Wow!  I had not seen this classic performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Fab Four.  Yes, it’s really the boys performing…  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y24geONER0k&feature=related

Aargghhh!  It’s our season of pirates!!  We are excitedly working to put together our shows: building sets, sewing costumes, learning lines, rehearsing fights and dances.

“The Taming of the Shrew” will be set in a “Pirates of the Caribbean” world, with sea shanties, cutlases, and a plank Kate might have to walk if she continues to be such a shrew!

“Antony and Cleopatra” needs no pirates added — Pompey and his men, who would like to overthrow Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar and Lepidus and seize control of the world for themselves are called “famous pirates.”  The action in “Antony and Cleopatra” includes great sea battles as powerful forces clash.  Love and marriage complicate things for Antony as personal and political desires contend with each other and Cleopatra beckons Antony away from his responsibilities in Rome, and back to the luxurious excesses of Egypt.

There are no pirates in Tom Stoppard’s “Travesties,” which is set in land-locked Zurich during World War I as James Joyce tries to mount a production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” while Vladimir Lenin schemes to return to Russia for the revolution, and Tristan Tzara creates Dada poetry.  But then, in a world of surrealism, futurism and Dada, anything goes.

Our summer camps began today, June 21.  Eleven Acting Interns and seven Technical Theatre Interns are learning and participating in the summer productions.  Our Shakespeare at San Quentin program is continuing for a seventh year with a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” later this month.  We’re planning arts education programs in the schools for the Fall.  It’s all happening.  Come join us!

See you soon at Forest Meadows!

Lesley Currier

Dear All:

Now that our season is finally over — including our quickest ever strike (I picked trash and screws out of the gravel backstage for two hours yesterday while Bob and Mark shoved the last of the heavy things into the trailers) — with the cloud-capped towers and solemn temples all dissolved, I wanted to thank you all for being part of our extraordinary 20th season celebration, a season we will always remember as our “summer of love.”

The summer culminated Saturday with a gorgeous and heartfelt wedding ceremony for the new Mr. and Mrs. William Elsman, complete with prayers of thankfulness, heaps of gratitude for both sets of parents, sage and magic rocks, tears and laughter, and of course some rock-and-roll drumming.  As Bill might have said, these guys really hit it out of the park.  Indeed!  Bill and Alex were beat to the punch by Barry and Jessica, who tied the knot — at Trader Joe’s ! — the week before.  (Imagine how happy my inner yenta is to have had a hand in bringing both of these couples together.)  I never heard Orsino say “here is my hand” or Caesar refer to “my wife” (knowing he’d rehearsed the scene often with Jessica) without thinking of the masses of true love swirling about Forest Meadows like the worst of the wind.

Each of the productions was superb.  Each of you were a joy to work with.  Amazingly (in this economy) our audiences were up by a whopping 12% over last summer, and were 6% higher than our previous high water mark.  Almost 11,000 people attended the shows this summer.

Everyone is asking what we’ll be doing next summer.  It’s difficult for us to decide quite yet, because we are still so in love with this summer we don’t quite want to let it go and move on to the next year’s projects.  But as the memories linger on, we’re also considering many options for next year.  We’d like to try to replicate the joy, the fun, the excitement, and the high quality of this year’s productions.  We’ll be trying to figure out how to do that, hoping that many of you will be back to play and work with us again next year.  (Bob is open to suggestions — but he’ll be traveling off-road through Baja for the next three weeks, deeply meditating (when sober) on how to create another power-house season, I’m sure.)  Expect an official announcement sometime in November.

Meanwhile, please share our pride in an amazing season.  Please share our gratitude for the opportunity to create with such talented, funny, sexy, honest, smart, hard-working and dedicated colleagues.

Thanks, thanks, and ever thanks.  The weather still continues charming.  And let slip the dogs of…something…

(imagine confetti cannons here and your favorite beatles tune)

Peace and love,

Lesley (and Bob)

To my great pleasure, I attended the final 2009 performance of Julius Caesar in addition to the pre-show supper.  This morning I read Barry Kraft’s reflections on playing Julius Caesar and his desire to have the audience, leave pondering the thought: “Do evil so that good will result, and see what happens”. Kraft succeeded. A superb Caesar with a superb cast and direction!!  Jay Karnes infused Brutus’ complexity with honor, dignity, empathy.  Jack Powell’s Cassius and William Elsman’s Mark Antony delivered their roles with character, emotion, and depth, well balanced counter weights to Kraft’s Caesar and Karnes’ Brutus. I found myself totally focused on the fine performances of these talented actors not wanting the final scene to come.

“Julius” is flawless and wonderful! It is such a hard play to do well…but this production is the best I’ve seen. (And I have attempted to see at least 4 others in the past 25 years.)  It doesn’t hurt when you have Julius played by Barry Kraft who’s experience just flows out of him so rich and smoothe. Brutus played by Jay Karnes was so engaging I felt like he was directing all of dialogue directly to me. Jack Powell was so strong and convincing as Cassius.  All the players were wonderful. The players and the director made this “Caesar” one that is understandable, digestable, memorable and very enjoyable!

Caesar preview was great.  Good job.  Very good.  Should be a strong run.

The Importance of Being Ernest was one of the most enjoyable plays we had ever seen.  Our comparisons include Broadway, off Broadway, SF, LA, etc.  The acting was spectacular, perfectly cast and performed.

I enjoyed Twelfth Night very much and I recommend that everyone go see it. More specifically, I want to say that Alexandra Matthew has been excellent in everything I’ve ever seen her in. I first saw her in 2001 at Marin Shakespeare, and I remember telling people I thought she should play the lead in future productions. I was happy to see her last year in Amadeus and Winter’s Tale, though there wasn’t enough of her. I am happy now, this year, to have seen her in Earnest and Twelfth Night. She can do everything, perfectly. I look forward to seeing her in Julius Caesar. I look forward to next year when I am sure she will play the lead in all three of your productions — thank you in advance for casting her….

FAR OUT, MAN!!! I have seen several excellent (traditional) performances of Twelfth Night, and I must say I had my doubts (along with many many others apparently) that this would be anything other than a lame mockery. I could not have been more WRONG! Your production was FABULOUS!!! From Sgt. Orsino’s lonely Hearts Club Valentines to a Fool such as Bob Dylan, to a well-laid fairway wood in the 4th, the interpretation and subsequent applications of Summer of Love subculture and music were both inspired and reverent. Never was respect for the bard set aside, indeed I believe he would have roared his mirthful approval from the back row.I have to disagree with a few previously tendered opinions. First, regarding the quality of the opening band, I thought it played like an impromptu and spontaneous street performance on Haight, setting well the mood. Also, it was easy to understand and forgive the lip-syncing given the venue, and I found I enjoyed the flash-back feeling brought on by the original tracks/artists. The skill and performances of all the players were superb, and combined with her consummate timing, Cat Thompson’s tats in my opinion added a playful “vampiness” to Olivia.I could go on and on and on… but so could the Funky Chicken. I will just finish by saying that if you Shakespearean virgin who isn’t sure you can follow the story, SEE THIS PLAY! If you are a purist who is willing to suspend your idealism for an evening, SEE THIS PLAY! If you are just wandering around San Rafael looking for a groovy place to spark up a doob, SEE THIS PLAY! (just keep the smokes outside the theater)

Take Bob Dylan and the Beatles and others and dump them into the middle of Shakespeare’s poetry? I had my doubts. But it worked, and worked brilliantly. The 20th century musical selections were perfect. I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to Shakespeare, but last night’s show blew me away. You guys are the best!