“The Reservoir” Mixes College Boy Confusion, Grandparents’ Survival—at Berk Rep

Pamela Reed & Ben Hirschhorn. Photo: Kevin Berne

Jacob Brasch’s Arrogant Gay Dropout Charms

by Barry David Horwitz

A boy sits in front of a giant curved photo of a beautiful lake, its colors reflected on the black mirrored stage. Stranded on his own little island, he tries to absorb the healing power of Nature. But even with humor and warmth, he cannot recover on his own.

“The Reservoir” uses magnificent staging, operatic monologues, top notch actors, and a posse of grandparents who beats all—the Golden Girls of grandparents. Each one has a pearl of wisdom and a lot of humor to share, and they are the hit of the show!

Especially Grandma Bev, played by precise Pamela Reed as a keen, savvy engineer who sees right through the lies and backsliding of her grandson Josh (lively Ben Hirschhorn). Josh has a plan to “help” his grandparents, played brilliantly by Barbara Kingsley, Michael Cullen, and Peter Van Wagner, using concoctions from a DIY book. With warmth and laughs, he feeds them spinach and imitates a river with them. He is trying to expand their brain power to avoid Alzheimer’s.

Josh is hilarious as he bumbles along, trying to help them out, but it’s obvious that he is the one who needs healing. And Grandma Bev and two grandpas are not swallowing Josh’s alcoholic lies. They know he is the one who needs the exercise, spinach, and “tough love.”

But they go along, make funny marches as the river, and try to help him cure himself. It’s a long, hard slog through rehab and self-help. He’s a struggling AA recovery case and when he drinks a pint of vanilla extract in a supermarket bathroom, we know the recovery is slipping.

He visits his mom who is on to his tricks. Patricia Withers shines as Mom and other witty portraits. Mom has given up on Josh and her reactions are priceless.

When Josh goes up to the reservoir with Grandma Bev, magical things do happen. Nature brings him back to earth, realization flows. But it’s not an easy transition. Since Josh speaks directly to us, there’s limited drama, but marvelous character studies. We get to see the people behind the labels.

One grandparent is fighting Alzheimer’s, another is doing a repeat Bar Mitzvah at 83 years old, and a third speaks out with blinding clarity about his wasteful grandson. Hirschhorn’s Josh repeats his mistakes but maybe he can learn something from these glorious grandparents. Maybe he can even treat them as people rather than as figments of his imagination. His process of re-learning is touching and funny and selfish.

At his job at the bare-bones bookstore, his sweet boss is on to him. Gentle Jeffrey Omura plays the bookstore manager frustrated by Josh’s selfishness—and several other funny roles to perfection. He brings reason and hope to his Josh’s tortured alcoholic logic.

If you want to see a study in Jewish guilt and repentance, cast in a humorous and smooth rehab story, see “Reservoir” for joy and insights. Bask in the changing light from the hills around the man-made lake and enjoy these wonderful grandparents’ nobility and humanity.

“The Reservoir” by Jake Brasch, directed by Mike Donahue, scenic design by Afsoon Pajoufar, costumes by Carolyn Mazuca, lighting by Alexander V. Nichols, sound by Jake Rodriguez, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley, California. Info: berkeleyrep.org – to October 12, 2025.

Cast: Michael Cullen, Ben Hirschhorn, Barbara Kingsley, Pamela Reed, Jeffrey Omura, Peter Van Wagner, and Brenda Withers.