In this paper a nonlinear vibration theory which includes the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotatory inertia is formulated for orthotropic circular plates using the Berger approximation. Solutions to the governing equations are obtained on the basis of a single-mode approach by use of Galerkin's method and numerical Runge-Kutta procedure. Results indicate significant influence of these effects on the nonlinear vibration behavior of orthotropic circular plates. Present results are in good agreement with those available in the literature for all special cases. It is observed that there is a substantial saving in the analytical and computational efforts in using the Berger approach and that this approach yields reasonably good results comparable with those obtained by the corresponding von Kármán type theory.