To be or not to be... next year?

He spent 8 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting and directing and another 8 at ACT in SF also acting directing and teaching.

Ann worked her way up the Shakespeare Santa Cruz ladder from ticket buyer to donor to board member and ultimately joining the staff in 2007 to become Development Director.

On the heals of a very successfully campaign last December to save the festival, and now in the midst of casting and fundraising for the summer's shows, Marco presented a balanced view of the challenges currently before him.  

He first offered a very heartfelt thanks to the many in the room who had given during the December campaign and over the years.  He offered that what drew him to this job is something that many in our community know, and something that theater people across the country know - Shakespeare Santa Cruz is jewel among Shakespeare festivals.  

The response to their call for help was heartwarming, he said, with gifts of support and encouragement coming in from all corners of the country and even beyond our borders.   Similarly, despite having to limit the scope of his audition tour to primarily the west coast (eliminating the usual stops in New York and the mid-west) notable actors were responding to Marco's call agreeing to shelve more lucrative summer opportunities to work at, and support SSC.

On the other hand, Barricelli is realistic about the significant uphill financial battle that remains to be won for the festival to survive beyond this year.  Despite massive budget cuts - including the elimination of the beloved Holiday Panto - and staff reductions, ticket sales must be very strong and all-time high fundraising goals must be met.

At this point, the summer's line-up of plays and directors is complete.  In the glen, the two Shakespeare productions will be Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Two very different, yet complementary plays.   On the Mainstage will be the west-coast debut of a play by the award winning playwright Donald Margulies called "Shipwrecked! An Entertainment The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself)".

Barricelli shared some behind the scenes stories of how a season is chosen, where he looks for talent (actors, directors and the dozens of other specialist required to mount a production) and the "rubics cube" like challenge of running 3 shows in repertory.

One can't help but feel compelled to see all of this summer's productions, perhaps more than once, because this summer may indeed be our last chance.