As You Like It

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Mark Rucker

In the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen

July 1 – August 10
Previews July 1st , 2nd and 3rd
(All Preview Tickets are $20.00)

Love at first sight, a wrestling match, cross-dressing and a fool! Shakespeare’s delightful, romantic comedy As You Like It boasts all four, cleverly intertwined with the trials and triumphs of love. Exiled from court, Rosalind ventures into the idyllic Forest of Arden with the fool, Touchstone, only to discover her true love Orlando awaits her. What follows is an elaborate scheme to capture his heart through her witty and playful ploy: instruct Orlando how to woo a woman while disguised as a boy. As You Like It explores the vast and varied incarnations of love culminating in a woodland wedding extravaganza!

Santa Cruz Shakespeare (SCS) is a new, independent non-profit theatre company rooted in Santa Cruz, California and dedicated to the plays of William Shakespeare and other dynamic playwrights whose work celebrates language. SCS will carry on the tradition of professional, thought-provoking and passionate theater in Santa Cruz.

SCS was funded by theatre-lovers in Santa Cruz and beyond after its predecessor, a 32-year old Shakespeare Festival affiliated with the University of California at Santa Cruz, closed in December 2013. Thanks to the generosity of its donors, and the fiscal sponsorship of Arts Council Santa Cruz County, SCS’s 2014 Summer Season is fully forward-funded. This means that all the money required for production this year is already in-hand. Simply put: ticket revenue, along with all donations and grants received after March 1, 2014, will help to ensure a 2015 season. As we are fond of saying, “we have thrown away the credit card and broken out the debit card.” It also means that in many ways our future success as a company rests in the hands of this community. If our audiences buy tickets to the season, donate, volunteer, and urge friends to do the same, Santa Cruz Shakespeare will not only survive, but thrive.

In addition to the summer repertory season, SCS is proud to interface with the community through a number of vital education and outreach initiatives including an Intern Program, the Don Rothman pre-show and post-show discussion talkbacks as well as Weekend with Shakespeare in conjunction with UCSC’s Associate Professor of Literature Sean Keilen and Professor Emeritus, Michael Warren.