Fall in the East Bay is always chock-full of arts adventures, and 2025 is no exception. Take a look at this by-no-means-comprehensive preview of a creative scene with something for everyone.
THEATER
Berkeley Rep revs up its season with The Reservoir, a comedy in which a 20-something, discombobulated queer man copes with “family, memory and the path toward healing,” Sept. 5-Oct. 12. Fall continues with The Hills of California, opening Oct. 31, and Mother of Exiles, opening Nov. 14.
Oakland Theater Project, along with its other season offerings, presents the ultra-timely The Courtroom: A Reenactment of One Woman’s Deportation Proceedings, “an urgent docudrama created from real-life transcripts of a deportation trial.” Oct. 9-19.
Shotgun Players challenges with The Motion, in which “A heated debate on animal testing slips down a kaleidoscopic rabbit hole where the audience is not only voyeur but accomplice,” opening Sept. 13.
UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances continues its tradition of presenting world-class theater with Manual Cinema: The 4th Witch, which follows a young girl, orphaned during wartime, “who becomes unwittingly apprenticed to the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth,” explored through shadow puppetry, actors in silhouette and immersive sound design. Nov. 22.
MUSEUMS
BAMPFA presents “Lee Shin-Ja: Drawing with Thread,” the first major retrospective of the acclaimed fiber artist outside of South Korea. The exhibit features more than 40 of the 95-year-old Lee’s monumental weavings and smaller-scale works. Through Feb. 1, 2026.
Oakland Museum of California’s exhibition “Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain,” developed in collaboration with East Bay residents affected by displacement, draws inspiration from West Oakland and Russell city histories, and features three installations that “reflect the ongoing struggle and success in reclaiming and reshaping self-determined spaces in the face of systemic violence, erasure and urban renewal.” Through March 1, 2026.
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley opens “Flowing Through Time and Tradition” Aug. 28. The exhibition uses the collection’s extensive holdings to examine how water “has shaped Jewish lives across centuries…[tracing] water’s role in sustaining life, building communities, and influencing Jewish identity and spirituality.” Ongoing.
DANCE
Cal Performances offers the North American premiere of Paris Opera Ballet’s Red Carpet, inspired by evening wear, with costumes by Chanel. Thirteen dancers “transform the stage into a fantastical cabaret setting… immersive, shadowy café-theater pulsating with live music.” Oct. 2-4.
Another fall choice is Sutra, presented by the U.K.’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre and China’s Shaolin Temple. Twenty Shaolin monks combine their traditional kung fu martial arts skills with contemporary dance, choreographed by Belgian dance master Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in a “humorous fable” about a European learning about their spiritual tradition, performed with live music. Nov. 8, 9.
MUSIC
Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention returns with its concerts, jams, dance parties, workshops and discussions, including many free events. This year’s performers include Jake Blount, Judy Hyman & Jeff Claus, Bruce Molsky, the Ozark Highballers, Sarah Kate Morgan, Blake Miller, the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellows, Suzy Thompson, Aux Cajunals, WB Reid & Bonnie Zahnow, the Manning Mud Stompers, Susan Michaels and Connor Maguire. For the daily lineup, visit berkeleyoldtimemusic.org/schedule. Sept. 17-21.
Lila Downs, Día de los Muertos. Cal Performances celebrates the holiday with Latin Grammy Award-winner Downs. The Berkeley resident will be backed by an all-star band in a “festive set of original and traditional songs in Spanish and English, as well as Indigenous languages from her native Oaxaca.” Oct. 25.
Kitka & Kurbasy: Songs from the Ukrainian Forest comes to The Freight as the world waits for Ukraine to be free of war. The Bay Area women’s vocal ensemble will open with a set of Ukrainian polyphonic songs, followed by Lviv-based Kurbasy presenting “a dramatic song cycle drawing from Eastern, Central, and Western Ukrainian folk traditions.” The two groups will sing together to close the show. Oct. 28.
Oakland Symphony opens its season with a new conductor and a new commission, Harmony of the Unheard by Dave Ragland, along with Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, and Clyne’s This Midnight Hour. Oct. 17.
FILM
More relevant than ever, the Fist Up! Film Festival is back for its 16th season. Although the list of films wasn’t available by press time, festival materials state: “This year’s themes will be Legacy and Ancestral Knowledge and will focus on the connection between art and social justice activism.” Two venues have been announced, Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center and Oakland’s New Parkway Theater. Visit filmfreeway.com/FistUpFilmFestival for updates on films and venues. Oct. 1-5.
BOOK/LITERARY EVENTS
Pegasus Books sponsors “Jazz Stories: Live Music and Stories” at its Solano Ave. location. “Musicians like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Buddy Rich were original, colorful characters artists who said and did astonishing things…we now have a rich repository of photos and anecdotes about these artists, and about the American songwriters and composers who created the raw material of jazz,” reads the event announcement. Pre-registration required. Sept. 15.
The downtown Berkeley location will host author Jeff Chang for the launch of his book Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America. Bestselling novelist and screenwriter Adam Mansbach will join Chang in conversation. Oct. 8.
Mrs. Dalloway’s Library and Garden Arts bookstore in Berkeley hosts mystery writer Elizabeth George, creator of the Inspector Lynley novels, for a discussion and signing for her new entry in the series, A Slowly Dying Cause. Pre-registration required. Sept. 25.
Local author Paul Myers will discuss and sign John Candy: A Life in Comedy, the “definitive biography” of the late comic star. Pre-registration required. Oct. 7.
Books Inc. in Alameda welcomes East Bay poet James Cagney this fall. Cagney will read from his new collection, Ghetto Koans: A Personal Archive. RSVP requested. Sept. 25.
COMEDYJohn Mulaney. Those who enjoy actor/comedian John Mulaney’s Emmy Award-winning hosting gigs on SNL get the chance to see him live at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland during his “Mister Whatever” tour. Mulaney co-created SNL classic character Stefon, who might say, “The East Bay’s hottest comedy night is …” Nov. 23.
Kitka & Kurbasy: Songs from the Ukrainian Forest is happening October 28!
We’ve corrected the date, thank you!