California Shakespeare Theater Announces Directors For 2019 Season

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) today announced directors for the 2019 Season at the Bruns Amphitheater, including the Cal Shakes debuts of directors Megan Sandberg-Zakian (House of Joy) and Victor Malana Maog (Macbeth).

"We're thrilled to welcome back Tyne Rafaeli, who will turn her unflinching gaze upon that most beloved of plays-A Midsummer Night's Dream," Artistic Director Eric Ting said. "And I'm so excited to introduce our audiences to the dynamic visions of two new directors next season: Megan Sandberg-Zakian who brings rigorous practice and infinite heart to her work; and Victor Malana Maog, who leaves an indelible print on everything he touches."

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream marks the return of director Tyne Rafaeli (2017's Measure for Measure) to the Bruns. Four lovers escape into the woods and find themselves entangled in a world turned upside-down. When it comes to love, what's fantasy and what's reality? Tricks abound and wires cross as we all seek escape from (or surrender to) the clutches of love.

Next, Artistic Director Eric Ting directs Cal Shakes' first presentation of Bertolt Brecht: his parable of morality in a modern world, The Good Person of Szechwan. In a city of "haves" and "have-nots," can a good person stay good even as their fortunes rise? The Good Person of Szechwan is a fable for our times exploring the lengths to which one must go to keep clean in a dirty world.

Third, our World Premiere New Classic: Madhuri Shekar's House of Joy, directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. A darling of the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, House of Joy is an action-adventure romance set in a harem at the beginning of the end of the Mughal Empire. Once upon a time and place, in something like 17th century Delhi, an imperial bodyguard risks her life to fight for what's right, turning against everything she's been raised to believe.

Finally, Shakespeare's cautionary tale of unbridled ambition, Macbeth, directed by Victor Malana Maog. Determined to fulfill a prophecy of greatness, Macbeth's hunger for power consumes all he holds dear. How far would you go to take what you've been told you deserve? And who will rise up to stop you?

Cal Shakes' 2019 Mainstage Season: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, May 22-June 9; The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, July 3-21; the World Premiere of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar, August 14-September 1; and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, September 18-October 6.

Subscriptions for the 2019 Mainstage Season are available now; single and group tickets go on sale to the public in spring 2019. Prices start at $132 for a subscription, with discounts available for seniors, youth, and full-time K-12 educators. For information or to charge tickets by phone with VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express, call the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666. Additional information and online ticketing is available at www.calshakes.org.

Victor Malana Maog, named one of American Theatre Magazine's "People to Watch," makes his Cal Shakes debut with Macbeth. He has directed and developed work at The Public Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, Hartford Stage, Signature Theatre Company, Mabou Mines, Drury Lane Theatre, 2g, The Lark, New Dramatists, ABC/Disney, and large-scale stage shows, live events, and spectaculars at Disney Parks Live Entertainment. Upcoming: two chapters of Mfoniso Udofia's nine-play Ufot Family Cycle-Her Portmanteau at American Conservatory Theater and the world premiere of In Old Age at Magic Theatre. Maog first gained notice in 2004, when he was one of six directors in the nation to receive the NEA/TCG Career Development Program. He has also been awarded the Van Lier Directing Fellowship at Second Stage, Altvater Fellowship at Cornerstone Theatre Company, and the Presidential Award with the Theatre Arts Project, and was recently chosen as an inaugural TCG SPARK Leader, spotlighting rising arts executives. Vice President, CAATA Board. B.A. in Global Leadership and Performance Studies-NYU/Gallatin. www.victormaog.com

Tyne Rafaeli is a British-American Director based in New York. She directs classics, new plays and musicals in London and the US. Recent productions include Measure for Measure (Cal Shakes / Santa Cruz Shakespeare); Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer at Roundabout Theatre Company and I Was Most Alive With You by Craig Lucas at Playwright's Horizons. Her work has also been seen at: The Geffen Playhouse, Playwright's Realm, Classic Stage Company, The Atlantic Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage & Film, Two River, PlayMakers Rep, Goodspeed, Juilliard, Great Lakes Shakespeare, American Players Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the O'Neill Playwright's Conference among others. Tyne is a 2016-18 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theatre and received the 2014 SDC Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classic Direction. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and Columbia University.

Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a freelance theater director based in Jamaica Plain, MA, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Recent directing projects include the world premiere of Nathan Alan Davis' Nat Turner in Jerusalem at New York Theatre Workshop, the world premiere of Eleanor Burgess' Chill at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and Dominque Morisseau's Skeleton Crew at The Huntington Theatre Company. She has previously served as the Associate Artistic Director of Underground Railway Theater (Cambridge, MA), the Providence Black Repertory Company (RI), and The 52nd Street Project (NYC), and is currently the Director-in-Residence at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA. Megan is a recipient of the Princess Grace Theater Award and the TCG Future Leaders fellowship, an alumna of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a proud member of SDC. She is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Eric Ting is an Obie Award-winning director and was appointed Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater in November of 2015. Recent directing credits include The War of the Roses, Marcus Gardley's black odyssey, and Othello (Cal Shakes); Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon (Berkeley Rep); Octavio Butler's Parable of the Sower with Toshi Reagon; and the world premiere of Lauren Yee's The Great Leap (Denver Center / Seattle Rep). His work has also been seen at Manhattan Theater Club, Soho Rep, The Public Theatre, BAM, Williamstown Theater Festival, the Goodman Theater, Victory Gardens, the Mark Taper Forum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, ART, Hartford Stage, Philadelphia Theater Co, Carolina Performing Arts and internationally in Singapore, Holland, UAE, France and Bali. Upcoming project: the 1491s' Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Ting is a proud member of the SDC Board.

ABOUT CAL SHAKES

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) begins its 45th season in 2019. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Eric Ting, the company is a nationally-recognized leader in drawing on the power of authentic, inclusive storytelling to create more vibrant communities. Serving more than 40,000 people annually, Cal Shakes invites people from all walks of life to make deeply-felt connections with our shared humanity through its work onstage, in schools, and with people in non-traditional settings throughout the Bay Area who have little or no access to theater. For more information, visit www.calshakes.org.

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