First Annual Bard Jubilee

The 2014-2015 season coincides with the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth, and STC introduced an annual celebration of the world’s greatest playwright by hosting special events throughout February and March, in partnership with our Community Partner, the Sacramento Poetry Center. In addition to our Main Series production of Julius Caesar and our Youth Series production of The Hamlet Thrill-ma-geddon, multiple “Bard of Avon”-themed events were offered.

 

Sonnet Writing Class with Sacramento Poet Laureate Jeff Knorr

Jeff Knorr Conducts the STC Masterclass

Jeff Knorr Conducted a Masterclass at STC

Tuesday, February 17, 2015, 6pm–7:30pm, Main Stage Lobby

Sacramento Poet Laureate Jeff Knorr is the author of three books of poetry, and his works have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. The masterclass was free and open to the public.

 

Sonnet Writing Contest

Submission Deadline: Sunday, February 22, 2015, 11:59pm

STC held a classical sonnet writing contest with two grand prizes: The winner of the youth division won a weekend trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR March 13 – 15, 2015 with STC’s Young Professionals Conservatory, departing from Sacramento. The winner of the adult division won a $250 honorarium. Both winners were published in the Sacramento Poetry Center’s summer 2015 edition of Poetry Now.

Meet The Judges:

Jeff Knorr: Jeff has edited, judged, and been a visiting writer for various conferences and festivals and an invited judge for contests such as the DeNovo First Book Contest, the Willamette Award in Poetry, and the Red Rock Poetry Award.

Connie Gutowsky: Connie has been active in Sacramento’s poetry community for over a decade and has published her work in numerous literary journals. She has studied with Joshua McKinney and John Allen Cann, among others, and currently serves as an editor of Tule Review. Connie’s book, Play, was published in 2013 by Random Lane Press.

Matt K. Miller: Miller played the title role in STC’s Julius Caesar, and local stage credits include over 30 productions at STC (The Grapes of Wrath, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, Amadeus, Tartuffe, etc.), Capital Stage (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Superior Donuts, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me), New Helvetia (The Gingerbread Lady), B Street (Equivocation, The Underpants), and Davis Shakespeare Festival (Much Ado About Nothing, She Loves Me). Miller is an adjunct assistant professor of theatre arts at Sacramento City College.

The Winners:

THE PATH by Christopher Moseley – Youth Division

His hand outstretched through the thick of wood,
Leading me through bramble and brush and green,
The night, it soaks me as I knew it would,
his eyes like a moon too far to be seen.
I skip and dance on ground wet to the touch
not feeling the frost nipping my fingers,
but wrapped in heat of his pulsing clutch,
his complexion that before me lingers.
The curve of his wrist was dripped with lemon
its sweet scent floating after he and I
hanging in the air, as though to beckon
the glass-stars down from the evening sky.
I still follow wherever he may go,
through wood or field, over desert and snow.

MY SON (for Steve, 1965-1991) by Paula Ashley – Adult Division

You come to me out of the Vedauwoo
in this photo I snapped before your crash.
The picture glass reflects my front yard view
yet you are not aware of cars that pass.

I remember the soft gray tee you wore
while leaning on my Arizona tree.
You sailed along the San Diego shore,
then drove up north as if you’d always seen

those vast frontiers of hiking to explore.
I think of the small bottle of cologne
you left in Laramie with clothes you wore.
The scent of Gambler has become your own.

Why did you drive sleepless the whole night through
and leave me here with aching thoughts of you?

 

Panel Discussion oF Julius Caesar

Sunday, March 1, 2015, 5:30pm–7pm, Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street

Back Row: Michael Laun, Kirk Blackinton, Steve Cirrone Front Row: Bob Stanley, Nicole Sterling

Back Row: Jason Gieger, Michael Laun, Kirk Blackinton, & Steve Cirrone; Front Row: Bob Stanley & Nicole Sterling

STC and the Sacramento Poetry Center presented a panel discussion on Julius Caesar with STC artists and other local Shakespeare authorities. A selection of scenes from the STC production were presented. The discussion was free and open to the public.

MEET THE PANELISTS:

Kirk Blackinton, the Co-Director of Julius Caesar at Sacramento Theatre Company, has been working in Sacramento area theatre for over a decade now.  He and his wife Shannon co-founded Big Idea Theatre in 2008 with a group of like-minded artists and grew it into a well respected community theatre organization.  He has worked at STC several times as an actor, but Julius Casar was his first chance to direct there. He has directed and acted in quite a few Shakespeare productions and is a self proclaimed Shakespeare-o-phile.  He holds a BA in Theatre from UC, San Diego.

Jason Gieger is an English professor at California State University, Sacramento.  While his “official” research area is seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theater, literature, and culture, he also often teaches courses in drama, popular fiction, and film.

Steve  “Doc” Cirrone has been teaching English literature, creative writing, critical thinking and composition for over 23 years. He received his PhD in Shakespeare and Renaissance Philosophy from the Claremont Graduate School in 1997. His dissertation, “Shakespeare’s Magic: Gender-Based Occult Value in Midsummer Night’s Dream, I Henry VI and Macbeth” applied a new historical approach to Shakespeare’s drama in order to determine how Shakespeare used contemporary occult practices to inform his plays. Cirrone has written a number of full-length plays, including the published The Tragedy of Doctor Gnosis, a modern retelling of Marlowe’s Faust, and has also completed several novels. He is currently tenured at Sacramento City College where he continues to inspire his students to push their academic limits. In his spare time, he enjoys being with his husband Charley, painting, writing music and playing piano, and hanging out with Roxie, his old, stinky pit-bull.

 

Q&A with the Cast & Director of The Hamlet Thrill-ma-geddon

Hamlet TMG_4709

The Cast of The Hamlet Thrill-ma-geddon

Saturday, March 7, 2015, Following the 2pm Performance, Pollock Stage

After the Youth Series performance of our production of The Hamlet Thrill-ma-geddon, featuring students from STC’s Young Professionals Conservatory, there was a special Q&A session with the cast and key staff members, including director Michael RJ Campbell.

 

Caesar StatueThe Ides of March, Q&A with the Cast of Julius Caesar

Sunday, March 15, 2015, Following the 2pm Performance, Main Stage

Audiences joined us for the performance of Julius Caesar and a special post-performance Q&A with members of the cast on March 15.  Tickets to that performance were just $15 in honor of the Ides of March.