Real Life Couple Jimmy Smits and Wanda De Jesús, Play Husband and Wife in Berkeley Rep’s ‘All My Sons’

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4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Arthur Miller’s classic play “All My Sons” tells the story of a father who attains the American Dream, but at a high cost to himself and everyone around him. Nearly 80 years after the original, Berkeley Rep’s new production reimagines the play with a Puerto Rican family at the center. The main characters, Joe and Kate Keller, are played by real life couple Jimmy Smits and Wanda De Jesús. We’ll talk with the actors and director David Mendizábal about what the production has to say about the American Dream today. Guests: David Mendizábal, associate artistic director and director of "All My Sons," Berkeley Repertory Theatre Wanda De Jesús, actor starring as Kate Keller, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's production of "All My Sons" Jimmy Smits, actor starring as Joe Keller, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's production of "All My Sons" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Morgan Sugg from KQED's Internet Culture Podcast, Close All Tabs, and we're bringing the web to the stage. On Thursday, March 5th, I'm hosting Chronically Online, a PowerPoint party at KQED. It'll be a fun night of internet deep dives, niche rabbit holes, and chaotic slide decks, featuring internet culture researcher Aidan Walker, journalist Candace Lim, and a few brave audience members. If you can't be with us in
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0:32.6	On 1440 Explores, we talk to the world's experts to unpack the fascinating knowledge behind everyday topics that shape our world.
0:40.0	It's really easy to influence dream content. We can turn you into a drunk.
0:45.1	The credit card has massive negative social consequences and also it's magic.
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1:00.1	From KQED.
1:03.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:06.6	It's the late 1940s a few years after the war has ended.
1:13.1	The boys have come home, or most of them at least. The play All My Sons opens in a backyard, a suburban backyard. The way Berkeley
1:20.2	rep has staged the play, the house belongs to a Puerto Rican family. We'll learn many things
1:25.4	about them in the course of a couple hours, but what we know
1:28.3	first is that they've made it. The father Joe is played by Jimmy Smiths and he's reading the paper.
1:34.9	He's a factory owner presiding over his small kingdom, one who's built a business he'll hand over
1:40.1	to his son. His wife, Kate, played by Wanda Jesus, is in a kind of suspended mourning
1:46.1	over their other son, a pilot who disappeared during the war. A neighbor appears and the play
1:52.7	is off to the races, a rich exploration of the family, the prophets of war, the long arm of history,
1:59.2	and humming in the background of this particular staging,
2:03.5	race, ethnicity, and class in America. Here to discuss, we've got Jimmy Smith. Thank you so much for
2:10.6	joining us. Oh, my pleasure, Alexis. Thank you for having us here. We have Wanda to Hesus. Thank you for
	...

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