The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles Presents The 22nd Annual Simply Shakespeare, 9/27

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) presents its 22(nd) annual Simply Shakespeare reading of  "A Midsummer Night's Dream," September 27 at the Freud Playhouse, UCLA Campus.  This event features a star-studded tie-dyed cast of hilarious hippies for an evening filled with peace, love reading a psychedelic 1960's adaptation of Shakespeare's play that includes iconic music of the era.  Directed by SCLA's Artistic Director Ben Donenberg, the groovy participants include Billy Crystal, William Shatner, Martin Short, Topher Grace, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Redmayne, Cedric the Entertainer, Paul Dooley, Olivia Thirlby, Alan Tudyk and co-chairs Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks and more!

Since 1986, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles has been a vibrant hub of unique programs and events designed to make Shakespeare accessible and engaging for Angelinos.

Ben Donenberg started The SCLA with a free production of "Twelfth Night" in Pershing Square, in 1986, and since then has provided performances of Shakespeare, youth and community engagement programs such as Will Power to Youth, providing hands-on artistic experience and paid job training for at-risk youth, as well as Veterans In Art, which hires veterans to support all areas of professional outdoor theatrical production for critically acclaimed productions staged in the Japanese Garden on the grounds of the West Los Angeles Veterans Medical Center.

SCLA founding Artistic Director Ben Donenberg performed as an actor on and off-Broadway, in Central Park at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Delacorte Theater, on television and in film.  In 2006, the United States Senate unanimously approved his Presidential appointment to a six-year term as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, overseeing the National Endowment for the Arts.  Donenberg is featured in the National Endowments' award-winning documentary "Why Shakespeare?" distributed to more than 40,000 high schools throughout the country.

The SCLA Simply Shakespeare reading of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is made possible by the support of its premiere sponsor Entertainment Industry Foundation and benefactor sponsor Deutsche Bank.

All proceeds support The SCLA and its arts based veterans employment and youth employment programs for inner-city youth, arts education in local schools, and professional union contracted productions. For information, visit www.ShakespeareCenter.org.

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