Our Dream for the SF Shakes Resident Artist and Intern Companies
THE DREAM In 2017, we celebrate 35 years of performing Shakespeare in San Francisco. One of the many things we’re celebrating is our dedication to artistic excellence. To achieve artistic excellence, a theater company needs not only great plays (Shakespeare… check!) but also great artists. Since Rebecca J. Ennals became our Artistic Director in 2012, […]
Hamlet Synopsis (the TL;DR version…)
Reflections from the Director of “Hamlet”…
by Stephen Muterspaugh This note appears in the printed program for the 2017 San Francisco Shakespeare Festival production of “Hamlet.” In the note, Stephen discusses some of the decisions that informed our production. “The time is out of joint…” – Hamlet Act 1, Scene 5 I sit down to write this note — hopefully to prepare […]
Humors, Madness, and “Hamlet”
by Cassandra Clark, SF Shakes Literary Intern The people of Shakespeare’s time did not think about physical or mental health the way modern doctors and scientists do. Just as we now believe that mental illnesses may in part be due to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, Elizabethan doctors similarly believed that certain personality […]
“Hamlet” Origins: The Legend of Amleth
by Cassandra Clark, SF Shakes Literary Intern Shakespeare’s Hamlet has become a story for the ages. The play, written sometime between 1599 and 1601, has been produced thousands of times on stage and has been adapted into countless musicals, films, ballets, and more over the past four centuries. That being said, the story behind Shakespeare’s […]
The Meaning of Ophelia’s Flowers
by Cassandra Clark, SF Shakes Literary Intern
Which Shakespeare roles have the 2017 Tony-nominated actors played?
In recent years, the Tony Awards tend to place more and more of the spotlight on the Musical categories (and we at SF Shakes do love a good musical)! Still, we wanted to focus on this year’s acting nominees for Plays, and find out how many of them have appeared in Shakespeare productions over the […]
How to be Part of Our “35 Speeches” Series
All the World’s a Stage…including San Francisco! In 2017, we celebrate 35 years of performing Shakespeare in San Francisco. With your help, we’ll keep honoring our favorite playwright, our home city, and the 35th Anniversary of the Festival by presenting 35 of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches and scenes, in 35 iconic San Francisco locations, pop-up […]
We Asked Our “Twelfth Night” Tour Cast to Look Back on the Past Year…
Between October 15, 2016 and April 5, 2017, our Shakespeare on Tour production of “Twelfth Night” traveled over 10,000 miles across California to perform in schools, community centers, and libraries. Some of the five cast members and their alternates stayed with the tour throughout the school year, while others spent a semester with us. All of […]
On why SF Shakes supporters are just the best…
In honor of our 35th Anniversary, we’re raising $200,000 to support a range of special projects that will help us connect more deeply with communities all over the Bay Area. And thanks to people who believe in our work and our mission–people like YOU, you reading this right now–we’re thrilled to announce that we’re already halfway […]