Zainab Jah as Ophelia and LeRoy McClain as Hamlet in California Shakespeare Theater's production of HAMLET, directed by Liesl Tommy; photo by Kevin Berne.

We are pleased to announce that we are extending our production of Hamlet, helmed by internationally-renowned director Liesl Tommy, for one week. Originally scheduled to close on October 14, Hamlet adds four public performances and one student matinee due to popular demand and now runs through October 21.

The schedule of additional public performances is as follows:

• Thursday, October 18 at 7:30pm
• Friday, October 19 at 8pm
• Saturday, October 20 at 8pm
• Sunday, October 21 at 4pm

The additional Student Discovery Matinee will be held Tuesday, October 16.

Widely hailed as one of the greatest plays ever written, Hamlet returns to the Cal Shakes stage for the first time in more than a decade, and enjoys the largest pre-opening advance sales in the company’s history. Director Tommy has reimagined the world of the play as a haunting memory play, one that focuses on a family drama that is by turns poetic, absurd, romantic, violent, and sad. The world of the play becomes its own character; the room and the objects in it hold the secrets and memories of what took place there. In essence the structure has outlived its inhabitants and is now a haunted place.

Single tickets for Hamlet range from $35 to $71, with discounts available for seniors, students, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices, dates, and artists are 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 calshakes.org.

California Shakespeare Theater’s 2012 season is supported in part by the generosity of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation and The Shubert Foundation, Inc. California Shakespeare Theater’s production of Hamlet is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national program of the National Endowment of the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Corporate partners supporting this production include BART, City National Bank, Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa, Meyer Sound, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and San Francisco Magazine.

As a Cal Shaker, you’re an insider—and we’ve got a truly “inside Cal Shakes” opportunity for you: Volunteer at Cal Shakes’ Oct. 5 Student Discovery Matinee performance of Hamlet.

WHAT IS IT? Student Discovery matinees are special weekday performances specifically for school groups. Students travel from all over the Bay Area for a morning of educational activities; an 11am performance of the play; and a post-show Q&A with actors. Many students attending come from low-income, underserved schools, and experience this (free) field trip as a tremendously special adventure.

WHY AM I NEEDED? Volunteers serve a special breakfast to actors and technicians, who have a long two-show day; assist staff in organizing arriving school-groups; watch Teaching Artists lead kids in hands-on artistic learning exercises in our scenic eucalyptus groves; and help direct groups into the theater.

WHERE: Cal Shakes’ Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda

WHEN: Friday, Oct 5, 2012
The day begins at 8:30am and winds down at 3pm; but you’re free to leave at several different points throughout the day, as you need—read on for details.

DETAILS: There are four possible volunteer shifts. All begin at 8:30am with a quick orientation, and each ends at a different time.

1. SHORTEST SHIFT, 8:30–9:30am. Bring a contribution for the artists’ breakfast—a hot casserole, precooked bacon, fruit salad—you name it, it will be appreciated. Stay just long enough to get a peek behind the Cal Shakes scenes and enjoy the artists’ gratitude and delight in your culinary contribution.

2. SHORT SHIFT, 8:30–11am. Bring a contribution for breakfast. After meeting the artists, assist Cal Shakes staff in welcoming arriving students groups at the base of the Bruns Amphitheater slope; then escort students to groves; and subsequently into the theater. Be on your way just before 11am, as the performance begins.

3. THE PLAY’S THE THING SHIFT, 8:30am–12:45pm. Bring a contribution for breakfast (or don’t—you’ll still be welcome). Assist staff in shepherding students, and watch the first act of Hamlet. Slip out at intermission.

4. I’M ALL IN! SHIFT, 8:30am–3pm. Bring breakfast (or don’t); assist kids; see the entire play; watch the amazing post-show dialogue between the actors and their young audience; and leave filled with joy. Seriously.

RSVP to shakers@calshakes.org. Please let us know how long you will stay, what you might bring for breakfast, and whether you’re coming solo, bringing a friend, or riding in with a full posse. We can’t wait to see you at the theater!

Hamlet has far less food and drink references than Shakespeare’s plays usually do, which makes suggesting menu specials to our café particularly difficult this time around. Help us move beyond funeral meats and poisoned wine by suggesting Hamlet-themed edibles and drinkables, and you could win tickets to San Francisco magazine’s FallFest.

We have two pairs of tickets to give away—each pair valued at $200—to this celebration of the Bay Area’s best in food and wine, taking place Saturday, October 13 from noon to 4pm. Leading restaurateurs, winemakers, bartenders, and epicurean artisans join together for an inspiring day of wine and food tasting, chef demonstrations, cocktail competitions, and panel discussions. It all takes place outdoors at Justin Herman Plaza, which is transformed for the day into a European-style marketplace.

So how do you win? Simply submit your Hamlet-inspired food and drink ideas NO LATER THAN THURSDAY, SEP 13 one of these three ways:

• On Twitter with the hash tag #WWHE
• On our Facebook wall
• Via email at marketing@calshakes.org with the subject header “What would Hamlet eat?”

