Berkeley Rep’s David Mendizábal on Theater, Storytelling & Representation | Ep 17 | TIS

In this episode, we’re joined by David Mendizábal, Associate Artistic Director at Berkeley Rep and Producing Artistic Leader at the Movement Theater Company.

David takes us deep into his journey as a director, producer, and cultural architect—exploring how storytelling, community, and radical imagination shape the future of theater and civic life.

⬛ How watching his immigrant father advocate in court became his first experience of theater as storytelling

⬛ Why representation on stage isn’t just about visibility—but about wholeness, complexity, and agency

⬛ How nightlife, drag, and non-traditional spaces redefined his relationship with audiences

⬛ What it really takes to build a theater company from scratch—beyond acting and applause

⬛ Why creating “space” for artists of color starts internally before it becomes institutional

⬛ How audience engagement, ritual, and immersion are reshaping modern theater

⬛ The unseen labor behind production—from casting and design to technical execution

⬛ Why great theater asks questions instead of giving answers

David shares candid insights from nearly two decades of building artistic ecosystems that center artists of color, nurture new work, and treat theater as a living, reciprocal relationship with its audience. From founding and growing the Movement Theater Company to directing and producing at scale at Berkeley Rep, this conversation reveals what it truly means to make art that changes rooms—and the people inside them.

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In this video
00:00 – Coming Up...
02:00 – First encounters with theater and storytelling
04:38 – Growing up performing and discovering stage life
06:45 – Family expectations, culture, and career fear
09:19 – Representation, stereotypes, and shifting narratives
11:00 – NYU, New York, and learning theater by immersion
14:56 – Nightlife, drag, and rethinking audience engagement
17:02 – Theater as a reciprocal relationship with audiences
20:15 – Discovering “artists of color” and finding community
22:06 – Founding Movement Theater Company
26:51 – Early productions and breakthrough recognition
31:25 – Theater as ritual and radical audience experiences
34:11 – Building audiences and community from the ground up
41:13 – How David chooses scripts and stories
48:56 – The unseen complexity of theater production
55:04 – Translating vision into technical execution
56:06 – Joining Berkeley Rep and scaling artistic ambition
58:37 – Current work, future projects, and evolving storytelling

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About Dr. Manish Arora

Dr. Arora is the co-founder of LearnDesk and Insaito, where he leads marketing and sales. He has grown LearnDesk into a global platform supporting over 25,000 businesses and is now focused on Automatan, an AI platform for automating business workflows. With 80+ patents and decades of industry experience, Dr. Arora brings deep technical and strategic insights to every conversation.

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