When I came to SSC for my interview last summer, I attended all four shows. As I sat down in the beautiful evocative Glen before a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, I noticed something immediately that in 25 years of doing theatre, I had rarely seen: as I looked around, I saw every age demographic, from 14-year olds to retirees, all seemingly theatre-lovers. And I was thrilled.
Throughout my many years of working in theatre on the West Coast, I had always been keenly aware of SSC. The reputation of this theatre among people in the business has been quite extraordinary for so long. The quality of the work is known to be first-rate.
This quality and reputation is due, in no small measure, to my predecessor, the brilliant Paul Whitworth. As a result of his artistic leadership, I am in the luxurious, though challenging, position of taking this theatre into the future and expanding on the impressive groundwork laid by his careful helmsmanship. I look forward to the opportunity to bring in new creative voices and open up the parameters of what is theatrically available to you, our audience. Our inspiration and guiding force will always be, as it has always been, the greatest playwright ever to put pen to paper. For our more contemporary offerings, I am interested in producing plays that can sit alongside Shakespeare -- plays that demonstrate a muscularity of language and/or theme.
For the 2008 season, I have chosen plays that embrace two things in particular: passion, in all its forms – both romantic and vicious – and pure theatricality, in all its exuberance and brashness.
The 2008 Season
Our first offering to you in the unparalleled beauty of our Glen, is Romeo & Juliet -- Shakespeare’s supreme love story. This play is, arguably, the most iconic and perfect representation of romantic passion ever penned and we are intent on reexamining this exquisite story and mining it for all its theatrical passion, both romantic and venomous. I have set “the primacy of language” as an unspoken by-law of SSC and R&J is packed full of unsurpassed lyricism and poetry, reaching sublime heights – all the while being rooted in very recognizable and authentic flesh and blood characters.
The second play we bring you in the Glen is Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. Like R&J, this is a generational story. Young people, desiring to define themselves as independent beings, strive for adventure or love to give distinction to their lives. The older generation, full of warnings and advice, try to help the young avoid the mistakes they may have made. Both generations, in following their hearts, stumble – as we all do in life. And perhaps the lesson of this play is that a life free of the missteps that shape us is not always the best course. Youthful errors and adult blunders are all part of the textured fabric that makes us human.
Our third offering is Bach At Leipzig by the dazzling, young playwright, Itamar Moses. This play is set in 1722 when seven musicians are auditioning for the post of Master Organist for Thomaskirke in Leipzig, Germany. We are in the waiting room outside the audition chamber where all the contestants are dreading the arrival of their greatest competitor, Johann Sebastian Bach. Based on actual persons and events but twisted into something wholly other, Mr. Moses has hilariously re-imagined the conniving, bribing, scheming, and duplicity that take place in the antechamber. The language and locution are contemporary, but the guise and ambiance are utterly classical. And the results are uproarious.
And last, but certainly not least, our fourth play slams us right into the 20th century and initiates the idea of ushering SSC into plays either written by an American or based on American themes. Lanford Wilson’s electrifying Burn This is also a love story … but with a jagged edge. This dryly funny and painfully human play is about the tension that erupts when people from vastly different worlds collide. The characters are gorgeously drawn in this textured and subtle play, the language is real and modern, but the situation is highly charged and densely theatrical.
In closing, allow me simply to say how overjoyed I am to bring this rich, passionate, theatrical, profound … but ultimately deeply entertaining season of theatre to the deserving audiences of Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
Join us for a taste of the theatrical sublime!
Marco Barricelli
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