Jared Sakren, Artistic Director

Seasons Greetings to all our patrons and supporters! I feel like I am definitely a part of the new media now that I am (with this post) becoming a blogger.
Our company just finished a very successful run of "A Shakespearean Christmas" at the Mesa Arts Center Farnsworth Studio Theatre, and I am deep into rehearsals for our upcoming production of "The Scottish Play". We have a fantastic cast, including Cale Epps as Macbeth, Richard Baird (who played Petruchio in our recent production of "Taming of the Shrew") and Kaitlin O'Neal as Lady M (Kate in "Shrew"). The rest of the ensemble is just terrific, with a host of returning company members as well as some new faces. What a great script to work on. The production will be wonderful, rest assured. The visual "eye candy" should be something special, and those wanting to see a production of this, the shortest of the Bard's tragedies, in all its supernatural and visceral glory should not be disappointed. We are working our hardest on making this a very memorable production.
Also, we had Eve Shapiro in town the week before last, to discuss her upcoming direction of "Pygmalion" in April. We finished up some casting and had production meetings with our design team. We are extremely lucky in getting Eve to do this show---she is formerly a faculty member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England, as well as Juilliard, and is a Shaw specialist. We are still in the process of casting the role of Henry Higgins, and Eve had a talk with Alan Rickman (from "Harry Potter") to get his advice. The set designer is Chris Barreca, one of the best set designers in the country. I am very excited about that production, and I hope you are, too.
Also in the mix are planning sessions for our Gala Fundraiser on February 23rd and our mammoth "Shakespeare Marathon" around The Bard's birthday celebration on April 25th---
The Complete Plays of the Bard, read back-to-back, 24/7, until finished. And, schedule permitting: with Chris Noth of "Sex In The City". Not to be missed!
That's all for now, in this, my first blog ever.
See you at the theatre(s)!
-----Jared