal with major players from the Broadway hit Hamilton. It was also added to the curriculum of the graduate writing program at American University in Washington D.C.

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 creator and star). 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. 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. Charitable work includes 51Oakland, keeping arts & music in Oakland Public Schools; and Mercy House, giving the homeless self-esteem by giving them a home.

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."