There is such a thing as free brunch

Out of curiosity last October, Susie Falk (then Cal Shakes Marketing Director, now Managing Director) ran a report to find out how many of our subscribers have been with us for 10 or more consecutive years. The result was pretty surprising: A little more than a third of our subscribers have been with us for the long haul. (You like us, you really like us.)

“We should say thank you,” posited Susie. “Can we do some kind of event? Maybe brunch?” It was a simple request, almost off-hand.

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones.

There’s a flood of details that facilitate an event requiring 700+ invitations. I won’t bore you with all of that. Let’s just say that questions were asked and answered, a date was picked, invitations went out, and the response was phenomenal. More than 200 people RSVP'd in the positive; I lost track of how many of them asked one or both of the following things: “Is it really free?” and “This is just so nice of you to think of us this way.”

The morning of the brunch—this past Sunday, Sep 27—dawned hot, and it only got hotter as the sun climbed higher in the sky. The staff has long kidded about the hardiness of our patrons, but the members of the “10+ Club” showed that hardiness in spades on Sunday. Subscribers stood patiently in line for food while staff members introduced ourselves and brought over cold bottles of water and glasses of wine. They exchanged witty banter while filling out name tags that also advertised their number of years subscribing, with many people calculating subscription time based on how many years Cal Shakes had been at the Bruns (19) or how many years Jonathan Moscone had been the Artistic Director (10).

Danny Scheie, L. Peter Callender, and Jonathan Moscone
answer questions from the 10+ Club; photo by Jay Yamada.

After brunch, subscribers made their way into the amphitheater for a panel discussion. Jon reminisced about the highlights (and the occasional lowlights) of his time at Cal Shakes, with Associate Artists L. Peter Callender and Danny Scheie on hand to add their insider memories. At one point Jon opened the discussion up to the entire group, asking for suggestions of shows to add to future seasons. Some of the more interesting ideas floated by the panelists and the patrons included some of the less-performed histories, A Little Night Music, and a production in full Elizabethan garb, which all present agreed would actually be avant-garde for us!

The conversation lasted nearly an hour and, as subscribers filed out, a throng of staff members pressed specially designed thermal tote bags (perfect for picnics) into their hands as yet another thank you for year after year of loyalty.

All in all it was a smashing success. Not too shabby for such a simple idea.

Just Like Riding A Bike

When we announced our 2009 season you may have noticed that our very own Jon Moscone will be directing Romeo & Juliet. What you may not have realized is that the last time he took on Shakespeare for our stage was back in 2006 when he directed As You Like It.

That's right folks. 2006. How does he feel about his return to the world of iambic pentameter? He's excited. Here at the office we're hearing him float around ideas like looking for young actors to play the title roles. And by young, I really mean age appropriate since Romeo & Juliet were teenagers after all.

Every production goes through a period of transformation while the director and designers research and explore the work. Then you cast the show and when rehearsals begin another series of transformations occur as the actors bring each character to life. So there's no telling what the final outcome will be.

But the man isn't artistic director of a Shakespeare theater for nothing. This should be a fun ride.

Clicking Makes the Net Go Round

Today's post is all about clickability.

Click here for Twelfth Night production photos.

Does video trip your trigger more than still photography? Then check out this sampling of scenes from Twelfth Night.

Also on the multimedia page for Twelfth Night is a highlight reel from the Inside Scoop, a panel discussion that took place in August in Orinda, featuring director Mark Rucker, dramaturg Cathleen Sheehan, and actors Alex Morf (Viola/Sebastian) and Dana Green (Olivia).

LGBT Night is just around the corner. A pre-show cocktail party for the LGBT crowd, included with your ticket price. 30 and under? Tickets to the performance are only $20! Click here to buy your performance ticket and RSVP for the event.

Did you come online to shop? We can help with that too, just click on over to our online auction. More items were just added to the catalog and two more will be added in the next few days. If you missed out on placing a bid on the hot air balloon ride in the spring online auction, never fear. That popular prize package is making an encore. But bidding is only open while Twelfth Night is on stage.

