Romeo and Juliet images are up!

If you pop on over to the Romeo and Juliet page of our website, you'll see some of Raquel M. Barreto's lovely costume sketches on display (if for some reason you don't, just click on the "Multimedia" tab). Click on the thumbnails to see the costumes of Juliet, Friar Laurence, lady Capulet (below), and Lady Montague in greater detail.

Also on the R and J page, click on the "Photos" tab to see Kevin Berne's fantastic publicity photos of Alex Morf and Sarah Nealis as Romeo and Juliet, respectively. There's also this one, of the whole cast:

Coming Soon: Romeo and Juliet Actor Blogs!

Watch this space for blogs from inside the rehearsal hall.And have you seen our freshly launched play pages yet?

Presidents and Shakespeare

Last week, the New York Times ran an intriguing piece about Presidents and Shakespeare, moving from Obama--who cites Shakespeare’s Tragedies as a favorite book on his Facebook profile, but has yet to start quoting him directly--to the Bardophile Lincoln, and then giving the rundown on the Shakespearean proclivities of Reagan, Clinton, Jefferson, and others. Unsuprisingly, our nation's leaders tend toward the histories and tragedies; but we'd wager that the man we saw singing "At Last" in his wife's ear at the Inaugural Ball--and who participates fully in 21st-century technology--would get a kick out of the fresh, fast-moving, and modern take on Romeo and Juliet currently taking shape in the Cal Shakes rehearsal hall.*

Read the NY Times piece here.

*Oh, and have we mentioned that single tickets are on sale?

Guess who ran off to join the circus?

Did you know that our beloved Associate Artist Ron Campbell has joined Cirque du Soleil? It's true. Here's a snippet from his fascinating blog, which you can access from our "Relevant Linkage" list (to the right, further down on this page):

"Among clown circles (rings?) the exacting process of 'finding your clown' is given a lot of lip service. It always struck me as a little touchy-feely but I was wrong.

The clown discipline:

(yes, it is a discipline. Just as much a discipline as the trapeze artists, hand to hand balancers and tumblers that I see every day here at Cirque headquarters practice.)

–requires one to find a nakedness and a naiveté that my traditional theatre work has only rarely asked of me. It is no longer my job to create a character and put him on like a suit of clothes. Indeed I must unlearn everything I know."

Read more at www.roncampbelltempest.blogspot.com.

Pictured: Ron Campbell in Pericles (2008); photo by Jay Yamada.

Listen to Cal Shakes on KCBS.com

In honor of Shakespeare's birthday, Director of Artistic Learning Trish Tillman appeared on KCBS radio Thursday, April 23, at 9:20am, "talking like Shakespeare" and discussing the challenges of keeping Shakespeare relevant to young people. (She ended up pitching a little Shakesperean woo at SF Shakespeare in the Park's Bill Olson!)

You can listen to the segment here.

Celebrating Shakespeare's Birthday

To honor William Shakespeare's birthday tomorrow, Chicago Shakespeare Theater convinced Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to declare April 23 "Talk Like Shakespeare Day." They've created a website, talklikeshakespeare.org, where you can get instruction on how to babble like the Bard, watch videos, take quizzes, and much more.

Back here at home, we haven't managed to get anyone to make a mayoral proclamation on our behalf—it's a little hard when your offices are in one city but you're theater's in another, and the Governor didn't return our email. But we here at California Shakespeare Theater are honoring our titular playwright on April 23: If you're on our email list, you'll receive a very special offer tomorrow. If you're not, click here and get on it before time runs out!

Do you want to be a Cal Shakes Student Ambassador?

We're getting ready to launch our new and improved Ambassador Program, an opportunity for college students to get FREE TICKETS TO CAL SHAKES SHOWS, backstage access, and more.

Join us next Wednesday at Spud's Pizza in Berkeley for an Open House event featuring free pizza, socializing, and more information about this fun way for ages 18-25 to get in on the act at California Shakespeare Theater.

Open House Details:
Wednesday, April 29, 7-8pm
Spud's Pizza, 3290 Adeline St., Berkeley
For a map and directions click here.

More Info: 510.809.3293 or ambassadors@calshakes.org