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Theater and Shakespeare fans are set to have two different options this year for the signature Tri-Valley showcase of the Bard’s classic works, with rehearsals starting later in the month for the upcoming Shakespeare in the Vineyard production set to run this summer before shifting to an indoor venue for a second run.
Although the Shakespeare & Performing Arts Regional Company (SPARC) might be known best for its annual outdoor productions in wine country, artistic director Lisa Tromovitch is seeking to expand the group’s performance offerings beyond Livermore vineyards by bringing this year’s Shakespeare production — and, she hopes, future productions of Shakespeare as well as more contemporary works — to the stage at Danville’s Village Theatre.
“It’s empty a lot and it’s a city asset, and it’s a city asset that should be used, and it’s a theater,” Tromovitch told Embarcadero Media Foundation. “So we have the experience and the desire to expand.”
The venture into Danville is aimed at following through on the group’s recent rebrand during the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to which it was billed under the Livermore Shakespeare Festival, with the upcoming run at the Village Theatre putting the “R” in “regional”, according to SPARC organizers.
“The plan is to take the Shakespeare in the Vineyard show and we’ll do it outside on the two-story stage, and then we will restage it and we’ll redesign the set, set it up slightly differently so it fits in the Village Theatre,” Tromovitch said.
“For people like my mom who’s 90 now, the idea of an indoor, air-conditioned matinee is a real bonus, so what we’re hoping is people will sort of self-select,” she added.
With more than 100 of the regular attendees for Shakespeare in the Vineyard having Danville addresses, Tromovitch said that she hoped the two runs would allow attendees from Danville and Livermore to cross-pollinate at their respective events, with the vineyard run in July drawing Danville audiences wanting an outdoor theater experience and the Village Theatre run in August drawing Livermore audiences who might prefer to skip the hot, summer weather with an indoor performance.
“My hope is that this becomes a sister city relationship, or two city parents adopting a theater company – whatever the image is, but that we perform in both places and people can choose what’s best for them,” Tromovitch said.
The first selection for the expansion, “Twelfth Night” — whose plot might be familiar in the present day as the loose basis of the 2006 film “She’s the Man” is what Tromovitch described as Shakespeare’s “quintessential comedy.”
“It has a fool, it has pranksters, people playing tricks on one another, and it has all the funny quirky things that happen when you fall in love,” Tromovitch said. “The tag line I was using in the play is that it’s a place where people are lost but find themselves when they fall in love.”
SPARC’s production of “Twelfth Night” is set to begin rehearsals for its six-member cast — who will perform all 12 of the play’s roles — on May 28, with its first run set for July 5 through July 28 at Darcie Kent Vineyards at 7000 Tesla Road in Livermore. Tickets are available now for the July run, with details still to come about the dates and tickets for the Village Theatre run.