Singer/songwriter Thao Nguyen and her band, The Get Down Stay Down, kick off Cal Shakes’ Echoes concert series on June 22.
The air is filled with the perfume of blossoms at the Bruns Amphitheater just in time for a summer of world-class entertainment.
On June 22 Cal Shakes premieres Echoes, a new concert series featuring Thao Nguyen & the Get Down Stay Down and Sudan Archives. Nguyen is a Bay Area-based singer/songwriter whose music is colored with country and blues. Sudan Archives fuses folk and electronic music that draws inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers. The band’s music blends elements of R&B and experimental electronic music.
Echoes patrons can take part in pre-show music, an after party featuring DJ LadyRyan, a beer garden, music and dancing and food trucks under the Orinda moonlight. The event is 5:30 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.
Cal Shakes opened its 45th year with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by British-American Tyne Rafaeli, running through June 16.
Next up, Artistic Director Eric Ting directs Tony Kushner’s much anticipated adaptation of The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, the theater’s first production of this playwright’s work. The play is a fable for modern times exploring the lengths to which one must go to keep clean in a dirty world. The show runs July 3-21.
Ting welcomes two new directors to the 2019 season. Megan Sandberg-Zakian directs the world premiere of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar, produced as part of Cal Shakes’ New Classics Initiative, running Aug. 14 – Sept. 1.
Director Victor Malana Moag will then take the helm of Cal Shakes’ final show of the season, Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth, playing Sept. 18 – Oct. 6.
All shows are at the Bruns Amphitheater at 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda (just off Highway 24). Complimentary shuttle from Orinda BART begins 1.5 hours before the opening act.
Tickets for the Echoes concert series begin at $35. Single ticket prices to the plays vary from $39-$63, based on each performance. Season packages for the four-play season begin at $132.
For information or to charge tickets by phone call the Cal Shakes box office at 510-548-9666 or visit www.calshakes.org.
