In the months leading up to our 2011 Main Stage season, we’ll be profiling the creative minds behind the season’s productions—Titus Andronicus, The Verona Project, Candida, and The Taming of the Shrew—in our e-newsletters. For our fourth and final  installment, we’re featuring director Shana Cooper, who returns to Cal Shakes—where she was once Associate Artistic Director—to help The Taming of the Shrew What follows is the full transcript of Cal Shakes’ phone interview with Shana. To sign up for our email newsletter, click here.

What show are you rehearsing right now? Where?

I’m working on Love’s Labor’s Lost at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Is that the first time you’ve directed at OSF?

It is. I worked on a production of Twelfth Night a few years ago with some members of their acting company in a found space downtown, in a parking lot. So it was more of an artistic enrichment project. But this is the first time I’m directing on the Main Stage.

I read a review of your Yale Rep production of Romeo and Juliet in the New York Times. It seems like it was a fun show to do that was received really well.

We had a good time working on it. It is definitely one of those incredibly difficult plays, not only because people know it so well but also because of how much it contains in terms of singing and dancing and one emotionally epic scene after another. Plus it’s a play that we have such a deep relationship to as an audience, and there are so many expectations. I loved working on it, but I’m actually really looking forward to doing it again. I feel like, in a lot of ways, I just learned what it is.

It had a pretty modern feel. How does that apply to the Shrew you’re doing with us?

I think there’s so much about the—for lack of a better word—love story in Shrew that feels very contemporary in terms of how complicated the questions of male-female relationships still are in our society. There are still so many questions about what sorts of compromise love requires, and how much of ourselves we’re willing to give over for love. And what do you gain and lose from that, especially in a world like ours that is still, in a lot of ways, a patriarchal world at its foundation. It’s one of the things I really love about the play; it’s so complicated and messy in the same way that love and partnership in our contemporary world are. Sometimes we feel like want to distance ourselves from The Taming of the Shrew because it has the reputation of being a misogynistic play, and these are issues that we’ve supposed to have gotten over. But I think the play is more nuanced than that. It’s absolutely a patriarchal world but there are also women in it with great power, and they’re just trying to sort out the difficulties of joining these two lives together, and the sacrifices you have to make in order to do that. And I think that is incredibly relevant.

You can’t talk about Shrew without talking about feminism and misogynist behaviors.. It’s always interesting to see how directors interpret those things, as well as trying to get a read on what Shakespeare was doing—was he a feminist?

I think if you look at Shakespeare’s plays and see the kind of humanist that he was, it’s undeniable that he has a tremendous understanding of women in terms of what kind of strong female characters he drew. I would say the same thing about his understanding of human beings and their differences on a humanist level that make me feel like he seems to be striving for some sort of understanding or at least questioning that judgment. So for me it’s hard to look at any of his plays, including Shrew, as a statement that women are made to love, honor, and obey their husbands and nothing else. It just doesn’t seem like the Shakespeare we know. But he does challenge us to look at our assumptions in this society about roles of men and women, and how complicated those relationships actually are. He doesn’t tell us a fairytale in this play.

What’s it like to come back to direct at Cal Shakes after holding the position of Associate Artistic Director so many years ago?

The space at the Bruns is one of the most magical, beautiful spaces in the country to work. Especially working on Shakespeare out there, there’s a way in which the natural elements become involved that feels very Shakespearean to me. It feels epic and relentless and dangerous and powerful and miraculously beautiful in the way that his work is. One of my favorite things about working at Cal Shakes was getting to spend all of that time in that beautiful space. It feels like a space made for Shakespeare because of the openness of it—when we talk about the Elizabethan theater, we talk about it as being an open-form space so that you’re really changing the environment or landscape or location through the imaginations of the audience without having to move huge pieces of scenery. I think that the Bruns is really a contemporary, natural kind of open-space in a way that I think is just perfect for Shakespeare.

Have you been back to the Bruns since the renovations?

I haven’t! Next week is my first trip. The other thing I learned while at Cal Shakes was what it means to be a truly great producer from Jonathan [Moscone]. It’s been interesting for me since I’ve left to see just how unique Cal Shakes is in the way that he supports the vision of directors and designers and what they uniquely have to bring to the table—the way in which he’ll make changes to the way that things work in order to support the artistic process. I was so young when I was there that I didn’t realize that was uncommon; I’m really looking forward to being back in that environment.

Subscribe now to get the best seats at the best prices for The Taming of the Shrew and the rest of our 2011 season.

