Longtime artistic director Mike Ryan, a steady hand in Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s transition from UC Santa Cruz to DeLaveaga Park, is sharing that role with Charles Pasternak, himself a familiar face to local theatergoers, this summer. After that, it’s Pasternak’s ship to steer. “I see my role in expansion as a sort of daring but careful one,” he says of what’s to come.
Santa Cruz Shakespeare
Posted inCity Life
With Jewel prepared to take final bow, what’s the future of theater, other performing arts in Santa Cruz?
Where Jewel Theatre Company struggled to revive its audience numbers after the COVID shutdown, Santa Cruz Shakespeare had a banner season in 2022. Indoors vs. outdoors is certainly a factor, but what of shifting demographics, economics, attention spans in the smartphone age? And is there a secret sauce in local audiences’ tolerance for new or unfamiliar styles? Wallace Baine explores.
Posted inCity Life
A clown at heart, actor Patty Gallagher ‘works like a demon’ on Santa Cruz stages
Patty Gallagher went back to her childhood to capture Corita Kent for Jewel Theatre’s new production — and found a surprise connection to her character. Esteemed for her work by her peers and much of her audience, Gallagher pays tribute to the support she’s received. “My colleagues have supported and loved me into an artistic career,” she says. “I have this enormous karmic debt to UCSC and to Santa Cruz as an artistic community.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Shakespeare and social justice and Santa Cruz! The old, dead white guy has a lot to teach us today
William Shakespeare has been dead for more than 400 years, but for Rebecca Haley Clark, education programs manager at Santa Cruz Shakespeare, “ol’ Billy Shakes” still has lessons to teach us today and to share with kids. A Santa Cruz native, Clark has spent years studying Shakespeare across the globe and now is back home and has created a program for Santa Cruz youth called “Shakespeare and Social Justice.” Clark is looking for schools interested in hosting the programs, which aim to knock the Bard of Avon off his pedestal and make him relevant to this generation and the issues they confront today, including racism.
Posted inUncategorized
After ‘most successful season,’ Santa Cruz Shakespeare announces 2023 plays — and Paul Whitworth’s return to the stage
After enduring a divorce from UCSC and then the pains of the pandemic, Santa Cruz Shakespeare releases its 2023 schedule and big plans for major physical improvements to its Grove theater.
Posted inCity Life
Local playwright brings contemporary ‘Midsummer’-ish rom-com to Santa Cruz Shakespeare
As the only non-Shakespeare production at this summer’s Santa Cruz Shakespeare festival, Kathryn Chetkovich’s “The Formula” updates the love-potion comedy for a contemporary audience for a world premiere in her hometown.
Posted inCity Life
Santa Cruz Shakespeare, sans Audrey, gears up for big new season
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “Twelfth Night” artfully describe the shipwrecked times we live through and present new work from a Santa Cruz playwright this summer, all while saying goodbye to the company’s longtime icon, Audrey Stanley.
Posted inUncategorized
Santa Cruz Shakespeare announces big new season, change in leadership
The Bard’s “Twelfth Night” and “The Tempest” are on the schedule for 2022, as well as a world premiere from Santa Cruz-based playwright Kathryn Chetkovich. And in 2023, artistic director Mike Ryan will step down to focus on acting, to be replaced by actor/director Charles Pasternak.
Posted inUncategorized
Santa Cruz Shakespeare reawakens: Theater re-emerges leaner yet still oozing with political relevance
Shakespeare returns to the Audrey Stanley Grove at DeLaveaga Park in Santa Cruz for the first time since 2019. The return of in-person theater features a Shakespearean adaptation and a historical play featuring Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.
Posted inUncategorized
The course of true love never did run smooth: Santa Cruz Shakespeare ready for DeLaveaga return
Tickets go on sale next week for a historic comeback season for Santa Cruz’s most prominent theater company. Productions at the iconic Grove at DeLaveaga Park will see spare casts performing before smaller audiences, but after a year off, “I’m going to try not to cry when it happens,” artistic director Mike Ryan says.
