Cal Shakes Celebrates 50th Anniversary and Change of Programming

    For Orinda’s California Shakespeare Theater, this year marks both its 50th anniversary and a reorganization of its operation.
    “We are reimagining ourselves from being purely an organization that produces theater, and other classical theater pieces, to being a multidisciplinary performing arts and cultural center,” said Cal Shakes Executive Director Clive Worsely.
    The theater’s roots date back to 1974, initially forming as the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, performing at churches in Emeryville and Berkeley and eventually taking up residence at John Hinkel Park in Berkeley and remaining there through the 1980s. A capital campaign for a new facility started in the ‘80s.
    “We were filling it every weekend,” said Worsely, of those early days in the park.
    The organization began to overwhelm the parking and facilities available with its events and summer camps, breaking ground in its current location in the Siesta Valley area in 1989.
    The Bruns amphitheater opened in 1991, and in the early 2000s another capital campaign raised funds for a renovation that included the Sharon Simpson Center. The center offered an updated café, offices, public restrooms, actor dressing rooms, storage and technical facilities.
    “Most of our history, at this point, is here in Orinda,” said Worsely, emphasizing the unique experiences and effects offered by the outdoor stage and its surroundings, such as the howling of coyotes and fog rolling in.
    Award-winning actors that have appeared on the Cal Shakes stage include Mahershala Ali, Annette Bening, Colman Domingo and Zendaya, who honed her craft through Cal Shakes’s educational programs as a child.
    While Cal Shakes will produce fewer theatrical productions moving forward, the organization looks forward to hosting other art forms, such as dance, comedy, family programming and a variety of live music. Civic, corporate and private events will also have a home at Cal Shakes.
    The organization has been experimenting with alternate uses for its facilities and stage for a number of years, said Worsely, with the first live music event hitting the Bruns stage back in 2014.
    The restrictions on indoor performances during COVID-19, coupled with difficulties faced by Cal Shakes when it came to producing its own work, led to an opening of the outdoor stage to other organizations who couldn’t perform indoors.
    “That furthered this idea that our stage can be used for more than just one thing,” said Worsely, “and that in so doing, we are welcoming more than just one audience.”
    A season opening community picnic is scheduled for May 18, featuring student performances from Cal Shakes’ educational partners, activities for children and adults and a sneak peek of the upcoming September production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
    The 50th anniversary production of “As You Like It” is directed by Elizabeth Carter, who also directed “Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin” for the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company.
    The picnic grounds will be open for the event, and attendees can purchase food and beverages from the café.
    “It should be a really sweet afternoon to welcome in our friends and family from our immediate community,” said Worsely.
    Summertime at Cal Shakes will feature a little something for everyone, including the musical act Terrapin Roadshow, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, a symphony orchestra, Native American stand-up comedy and a hip-hop festival, among other events still in the works.
    “The idea is variety,” said Worsely.
    While the format of their productions and their offerings are changing, the organization still hosts its summer education programs. Daytime matinees of “As You Like It” will be held for local public and private school students in September.
    Worsely spoke of musician Michael Franti’s onstage comments about Cal Shakes being the best-kept secret in the Bay Area last October. He expressed the necessity of changing that view.
    “So that we are not the best-kept secret anywhere,” he said. “So that we’re the best-known little venue in the Bay Area. That’s our job.”