Boosting the Bard

The Davis Shakespeare Ensemble is expanding into a larger venue and a longer summer season, which will feature two productions.

The new summer series, dubbed the Davis Shakespeare Festival, will run from June 26, to August 3, with performances at the Veterans Memorial Theatre (203 E. 14th Street in Davis). The shows will be the Shakespeare comedy Much Ado About Nothing—with its verbal jousting between the witty, determined-not-to-wed Beatrice and Benedick—and She Loves Me, a 1963 musical with a score by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick (they wrote Fiddler on the Roof the following year).

For four summers, the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble has camped out in the UC Davis Arboretum’s gazebo, which has been a cozy (if mosquito-prone) venue for staging small shows in the round. The Veterans Memorial Theatre, with 325 seats, offers room to grow, and a stage where the ensemble’s designers can build real sets and rig for much more ambitious lighting.

“We had reached our capacity artistically in the gazebo,” said co-artistic director Gia Battista. To which co-artistic director Rob Salas added, “[The Veterans Memorial Theatre] is more accessible to the community, with better parking.” And you can leave your insect repellant at home.

Salas saw a student production of She Loves Me when he was a Harvard University undergrad a few years back and has long wanted to work it into Davis Shakespeare Ensemble’s plans. “The two shows really pair together and mirror each other,” Salas said. “Both feature a couple that initially detest each other and, ultimately, fall in love.”

Auditions will be held soon. A two-show ticket deal is planned. There will be related summer programs for kids and teens. Find out more at www.shakespearedavis.com.