For several years, Cal Shakes’ New Works/New Communities (NW/NC) program has brought Shakespeare workshops to the classrooms of Alameda County Juvenile Hall. Earlier this month the NW/NC staff held a contest among the Cal Shakes company to name this expanding program; the winner, courtesy of Technical Director Dave Nowakowski, is Creative Risk.

Over the last six months the residency program has grown exponentially: We doubled the number of facilities that we serve, tripled our teaching artist pool, and created a partnership with the Alameda County Office of Education’s charter school program director. Earlier this summer, we held our first residency at Thunder Road, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Oakland for teens. This inaugural residency was taught by a teaching artist new to us, Kharyshi Wiginton; the theme of the core curriculum was “integrity”.

As the boys and girls of Thunder Road are kept separated, each group was assigned separate pieces: The boys focused on monologues spoken by King Henry and Prince Hal in Henry VI, Part 1, while the girls focused on Act I, Scene 1 of King Lear. At the start of the residency, the kids defined “integrity” as “doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.” Creative Risk’s goal was to expand that definition, drawing comparisons from the scripts used and relating them to real-life scenarios. The kids took to the exercises greatly, with 72 percent of them rating the class as “Excellent,” and 67 percent describing it as “Interesting”. When asked, “If you forgot everything [from the class] except one thing, what would that one thing be?,” answers included “all the acting and fun activities that we did these past few weeks,” “Life isn’t about rushing to over achieve, it’s about building a foundation before you get overwhelmed,” and “I won’t forget anything.”

We are very proud and excited about the work that is happening in Alameda County Juvenile Hall, Thunder Road, and—beginning this fall— Contra Costa Juvenile Hall.

For more information on Creative Risk, visit our New Works/New Communities page in the coming months.

On August 7 and 8, audiences at the National Steinbeck Center were treated to a reading of excerpts from John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven, adapted by Octavio Solis. Members of the original production’s cast read four stories—Tularecito, Junius Maltby, Pat Humbert, and the Tortilla Sisters—for an appreciative group of 130 attendees of the annual Steinbeck Festival.

After each reading, a brief talkback was held with the cast. Playwright Solis described the process of adapting Steinbeck’s novel into a play; audience members shared ideas for bringing this text into school classrooms; and actors were asked to comment on how, exactly, you play six or seven characters in one night without losing track.

In between readings, the cast explored the town of Salinas and visited Corral de Tierra, many getting a look at the region for the first time.

Hijos del Sol’s beautiful mural, Las Pasturas del Cielo, was installed in the Steinbeck Center in time for the festival; it will remain there through the end of 2010, at which point it will travel to D.C., where it will join members of the cast for another presentation of Pastures in January 2011 at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Schedule of performances will be released later this year. Click here for more info on Arena Stage and the New Play Development Program.

If you’ve caught a performance at the Bruns this summer, chances are you’ve gotten to know the Sharon Simpson Center pretty well. You’ve sipped a cup of Peet’s coffee at the café, you’ve taken advantage of our plentiful and eco-friendly restrooms, or you’ve relaxed with some pre-show wine on the plaza. Patrons and artists alike have found their favorite spots in our renovated home, and our new building has quickly become an integral part of the Bruns experience.

But our work isn’t finished yet. We still have $400,000 left to raise to achieve our fundraising goal of $8.5 million. To inspire others to give, some close friends of Cal Shakes are matching new gifts up to $100,000—starting now, any new gift to Building for the Future will have double the impact.

If you’ve been waiting to make a gift to the capital project, the moment is now. Your gift can be a pledge paid out over 3 years, and we can set up an payment plan to meet your needs. It’s never been a better time to help us build for the future.

Help us cross the finish line today!

It’s easy to make a gift:
1)    Donate online at calshakes.org/future
2)    Next time you’re at the Bruns, pick up a brochure from the Building for the Future sign in the plaza. A pledge envelope is included.
3)    Call us at 510.809.3295.

Remember: all gifts of $1,000 or more will receive permanent recognition at the Bruns.

Pictured above: Patrons enjoying the George and Sue Bruns Plaza before a performance; photo by Jay Yamada.

Before nearly every Cal Shakes performance, a staff member takes the stage to welcome the audience, make announcements—and ask for donations of spare change.

We’ve learned not to be shy about inviting your contributions of nickels and dimes (and larger donations, too) because your response has consistently been wonderfully generous—and thus

significant to our ability to do great work. For the past several years, our spare-change request has been answered with a total annual contribution of nearly $40,000, which Cal Shakes uses to fund our onstage productions and the education and outreach we perform in under-served Bay Area schools and communities.

We’re always thrilled when we have a match—a promise from a donor to single-handedly give the same amount cumulatively given by others. Matching gifts consistently prompt audiences to give more than twice the amount they otherwise give; and then a match doubles that amount a second time!

Anyone can match: companies, families, or individuals. Matches can be made in honor of an event, a business, or another person; or alternatively, they can be made anonymously. In return for your generosity, donors who make matching gifts get a big pre-show thank-you, our sincere gratitude, and the satisfaction of significantly impacting Cal Shakes’ capacity to produce great theater and educational opportunities.

To become an audience-ask “matcher” and receive recognition before one or more performances, please contact Darcy Brown-Martin at dbrown-martin@calshakes.org or 510.548.3422 x141.

Thanks for making a big difference!

Pictured above:  Before a performance of 2009′s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cal Shakes  Director of Develpment Jim Huntley (center) asked board members Phil  Chernin (L) and David Goldsmith (R) to come forward and be recognized  for offering a double match; photo by Jay Yamada.

Terry Teachout, theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, wrote a column about two Shakespeare companies performing productions of plays by George Bernard Shaw this summer: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Arms and the Man, and our very own Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Not only did Mr. Teachout proclaim the Bruns Amphitheater to be “one of the most beautiful outdoor performing spaces in America,” he also challenged Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre Company to “work overtime to top this exemplary version” when they mount their revival of Mrs. Warren’s this October.
Read the whole article here.