We will award one pair of tickets to our favorite drink suggestion, one to our favorite food suggestion—and both may end up on the café menu during the run of Hamlet, directed by Liesl Tommy, September 19 through October 14.

Winners notified and announced Monday, September 17. You must be age 21 or older to attend FallFest.

We conclude our 2012 season with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, helmed by internationally-renowned director Liesl Tommy, from September 19 through October 14.

Pictured, left to right: Zainab Jah as Ophelia, Dan Hiatt as Polonius, LeRoy McClain as Hamlet, Julie Eccles as Gertrude, Adrian Roberts as Claudius, and Nick Gabriel as Horatio; photo by Kevin Berne. (Click photo for larger image.)

The production features LeRoy McClain (Cassio in Othello with Philip Seymour Hoffman; Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson at Yale Rep, directed by Liesl Tommy; Broadway productions of Cymbeline and The History Boys) in the title role, with Adrian Roberts (Ruined at Berkeley Rep; First Person Shooter at SF Playhouse) as Claudius and the Ghost, and Zainab Jah (Ruined at Berkeley Rep; Drama Desk Award winner for her performance as Helen of Troy in Trojan Women for Classical Theatre of Harlem) as Ophelia. Also featured are Cal Shakes Associate Artists Julie Eccles (title role in 2011’s Candida) as Gertrude, Dan Hiatt (title role in Uncle Vanya, Newman Noggs in Nicholas Nickleby) as Polonius and the Gravedigger, and Danny Scheie (Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream) as the Player King and Osric. Others in the cast include Nick Gabriel (A.C.T. core company member, last seen at Cal Shakes in Candida) as Horatio, Nicholas Pelczar (Ferdinand and Trinculo in the season-opener The Tempest) as Laertes and Luciano, Mia Tagano (last seen at Cal Shakes in Nicholas Nickleby) as the Player Queen and the Doctor, Jessica Kitchens (Elvira in Blithe Spirit) as Rosencrantz, Brian Rivera (Yellowjackets at Berkeley Rep, two seasons with SF Mime Troupe) as Guildenstern and Bernardo; and Joseph Salazar as Marcellus and others. Mr. McClain, Mr. Roberts, Ms. Jah, and Mr. Rivera are all making their Cal Shakes debuts with this production.

Widely hailed as one of the greatest plays ever written, Hamlet returns to the Cal Shakes stage for the first time in more than a decade. In discussing her vision of the production, director Tommy says, “I’m mainly interested in exploring feelings of loss and grief in my work; the idea of ancestors and their spirits are fascinating to me. In Hamlet, I’ll be able to do that by focusing on the family drama as the heart of the story. For me, this is a memory play, a haunting within a haunting; the story of this family is by turns poetic, absurd, romantic, violent, and sad. The world of the play becomes its own character; the room and the objects in it hold the secrets and memories of what took place there. In essence the structure has outlived its inhabitants and is now a haunted place.”

The design team responsible to create this haunted world are set and costume designer Clint Ramos, whose work has been seen in numerous productions throughout the U.S. including Ms. Tommy’s production of Ruined (Berkeley Rep), Party People and Measure for Measure (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism (Public Theatre); lighting designer Peter West, whose lights have graced such Cal Shakes’ productions as 2009’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 2003’s Much Ado About Nothing, plus several productions at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Juilliard School, and Tanglewood Opera, among others; and sound designer and Cal Shakes Associate Artist Jake Rodriguez, creator of soundscapes for numerous Bay Area productions including Cal Shakes’ Nicholas Nickleby, Magic Theatre’s Bruja, A.C.T.’s Rock and Roll, plus the world premieres of Passing Strange, The People’s Temple, and Fetes de la Nuit at Berkeley Rep.

Internationally-renowned director Liesl Tommy made her Bay Area debut in 2010 with Lynne Nottage’s Ruined at Berkeley Rep; the production was subsequently named one of the year’s Ten Best by the San Francisco Chronicle. Recent projects include Party People (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The White Man – A Complex Declaration of Love (DanskDansk Theatre, Denmark); Peggy Picket Sees the Face of God (Luminato Festival/Canadian Stage. Toronto); Eclipsed (Yale Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); The Good Negro (The Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center), A History of Light (the Contemporary American Theatre Festival); Angela’s Mixtape (Synchronicity Performance Group, New Georges); A Stone’s Throw (Women’s Project); and Misterioso 119 (Berkshire Theatre Festival, Act French Festival). Ms. Tommy was awarded the NEA/TCG Directors Grant and the New York Theatre Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship. She has taught master classes in acting, directing and new play development internationally and guest directed at Juilliard, Trinity Rep/Brown University’s MFA Directing Program, The Strasberg Institute, and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Ms. Tommy is a native of Cape Town, South Africa.

Hamlet plays September 19 through October 14 at the stunning outdoor Bruns Amphitheater. Get your tickets today.