Berkeley Rep Announces Cast and Creative Team for Mother Road

Berkeley Repertory Theatre artistic director Johanna Pfaelzer and managing director Tom Parrish announced the full cast and creative team for Mother Road, Octavio Solis’ 21st-century tale inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. It will run at Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre June 14-July 21.

In Mother Road, William Joad has no heir to bequeath the family farm to, until he learns about Martín Jodes, a young Mexican American migrant worker descended from Steinbeck’s protagonist Tom Joad. In a reversal of the Joads’ mythic journey, William and Martín embark on a road trip from California’s migrant farm camps back to Oklahoma, where they reckon with their brutal pasts and forge an unlikely bond.

Directed by Berkeley Rep associate artistic director David Mendizábal, the cast of Mother Road includes James Carpenter as William Joad and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez as Martín Jodes alongside Cher Alvarez, Scott Coopwood, Daniel Duque-Estrada, Branden Davon Lindsay, Marilet Martinez, Michael Moreland Milligan, Lindsay Rico, Kenny Scott, Benny Wayne Sully, Angel Villalobos, Courtney Walsh, and Kenneth Watkins.

The creative team includes scenic designer Tanya Orellana, costume designer Rodrigo Muñoz, lighting designer Cha See, sound designer Jake Rodriguez, and original music composer Ritmos Tropicosmos.