Santa Cruz Shakespeare


Santa Cruz Shakespeare is an independent theater company in Santa Cruz, California, founded in 2014. Its predecessor, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, lost the financial support of its host and sponsor, the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2013. Members of the original company and board immediately began fundraising and raised enough money to form a new independent theater company. Santa Cruz Shakespeare values community, aesthetics, financial responsibility, inclusivity, inquisitiveness, and engagement through repertory theater, educational programs, and professionalism in the entertainment/theater fields.

History

  • 1981-2008: Shakespeare Santa Cruz was founded by Audrey Stanley in 1981 and performed annually on the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Plays by Shakespeare were performed both indoors on the UCSC Theater Arts Mainstage and outdoors in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen. Usually, the company's season ran from July to early September and presented three or four plays that ran concurrently in repertory. Over time, the company ran up deficits, which were paid by the University of California.
  • 2008: With California's budget crisis having resulted in reduced funding, the university could no longer afford to cover the accrued debts. An agreement was reached that if the theater could raise $300,000, it could continue operation. Within 10 days of the agreement's announcement, over $400,000 was raised.
  • 2013: Claiming continuing financial problems, the UCSC Arts Division dean announced that Shakespeare Santa Cruz would end after that year's winter holiday production.
  • 2013: Following this announcement, members of the theater company began a campaign to raise money to become an independent company. In December 2013, a new entity known as Shakespeare Play On was formed for this purpose, co-headed by Shakespeare Santa Cruz artistic director Marco Baricelli and actor/director Mike Ryan. An online platform for accepting donations was established with the Network for Good. By February 2014, they raised over $1 million through crowdfunding to continue on without the financial support of the university. In March 2014, the new company changed its name to Santa Cruz Shakespeare. The New York Times referred to the company's rebirth as an "underdog success story."
  • 2014: For its inaugural season under its new arrangement, Santa Cruz Shakespeare presented As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Beard of Avon in July and August 2014. All three shows were performed in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen on UCSC's campus.
  • 2015: For the 2015 season Mike Ryan took over sole artistic director duties and the company announced productions of Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, and David Ives's adaptation of Pierre Corneille's The Liar.
  • 2016: For the 2016 season the company moved to a new purpose-built home in the Audrey Stanley Grove at Upper DeLaveaga Park in Santa Cruz.
  • 2022: Mike Ryan announced his plan to step down as artistic director after the 2023 season. Charles Pasternak was selected as his successor.
  • 2023: Mirroring the company's first year where Mike Ryan and Marco Baricelli shared the artistic director title, Mike Ryan and Charles Pasternak were Co-Artistic Directors for the 2023 season.
  • 2024: Charles Pasternak lead his first season as sole Artistic Director

    Season history

  • 2014
  • * As You Like It
  • * The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • * The Beard of Avon
  • 2015
  • * Much Ado About Nothing
  • * Macbeth
  • * The Liar
  • * The Rover
  • 2016
  • * Hamlet
  • * A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • * Orlando
  • 2017
  • * Measure for Measure
  • * Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • * The 39 Steps
  • * Candide
  • 2018
  • *Summer Season
  • **Love's Labour's Lost
  • **Romeo and Juliet
  • **Venus in Fur
  • *Fringe Series
  • **Men I'm Not Married To
  • **A Doll's House
  • **The Taming
  • 2019
  • *Summer Season
  • **Pride and Prejudice
  • **The Comedy of Errors
  • **The Winter's Tale
  • *Fringe Series
  • **The Two Noble Kinsmen
  • ** The Formula by Kathryn Chetkovich
  • ** The Last White Man
  • 2020
  • *Henry VI Part I
  • *Henry VI Part II
  • *Henry VI Part III
  • *Richard III
  • *The originally planned Season was Postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, SCS produced 4 plays as online staged readings with each play broken into multiple performances over a series of weeks.
  • 2021
  • * The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic once again impacted the season, leading to the further postponement of the plays originally planned for 2020.
  • * Undiscovered Shakespeare
  • **Troilus and Cressida
  • *Summer Season
  • **The Agitators
  • **RII an adaptation of Richard II
  • *Fringe Series
  • **Far Away From Here by M.L Roberts
  • **Wuthering Heights by Kirsten Brandt
  • 2022
  • * Undiscovered Shakespeare
  • **King John
  • *Summer Season
  • **Twelfth Night
  • **The Tempest
  • **The Formula by Kathryn Chetkovich
  • *Fringe Series
  • **Just Deserts by Carol Lashoff
  • **Nasty Brutish and Short by Ian McRae
  • **Simply The Thing She is by Kate Hawley
  • 2023
  • *Summer Season
  • **The Taming of the Shrew
  • **King Lear
  • **The Book of Will
  • * Fringe Series
  • **Exit, Pursued by a Bear
  • **Witch by Jen Silverman
  • **Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard
  • 2024
  • * Undiscovered Shakespeare
  • **Henry VIII
  • *Summer Season
  • **Hamlet
  • **As You Like It
  • **The Importance of Being Earnest
  • *Fringe Series
  • **Proof by David Auburn
  • **Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang
  • **A Room in the Castle by Lauren Gunderson
  • *Fall Season
  • **The Glass Menagerie
  • *Holiday Season
  • **A Christmas Carol Based on the novel by Charles Dickens
  • 2025
  • * Undiscovered Shakespeare
  • **Timon of Athens
  • *Summer Season
  • **A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • **Pericles
  • **Into the Woods
  • *Fringe Series
  • **Betrayal
  • **First Gravedigger
  • **Mary's Wedding
  • *Fall Season
  • **Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard
  • *Holiday Season
  • **A Christmas Carol Based on the novel by Charles Dickens

    The Canon in Santa Cruz

Between Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz Shakespeare all of Shakespeare's canon have been presented. Thirty have had main stage productions, one as a fringe production and seven as online staged readings.
Shakespeare plays performed in Santa Cruz by first production