Anthony Fusco, Jessica Kitchens, and René Augesen star in Blithe Spirit; photo by Kevin Berne.

Cal Shakers are theater lovers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s interested in engaging with and enjoying Cal Shakes through insider opportunities and events.

WHEN:   Friday, August 17, 6:30pm

WHERE: Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda

WHAT: 

Pre-performance party: Stockholm Krystal Vodka martinis and oysters fresh-shucked by The Oyster Girls (and that’s just the cocktail hour!); a delectable dinner; socializing and tarot readers—all served up in one of our eucalyptus-shaded picnic groves.

Performance of Blithe Spirit: The funniest haunting that ever there was: Noël Coward’s biting comedy of a novelist who, in researching his next book, unwittingly summons the spirit of his first wife—making his current spouse none-too-pleased.

TICKETS:  Call our Box Office at 510.548.9666 between 10am and 6pm Monday through Friday, or between 10 and 2 Saturday to purchase tickets.

1. Tickets to the pre-performance party are $25 for Shakers and $45 for non-Shakers.

2. Tickets to the evening’s 8:00pm performance of Blithe Spirit are sold separately, so you can choose seats—and prices—that suit you best. Prices rise when a show like this sells well, so GET YOUR TIX EARLY FOR THE BEST PRICES!

• Guests younger than 30 can get $20 theater tickets.
• Shakers get $10 off the price of two regularly-priced theater tickets.
• Non-Shakers ticketed for the pre-show party get $5 off any regularly-priced theater tickets.

JOIN:  The first ten people to join Cal Shakers by making a $75 membership donation by August 11 will win a certificate for a pound of Peet’s coffee—and get a total of $50 off tickets to this event!

THANKS!  This event is made possible by the support of Mechanics Bank, The Oyster Girls, and Stockholm Krystal Vodka.

A 2011 student in performance; photo by Jay Yamada

Summer Shakespeare Conservatory performances—abridged plays performed by youth age 8 to 18—are a wonderful, low-cost way to introduce younger theatergoers to Shakespeare.

The schedule for the remainder of the 2012′s performances is below, along with ticketing and other information.

FIVE-WEEK CONSERVATORY PERFORMANCES
Location: Bentley Upper School, 1000 Upper Happy Valley Rd, Lafayette
Tickets: $8 each, or $5 for students and seniors in advance ($2 more day of); you may also purchase an all-day performance pass for $25. To purchase, click here and select your performance from the drop-down menu. Performances are sorted by the number of weeks in the conservatory session.

Friday, July 20
Merry Kinsmen in The Tempest 10am
Noble Knaves in King Lear 11:30am
Riotous Knights in Hamlet 1pm
Fortune Artists  in The Tempest 2:30pm
The Queen’s Own in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 6pm

Saturday, July 21
Merry Kinsmen in The Tempest 10am
Noble Knaves in King Lear 11:30am
Fortune Artists in The Tempest 1pm
Riotous Knights in Hamlet 2:30pm
The Queen’s Own in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 5pm

THREE-WEEK CONSERVATORY PERFORMANCES
Location: Holy Names High School, 4660 Harbord Drive, Oakland
Tickets: $8 each, or $5 for students and seniors in advance ($2 more day of); you may also purchase an all-day performance pass for $15. To purchase, click here and select your performance from the drop-down menu. Performances are sorted by the number of weeks in the conservatory session.

Friday, July 27
Merry Kinsmen in The Comedy of Errors 10am
Riotous Knights in Macbeth 11:30am
The Queen’s Own in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1:30pm

TWO-WEEK CONSERVATORY PERFORMANCES
Location: Bentley School, 1000 Upper Happy Valley Rd, Lafayette
Tickets: $8 each, or $5 for students and seniors in advance ($2 more day of). To purchase, click here and select your performance from the drop-down menu. Performances are sorted by the number of weeks in the conservatory session.

Friday, August 3
Merry Kinsmen in Romeo and Juliet 10am
Noble Knaves in King Lear 11am
Riotous Knights in The Comedy of Errors 12pm
Fortune Artists  in Hamlet 1pm
The Queen’s Own in Macbeth 2pm

On June 21, National Dump the Pump Day, travelers are encouraged to park their cars and favor public transportation. Cal Shakes and BART are joining the festivities by collaborating on a special contest: Travel to Cal Shakes by BART for our June 21 performance of The Tempest, and you’ll get a sticker saying you “Dumped the Pump” when you board our free BART-to-Bruns shuttle at Orinda station. At the Bruns, roving spies will be looking for sticker-sporting patrons, on whom they’ll bestow $10 BART tickets. Take BART to Cal Shakes on June 21: Save gas, help the environment, and maybe win a free future ride!

Please email marketingintern@calshakes.org by 6/18 if you plan to take BART to Cal Shakes on 6/21, so that we can plan accordingly to accommodate riders on our free shuttle. Thanks!

What do cocktails and The Tempest have in common? You decide! Enter our Cal Shakers Tempest cocktail contest!

Invent a vodka-based drink, name it, and tell us about it no later than Monday, June 4 one of these ways:

• Email marketing@calshakes.org with the subject header “Tempest cocktail contest.”
• Post your recipe on Twitter with the hashtag #tempestcocktail.
• Share on our Facebook wall by June 4.

The creator of the winning cocktail will be rewarded their choice of a Tempest T-shirt or free entry to our June 8 pre-performance Cal Shakers party at the Bruns.

Cal Shakers, start your jiggers and join us where the winning cocktail will be served.  Tickets available now for the pre-show party on Friday, June 8 at 6:30pm.  We’ll be serving up warm and gooey gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches, sumptuous soup shots, luscious desserts, and our Tempestuous drink winner, compliments of Stockholm Krystal Vodka.  Meet our tarot readers and see what the summer has in store for you (besides attending lots of Cal Shakes shows). Tickets for this exclusive event are only $40 per person for Cal Shakers members and $60 for nonmembers.  Price includes one ticket to that evening’s performance. Buy tickets here. Want to become a member of Cal Shakers? Visit our membership page.