In the months leading up to our 2011 Main Stage season, we’ll be profiling the creative minds behind the season’s productions—Titus Andronicus, The Verona Project, Candida, and The Taming of the Shrew—in our e-newsletters. For the year’s third installment, we’re featuring costume designer Anna Oliver, who will create the looks of Shavian England for Candida. What follows is the full transcript of Cal Shakes’ email interview with Anna. To sign up for our email newsletter, click here.

What projects are you working on right now? What have you done most recently?

I am working on a production of Twelfth Night directed by my brother, Søren Oliver, at Town Hall Theatre Company in Lafayette. I am also figure painting again and refreshing my fluency in American Sign Language; trying to retool the grooves in the ol’gray matter! Last winter, I did a production of Abduction from the Seraglio (which we originated at Houston Grand Opera) at the Welsh National Opera; a wonderful, artful, supportive company. This summer, in San Diego, I collaborated with my friend Llance Bower on a lobby display for the Old Globe’s new building. Llance wanted to make a timeline for theater, held up by figures important to that history. I drew the figures and Llance digitized and printed them with this amazing process that does not degrade the image when it is enlarged. It was a great experience and the result was fantastic.

What’s the first piece of clothing you designed and/or made? (This includes clothes for dolls and pets, of course.)

Ha! The first piece of clothing I designed was a dress for a doll I made when I was about four years old. I used a tape spool and covered it with fabric (asked my Mum to sew the fabric on the spool), and then I glued the eyes and mouth on. I used red bias tape for her hair and stitched her body together. Then, I went into my mother’s fabric drawer and selected a piece of Chinese silk brocade—it had a lustrous black background with a small pattern of flowers and dragons (I think), and had been given to her by my Grandmother. I proceeded to cut the doll’s “dress” out of the very center of the goods … I think my Mum was torn between appreciating my creativity and being a wee bit upset about the damage I had done to the fabric! She was great though; she explained how to cut conservatively and I never forgot it. The dress is long gone but I still have the doll.

If you could have designed costumes for any play in history, what do you wish it could have been?

Hmmm. This is tough. I would like to have been involved with the first production of (Pierre) Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro; I have always wanted to be part of a production that caused a riot. I would love to have heard Moliere’s plays as he wrote them—before the church censors got a hold of them. I would also like to do more work with masks; I really want to go to Venice and learn how to make leather Commedia masks. There are many, many plays and operas I would love to be part of. Off the top of my head: King Lear, Danton’s Death, Marat Sade, Goethe’s Faust, any of the Mozart/(Lorenzo) Da Ponte operas, The Flying Dutchman, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and another dramatization of a Dickens novel since the Nicholas Nickleby that we did was a project I loved doing and am particularly proud of. There are too many to list so I’ll stop and say that I am intrigued and always game for insightful story telling through metaphor.

Who are your favorite costume designers? Fashion designers?

Too many costumes designers to list. I had the good fortune to assist Susan Hilferty and Cathy Zuber, many moons ago. I learned oceans from them both. Martin Pakledinaz is brilliant. Louis Brown was not only staggeringly talented, but he had a wealth of information and was a true gentleman. Jane Greenwood and Jess Goldstein were my teachers at Yale and they are both wonderful.

Fashion: My favorite is probably Christian Dior. His clothes were moving works of art. I’ve studied and loved Balenciaga, Poiret, Vionnet, Chanel, Fortuny, and Issey Miyake. Much of contemporary fashion strikes me as impossibly disconnected from the human animal or as tricked-out replays. Intrigues me less.

What inspires you right now? Any particular music, current events, people, et cetera?

Painting and color are the things that float my boat these days. I am alarmed and fascinated by what is happening in the Middle East. I felt that some of the films that came out this last year were incredible: the distressing in the clothes and make-up for True Grit was fantastic. And very hard to do; and the “truth” in the world created in The Fighter was equally inspiring. The thing that has always drawn me to and inspired me about theater in particular—and art in general—is communication.

The title character of Candida is described by the playwright as “now quite at her best, with the double charm of youth and motherhood.” Can you share any ideas on how you hope to express that through her dress?

It is still early in the process but Jonathan (Moscone, director, with whom she also collaborated on Man and Superman and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby) and I agree that we want to move it up a decade to around 1905. The silhouette is softer, the hair becomes softer; it gives us options that will better enable us to bring those qualities across.

Can you share any other early thoughts on the costuming for Candida?

