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.

We’re proud to announce that we have deepened our commitment to environmental sustainability by becoming one of largest solar-powered outdoor professional theaters in the country.

“Our decision to go solar was more than just economically motivated,” commented Cal Shakes Managing Director Susie Falk. “With our home sitting on a protected watershed, environmental stewardship is in Cal Shakes’ nature. Our recent renovations at the Bruns created native plant habitats, a living roof, bioswales, and other sustainable features. We are also committed to responsible scenic design and building practices that reuse and recycle materials. The addition of solar power was therefore a natural but nonetheless tremendously exciting step in our environmental evolution.”

The Turn Key 37.4 kilowatt DC solar electric system was designed by CC Energy of San Rafael, CA and installed by Pacific Solar Energy of Pleasanton, CA with cooperation from East Bay Municipal Utitilies District (EBMUD). The 144 260-watt panels and four 9000-watt inverters are designed to supply up to 98% of the power needs to the recently-renovated Bruns Amphitheater.

So the next time you’re up at the Bruns, remember that the sun isn’t just making the grass grow on the living roof and hills—it’s powering the sound board and warming the hot chocolate, too.

We are pleased to announce announced that we are one of 42 nonprofit, professional theater companies that will receive a grant of $25,000 to participate in Shakespeare for a New Generation from August 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.  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 tenth year of the program, the largest tour of Shakespeare in American history.

“This is the seventh year in a row we have been recipients of a Shakespeare for a New Generation grant, and we are absolutely thrilled,” says Cal Shakes Managing Director Susie Falk. “This grant provides crucial funding for our Student Discovery program, which introduces thousands of low-income students to Shakespeare each year, both in classrooms and at live performances at our Theater. For many of these students, it is their most significant arts experience in the school year. We are grateful for the continued support from the NEA and Arts Midwest, and honored to have the value and impact of our Student Discovery program recognized in this way.”

We will present Student Discovery matinee productions of Hamlet, directed by Liesl Tommy, attracting at least 3,270 middle and high school students from 46 Bay Area schools. Accompanying pre- and post-performance workshops and residencies will serve up to 500 of those students, primarily from low-income communities. Our 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 94 of the nation’s theater companies have taken part in the NEA’s Shakespeare program since its inception and participating theater companies have presented 30 of Shakespeare’s works through 7,000 performances and 17,000 educational activities at more than 5,500 schools in 2,800 communities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

For more information about Cal Shakes’ education programs, visit calshakes.org/education or contact Director of Artistic Learning Trish Tillman at ttillman@calshakes.org or 510.548.3422 x113. For more information about our 2012 season, contact Marilyn Langbehn, Marketing and PR Manager, at mlangbehn@calshakes.org or 510.809.3290; or visit calshakes.org.

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.