Press Room

Press Releases

For Immediate Release

March 6, 2011
Contact: Katie Marcel
Katie@LivermoreShakes.org
925-443-2273

Artists’ Lives Revealed in Mamet Comedy

Livermore – How closely does life imitate art? How do backstage relationships drive onstage performances? Thanks to a generous donation from Joan Boer in memory of her husband, actor Garret Boer, Shakespeare’s Associates resumes its Bothwell Series this April with A Life in the Theatre, David Mamet’s hilarious exposé of actor egos and backstage bedlam. Like the characters in the play, cast members of this production have built their careers around regional, repertory theater. Joint dressing rooms, a haphazard backstage, and the bittersweet passing of generations don’t simply imitate an actor’s life—it is his life.  “Mamet draws his characters very precisely, not a word or action out of place,” said veteran actor and Stockton resident William Wolak. “I can understand their fears and triumphs because I’ve experienced them myself.” Wolak plays a character whose life imitates his own: a seasoned actor with deep appreciation for his craft who has performed in repertory theaters across America. Castmate Joseph Salazar, a Pleasanton resident, likewise shares a biography with his character: both are trained actors, newly discovered and rising quickly through the ranks of regional theater. Recently, Wolak and Salazar performed together in the Livermore Shakespeare Festival as Friar Lawrence and Romeo, respectively. They did indeed share a dressing room.

The 60-seat black-box West End Theater at the Bothwell Arts Center will give audience members the opportunity to join Wolak and Salazar inside the dressing room and experience the life and art of theater. The venue offers an unusual degree of intimacy; even in the back row, audience members are part of the action, close enough to see the nuances of expression that drive the actors. Director Eric Fraisher Hayes, a Danville native who recently returned to the Bay Area after ten years in Chicago theater, will give audience members a true insider’s view of the glamour, artifice, and reality behind the footlights.

The Bothwell West End Theater is located a few minutes from Livermore’s historic downtown. Playgoers can enjoy boutiques and bistros before catching some of the best Bay Area professionals tell their own story through the witty repartee of a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

A Life in the Theatre opens April 1^st and will run through April 23^rd, with a preview March 31^st. Performances are Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets range from $25 to $35, day-dependent, with discounts for seniors, educators, and children. For more information, visit www.LivermoreShakes.org. Tickets are on sale through Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006 or via www.LivermoreShakes.org.

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For Immediate Release

February 1, 2011
Contact: Katie Marcel
Katie@LivermoreShakes.org
925-443-2273

Livermore Shakes shakes it up with “Backstage” Fundraiser

Livermore – What are actors like offstage? How do they prepare for their onstage roles? Do they understand all of Shakespeare’s language? How do they fight with swords every night without someone getting hurt? These questions and more will be answered at Shakespeare’s Associates’ Winter Fundraiser. Company artists will pull back the curtain and invite attendees inside the rehearsal process. The workshops were such a hit with patrons last year the company decided to make the event an annual offering. “Folks got such a kick out of being part of the rehearsal process,” says Lisa Tromovitch, Producing Artistic Director. “We knew that teaching people some of the secrets of fight choreography would be appealing, but we were pleasantly surprised at how many attendees were so curious about how we approach the text and learn about the history and culture surrounding the plays. We are going a step further this year and bringing in actors who will be in rehearsal for our upcoming show at the Bothwell, ‘A Life in the Theatre’.” In addition to workshops on stage combat, text and dramaturgy, veteran actor William J. Wolak, cast as Robert in A Life, will give a fireside chat about his own life in the theater. Wolak was last seen as the Friar in the Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s 2010 Romeo and Juliet.  Joseph Salazar, last summer’s Romeo, will play the younger actor, John, in A Life, and will lead a workshop demonstrating how actors prepare for scene work.

The evening will be enhanced by heavy hors d’oeuvres, dessert, and wine from Rodrigue Molyneaux Winery. Shakespeare’s Associates Winter Fundraiser will be held on Saturday, February 26th at the Bothwell Arts Center at 6pm. Tickets are $80 per person which includes the workshops, wine, hors d’oeuvres and dessert. $100 tickets include the workshops, wine, hors d’oeuvres and dessert, and five tickets for the door prize drawing for “A Night of Theater” package. $60 teen tickets include the workshops, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and soda. Tickets are available at 1-800-838-3006 or www.LivermoreShakes.org.

