Category: The Taming of the Shrew


VERONA, CANDIDA, SHREW, and Others Make Year-End Lists

January 3rd, 2012 — 6:21pm

Amid the hurry and flurry of the holiday season just past, Bay Area media outlets were busy crowning the year’s best creative achievements. We’re proud to say that our productions made most critics’ top-ten lists for 2011.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, critic Robert Hurwitt named Jonathan Moscone‘s production of Candida, by George Bernard Shaw, among the year’s ten best, calling it “buoyantly nuanced, exquisitely designed, and unexpectedly suspenseful.” Hurwitt also gave this year’s Bay Area acting MVP nod to Rod Gnapp, who played Baptista in our The Taming of the Shrew this season. On his theater blog The Idiolect, independent critic Sam Hurwitt, a.k.a. Hurwitt the Younger, included Amanda Dehnert‘s brand-new play, The Verona Project, as one of his favorite 2011 productions, “entirely new and electric, with a touch of magical realism, witty dialogue, fiendishly clever storytelling devices, and some awfully catchy pop-rock songs”; one of his two MVPs was Verona‘s Julia, actress Arwen Anderson. Critic Chad Jones gave Shana Cooper‘s production of The Taming of the Shrew a prominent place on his Theater Dogs top ten, admitting that it was a tough call between that and our Candida but ultimately falling for how “leads Erica Sullivan and Slate Holmgren brought not only humor to this thorny comedy but also a depth of emotion I hadn’t ever experienced with this play.” And Cooper’s Shrew “packed a punch” according to KCBS‘ list of the Bay Area’s best arts and culture in 2011.

Accolades must also be given to Cal Shakes Artistic Director Moscone, whose production of Clybourne Park at A.C.T. made it onto every single list mentioned above!

Read the Chronicle‘s Top Ten list here.

Read The Idiolect‘s Top Ten list here.

Read the Theater Dogs Top Ten here.

Read KCBS’ Best Ofs here.

Comment » | 2011 Season, Candida, The Taming of the Shrew, The Verona Project, Weekly News

“Richly inventive” and “red-hot” SHREW

September 26th, 2011 — 12:25pm

The enthusiastic reviews have begun to roll in for The Taming of the Shrew, the final production of our 2011 season.

“Without hesitation,” writes Lauren Gunderson in the Huffington Post,  ”I can say that Cal Shakes’ production of Shrew (running now through Oct 16) is a lovely, funny, smartly directed production performed with muscle and wit.” In the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt calls Shana Cooper’s production “a richly inventive, funny and at times provocative Shrew.” On his Theater Dogs blog, Chad Jones asserts that leads Erica Sullivan (Kate) and Slate Holmgren (Petruchio) “have red-hot chemistry from the very first, and they’re so good together you really do want them together.” And Cindy Warner writes on Examiner.com that “Shana Cooper’s shrewd direction of Taming of the Shrew at Cal Shakes brings inspiration, enlightenment, over-the-top joy and abandon… you want to see the show again before you even leave the theater.”

“[The] marriage of witty and warm shines throughout this production,” writes Karen D’Souza in the San Jose Mercury-News, who calls it ”a flashy season closer.” On CultureVulture.net, Suzanne Weiss wrote that “Shana Cooper’s exuberant production of the classic comedy… is as funny as they come; fast moving; a thoroughly enjoyable night of theater.” SFist.com raves that “Cooper’s direction shines through for its cleverness, comic timing, and a desire to make of this play an edgy romantic comedy.” And in the Contra Costa Times, Sally Hogarty declares that ““Cal Shakes’ Shrew no tame adaptation.”

More reviews to come, so watch this space! The Taming of the Shrew runs through Sunday, October 16 at the Bruns Amphitheater. Get your tickets now, before it sells out!

Comment » | 2011 Season, The Taming of the Shrew, Weekly News

SHREW Cast and Creative Team Announced

August 15th, 2011 — 3:28pm


California Shakespeare Theater concludes its 2011 season with Shakespeare’s most biting romantic comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, playing at the Bruns Amphitheater September 21 through October 16.Shana Cooper, former Cal Shakes Associate Artistic Director whose production of Love’s Labor’s Lost is currently playing at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, directs.

The Taming of the Shrew

In Shakespeare’s hard-edged comedy, no suitor can win lovely Bianca ’til her older sister, “Katherine the Curst,” is married off as well. Director Shana Cooper makes her Cal Shakes directing debut with a dynamically physical production that explores Shakespeare’s quintessential battle of the sexes through the lens of a commercially driven, high-fashion, pop-art society.

“I’m moved by the brave clarity Shakespeare brings to questions of love in Shrew,” says director Shana Cooper. “He captures the complications, costs, and–when we’re lucky–the sublime rewards of relationships between men and women. The explorations of love in Shrew feel intensely modern, for this is a world where you get to choose what role to have love play in your life. How much are you willing to compromise for that love? What do you gain through that compromise and how much of yourself might you lose?”

“I’m so proud and honored to have Shana directing here,” says Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone. “She’s one of our country’s most daring and innovative young theater artists, and I am so happy she will be coming back to her artistic home, where she began in 2000 as the assistant director on the first production of my tenure, which was, coincidentally, The Taming of the Shrew.”

