Shakespeare & Co.'s Season to Include AS YOU LIKE IT, ROMEO & JULIET, et al.

Shakespeare & Company's new Artistic Director Tony Simotes today announced news of a hugely successful and near record-breaking box office for its 2010/11 season, along with a sneak preview of his exhilarating and ambitious line-up for the Company's 34th Performance Season (his second as A.D.). Productions for the upcoming season include 3 Shakespeare shows, Tina Packer's new series Women of Will: The Complete Journey (Parts I-V), the return of the side-splittingly funny The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Santaland Diaries, and a handful of other equally exciting titles, which have been carefully chosen to round out the season. This season will feature several veteran S&Co. actors and directors, including Jason Asprey, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Kevin G. Coleman, Jonathan Croy, Jonathan Epstein, Nigel Gore, Malcolm Ingram, Dennis Krausnick, Corinna May, Annette Miller, Tony Simotes, Daniela Varon and Kristin Wold, who will join the Company's roster of talented artists celebrating its 34th Season.The 197-seat Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, part of the Bernstein Center for the Performing Arts, will open the Company's summer season with a high octane line-up of shows featuring Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer and her irreverent Women of Will: The Complete Journey (Parts I-V). Eric Tucker returns to direct Packer and acting partner Nigel Gore in W.O.W, which previewed to sold-out houses during its world premier and limited run in 2010. Up next is British playwright Shelagh Stephenson's heartwarming and poignant comedy The Memory of Water, directed by Kevin G. Coleman (A Winter's Tale 2010, The Ladies Man 2008, Rough Crossing 2006, Director of Education and Company actor) and featuring audience favorites Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Corinna May, Annette Miller and Kristin Wold (others TBA). The popular Lunch Box Shakespeare series presents one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies with Thedirected by Dennis Krausnick (Director of Training, Company actor and playwright) and Two Gentlemen of Verona featuring the energetic Performance Intern Company.

On its heels is the witty and sometimes controversial Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins by Margaret Engel and sister Allison Engel, with Tina Packer playing the irrepressible Molly Ivins. The outdoor Rose Footprint Theatre and Bankside Festival will feature a classic French farce (TBA) along with a full line-up of free, fun and kidfriendly special events and shows for the entire family to enjoy! (See below for details).

Founders' Theatre, the Company's 413-seat Mainstage work-horse will be operating in high gear this season with 3 shows running in repertory on its newly reconfigured stage (it will move from its current proscenium staging to a thrust configuration). Shakespeare's romantic comedy As You Like It, directed by Tony Simotes, opens Founders' and features a cast of 16 including Merritt Janson (Desdemona, Othello 2007 & 2008, and Viola, Twelfth Night 2009) as Rosalind, other actors TBA. On its heels is one of Shakespeare's best loved and timeless love stories, Romeo and, directed by Daniela Varon (Sea Marks, Taming of the Shrew, Martha Mitchell Calling...) and featuring up-andcoming Juliet star Finn Wittrock as Romeo (recently seen as one of television's bad-boy heart-throbs on All My Children, Wittrock spent much of his youth at S&Co., performing in Very Young Company, Young Company and Mainstage productions). Romeo and Juliet also features 16 players, many of whom will double into As You Like It. And bringing up the 'hind' (so to speak) of the Founders' summer season is The Hound of the Baskervilles, the outrageously funny hit of fall 2009, also directed by Simotes and featuring the same outlandish cast of Jonathan Croy, Josh Aaron McCabe and Ryan Winkles. Hound actors will also double into As You Like It.

The Fall & Winter line-up includes the award-winning The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow, a film-noir burst of hilarity, wit and craft featuring 4 actors playing between 100 and 150 roles. The 39 Steps was a smash hit when it premiered in 2005 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and continues to play to sold-out houses in London's West End. The Holiday show brings back the current and critically-acclaimed production of The Santaland Diaries directed by Tony Simotes and featuring funny-man Peter Davenport in his bravura performance. And the winter show will once again warm audiences funny bones with Moliere's quick wit, humor and finesse with The Learned Ladies directed by Tina Packer.

 

TICKETS AND DISCOUNTS SAVE BIG NOW! Purchase our "3 for 99 Deal" and get any three productions of your choice  during the 2011-12 Season for just $99. The "3 for 99 Deal" makes a GREAT GIFT IDEA all year long. Purchase your  "3 for 99 Deal" by January 31st and get a BONUS ticket to The Two Gentlemen of Verona in the Bernstein. Contact the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or email boxoffice@shakespeare.org for details or to order your "3 for 99 Deal" today! Please note the "3 foris available for a limited time only, excludes Saturday evening performances and cannot be combined with any other 99 Deal" discounts.

