Santa Cruz Shakespeare

* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
+ + The Director is a member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
+ These Designers are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local 829 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Director's Notes

Exit, Pursued by a Bear, is based on one the most famous and curious stage directions in English drama.This play is expert in its ability to tackle the difficult topic of domestic violence with comedy, meta-theatricality, and a whole lot of heart, wrapped up with a Thelma and Louise-esque package.

I’ve enjoyed playing with the line between the weighty subject matter itself and what can help us push through and ultimately heal us through that process. There is a reason that the characters are brought together through Shakespeare and attempt to show the abusive husband the err of his ways through dramatic reenactments of real life scenes. As we all know, that the “purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature”

It’s important, especially in our current climate, that we don’t shy away from intense and controversial topics. That we face them head on as we continue to learn how to cultivate brave spaces rather than safe ones. These characters are real, vivacious, tragic, and complicated and we owe them the veracity of that portrayal and by holding fast to that is where the comedy is most alive as we attempt to touch the granules of truth that resonate within us all, for “many a true word hath been spoken in jest.”

In a theatrical space, we are free to explore what keeps us going, what holds us together, and to hopefully give Thelma and Louise or Nan, Sweetheart, Simon, and Kyle, the ending they deserve.

Rebecca Haley Clark