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.

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.

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

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.

Our popular, free Inside Scoop events have moved; they are now being held at the Orinda Theatre, 4 Orinda Theatre Square. Inside Scoops are lively panel discussions and Q&As, offering context, conversation, and the ever-desirable sneak peek provided by those who know the show best. Get inside the creative process with our cast and creative team while they’re still deep in the rehearsal process—and enjoy complimentary sweet treats and Peet’s coffee and tea beforehand.

Appearing at the star-studded Tempest Inside Scoop are director Jonathan Moscone, actor Michael Winters (Prospero), actor James Carpenter (Alonso), choreographer/actor Erika Chong Shuch (Ariel), actor Emily Kitchens (Miranda), costume designer Anna Oliver, and Resident Dramaturg Philippa Kelly.

DETAILS

• What: The Tempest Inside Scoop
• When: Mon, May 14. Sweet treats and Peet’s at 6:30pm, panel at 7pm
• Where: Orinda Theatre, 4 Orinda Theatre Square. Please use the special entrance from the sidewalk to the left of the cinema’s main doors; look for a Cal Shakes greeter who will help you find your way.
• Cost: Free
• Seating: Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis for most guests.
• Cal Shakes Champions at the Supporting Cast ($250) level or higher: To reserve seats, email bsandefur@calshakes.org or call 510.809.3297.
• Parking: Free parking is available for this event in Orinda Theatre Square’s garage with validation. Please remember to bring your parking ticket into the cinema to receive validation.
• More info: 510.548.9666, info@calshakes.org, calshakes.org/events.

Date, time, and artists subject to change. Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Erika Chong Shuch and Jonathan Moscone in conversation (photo by Jamie Buschbaum); James Carpenter; Philippa Kelly at a 2011 Inside Scoop (photo by Jay Yamada).