Though born and raised in the East Bay, Joel Roster has spent a lot of time in Anatevka.
As a child, he watched his actor father, the late David Roster, play Tevye in a 1986 Diablo Valley College production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” which is set in that fictional shtetl. Nearly three decades later, Joel Roster played Perchik, Hodel’s love interest, in the 2015 production at Berkeley Playhouse. And next year, he will direct “Fiddler” at Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) in El Cerrito.
The show will run June 7-22 and close out the theater’s 2024-2025 season, which was announced on Monday. Tickets go on sale next month.
“It’s one of the most uplifting masterpieces I know, and it works beautifully as a closer because the final show of the season has to be a celebration of the strength in all of us,” said Roster, who became CCCT’s new executive artistic and managing director in January.
The nonprofit theater’s 65th season kicks off Sept. 7 with Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which will run on alternate nights through Sept. 22.
“Doctor Dolittle,” a musical based on the 1967 movie of the same name and the children’s stories by Hugh Lofting, will open in November. “Fairview” is next, opening in February. Penned by Jackie Sibblies Drury, the comedy won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2019. The play follows a middle class African American family as they prepare for a birthday dinner for their grandmother — and expect an odd twist in the story.
One “lightly staged” benefit concert, separate from the 2024-25 season, also is scheduled: “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” in December.
While planning his first season with CCCT, Roster, 41, demanded strong justification for telling each story. “That’s so important,” he said. “If a play matters to us, it will matter to our audiences, too.”
Roster recalled seeing “many, many productions” of “Fiddler on the Roof” over his lifetime, and he characterized them all as “overwhelmingly gentile.”
“Authenticity in this piece is the most crucial element, from traditions and observances to language spoken,” he said. “There will be additional Hebrew throughout the show, especially when Tevye speaks to God.”
In a happy coincidence, “Fiddler” was the first play Roster ever attended. He was 4 when he saw his father play Tevye, and he said that was the moment he became “obsessed” with the theater. A family photo from the time shows him wearing the hat from his father’s costume and singing “Tradition.”
Throughout elementary and high school, Roster performed in more than 40 productions. He first got paid for performing at age 12.
“In his one act of nepotism, my dad, who directed ‘Bleacher Bums’ at a theater in Benicia, put me in the show,” Roster said. “I had two lines, and it was an incredible experience. When I got a check for $50, it blew my mind that I could get paid for doing something I loved.”
Roster studied theater arts at Diablo Valley College and has been a professional actor for the past two decades. Most recently, he played Nathan Detroit in San Francisco Playhouse’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” He also coaches acting students, has worked as an arts educator and once headed up his own theater company.
Roster has a history with CCCT. In 2011, he performed there in “Big River” and a year later in “Barefoot in the Park.” He also has directed two shows for the 174-seat theater.
Roster credits his “Jewish side” with influencing his life and his love of the arts. “While my level of being a good practicing Jew is certainly on the lower half of the mezuzah — I was not bar mitzvahed and I enjoy bacon a great deal — my entire mother’s side of the family are Ashkenazi Jews, most of whom got wiped out in the Holocaust,” he said. “The Jewish half of me has deeply informed my outlook, my humor, my love for others and my love of the arts.”
Does he plan to step out of management and back on the stage from time to time?
“If it’s a project I’m passionate about and it works with my schedule at CCCT, I’ll continue to act now and then,” Roster said. “The board is fully supportive, but first and foremost I’m excited about my role at this beautiful theater, and I’m honored to start with a clean slate for the new season.”