In keeping with fall tradition, our final show of the 2010 season, Much Ado About Nothing, had five very special a.m. performances: our Student Discovery matinees. This year more than 2,500 students, teachers, and chaperones from 44 Bay Area schools got to see Jonathan Moscone’s joyful production. Thanks to funding from the NEA’s Shakespeare for a New Generation, more than 50% of these student tickets were underwritten, and many of the students attending had never seen a Shakespeare play or any live theater at all. Here at Cal Shakes, we know that participation in art is not a luxury, but rather a necessity to becoming a thoughtful, tolerant, and joyfully well-rounded human being; enthusiastic reactions to this year’s Student Matinee series proved it to us yet again.

In his spirited pre-show welcome and synopsis, Associate Artist Clive Worsley asked the students: “Do you ever see two people who don’t really like each other, are always picking on each other, can’t stand to see one another … but are always hanging out together?” A rumble of agreement welled up from the young crowds, and we knew they were hooked into the romance about to unfold.

Student reactions are sometimes louder and often broader than the evening audiences. They delighted in Dogberry calling himself “an ass”, laughed loudly as water was poured over Beatrice’s eavesdropping head, and let out big sighs of happiness during the final marriage scene. After each performance is a 15- minute Q&A, with many of the actors returning to the stage to engage in a direct dialogue with students. “Do you really kiss and do you like it?” was a commonly posed question. The actors always replied thoughtfully, explaining that performing with someone—whether in an embrace or a fight—takes a great deal of trust and respect. “What happens when you forget a line?” one student inquired. “Well,” Danny Scheie quickly retorted, “you do Fakespeare!” When a young girl asked where the actors were from, Catherine Castellanos stood up and proudly stated “Stockton!,” eliciting huge applause, as, on that particular day, more than 250 kids had come from Stockton Unified Early College Academy.

“I thought it was going to be boring,” summarized one student, “but it was really fun.”

Teachers were pleased with the event as well. “Once again,” wrote Barbara Cohen of St. Anthony’s School in Oakland, ”thanks for making this possible for children who are now so proud that they’ve seen a ‘real’ play and that, even though their English isn’t perfect yet, they understood what the author was saying.”

Pictured: Beatrice (Domenique Lozano) hides out among a Much Ado Student Matinee audience; photo by Jay Yamada.

On one evening during the run of each of our productions, we give patrons the opportunity to experience firsthand some of the life of a Cal Shakes actor. Our Behind the Scenes events begin with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception in the Owen Moscone North Star Grove. A member of the Artistic department then introduces actors from the current production, and patrons are invited to pose questions. This season, patrons have heard Stacy Ross speak of her love for performing the works of George Bernard Shaw, and the challenge of taking on Lady Macbeth; James Carpenter shared anecdotes of actors dealing with the changeable weather at the Bruns.

Once the actors depart to prepare for the evening’s performance, patrons are taken on a backstage tour where they can see the back of the set, the costume and set storage areas, and crew members setting up for the evening. After the tour, patrons return to the North Star Grove for a delicious catered meal.

Patrons frequently tell us that Behind the Scenes is one of the best—and most enjoyable—ways to learn what it’s like to be onstage, and to get access to our performing artists (who truly enjoy talking with attendees about their work).

Our final 2010 Behind the Scenes will take place Thursday, September 30, during the run of Much Ado About Nothing. It will feature actors Domenique Lozano (Beatrice) and Nick Childress (Claudio). The cost is $45 (not including theater ticket). Participants meet at 5:30pm in the Owen Moscone North Star Grove. We hope you’ll join us.

Click here to order tickets.

Domenique Lozano (Beatrice) and Andy Murray (Benedick); photo by Kevin Berne.

California Shakespeare Theater’s 2010 season concludes with Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, from September 22 through October 17, directed by Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone.

One of Shakespeare’s wittiest plays, and a precursor of many of the famous screwball comedies of the 1930s, Much Ado explores the ideas of seeming incompatibility, alleged infidelity, and outright villainy to create a redemptive, passionate tale of love realized by those who thought it had past them by and those who took it for granted until it was nearly gone. Moscone will set the production in a post-war period during the early part of the 19th century, with a distinctly Italian flair.

“As in all of Shakespeare’s great romantic comedies, there is at the play’s heart a beautiful vulnerability that deeply appeals to me,” says Moscone. “This is the last chance at love for two people who’ve been thwarted by their feelings, and a chance of burgeoning love for two young people who find that only through suffering can a real emotional bond be created. I love this play and hope it’s a perfect way to express the expansive imagination of Shakespeare, who gave us such stark contrast in feeling and tone with Macbeth, which played earlier this season on our stage.”

Danny Scheie as Dogberry; photo by Kevin Berne.

The cast of Much Ado features some of Cal Shakes’ most beloved Associate Artists: Andy Murray and Domenique Lozano as Benedick and Beatrice, Danny Scheie as Don John/Dogberry, Dan Hiatt as Leonato/George Seacole, and Catherine Castellanos as Ursula/Verges. Also appearing, fresh from the cast of Macbeth, are Nick Childress as Claudio; Delia MacDougall as Margaret; and Nicholas Pelczar as Don Pedro. Emily Kitchens, who played Molly Morgan in the season opening Pastures of Heaven, appears as Hero, and Andrew Hurteau, last seen at Cal Shakes in King Lear, plays the Friar. Michael Davison, Thomas Gorrebeeck, Xanadu Bruggers, Luisa Frasconi, John Lewis, and Justin Liszanckie round out the company.

The design team from Macbeth returns to reimagine the Bruns stage once again, removing all vestiges of the Scottish play’s bombed-out asylum and burnishing and refitting the superstructure to create Much Ado’s robustly romantic seaport town of Messina. Dan Ostling (set design), an ensemble member with Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago whose work has appeared at regional theaters across the country and in Europe; Christal Weatherly (costume design), a much-in-demand designer with credits from Los Angeles to New York, most recently for Ruined at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Russell Champa (lighting design), who designed the recent Broadway production of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play); and Andre Pluess (sound design), who created the evocative, occasionally whimsical music for last season’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Others on the artistic staff of the production are Erika Chong Shuch (choreographer), Cal Shakes Associate Artist Nancy Carlin (vocal/text coach), Philippa Kelly (dramaturg), Elizabeth Atkinson (stage manager), and Briana J. Fahey (assistant stage manager).

Single tickets for Much Ado About Nothing are on sale now and range from $34–$70, with discounts available for seniors, students, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices, dates, and artists subject to change. Click calshakes.org/tickets or call 510.548.9666 to purchase.