Santa Cruz Shakespeare - About Santa Cruz Shakespeare

About Santa Cruz Shakespeare

Santa Cruz Shakespeare

Founded in 2014

as a newly independent theatre company, SCS continues a 40+ year tradition of staging bold productions of the plays of Shakespeare and other great playwrights. Throughout our history, hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, have been enthralled, engaged, and energized by what we bring to the community. In addition to our summer repertory season, SCS proudly interfaces with our community through a number of vital education and outreach initiatives including our Student Matinee Week, internship programs, Don Rothman Talkbacks, and Undiscovered Shakespeare, a virtual partnership with UCSC’s Humanities Institute/Shakespeare Workshop.

The Agitators

RII photo by Shmuel Thaler Photographer

Our Mission

Inspired by Shakespeare, we create and strengthen our community by bringing audiences and theatre artists together to celebrate stories about our collective humanity. Matching a fearless aesthetic with transparent financial responsibility, SCS is passionate about theatre that is inclusive, inquisitive, and that engages with the contemporary moment.

actor photo

Our Vision

We envision a community where generations are increasingly passionate and knowledgeable about Shakespeare and live theatre, a community that engages in active discussion about language and art, and reaches for passion, connection, and empowerment.

Our Values

BOLD

We believe in taking risks, charting new territory, and demanding a fearless aesthetic.

TRANSPARENT

We commit to clear communication and responsiveness to inquiry in all we do, from the artistic process and planning, to financial management, governance, and operations.

RESPONSIBLE

We ensure a balance between the financial stability of the organization and artistic risk.

PASSIONATE

We are most passionate about our art, our community, and Shakespeare.

INCLUSIVE

We strive to include the breadth and diversity of our community in our art and organization.

INQUISITIVE

We continue to learn not only from our artists, but from our community, and we encourage our artists and audiences to seek and gain knowledge through the work.

PROFESSIONAL

We are uncompromising in our quest to work with the finest artists, artisans, administrators, and partners for our collaborative process.

Shakespeare and Social Justice

As we come through the many socially disruptive events of the past few years, it has become even more critical to re-evaluate the relationship with Shakespeare in our schools. Santa Cruz Shakespeare brings to the classroom a Social Justice and Shakespeare series that integrates the expression of Shakespeare's language, a critique of his works, and defined learning objectives, that illustrate how applicable his works can be to the most important lessons of our time.

Santa Cruz Shakespeare presents the opportunity to complement the teaching of the works of the Bard by incorporating supplemental topics with a laser focus on social justice. Our goal is to empower students to take Shakespeare “off his pedestal” and feel confident in amplifying their connections and contributions as they relate to his works.

This program brings a highly qualified teaching artist to engage students by bridging the gap between Shakespeare's work and a modern context by examining specific social justice topics. We encourage students to make connections between the plays and their own lives with guided discussions, practice, and activities that make Shakespeare more relatable and enable students to better understand the language. This program also focuses on the broader impact of production specific choices through exploration of professionally performed and recorded scenes from Shakespeare's plays.

For an additional investment, a fully customizable experience is available. Working together with SCS facilitators, our existing curriculum can be tailored to fit any classroom's specific needs. Such sessions could include: customized classroom events, in-person (or virtual) facilitator led workshops, assistance with in-school productions, or a truly unique program crafted through collaborative efforts.

This program was developed and created by theatre director and social justice consultant Rebecca Haley Clark. Rebecca is the Education Programs Manager of Santa Cruz Shakespeare and is a product of an education in Santa Cruz City Schools. She has directed internationally in New York, Brazil, and the UK, including a residency at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Rebecca holds an M.A. in Classical and Contemporary Text in Directing from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and a B.A. from Columbia University in Drama and Comparative Ethnic Studies. She also received a Fulbright research grant to study Shakespeare and race studies in Rio de Janeiro. www.rebeccahaleyclark.com

If you are interested in learning more or would like to bring this program to your classroom please contact Rebecca at education@santacruzshakespeare.org.

We humanize Shakespeare in the classroom with our in-school programs that bring a contemporary lens to his plays and ask students to wrestle with the racism, sexism, and other problematic issues inherent in his texts.