When it Rains, It Pours

When you do theater outside, weather is always an issue. Will there be enough blankets to go around if it's cold? Did the sun make the stage floor too hot for the actors who are supposed to be barefoot? Did the wind blow over the umbrellas in the grove? Are those rain clouds?

For most of the season we are blessed with beautiful weather out at the Bruns Amphitheater. Sometimes the nights get chilly, but our audiences tend to be a hardy group. But the last days of our season overlap with the beginning of the rainy season in this area. And on Friday night, the hardiness of our audiences got its first test.

The rain started while we were setting up for the Shindig. When the rain stopped Susie, our marketing director, ran around the North Star Grove with a big roll of paper towels and dried off picnic tables. Which was great for a while, but then it began to rain again. Not the kind of rain where you see the actual drops, but like a really aggressive mist. Just enough to get everything damp. I personally was standing under a big blue canopy pouring wine for most of the evening, so I stayed dry.

The Shindig seemed to go quite well, despite the moisture in the air. We had a big turnout. So much that we ran out of food and red wine. There was lots of mingling and conversation and participation in the game we'd concocted. A very special version of Mad Libs centered around obscure holidays to fit in with the Twelfth Night theme.

But the aggressiveness of the mist was creating problems on stage. The current floor treatment can get pretty slick from just fog. So Friday night, it was pretty wet. Which means it's a safety hazard for the actors. Which meant that the first 15 minute hold went into effect.

After 15 minutes, the rain was still coming down. The audience was mostly seated but the rumors of a possible cancellation had started to circulate. A second 15 minute hold went into effect while the staff crossed their fingers for the rain to stop and the cast crossed theirs for it to continue so they'd get an unexpected night off.

Actor's Equity, the union to which our actors and stage managers belong, has rules about rain and holding the show. You get three 15 minute holds. After that, if it's still deemed unsafe, you cancel the show. We were down to the wire.

The audience was starting to get restless. Each time a 15 minute hold went into effect, Susie would make her way to the front of the house and announce what was going on. When she announced the third and final hold, a murmur made it's way across the theater. And shortly after, there was a small line of folks loading up on coffee and hot chocolate at the cafe.

By the time the last of the 15 minute holds had expired the rain had finally stopped. The stage floor was mopped up and deemed safe. There were some adjustments made. Danny Scheie did not roller skate as planned. Shoes were switched out as needed. But at 8:30, a full half hour late, the show finally got underway.

The mist came back for while at some point during the show. But our faithful audience stayed with us till the end. Let's just all cross our fingers and hope that this is our rainy day experience this season. M'kay?

Keys to the Kingdom

Hello blog readers. Your usual blogging host, Stefanie, has packed her bags and gone off to Bali for a couple of weeks. She has entrusted me, Beth Sandefur, special events and membership manager, with the care and feeding of this blog while she's gone. I'd like to think that it's because of my superb writing skills but really it's because I'm a girl that likes to tell a story and I have basic working knowledge of HTML. And she left me a very thorough list of instructions (i.e. little to no creative license).

The Cal Shakes bull pen is playing vacation rotation at the moment. We've all been overlapping each other by a day here and there. Robin, the box office manager, spent a few days in New Mexico and will be going back next week. Paul, development coordinator, was in Northern Minnesota. Susie, marketing director, spent some time in France. I have just returned from a trip to Minneapolis.

What's in Minneapolis? I'm so glad you asked. Shawn Hamilton--who played the narrator, Gower, in our production of Pericles earlier this year--is currently holding down a role in a world premiere musical; Little House on the Prairie, at the Guthrie Theater. (Do view the flash site when you click that link, it's quite something.) I am an unapologetic fan of musical theater, even the fluffy stuff, and couldn't resist an offer of comp tickets for a musical that is still in development.

I'll have the blog humming along with links to Twelfth Night reviews and photos, an inside look at how the development swings into the off season, and a preview of one of our upcoming Artistic Learning classes. You know, as soon as I finish wading through all the voice mail and email that stacked up while I was out of the office for a week and a half. Which will go much quicker now that I've shown my vacation photos to everyone in the office. Priorities.