January 14, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dana Werdmuller: (831) 459-3160
dwerdmul@ucsc.edu
SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MARCO BARRICELLI ANNOUNCES 2009 SEASON
Shakespeare’s ‘Caesar,’ ‘Dream’ to sit alongside Bay Area premiére of Margulies’ ‘Shipwrecked!’
SANTA CRUZ, CA – After his critically-acclaimed inaugural season of 2008, Shakespeare Santa Cruz Artistic Director Marco Barricelli announces the 2009 season with a slate of three plays exploring the themes of politics, power, trust, and the time-honored traditions of storytelling. Mr. Barricelli continues to build upon SSC’s reputation for producing inventive interpretations of Shakespearean plays while introducing SSC audiences to contemporary plays by American playwrights that share a “muscularity of language,” and sit well alongside the works of the company’s namesake. In the selection of his second season, Mr. Barricelli hints at his longer-term artistic goals, saying “With our 2008 season, we established a template that began taking Shakespeare Santa Cruz in a new direction, a direction for which it seemed poised, a natural maturation, if you will. This new direction is vital in making sure this theatre never rests on its laurels nor underestimates its obligation to engage our intelligent and curious constituency.”
Among the intimate redwoods in the outdoor Sinsheimer-Stanley Glen, SSC will present two contrasting plays by William Shakespeare, the ethereal, fantastical comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the edgy, political tragedy Julius Caesar. The indoor Theatre Arts Mainstage will be the venue for the Bay Area premiére of the family-friendly Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures Of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself) by Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Donald Margulies. All three plays will be performed in repertory from July 21 through August 30, 2009.
"The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve: Lovers, to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time."
– Theseus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V
One of the most iconic of Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, also offers the most quintessential Shakespeare Santa Cruz “Glen experience,” marrying the play’s themes with the stunning natural beauty of the redwoods, and Artistic Director Barricelli welcomes the pairing: “As the natural order of things is upset by the stormy relationship between the gods of the earth, so the natural order of things for man is upset by discordant earthly relationships. Hysterical chaos ensues until the gods of nature reconcile and mankind is helped, once again, to find its own sense of order and peace.”
“The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins remorse from power.” – Brutus, Julius Caesar, Act II
In stark contrast to Dream, the second offering in the outdoor redwood Glen will be Shakespeare’s austerely political, bold, and bloody Julius Caesar. Observes Mr. Barricelli, “It will be a new political year in our country, and Shakespeare, like no other writer, allows us to experience the political machinations of nation-building while gripping us with a rich personal drama that is utterly human. It is a magnificent play.”
“Hello, you vital, hummingbird-hearted creatures! Hello, and welcome to this temple of this imagination!”
– Louis, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures Of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself)
On the indoor Mainstage Theatre, Mr. Barricelli is thrilled to be presenting the Bay Area premiére of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies’ brilliant Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures Of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself). Celebrating theatrical story-telling in all its glory, and reminiscent of Baron von Münchausen, another real-life adventurer telling tall tales, this is a play appropriate for the entire family – exciting and adventurous enough for young people, while offering a searing and poignant tale for adults. Mr. Barricelli invites audiences of all ages to this spectacular theatrical adventure, adding “There is a very serious message to this breathtaking play but as it’s being served up to us, we thrill all along the way. This play is going to be an exciting, wild ride…”
Subscriptions for the 2009 season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz go on sale in February; single tickets will be available in March. Both the Festival Glen and the Theatre Arts Mainstage are located on the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz. For more season and ticket information, please visit the SSC web site at www.shakespearesantacruz.org or call the UCSC Ticket Office at (831) 459-2159.
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