A Life in the Theatre directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes will open in the West End Theater of the Bothwell Arts Center on Friday, April 1, 2011 and will run March 31st  (preview) through April 23rd.  Performances are Thursdays at 7:00pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets range from $25 to $35, day-dependant, with discounts for seniors and others. For more information, visit the website at www.LivermoreShakes.org. Tickets are on sale through Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006 or via LivermoreShakes.org

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For Immediate Release

November 23, 2010
Contact: Katie Marcel
Katie@LivermoreShakes.org
925-443-2273

Individual Donor Brings Life back to Intimate Theater

Livermore – Thanks to a generous sponsorship gift from a local volunteer, Shakespeare’s Associates will resurrect its “Bothwell Series” Spring productions in 2011 with David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre. “Intimate theater is the best,” says artistic director Lisa Tromovitch, “but per person, it is expensive to produce.” Due to cost, the company decided not to produce a show in the 60-seat theater last year. But a long-time volunteer, Joan Boer, stepped forward. “She approached me about producing a show at the Bothwell in memory of her late husband, Garret Boer,” said Tromovitch. “Ironically, the play that I had been hoping to do there was a show he had acted in himself, and unbeknownst to me at the time, was also being brought back on Broadway.” To remember Garret appropriately, his friends contributed to a fund that provided theatrical lighting for the West End Theatre at the Bothwell. “The  Bothwell’s West End Theater has housed three excellent Shakespeare’s Associates productions in recent years, ‘art,’‘Proof’ and ‘Copenhagen,’” says Joan Boer. “This new production continues the series, as well as the Bothwell’s proud record of service to the arts community. In particular I’m thinking of Garret’s old theatre group, the Cask and Mask Players, which in the early days staged intimate theatre evenings in this same space. I’m glad to support this asset to the community.”

Originally produced in 1977, the story follows the interactions both on and off stage between a seasoned actor and a younger up-and-comer. “The show is both a tour de force for the actors, but also a delight for audience members because the script visits the many genres an actor will have to perform as part of their life in the theater, among them American drama, French revolutionary drama, Chekhov and, of course, Shakespeare. David Mamet, like Shakespeare, is known for his use of language. Fast-paced and realistic, Mamet’s unique voice is known to both theater and film audiences. A revival of A Life in the Theatre starring Sir Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight is currently running on Broadway.

A Life in the Theatre directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes will open in the West End Theater of the Bothwell Arts Center on Friday, April 1, 2011 and will run March 31^st (preview) through April 23rd.  Performances are Thursdays at 7:00pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets range from $25 to $35, day-dependant, with discounts for seniors and others. For more information, visit the website at www.LivermoreShakes.org. Tickets go on sale December 15, 2010 at 1-800-838-3006 or via LivermoreShakes.org

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For Immediate Release

July 13, 2010
Contact: Katie Marcel
Katie@LivermoreShakes.org
925-443-2273

Livermore Shakes Features Modern Day Bard

Livermore – In the tradition of the world’s great Shakespeare Festivals, the Bard’s plays are performed in repertory with the work of other renowned playwrights. This season at the Livermore Shakespeare Festival at Concannon Vineyard, Sir Tom Stoppard, thought by many to be our modern-day Shakespeare, will be featured with performances of his Tony award-winning masterpiece, The Real Thing.  His work is multi-layered, full of clever allusions, witty double entendres and sharp dialogue. Stoppard’s plays are a rich exploration of the human condition, philosophical and relevant, much like the work of Shakespeare.

Stoppard won an Oscar for co-writing Shakespeare in Love, a fictional look at what might have inspired William Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet.  Pairing The Real Thing and Romeo and Juliet for Livermore Shakes’ season is a natural fit. “R&J is a story about the personal tragedies that occur when a community is divided. Two kids fall in love, and when it doesn’t work out and they can’t rely on their families for support, they kill themselves,” commented Artistic Director Lisa Tromovitch. “The Real Thing is a comedy about adults working it out with their spouses and ex’s to create loving relationships, even when it gets tough. Both stories remind us that a strong community starts at home, with love and the willingness to make the sacrifices to our egos that may be necessary to create and maintain loving relationships.”

