Shakespeare Santa Cruz

Organization History

It was Audrey Stanley's 1975 production of The Winter's Tale that caught the eye of UCSC Dean of Humanities and reknowned Shakespearean scholar, Caesar Barber, who first suggested the possibility of a Santa Cruz festival.

Barber's death early in 1981 prompted UCSC sociology professor Dane Archer to write then Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer, proposing a Santa Cruz Shakespeare festival to honor Barber's memory, draw attention to the campus, and provide a medium where often-strained town-gown relations could improve. By late 1980 a group of UCSC people and community members had already come together as Shakespeare Santa Cruz and in early 1981, a proposal was submitted by Kristin Bolder-Froid, suggesting a 1982 summer festival with two plays, King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream, along with seminars, workshops and films. Chancellor Sinsheimer approved the plan and gave the fledgling company a start-up grant. Shakespeare Santa Cruz was on its way. Karen Shinseimer, the founding board president, along with Audrey Stanley, Cleo Barber and Stella Kahrs, worked at generating community support and developed a Board of Directors that would represent the community as "Co-producers" of the festival.

Now in its the 25th season (2006), Shakespeare Santa Cruz has earned a national reputation for producing innovative, intelligent Shakespeare productions and other classics. It is a professional resident theater that draws on the intellectual resources of the University of California, Santa Cruz and an international network of professional artists. Shakespeare Santa Cruz is committed to linking the best of contemporary scholarship with the highest artistic standards of production and the exciting possibilites of repertory performance. It serves as a vital resource to the greater Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas.

The out-reach program, Shakespeare to Go was started by Shakespeare Santa Cruz eighteen years ago in collaboration with the UCSC Theater Arts Department. Each year, a Theater Arts faculty member casts and directs a 50 minute version of one of the plays that Shakespeare Santa Cruz will be presenting in the summer festival. The winter quarter is spent rehearsing the play with the UCSC student actors and the spring quarter is spent touring Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara Counties performing for school audiences.

From the guide to the Shakespeare Santa Cruz records, 1981-2001, (University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library. University Archives)