California Shakespeare Theater to Close 2016 Main Stage Season with OTHELLO

California Shakespeare Theater announced today the final production selected to complete its 42nd season. Artistic Director Eric Ting will make his Cal Shakes debut with Shakespeare's Othello from September 14 through October 9 at the Bruns Amphitheater.

"Othello strikes me as the perfect choice for our final Main Stage production of the Cal Shakes 2016 season and my directorial debut at the Bruns," says Eric Ting. "My vision for Cal Shakes reveres the old plays; but makes room for-not so much the new, but rather-the now. As with many of our audiences, I'm sure, I've been disturbed by the extreme rhetoric flooding our airwaves, our social media, and our communities, as the ever-present fear of the other-the outsider-grows more manifest by the day. I can think of no better response than an exploration of Shakespeare's quintessential outsider."

In addition to Othello, Cal Shakes' 2016 season includes Shakespeare's sassy battle royale, Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Jackson Gay; August Wilson's story of one family's disillusionment with the American Dream, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences, directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges; and George Bernard Shaw's keenly witty take on marriage and the modern woman, You Never Can Tell, directed by Lisa Peterson.

Cal Shakes Main Stage season runs from May 25 through October 9 at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. Season packages for the four-play season and group tickets for parties of 10 or more are available now; single tickets go on sale April 4, 2016. Prices range from $124 to $248 for a four-play subscription, with discounts available for seniors, youth, and full-time K-12 educators.

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