Making their Cal Shakes’ debuts are Slate Holmgren (film and television: Everwood, Dragon Hunter, Shadowhawk on Sacred Ground; stage: Twelfth Night at the Public Theatre; Passion Play, The Master Builder at Yale Rep ) as Petruchio and Erica Sullivan (film and television: There Will Be Blood, A Coat of Snow, Crossing Jordan;stage: A Woman of No Importance at Yale Rep, Sylvia at Long Wharf) as Katherine. Others in the cast include Cal Shakes Associate Artists Danny Scheie (Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Gremio and Tailor, Dan Hiatt (Uncle Vanya, Nicholas Nickleby) as Grumio and Vincentio, and Joan Mankin (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Uncle Vanya) as Pedant and the Widow. Also appearing are Alexandra Henrickson (Proserpine in Candida) as Bianca, Dan Clegg (The Verona Project) as Tranio, Rod Gnapp (The Pastures of Heaven) as Baptista, Nicholas Pelczar (Titus Andronicus, Macbeth) as Lucentio, Liam Vincent (Candida, Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night) as Hortensio, and Theo Black (Hamlet at Pacific Rep, ) as Biondello.

The design team includes: Scott Dougan (set design), who has designed sets for productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Rep, and whose 1800-square-foot art installation at the Urban Farm at the Battery in Battery Park, New York will be on display through 2013; Katherine O’Neill (costume design), founding member of New House Theatre, and costume designer for Romeo and Juliet and Ghost Sonata (Yale Rep), and The Whale Play (NTH); York Kennedy (lighting design), who created the lighting for Cal Shakes’ Candida, The Pastures of Heaven, and Uncle Vanya, among others, and whose work has been seen across the country from A.C.T. to Yale Rep; and Cal Shakes Associate Artist Jake Rodriguez (sound design) whose soundscapes have appeared in numerous Bay Area productions, and who designed the sound for Cal Shakes’ production of Nicholas Nickleby. Others on the artistic staff of Candida are Erika Chong Shuch (movement),Dave Maier (fight director), Philippa Kelly (dramaturg), Cal Shakes Associate ArtistNancy Carlin (vocal/text coach), Corrie Bennett (stage manager), and Laxmi Kumaran (stage manager).

Shana Cooper; photo by Erik Pearson.

Shana Cooper (director) is the recipient of a 2010 Princess Grace Award.  Recent directing credits include Love’s Labor’s Lost at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Romeo and Juliet at Yale Repertory Theater, the Black Swan Lab, a new play workshop series at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Three Sisters (The Studio/New York), and A Lie of the Mind (American Conservatory Theater MFA program).   Shana is a founding member of New Theater House, where directing credits include new work, The Whale Play by Victor I. Cazares, as well as classics, Twelfth Night (in collaboration with actors at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival).   Other directing credits include Oklahoma! at the Hangar Theatre (associate director), The Ghost Sonata and Richard III at Yale School of Drama, and productions at Willamette Repertory Theatre, Sonoma Repertory Theatre, Cal Shakes Student Company, Washington Shakespeare Festival, Amherst College and Willamette University (Guest Artist), and Magic Theatre’s Young California Writer’s Project. Ms. Cooper was the Associate Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater from 2000-2004, and cofounded New Theater House with Yale School of Drama Alumni in 2008.  Awards include the Julian Milton Kaufman Memorial Prize in Directing (Yale School of Drama), Drama League Directing Fellow, TCG Observership Grant, Phil Killian Directing Fellow (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Jack O’Brien Directing Fellow, and G. Herbert Smith Presidential Scholarship.  Ms. Cooper earned her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama.\

Single tickets for The Taming of the Shrew range from $35-$66, with discounts available for seniors, students, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices, dates, and artists subject to change. For information or to charge tickets by phone with VISA, MasterCard or American Express, call the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666. Additional information and online ticketing are available at www.calshakes.org.

 

Comment » | 2011 Season, The Taming of the Shrew, Weekly News

Cal Shakes Receives 2011-2012 “Shakespeare For A New Generation” Grant from NEA

June 14th, 2011 — 3:41pm

Shakespeare for a New Generation logoCalifornia Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) today announced that it is one of 36 nonprofit, professional theater companies that will receive a grant of $25,000 to participate in Shakespeare for a New Generation from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012.  The National Endowment for the Arts, in cooperation with Arts Midwest, presents Shakespeare for a New Generation, bringing the finest productions of Shakespeare to middle- and high-school students in communities across the United States. This is the ninth year of the program, the largest tour of Shakespeare in American history.

“We are thrilled and grateful to have been chosen as recipients of this grant for the sixth year in a row,” says Cal Shakes Managing Director Susie Falk. “The NEA’s financial support is in and of itself extremely important to us, as it makes a substantial difference in our ability to bring Shakespeare to thousands of low-income students each year; but we also feel very heartened by the NEA’s repeated support, which we see as an endorsement of the value and impact of our program on children.”

Cal Shakes will present Student Discovery matinee productions of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Shana Cooper, attracting at least 2,000 middle and high school students from 40 Bay Area schools. Accompanying pre- and post-performance workshops and residencies will serve up to 500 of those students, primarily from low-income communities. Cal Shakes’ annual fall Educator’s Night will combine complimentary tickets to a performance with a two-hour professional development workshop for teachers.

To date, more than 80 of the nation’s theater companies have taken part in the NEA’s Shakespeare program since its inception and participating theater companies have presented performances at 5,500 schools in 2,600 communities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Click here for more information about Cal Shakes’ education programs.

For more information about Cal Shakes’ 2011 season, click here.

 

Comment » | 2011 Season, Artistic Learning, The Taming of the Shrew

     

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