SFBATCC winners Carpenter and Campbell in TITUS; photo by Kevin Berne.

On April 2, the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC) announced its 2011 award winners during a ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts. In the categories for Plays at Venues Over 300 Seats, our productions of Candida and Titus Andronicus took home several awards each: Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone got the nod for his Candida direction, and Will McCandless for that production’s sound design; for Titus, James Carpenter garnered the Performance by a Male Actor in a Principal Role prize for his portrayal of the title character, Rob Campbell’s Saturninus role won him the Male Actor in a Principal Role category, and Paloma H. Young earned the costume design award.

Read the full list of winners here, and hearty congratulations to all!

New Cal Shakes Board President Paul L. "Buddy" Warner

California Shakespeare Theater today announced the election of San Francisco attorney Paul “Buddy” L. Warner as President of the Board of Directors. Mr. Warner, who joined the board in 2010, replaces outgoing president David Goldsmith, who served five one-year terms.

“My goal is to build on the important work done by David and his predecessors which has assisted our professional staff in making Cal Shakes a nationally recognized theater company,” said Mr. Warner. “Cal Shakes will continue to present the highest quality performances of both Shakespeare and the classics. We will also continue and expand our Artistic Learning program which provides a valuable theater learning experience to many underserved communities in the Bay Area”

Mr. Warner is a partner with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, with a practice specializing in commercial litigation and trials. He is the author of numerous articles on civil procedure, class actions, arbitration, and legal ethics and tactics, and was named one of the Top Attorneys in Business Litigation by Super Lawyers 2004-2011. Mr. Warner lives in Berkeley, and also sits on the board of Tehiyah Day School. He and his wife Jodi are long-time Cal Shakes supporters who, according to Mr. Warner, “have not missed a production since Cal Shakes moved to Orinda in 1991.”

“I am so grateful for the steady and sure guidance that outgoing President David Goldsmith provided over the past few years — a period of national economic turbulence,” commented Managing Director Susie Falk. “Cal Shakes has emerged with a renovated home, and greater organizational and financial stability, We are now poised for our next chapter of growth, and I am thrilled that Buddy will be at the helm with his significant board experience, professional expertise, and irrepressible enthusiasm for the organization. I know our board is in excellent hands.”

The 2012 slate of officers and their cities of residence are as follows:

• President: Buddy Warner, partner with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (Berkeley)
• Vice-President: Kate Stechschulte, architect (Berkeley)
• Vice-President: Alan E. Schnur, Ph.D., founding partner of Schnur Consulting Group (Orinda)
• Vice-President (ex-officio): Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director (Oakland)
• Vice-President (ex-officio): Susie Falk, Managing Director (Berkeley)
• Secretary: Jean Simpson, retired educator and civic worker (Piedmont)
• Treasurer: Jay Yamada, civic leader (San Lorenzo)
• Immediate Past President: David Goldsmith, business consultant/health care management, (Orinda)

Newly-elected members of the Cal Shakes’ Board include:

• Ellen Dale is a long-time civic leader whose passion for the arts was instrumental in the creation of Cal Shakes’ permanent home at the Bruns Amphitheater in 1991, and most recently in the 2010 capital campaign to renovate the site. A native San Franciscan, Ms. Dale graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Psychology. She and Joffa, her husband of 45 years, have lived in Orinda since 2000 in a home designed by their daughter. Prior to 2000, they lived in Moraga for 28 years where they raised their three children.

• Erin Jaeb is a commercial photographer with a background in fashion, beauty and architecture, and a current emphasis on fine art photography. She serves as artistic director for the marketing materials of her family-owned business, Emerald Packaging, Inc., one of the largest produce packaging suppliers in the United States. Ms. Jaeb, her husband, and their three children make their home in Oakland, CA. 
• Marshall Kido holds a B.A. in journalism from San Francisco State University, has worked in the banking industry in California since 1977, first with Home Savings of America, followed by eight years as Area Sales Manager for Citibank. He currently serves as the Division Segment Manager at City National Bank in Walnut Creek.

Additional members of the Board are:

• Terry Bush, Director, Q Builders (Walnut Creek)
• Michael Cedars, M.D., Plastic Surgeon, Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center (Orinda)
• Phil Chernin, Certified Public Accountant (Lafayette)
• Joshua Cohen, Attorney, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP (Walnut Creek)
• Ed Del Beccaro, Managing Director, Grub and Ellis (Danville)
• Joseph DiPrisco, Ph.D., author/educator (Berkeley)
• Sonetta Hanson, yoga instructor and clothing designer (Orinda)
• Tony Kallingal, Vice President/Region Manager, Mechanics Bank (San Ramon)
• David Lawrence, retired, Private Client Services Manager, City National Bank (San Ramon)
• Richard E. Norris, Partner, Archer Norris (Walnut Creek)
• James Roethe, Arbitrator/Mediator, J. Roethe ADR Services; former General Counsel of Bank of America, and partner Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (Orinda)
• Michael Ross, Adjunct Professor, University of California and University of Virginia Schools of Law (Orinda)
• Michelle Runyon, Vice President, Wealth Advisor, Wells Fargo Private Bank (Orinda)
• John Ruskin, Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. (Lafayette)
• Sharon Simpson, civic leader (Orinda)
• Frank Starn, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Pharmaceutical, McKesson Corporation (Lafayette)

Photo of Philippa Kelly by Jay Yamada.

