Multi-hyphenate
ANDREA GORDON • Rainbow Zebra Productions (a resident company at the Magic Theatre)
WORK • Wednesday Routine
ANDREA GORDON • artistic director • Rainbow Zebra Productions (a resident company at the Magic Theatre)
Neighborhood you live in: Claremont Knolls, Berkeley
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
The cardinal rule of theatre is to never give up your day job, especially in the current economic situation for the arts, so I’m also a top-producing Realtor at Compass and have a podcast about the business called REalizations. Most Wednesday mornings, I have podcast sessions scheduled, then go through around 500 emails and deal with real estate work. In the afternoon, I work on anything to do with the theatre — whether it is casting, reading plays, rehearsing, marketing, or fundraising.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I’ve been writing a play called John's Ashes that will be read this coming year. Earlier in the day, I had a listing appointment at a coffeehouse (I got it) and met with my advisor for my transformative studies PhD program at CIIS to plan my next year's classes.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
We love Italian food, and I love to go to Donato & Co. in the Elmwood, or Bellanico in Oakland. Great food and ambiance!
How about a little leisure or culture?
We really enjoy playing with our pets: two cats, two dogs, and two parrots. Also, I play piano and take lessons, so I practice a fair amount (never enough). I started lessons at 60, and I am 68 now, and for my 65th birthday, I bought myself a beautiful Steinway grand. I'm getting better!
Any weekend getaways?
Sycamore Mineral Springs in Avila Beach is a favorite. The springs are great, and the whole place is super relaxing.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I bought and framed a beautiful woodblock print by Hiroshi Yoshida called Numazaki Pasture, which, for many years, I’d searched for.
What store or service do you always recommend?
I love Your Basic Bird in the Elmwood, where the owner, Claudia, is fantastic, and she carries my children's book about my parrot, Yo-Yo Ma, called Yo-Yo in a Tree. Jon Moriarty, who owns The 14 Karats in the Elmwood, is a phenomenal jewelry artist. Also, April Higashi has a gallery on 4th Street called Shibumi. She holds beautiful curated showings of jewelry and art, and April is a master jeweler, working with organically inspired designs.
Where are you donating your time or money?
I donate five months of the year's food to the Berkeley Humane Society, and also sublet my office to them (since I wasn't using it enough). I also donate to Berkeley Repertory Theatre's school.