(American Conservatory often focuses on classics and large-scale works, while the Berkeley Rep is more avant-garde.)

Sometime this summer I received in the mail a pair of shorts from the Berkeley Rep, where the play originated, and a plastic knife and fork.

Ms. Ott and the Berkeley Rep had the advantage of credibility.

In 1997, Berkeley Rep won a Tony for Best Regional Theater.

Berkeley Rep takes on the challenge of coming to terms with it.

"I think it's great they didn't withhold the grant for Berkeley Rep," Mr. Kushner said yesterday.

While at Berkeley Rep she had written Revenge of the Rose, her second novel.

He has also appeared at theaters around the country, including Steppenwolf, The Public, the Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, and many others.

Berkeley Rep itself, which won a Tony Award in 1997 for outstanding regional theater, was begun in a storefront by some university graduate students in 1968.

The plays at Berkeley Rep over the last year have been a typical blend of experimental and commercial.