Cal Shakes Announces Replacement Cast For HAPPY DAYS, Begins Previews 8/12, Opens 8/15

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) today announced that Patty Gallagher will take over the role of Winnie, Samuel Beckett's eternal optimist, in Happy Days, directed by Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone. Ms. Gallagher will replace Marsha Mason, who withdrew from the production because of personal reasons.

Two of Cal Shakes most beloved Associate Artists will also appear in the production; Joan Mankin will serve as understudy and will appear as Winnie at performances on August 25-27 and September 1-3. As previously announced, Dan Hiatt will play Winnie's famously monosyllabic husband, Willie.

"I am so sad not to have Marsha with us on this project anymore, but I am genuinely thrilled to have Patty Gallagher step in and make this role her own," says Jonathan Moscone. "She is an exceptional actor and is going to make something beautiful for us. And to have Associate Artist Joan Mankin understudying and being able to go on at certain performances is another blessing. Our entire company of staff and artisans are working day and night with these exceptional actors, including Dan Hiatt, to bring Beckett's glorious, complex work to life."

Patty Gallagher (Winnie) is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at University of California Santa Cruz where she directs courses in physical theatre, mask, Balinese dance, and clown traditions. She is Director in Residence for the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco School of Circus Arts. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has performed clown and buffoon with Teatro Cronopio and studied in Laboratorio Grupo Malayerba. She has worked with the New Pickle Circus, Fool Time Circus, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Ripe Time, San Francisco Circus and the Weird Sisters Ensemble. She has performed and directed workshops in Asia, South America, Europe, and the U.S., and recently was a Fulbright Scholar in Quito, Ecuador. She is a founding member of Local Hero, a physical theatre ensemble. With The Rogue Theatre, she has conducted workshops with the Rogue ensemble for Endymion and performed the roles of Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Winnie in Happy Days, and Sonnerie and Scarron in Red Noses. Dr. Patty Gallagher's participation as Artist in Residence in The Rogue Theatre's 2007-08 season was supported by the UC Santa Cruz Committee on Research and its Arts Research Institute.

Dan Hiatt (Willie) appeared at Cal Shakes in 2008 as the title character in Uncle Vanya, for which he won a BATCC Award; previously as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III, Straker in Man and Superman, Hermocrates in The Triumph of Love, Touchstone in As You Like It, Newman Noggs in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gonzalo in The Tempest, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Dorn in The Seagull, Sergius in Arms and the Man, and many others. Other credits include Happy End, The Rivals, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, and The Cherry Orchard at A.C.T.; Dinner with Friends and Menocchio at Berkeley Rep; The Immigrant and A Flea in Her Ear at San José Rep; Regional theater credits include Seattle Rep, Arizona Theatre Company, The Huntington Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Stage West in Toronto.

Joan Mankin (understudy/Winnie at select performances) has appeared at Cal Shakes in An Ideal Husband, Uncle Vanya, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, A Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, and Henry IV. Most recent credits include Government Inspector (A.C.T), the title role in Mrs. Crachit's Wild Christmas Binge (SF Playhouse), and Henny in Bosoms and Neglect (Aurora Theater) for which she won a Bay Area Critics Circle Award. She was in the Los Angeles production of the Tom Waits/ Richard Wilson/William Burroughs collaboration Black Rider and in the Thick Description/San Jose Stage production of Octavio Solis' Gibraltar. She has been a company member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, The Dell'Arte Players, and Pickle Family Circus. She is currently on the faculty of the Clown Conservatory of SF Circus Center.

Happy Days begins previews Wednesday, August 12, opens Saturday, August 15, and runs through Sunday, September 6. Single tickets range from $32-$68, with discounts available for seniors, students, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices subject to change. For information or to charge tickets by phone with VISA, MasterCard or American Express, call the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666. Additional information and online ticketing are available at www.calshakes.org.

For information or to charge tickets by phone with VISA, MasterCard or American Express, call the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666. Additional information and on-line ticketing is available at www.calshakes.org.

Founded in 1974, California Shakespeare Theater is a fully professional, critically acclaimed theater known for its innovative productions of the plays of William Shakespeare and other reimagined classics. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone and Managing Director Susie Falk, Cal Shakes is committed to being a leading community citizen by nourishing the imaginations of audiences, artists, and learners of all ages. Cal Shakes makes boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics; provides in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances; and brings disparate communities together around the creation of new American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.

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