UCSC’s Shakespeare Santa Cruz has joined forces with Santa Cruz’s Jewel Theatre Company to present two one-act plays by Harold Pinter, running April 25 through May 19, at the Center Stage in downtown Santa Cruz.
The double bill will feature One for the Road, directed by SSC artistic director Marco Barricelli, and The Lover, directed by Jewel Theatre founder and artistic director Julie James.
One for the Road stars UCSC Theater Arts professor and former SSC artistic director Paul Whitworth, along with 14-year SSC veteran actor Mike Ryan, Julie James and Diego Hammana.
The play is a powerful political drama about the doomed members of a family, kidnapped by the authorities in an unknown country, who are subjected to an interrogator as they struggle to retain their last bit of dignity.
In the second one-act, The Lover, the social convention of marriage clashes with primal sensuality as a husband and wife undergo an internal struggle for identity and an external struggle for power. Sexy, unsettling and funny, this play also features Ryan, plus Cristina Anselmo and Andrew Davids.
B. Modern—who has designed more than 40 shows for SSC--will be making her debut at Jewel Theatre as costume designer for this production.
Other SSC alumni involved in the collaboration are Norman Kern (sound design) Jessica Carter (wig designer), and Bec Shipman (assistant stage manager), plus SSC’s production administrator Jessica Storey Bond, who will serve as production assistant.
Now in its seventh year, Jewel Theatre Company is the only year-round professional theatre company in Santa Cruz County.
The company recently moved into their new home at Center Stage (formerly Actors’ Theatre) in downtown Santa Cruz. Their seasons are eclectic, ranging from drama and musicals to comedy and classics.
Last month, Shakespeare Santa Cruz announced the line-up for its summer season, noting that for the first time in the company’s history, all shows will take place outdoors among the redwoods in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen.
Running July 23 to September 1, the 2013 season will open with Shakespeare’s popular and thought-provoking comedy, The Taming of the Shrew.
The season will also feature the final play in SSC’s making-of-a-king trilogy, Henry V, plus this year’s annual Fringe show, Tom Jones, a bawdy and rollicking comedy adapted by Jon Jory from the classic Henry Fielding novel.
A public SSC season preview event is set for Bookshop Santa Cruz on Tuesday, June 4, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, and the community is welcome.
For more information about the 2013 Shakespeare Santa Cruz season, visit the SSC web site.
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Jewel Theatre Company in collaboration with Shakespeare Santa Cruz will present two one-act plays by Harold Pinter, running April 25 through May 12, at the Center Stage in downtown Santa Cruz. Tickets range from $22 to $29 and may be purchased on-line at JewelTheatre.net or by calling (831) 425-7506.