Our very own Resident Dramaturg Philippa Kelly will be the featured speaker at the Commonwealth Club of California—the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum—on Tuesday, March 13, in conversation with Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone. The talk is titled “Only Connect—Dramaturgy and Shakespeare’s Living Theater,” and will address The King and I, Dr. Kelly’s 2011 memoir of Australian life as seen through the lens of King Lear, and how theater can connect us to universal themes. ’Love, death, the human will to connect, the failure to do it—these big themes are at the heart of Shakespeare’s plays. How do we make such themes “live” on the stage today?  Kelly considers this question as dramaturg, author, and Australian.

The event will take place at 6pm at the San Francisco Club Office (595 Market St.). Tickets cost $7 for students, $8 for Cal Shakes patrons (using the coupon code “AskPhilippa”) and Commonwealth Club members, and $20 for the general public; they are available via the Commonwealth Club’s website. Check their online schedule for future broadcast times.

Bay Area sculptor and theater professional Michael Cook, a resident designer and production manager for eight years during the early days of our company—then called Berkeley Shakespeare Festival—is paying homage to the artists he calls the “unsung heroes” of theater. His sculpture exhibit, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival: Memories of the Early Years is a series of 40 busts of the directors, set designers, stage managers, sound and lighting technicians, costume designers, graphic artists, and stagehands who brought Shakespeare to the stage in those years in Berkeley’s John Hinkel Park and then, as we became the California Shakespeare Festival, to our current home, the Bruns Amphitheater in the Orinda hills. Included in the collection are likenesses of such luminaries as inaugural Artistic Director Dakin Matthews; original Bruns architect Gene Angell; San Francisco Chronicle critic Rob Hurwitt; Jim Reber (who started San Jose Rep); actors Robert Sicular, Nancy Carlin, Howard Swain, James Carpenter, and Julian Lopez-Morillas; and many others.

The installation is on display through January 30 at Addison Street Windows Gallery (2018 Addison St, Berkeley, in the windows across the street from Berkeley Rep and Aurora Theatre), and can be viewed 24 hours a day from the sidewalk. The exhibit is sponsored by the Civic Arts Program of the City of Berkeley, in cooperation with the Civic Arts Commission. Cook now teaches at Saint Mary’s College of California, where he is also the resident scenic and lighting designer for the Performing Arts department, the manager of the in-house theater, and much more. In 2006, Cook was honored with the Freeman Award from the Eugene O’Neill Foundation in Danville.

Above right: Tyler James Myers (left) and Peter Macon star in Berkeley Rep's world-premiere production of GHOST LIGHT; photo by Kevin Berne.

The Cal Shakers Steering Committee invites you to participate in history through “Inside Ghost Light.” Our first Cal Shakers event of this year combines good company and food with a riveting theater experience:

• Have dinner and drinks with old and new friends at Berkeley’s iconic Jupiter ale house;
• Meet Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone, who created the deeply personal Ghost Light in collaboration with Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone;
• Walk two blocks from Jupiter to Berkeley Rep to see a performance of Ghost Light, a tremendously affecting (and funny) theatrical exploration of grieving and history—personal, local, and national.

WHEN: Thursday, February 9
~ 5:45-7:30pm: Dine at Jupiter
~ 8-10:30pm: See Ghost Light

WHERE: Jupiter and Berkeley Rep
~ Jupiter: 2181 Shattuck Ave
~ Berkeley Rep: 2025 Addison St

WHY: Support Cal Shakes, meet new people, get the ultimate insider’s point of view and a great rate on the hottest ticket in town*, and experience an extraordinary piece of theater.

HOW: RSVP here to purchase $75  tickets to this event. Ticket price covers both dinner and the show. OR start by joining Cal Shakers today for just $75 to receive discounts on all Shaker events—including $50 off the price of two tickets to “Inside Ghost Light“—and other membership benefits. Once you join Cal Shakers, we’ll send you an email with a discount code. Under 30? Email us directly for an additional discount!

TRAVEL INFO:
~ BART: Jupiter and Berkeley Rep are both located within a block of the Downtown Berkeley BART station.
~ Parking: Berkeley Rep recommends these garages.

*DON’T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT: About that “hottest ticket in town”? Take a look at this press!

• New York Times, 12/29/11: “Illuminating the Legacy of a Fallen Father.”
• San Jose Mercury News, 1/12/12: “Review: ‘Ghost Light’ at Berkeley Rep”
• San Francisco Chronicle, 1/8/12: “Ghost Light premieres at Berkeley Rep”
• Podcast of KQED Forum conversation with Jon Moscone, Tony Taccone, and Dave Iverson, 1/6/12
• KQED-TV Channel 9, The Memory Be Green (documentary about the creation of Ghost Light). For air dates, see http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=20446.

Cal Shakers Steering Committee: Darcy Brown-Martin, Cal Shakes; Josh Cohen, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean; Ed Del Beccaro, Grubb & Ellis; Danielle DuCaine, Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP; Susie Falk, Cal Shakes; Samantha Fryer, Fred Finch Youth Center; Tony Kallingal, Mechanics Bank; Hye Young Lee, GMR Marketing; Samantha Leo, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Jen Loy, UC Berkeley; Scott Peterson, Mechanics Bank; Beth Sandefur, Cal Shakes; Maryam Shariat, Gap Foundation.

This event produced with the generous support of