Year-end Associate Artist Round-up
Cal Shakes’ Associate Artists are a prolific bunch; keep reading to learn how some of our talented company members are keeping themselves busy over the next few months.
In January, L. Peter Callender will appear at Diablo Actors Ensemble as Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy. Then he’ll begin rehearsals for Twelfth Night, which he is directing at African-American Shakespeare, where he is Artistic Director. In April, Mr. Callender will begin workshopping a new adaptation of Othello at Theater Artaud.
Nancy Carlin is directing Lost in Yonkers for The Jewish Theatre of San Francisco, playing January 6–16 at Kanbar Hall at the SFJCC. From there the production will move to the Oshman Family JCC (Palo Alto) for a March 31–April 10 run.
James Carpenter is reprising his role as Scrooge in A.C.T.’s A Christmas Carol through December 24, under the direction of fellow Associate Artist Domenique Lozano. In January he’ll start rehearsals for The Dresser at San Jose Repertory, where he’ll play the title role; fellow Associate Artist Lynn Soffer also appears in that production, playing the Stage Manager. And, of course, Carpenter will help open our 2011 season as the title character in Joel Sass’ production of Titus Andronicus.
Casting director Janet Foster is in the midst of casting full seasons for Westport Country Playhouse, CenterSTAGE, and Two River Theater Company; Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Three Sisters for Les Waters at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (in which James Carpenter will appear); the regional theater premiere of Race for Philadelphia Theatre Company; Severed Threads for BBC World Services; a series of radio dramas by Tom Stoppard for WNYC Public Radio; the new off-Broadway musical Lucky Guy; and the Broadway revival of Talley’s Folly.
Dan Hiatt is entering rehearsals for The 39 Steps at TheatreWorks, which will run January 19–February 13.
Joan Mankin will appear in the Marin Theatre Company production of David Lindsay Abaire’s Fuddy Meers, running March 31–April 27.
Danny Scheie will play Valere in La Bête at Asolo Rep in Sarasota Florida, which is “a role I’ve desperately wanted to play since it first appeared in 1990,” says Mr. Scheie; La Bête begins January 7 and also features Jud Williford. Then Scheie will head to Actors Theater of Louisville to appear in Bob, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s new play, directed by former Cal Shakes Associate Artistic Director Sean Daniels.
This month, playwright/director Octavio Solis is at South Coast Repertory in a two-week workshop for his new musical with composer Adam Gwon. In January he’ll head to University of Texas at Austin to teach for a semester; and in late February, his new play Cecilia Marie gets a reading at the Colorado New Play Summit.
Clive Worsley is performing as Bob Cratchit in Scrooge the Musical at Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette, where he is Artistic Director; Cal Shakes Associate Artistic Director Jessica Richards directed the production. In late spring, Mr. Worsley will portray Feste in Town Hall’s production of Twelfth Night.
Upcoming projects for lighting designer Scott Zielinski include The Magic Flute at Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Le Musée de la Mer at Théâtre de Gennevilliers (Paris), The Continuum at TheatreWorks (Singapore), Jan Karski at Festival d’Avignon (Avignon, France), and Achterbahn at Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz, Austria) and the Royal Opera House (London).
Creative Risk is made possible by generous funding from The James Irvine Foundation and Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest, and the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.