The original New York production of The Real Thing, staged in 1984 at the Plymouth Theater starred Jeremy Irons, Christine Baranski and Glenn Close and was directed by Mike Nichols. All, including Stoppard, won Tony Awards. After successful negotiations with Actors Equity Association, the Livermore Shakespeare Festival was secured two Bay Area union actors, Patrick Jones and Jennifer LeBlanc, accomplished artists with numerous Bay Area and national stage credits.  “Rehearsals have been astonishing,” says company dramaturge Peggy Riley.  “It is thrilling to see these artists bring Stoppard’s work to life.”

The Real Thing performs outdoors at Concannon Vineyard July 15th – July 31st, in partial repertory with Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare (runs now through August7th). For a calendar and information, visit LivermoreShakes.org.  Tickets range from $25 to $39, day-dependent, with discounts for seniors and others. For tickets call 1-800-838-3006, or visit LivermoreShakes.org.

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For Immediate Release

July 5, 2010
Contact: Katie Marcel
Katie@LivermoreShakes.org
925-443-2273

Star Trek Actor Directs at Livermore Shakes

Livermore – Ask any Trekkie about “The Big Goodbye,” an award-winning episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and they will tell you about a 1940’s San Francisco setting that looks a lot like Raymond Chandler’s Maltese Falcon with Patrick Stewart (aka Captain Picard) taking on the role made famous by Humphrey Bogart. Ask Livermore Shakespeare Festival guest director Gary Armagnac about that episode and he will tell you stories about making it as he appears on the episode as Lieutenant McNary. “I’d known Patrick [Stewart] for a while, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to work with him on Star Trek: The Next Generation. By that time, of course, Patrick, had already made his mark as an actor on the stages of the Royal Shakespeare Company.”

How does one go from acting on one of the more famous episodes of a beloved Sci-Fi series to directing the famous star-crossed lovers in Livermore at Concannon Vineyard? Mr. Armagnac’s career spans the stage and screen over the last few decades with numerous television and film appearances as well as starring as some of the Bard’s most famous characters at Shakespeare Santa Cruz and the Tony Award® winning Utah Shakespearean Festival. At the Utah Shakespearean Festival, he played the title roles in Richard III and Pericles as well as Iago in Othello, and Sir Toby in Twelfth Night. “ It has been my great good fortune to work on some of the greatest plays ever written with some of the greatest theatre companies of our times. Working here with Livermore Shakespeare reminds me of the early days of Shakespeare Santa Cruz when that company was doing some of its finest work. Livermore Shakespeare is very fortunate to have Lisa Tromovitch at the helm during these exciting times. The Utah Shakespearean Festival received the Tony Award ® a few years ago because of the wonderful work being done on stage there in Cedar City, UT. I can see a time in the not too distant future when Livermore Shakespeare Festival will be on everyone’s list for a Tony.”

Romeo and Juliet will be Mr. Armagnac’s first production with the Livermore Shakespeare Festival though he has been personally and professionally involved for years through the festival’s association with the University of the Pacific, Stockton Theatre Arts Department where he is a tenured professor in Theatre Arts. Livermore Shakes Producing Artistic Director, Lisa Tromovitch, a full-time professor in Theatre Arts at University of the Pacific is a friend and colleague. “Gary and I have been having long discussions about Shakespeare, training, and art in general since we met at a Shakespeare conference in 1998,” commented Tromovitch. “We’ve taught and trained together – he shares our company ethos regarding specific, clear interpretations of the text, and being both a professional actor and director he brings a level of expertise that excites the actors he is working with. The show, even in the rehearsal room, is already exciting and moving to witness.”

Romeo and Juliet is performed outdoors at award-winning Concannon Vineyard July 8 – August 7th, in partial repertory with The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard. For a calendar and information visit LivermoreShakes.org.  Tickets range from $25 to $39, day-dependent, with discounts for seniors and others. Target Family Night, Sunday, July 11, offers $5 youth tickets.  For tickets call 1-800-838-3006, or visit LivermoreShakes.org.

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