I love dressing Shaw. One has to pay very close attention to all the information Shaw gives regarding the characters individually, and to their relationships with each other as well. There is so much in the language! As a designer, I do not want to get in the way of the characters being heard. So I guess that designing clothes for Shaw is a balancing act between finding the right looks and keeping the “volume” of those looks at the right level, so that the characters and their place in the dynamics of the whole are supported and “heard”—but not drowned out.

Candida is a small, intimate, play which speaks to large, fundamental, questions. It will require very delicate “costume tuning.” Such a lovely challenge.

Subscribe now to get the best seats at the best prices for Candida and the rest of our 2011 season.

Pictured above right: Susannah Schulman and Nancy Carlin in Man and Superman (2005); photo by Kevin Berne.

In the months leading up to our 2011 Main Stage season, we’ll be profiling the creative minds behind the season’s productions—Titus Andronicus, The Verona Project, Candida, and The Taming of the Shrew—in our e-newsletters. For February’s installment, we’re featuring adapter and director Amanda Dehnert, who will helm The Verona Project, a world-premiere, music-filled adaptation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. What follows is the full transcript of Cal Shakes’ email interview with Amanda. To sign up for our email newsletter, click here.

What projects are you working on right now? What have you done most recently?

Right now, I’m getting ready to head to Ashland to direct Julius Caesar. I’m also getting ready to direct a workshop of a new musical with Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago, a production of Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris for the Two River Theater Company in NJ, and, of course, The Verona Project! While all that’s happening, I’m also teaching for Northwestern University in Chicago. Most recently, I directed my own adaptation of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan for Lookingglass.

You’ve made a name for yourself reimagining musicals such as The Fantasticks and My Fair Lady. How do you approach the reinvention of something so venerated as a Shakespeare play? How is infusing a nonmusical play with music different from reimagining a classic musical?

It’s funny—I do think I have a reputation for reimagining the musicals, but I also have a different reputation (depending on who you talk to) for reimagining Shakespeare. Ultimately, I really believe that theater is about telling a story, and telling it honestly and specifically. I like to work with great stories. I believe a great story is one that taps into the things that are most true about what it is to be a person, to live a life, to make mistakes, to search, to love, to lose, and to learn. The greatest musicals stand the test of time because they tell stories that connect to people in these ways; and the greatest classic plays stand up for the same reasons. So, for me, it’s all the same in a way. As long as you have a great story and you keep it honest, you can have a great evening in the theater. I also think that there is always music in Shakespeare, sometimes literally with songs, but always with the sensibility in the writing. A soliloquy is much like a solo song. To me, it’s easy to understand how any Shakespeare play can also hold music.

Can you share any early thoughts on The Verona Project?

I really love the characters Shakespeare created, and they have inspired me to dive deeper into the various natures of love, loss, and self-discovery. I believe that to love and to lose are inextricably tied together; loving something or someone is perhaps the riskiest and most rewarding thing we can do in the course of our lives, and it’s what can cause us the most pain. The characters in Verona are struggling with the experience of first love, which I think is something we can all connect to. They are also trying to figure out who they are as individuals and who they want to grow up to become. They are adventurous, wonderful, awful, funny, completely real people. This adaptation works like a modern once-upon-a-time, and it is simultaneously infused with both the youthful spirit of self-expression and discovery and the awareness that we always can get from fables—that this is something universal and timeless. I’m terribly excited about it and about our wonderful cast.

What’s the first piece of theater you ever saw? Alternately (or in addition), what was the first piece you saw that really made you think, “I want to be a part of this”?

The first piece I remember seeing was A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. I can remember being terrified of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come—and I can also remember being so thrilled that I could simultaneously be sitting in a seat watching a story and feel like I was sitting in the room of my imagination, experiencing a real thing. I have always loved the power of stories, and always been incredibly amazed at how theater lets us all create worlds in our minds, and feel and experience things that we might not let ourselves take the time to think about in our everyday lives.

Who are your all-time favorite directors? Theater and film?

Gosh … I really believe I can take something away from absolutely everything, so it’s hard to have favorites. I’d say my personal heroes are Peter Brook, Federico Fellini, Tim Burton, Mary Zimmerman, Adrian Hall, Richard Jenkins, Des McAnuff, Joe Papp, Terry Gilliam, Bertolt Brecht, Pina Bausch, Simon McBurney/Complicite … I could go on. Anyone who pursues their craft and tells the story of the world the way they see it inspires me to be a better artist. I also have a particular liking for anyone who can find new ways to break the “rules”—because the most amazing thing about storytelling is that anything should be at your disposal!

