All Glen, all summer: Shakespeare Santa Cruz drops inside show for new season

By WALLACE BAINE

It’s all Glen all the time for Shakespeare Santa Cruz this summer. The acclaimed local theater company announced this week that, for the first time, all productions in its 2013 summer season will be presented in the beloved Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen on the campus of UC Santa Cruz.

Charles Pasternak as Hal with Dierk Torsek and Conan McCarty in Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s 2012 production of ‘Henry IV, Part Two.’ Photo by ShmuelThaler.

Those shows include the third and final part of the “Henriad,” Shakespeare’s “Henry V”; Shakespeare’s provocative comedy “The Taming of the Shrew,” produced for the third time by SSC; and a stage adaptation of Henry Fielding’s celebrated novel “Tom Jones,” the season’s fringe show.

As part of all-Glen season, SSC is revamping the Festival Glen with a new stage and realigned seating. The summer season opens July 23 and runs through Sept. 1.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz also announced its 2013 holiday production, co-produced with the UCSC Theater Arts Department. Frank Capra’s cherished Christmas-themed movie “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” is re-worked as a radio play and staged as a live broadcast circa 1940s in front of a studio audience. The holiday production, written by Joe Landry, opens Nov. 15 and runs through Dec. 8.

The linchpin of the 2013 season is “Henry V,” the third and final installment of a story that began at SSC in 2011 with “Henry IV, Part One” and continued in 2012 with “Henry IV, Part Two.” Charles Pasternak returns in the title role as the one-time Prince Hal as he grows into the role of King Henry V. SSC artistic director Marco Barricelli returns to the stage in “Henry V.” It is directed by Paul Mullins, making his SSC debut this summer. The production opens Aug. 6.

“The Taming of the Shrew” kick-starts the summer season on July 23. It is directed by Edward Morgan, directing at SSC for the first time. The fringe production of “Tom Jones,” featuring the company’s theater interns, will be staged only twice, Aug. 20 and 27. It is directed by UCSC faculty member Patty Gallagher.

For ticket information of more details on the 2013 season, go to http://www.shakespearesantacruz.org.