Tickets for the 2011-2012 season may be purchased on or after January 5th on-line at: www.shakespeare.org or by calling the Box Office at (413) 637-3353, or in person at 70 Kemble Street, Lenox Ma. Ticket prices range from $10 to $85, with multiple discounts from 10-50% off regular ticket prices and are available for Groups, Students, Seniors, Teachers and the Military. And once again our very popular 40% Off Berkshire County Discount will be available.

Both Founders' and Bernstein theatres are wheelchair accessible and hearing-aid assisted. To learn more about the season, discount availability, to order tickets or request a season brochure, visit www.shakespeare.org. For Group bookings, parties, and special event rental information and details contact David Joseph, Director of Sales & Group Tours, at (413) 637-1199 ext. 132 or groupsales@shakespeare.org.After winding down the Company's summer offerings and in the midst of its successful holiday season, Shakespeare & Company's Tony Simotes takes stock of his first full season as Artistic Director. Below, Simotes expounds on the exciting and robust season which lies ahead for Shakespeare & Company.

"I am extremely proud of the entire Company for pulling off such an unprecedented and impressive summer, fall and Holiday season," says Simotes. "And I have to admit, I have been enjoying rolling up my sleeves and digging into the planning of our upcoming 2011/2012 season. Although we are still nailing down the casting and some of the scheduling, I am very happy with where we are at this stage of the game.

"I am extremely appreciative of my staff, artistic crew, board of directors, and overseers for their support and team work, especially over the past few months, during which we have been wrestling with budgets, season titles, and planning.

While looking at titles for this year's season, it became clear to both my artistic team and myself that this was the season to focus on celebrating the power of the human spirit. I have never been more convinced of our strength as a Company, and the importance of family, friends, community and artistic expression. Personally, this has been a very challenging year with my battle with cancer, and I am happy to say I WON. I am finding myself not only turning a new page in my life history, but the history of the Company.

Like many other cultural organizations, we were hit hard with the recession. And on top of that, we also had our own internal financial struggles to tackle while running one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in North America. Part of our strategy for getting back on track financially at Shakespeare & Company involves doing more for less, as well as being creative in our budgeting, planning and daily work schedules. I didn't want to select a season that would jeopardize the quality of our productions and performances, and so with that in mind, we have a roster of plays that I think our audiences will really enjoy. We wanted to bring our audience members a season of light, love, comedy, and hope, and so we are rousing up some of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, romances, and one of the greatest love stories in the canon. I am also very excited to bring titles that are new to the Company, which will be performed in the Bernstein Theatre. It is my hope that these robust, thought-provoking, and even controversial selection of plays will ignite conversation and stir the imagination.

Perhaps most importantly, I want to continue to get the word out that Shakespeare & Company is a fiscally responsible, thriving organization. After a year and a half of tight budget cuts, layoffs, pay reductions and restructuring, we have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes. Now, it's all about identifying the ways we can fulfill our mission while maximizing our income. When it comes to the experience we offer our patrons, or the joy in the faces of the students we work with, or the inspiration of the actors who come here from around the world to train-in short, our impact on our communities-we are proud of what we do, and think we do it very well. But now is the time to be absolutely certain we're also doing it well from a financial and organizational standpoint. This is the same approach we took with our 2010/2011 season, and we are taking again with the 2011/2012 season. We want to continue to reinforce our mission of bringing new works, new voices and artists to our stages, while exploring the timeless words, wisdom and world of Shakespeare; words that consistently illuminate our own lives, our humanity, and the deeper meaning of what it is to act, to be alive, and to dream."

Simotes continues to work with his staff and artists to finesse the Company's 2011/2012 season offerings, while the holiday production of The Santaland Diaries (a hilarious one-man show based on the David Sedaris essay, directed by Simotes and featuring the multi-talented Peter Davenport) continues to pack the houses and play to critical-acclaim. For tickets, information and to receive a Fall & Winter brochure visit www.shakespeare.org.

Managing Director Nicholas J. Puma Jr. adds, "Much to my delight this past season was a big win for us. Not only were our productions, performances and artists given both local and national critical acclaim but our big news is our hugely successful box office and attendance. We are currently at $1,281,349.50 in box office revenue which breaks last year's box office and brings us up to a whopping 23.4 percent ahead of sales last year at this time and we still have 2 more productions to go (box-office revenues contribute about 30 percent to the Company's total annual operating budget). We are also tipping over 52,000 in attendance, a record for us and with this combination of sales and attendance, it puts us on-track to top our biggest box-office revenue in the history of the Company when we officially close our 2010/11 season in March with The Mystery of Irma Vep. During this past year we also completed our $10 million Capital Campaign with a final Kresge Challenge grant that helped close the gap in reaching our goal. Being able to refinance our mortgage this past year and streamline our policy structures, the Company continues to operate more effectively and efficiently. It certainly is a time for celebration both on and off stage but also a time to continue to be fiscally and artistically responsible. Onwards and upwards."

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