Finally, if you could have directed any play in history, what (and/or where, and/or with whom) would it be?

This one is tricky! I do tend to be more excited about looking forwards than looking backwards…I would have liked to have been in the room when John Caird and Trevor Nunn were making the RSC production of Nicholas Nickleby; I would not have liked to have directed it, I just wish I could have been there to watch them do it! I feel that way about many productions. I think my dream would be to have time-traveling-fly-on-the-wall skills. Then I could watch everyone who ever made anything. That would be great!

Subscribe now to get the best seats at the best prices for The Verona Project and the rest of our 2011 season.

Pictured above: Michael Stone Forrest as Hucklebee, Timothy Ware as Matt, Nate Dendy as The Mute, Sebastian La Cause as El Gallo, Addi McDaniel as Lusia and Jerome Lucas Harmann as Bellomy in Arena Stage’s production of The Fantasticks directed by Amanda Dehnert in the 2009-10 season; photo by Scott Suchman.

Congratulations to Kayla Moreno, who presented the most charming case for being our Valentine during a contest we held on our Conservatory Facebook page; Kayla will be attending the dress rehearsal of her choice this summer at the Bruns. Here’s the love letter she wrote us on Facebook:

Why should I be your Cal Shakes Valentine? Oooh … where do I begin? Three years ago I joined the Conservatory just for the sake of something to do over the summer. The end result was something to do over the summer for the next (at least) four years. My favorite summer is hard to pick, because they’re all so awesome!! I anticipate each newsletter, expecting it to be registration time. Why? Because it means that I am just THAT CLOSE to being back with all my Cal Shakes besties!

I can honestly say that most of my best friends are from the Conservatory. What I love most about them is that I can tell them (well, my closest ones!) anything from my biggest fears to my deepest fantasies. They’re the people that I know won’t laugh when I tell them that I wanted a pet unicorn when I was a kid and actually thought that my unicorn stuffed animals would come to life. OK, so, maybe they’ll laugh. But in a friendish way! They’re the people that I can anticipate auditioning for American Idol with next year when I’m of age ;) lol you know who you are.

When the second semester rolls around, I always start up a Countdown to the Conservatory and hang it up on my wall. I’m a little slow on that, but I’ll get to it tomorrow, I promise! :)

Cal Shakes has been a part of my life since I was just starting middle school and it’s helped me through all the twists and turns of just starting to become a teenager, in a strange way. I know that I won’t be scared for high school next year because I’ll have had such a great summer that thoughts of fear won’t even have time to cross my mind. My self esteem is never higher than those five weeks of summer. The Conservatory is a place for someone like me to be able to just be herself without the worry of someone judging her for being a theater geek. Because, hey, it’s a camp MADE of and for theater geeks! :)

SO EXCITED FOR SUMMER!!

Happy Valentine’s Day :)

Summer Shakespeare Conservatories are enrolling now in Lafayette, Oakland hills, and San Francisco.

Pictured: Sandy Serwin, Kayla Moreno, and Margaret Williams in the 2010 conservatory production of The Comedy of Errors; photo by Jay Yamada.

This week in Washington, DC, the East Coast will get to experience a little bit of California heaven when excerpts from John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven are performed alongside fellow inaugural selections of the National Endowment for the Arts New Play Development Program. January 19–30, the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage presents the New Play Festival, full-length presentations and readings including selected scenes from Pastures, which was adapted by Octavio Solis and developed in collaboration with Cal Shakes and Word for Word Performing Arts Company.

For this presentation, Word for Word company member Sheila Balter will restage excerpts from Jonathan Moscone’s production, with members of the world-premiere cast—Catherine Castellanos, Julie Eccles, Amy Kossow, Andy Murray, Charles Shaw Robinson, and JoAnne Winter—reprising their original roles alongside such familiar Cal Shakes faces as Clifton Guterman (Smike in 2005’s Nicholas Nickleby) as Tularecito and Mannie Munroe; and Nicholas Pelczar (Banquo and Lennox in Macbeth, Don Pedro in Much Ado) as Richard Whiteside, Jimmie Munroe, and Bill Whiteside. Recent A.C.T. MFA grad Lakisha May will play Molly Morgan and Mae Munroe; and popular Bay Area actor Jarion Monroe will play John Whiteside, Allen Huenecker, Pancho, and Jakob Stutz.

Click here for more information on the New Play Festival.

Our development of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven was underwritten
by numerous individual donors and generous support from: