Commonwealth Shakespeare Co. Named New Resident Theater Company of Babson College

As CSC prepares to celebrate its 20th year serving the community, we recognized a unique opportunity to expand our reach while continuing to fulfill our core mission in Boston," said Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director of CSC. "Through this partnership with Babson College, CSC will continue its productions and educational work in Boston and infuse new resources to enhance the arts and culture offerings on Babson's campus for its students and the College's surrounding communities."

A renowned Boston arts organization, CSC is a non-profit dedicated to bringing the works of William Shakespeare in vital and contemporary productions to the public and exploring Shakespeare's works to help educate and empower young people. CSC is one of the most highly regarded theater companies in Boston, delivering free Shakespeare to more than 100,000 people annually and serving hundreds of young people in public schools and after-school programs. CSC will maintain its Boston presence through its annual Shakespeare on the Common production as well as its vital educational work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. Further, in 2015, CSC will launch additional educational outreach programming through a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) "Our Town" grant.

As the resident theatre company of Babson, CSC will devote significant resources to Babson College's arts and academic programs in order to bolster the College's efforts to enhance the natural synergies between entrepreneurship and the arts. Mr. Maler will serve as Director of Babson's Sorenson Center for the Arts and Adam Sanders, CSC's Associate Artistic Director will serve as Associate Director of the Sorenson Center for the Arts.

"Experiences that require creativity and collaboration are essential to developing an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset," said Babson President Kerry Healey, who has served on the CSC Board of Directors for the past five years. "As a business school dedicated to preparing entrepreneurial leaders who create sustainable economic and social value across all spheres of society, Babson recognizes the important role the arts and sciences play in offering our students a deep set of experiences that build a full spectrum of knowledge. We are delighted to welcome the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to Babson, where its world-class productions and professional artists can further enrich the living/learning environment we offer our students both in and out of the classroom."

In order to further strengthen the links between Babson's arts and academic programs, Babson professor Beth Wynstra will serve as Faculty Director of the Sorenson Center for the Arts. Through this role, Professor Wynstra will work in close collaboration with Mr. Maler and Mr. Sanders to shape the vision of the Sorenson Center for all arts programming offered at Babson, whether curricular or co-curricular.

CSC's partnership with Babson includes directing Babson's Richard W. Sorenson Center for the Arts (Sorenson Center). The Sorenson Center offers a diverse array of programming in theater, dance, music, film, video, literary art, and visual arts for on-campus audiences and the general public at the College's award-winning Carling-Sorenson Theater and Sorenson Family Visual Arts Center. It also supports the creative and performing experiences of student organizations while offering field-based learning opportunities for students working within business and liberal arts curricula.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (www.commshakes.org), best known for its annual free performances on Boston Common, is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 dedicated to bringing the works of William Shakespeare in vital and contemporary productions to the people of Boston and to exploring Shakespeare's works with Greater Boston's youth in innovative and creative ways. In addition to the annual Boston Common productions, CSC presents a summer "Tour of the Parks" program that tours Shakespeare-inspired programming designed for families to Boston neighborhood parks. CSC also presents several free play-reading events during the year: American Voices, Shakespeare and Law as well as Shakespeare and Leadership. CSC fulfills its educational mission with actor-training programs for both high school students and pre-professional actors with its Summer Academy. Throughout the year, CSC partners with area high schools and Boys and Girls Clubs to provide in and after-school theater activities to inner-city youth. Recent productions include The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, All's Well That Ends Well (2012 Elliot Norton Award-winner for Best Production, Large Theater), Othello and The Comedy of Errors.

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds. The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society-while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. For information, visit www.babson.edu.