After the Board Retreat ended I crossed the Bay and made my way to the Berkeley Repretory Theater to see two different shows.

In the afternoon I saw the new rock musical "American Idiot" with the music of Green Day. Green Day's American Idiot CD is one of the few punk rock CDs I own and I've probably listened to it 75 times since it came out four or five years ago. I really enjoyed how they turned it into a stage musical -- punk rock with jazz hands.

It tells the story of three young men who try to escape their boring hometown -- Jingletown. Difficulties befall all three as they journey not only to the big city but into manhood.

Even though I've listened to the CD many times I never really could understand the lyrics until I heard them performed this way.

I'm confident this show will transfer to Broadway and when it does I'm also certain Tony Vincent will win a Tony for his performance as St. Jimmy -- the nefarious drug dealer. You can't take your eyes off him for one second while he's on stage.

In the evening I came back to the Berkeley Rep to see "Tiny Kushner," a collect of five one-act plays by Tony Kushner. I'm a big Kushner fan and loved the flights of fancy these plays take. Kushner is one of the most imaginative and political playwrights out there and he lets the fantasies fly here. One play has Laura Bush reading a book to children -- dead Iraqi children killed by the U.S. invasion of their country. Another features Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker -- Richard Nixon's psychiatrist. A third features Geraldine, Queen of Albania. Witty, insightful and a complete trip!