Description
California Shakespeare Theater redefines the classical theater for the 21st Century, making works of extraordinary artistry that engage with their contemporary moment so they might learn about themselves and each other in the fullness of their world.
Program areas at California Shakespeare Theater
MAIN STAGE SEASONOur Main Stage season (May to October) offered 72 performances and attracted more than 30,000 theater-goers to the solar-powered, Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, described by the Wall Street Journal as, One of the most beautiful outdoor performance spaces in America. Our 2019 season included (a) A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Tyne Rafaeli; (b) The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Eric Ting; (c) House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar, directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, and (d) Macbeth by William Shakespeare, directed by Victor Malana Maog.
ARTISTIC ENGAGEMENTArtistic Engagement is now linked to our multi-year projects, as well as the productions on our stage. Two multi-year projects, the 1001 Stories Project and the Thousand Ships Project, have both been catalysts for wonderful partnerships quite unlike our previous work in community. In 2019 we engaged more than 1300 community members through Community Conversations, Story Circles, Panel Discussions, and the Theater stage at Youth Speaks Life is Living Festival.
ARTISTIC LEARNINGArtistic Learning programs engaged 1,386 students in 49 classrooms through our theater residency programs. In addition, our 2019 Student Discovery performances brought more than 3,500 students from 62 schools to see productions of A Midsummer Nights Dream and Macbeth. We continue strong partnerships with most schools year after year, and have been instrumental in launching several school-based theater programs in the past several years.