Cal Shakes to Present LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN, 8/14-9/8

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2013 season with Oscar Wilde's comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan, directed by Oregon Shakespeare Festival company member Christopher Liam Moore in his Bay Area directorial debut. Lady Windermere's Fan plays at the Bruns Amphitheater August 14 through September 8.

Subtitled "A Play about a Good Woman", Lady Windermere's Fan was the playwright's first commercially successful play. A naïve young woman (and self-professed puritan) is shocked to discover evidence of her older husband's apparent infidelity. When he not only refuses to confess but insists that she invite the mystery woman to her upcoming society debut, Lady Windermere quickly discovers the true meaning of one of Wilde's most famous lines, "I can resist anything but temptation", and learns the power of faithfulness and forgiveness in the modern world.

The play follows on the heels of two of Wilde's most provocative works: the poem Salome, which was banned by the Lord Chamberlain for its illegal depiction of Biblical characters onstage; and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which had the British reviewers howling that Wilde should be prosecuted on moral grounds for its Faustian depiction of the title character's hedonistic lifestyle-a foreshadowing of Wilde's legal troubles to come.

The company of Lady Windermere's Fan features some of the Bay Area's finest actors, including Emily Kitchens (Miranda in 2012's The Tempest) in the title role, and Santa Clara University's theater professor and newly-appointed Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Aldo Billingslea (Spunk) as her husband, Lord Windermere; Associate Artists Danny Scheie as the Duchess of Berwick; James Carpenter as her brother, Lord Augustus; L. Peter Callender (Spunk, Man and Superman) as Mr. Dumby; and Stacy Ross (Mrs. Warren's Profession, Macbeth) as the mysterious Mrs. Erlynne. Nick Gabriel (Tybalt/Paris in Romeo and Juliet,Marchbanks in Candida) plays Lady Windermere's confidant and not-so-secret admirer, Lord Darlington. Also in the cast are: Tyee Tilghman (American Night, Spunk) as Hopper; Rami Margron (Cal Shakes' Restoration Comedy) as the Duchess' daughter, Lady Agatha/Lady Plymdale/Rosalie; Dan Clegg (Romeo in Romeo and Juliet) as Cecil Graham, and Bruce Carlton in his Cal Shakes' debut as Parker.

Single tickets for Lady Windermere's Fan range from $20 to $72, with discounts available for seniors, students, military families, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices, dates, titles, and artists are 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.

California Shakespeare Theater's 2013 season is supported in part by the generosity of the East Bay Community Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, the Bernard Osher Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation. Corporate season partners include BART, City National Bank, Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa, McRoskey Mattress Co., Meyer Sound, Peet's Coffee & Tea, San Francisco Magazine, and Sound Associates.

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