California Shakespeare Theater

Cal Shakes in Orinda Friday

Thu, 15 May 2008 12:49:57 -0700

If you’re anywhere near Orinda on Friday evening (May 16), stop by the second annual Orinda Salutes Cal Shakes, where, between 5:30 and 7pm in Theatre Square, the City of Orinda and the Orinda Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the opening of our 34th anniversary season. Featuring Cal Shakes Associate Artist L. Peter Callender as our emcee for the evening, performances by students from Orinda Intermediate School, music by Bob Athayde and Friends, and food and drink, the event is free and open to the public.

The blogs, they are a-changin’

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:55:17 -0700

The Cal Shakes Bullpen Blog—begun last year as a window into the works of Cal Shakes in the off-season—has become the Cal Shakes Blog. This is where you’ll find our popular actors’ blogs during the Main Stage season, but that’s not all: This new, all-company blog is a place where the many voices of California Shakespeare Theater—teaching artists, dramaturgs, New Works/New Communities collaborators, office staff—can e-harmonize.

Cal Shakes named “best of 2007” in every major local paper

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:19:07 -0800

For those of you who were away from your newspapers over the holidays, Cal Shakes production of Man and Superman, directed by Jonathan, was named as one of the top productions of the year by the Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, East Bay Express, Marin Independent Journal, and Oakland Tribune.

Here's what they had to say:

“The ever-penetrating wit of George Bernard Shaw seemed freshly burnished in Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone's smartly pared (from five hours to three) California Shakespeare Theater production of the unwieldy masterpiece about sexual politics. With Susannah Livingston and Elijah Alexander heading an exceptionally strong cast, Moscone integrated Shaw's vibrant play of ideas with its surrounding comedy into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
- SF Chronicle, 12/30/07

“A three-hour production of a century-old work is risky, even if the playwright is George Bernard Shaw. That's particularly so when it is performed outdoors on often-chilly summer nights in the Orinda hills. But the gamble paid off big for Jonathan Moscone and his Shakespeare Theater. The production, which included the often-omitted "Don Juan in Hell" portion, was a flawless masterpiece of theater.” [listed as top production of the year]
- Contra Costa Times, 12/23/07

“Jonathan Moscone's sharp staging of Shaw's antiromantic romance was an absolute delight from the ruthless machinations of well-bred ladies down to an impishly anachronistic "Don Juan in Hell" sequence.”
- East Bay Express, 12/26/07

"Shaw's long-winded masterpiece was given an audience-friendly production that even Orinda's famous chill couldn't dampen.”
- Marin IJ, 12/27/07

“This unbelievably vivid version of George Bernard Shaw’s massive existentialist comedy benefited from superior direction by Jonathan Moscone and an impeccable cast headed by Elijah Alexander and Susannah Livingston.”
Oakland Tribune, 12/27/07

Grant News

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:34:47 -0800

The Steinbeck Project, our third New Works/New Communities undertaking, is continuing to attract new funding: The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation has made a first-time grant of $50,000 over two years, and the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Cal Shakes a grant of $15,000 over two years.

Ron Campbell receives Fox Actors Fellowship

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:53:09 -0800

We recently received word that Cal Shakes Associate Artist Ron Campbell (with the help of our Artistic Administrator Daunielle Rasmussen) was awarded a Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship recognizing Distinguished Achievement. The award—which was given last year to, among others, Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham—gives the recipient $25,000 to further artistic and professional development, deepen and enrich his/her relationship with a not-for-profit theater, and ensure his/her continued professional commitment to live theater. Mr. Campbell, most recently seen at Cal Shakes as the gardener Dimas in The Triumph of Love (and previously in Restoration Comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, and Henry IV) will use his Fox Fellowship to study techniques with theater companies in Greece, Italy, Japan and finally, Sweden in three specific stages: Mask in Greece and Italy, Body in Japan, and Voice in Sweden. He envisions this Fellowship as a "comprehensive exploration into combining mask work, movement and voice and applying these techniques to classical texts.” Mr. Campbell—whose performance accolades include the Los Angeles and Bay Area Critics Circle Awards, the Helen Hayes and Jeff Award nominations, and four Backstage West Garland Awards—then plans to hold workshops for California Shakespeare Theater's associate artists to share his findings with the possibility of developing a performance piece marrying Mr. Campbell's physical work with aspects of Shakespeare.

What a Grand Prize Winner Looks Like

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:28:54 -0800

This is Special Events and Marketing Manager Dana Mathes (left) awarding Mary Durbin of Pleasanton our 2007 season raffle's Grand Prize: A Pair of Roundtrip Business Elite Class Tickets to Europe on Delta Air Lines. This year's raffle made a record $25,000 to help support Cal Shakes Artistic Learning programs. Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket and helped bring Cal Shakes into the classroom. And congratulations to Mary and all the other winners!