Cal Shakes, A Grand ‘O’ Nestled in the East Bay Hills

We are honored to announce Oaklandish's 2022 partnership with Cal Shakes California Shakespeare Theater with the release of a new tee design.

Even better, the Cal Shakes theater is offering two free tickets to Community Night on September 8th to purchasers of this collaborative tee while supplies last!  After you purchase your shirt, you'll receive a promo code to see a preview of a new modern verse translation of Shakespeare's Classic Lear set in the Fillmore District of San Francisco.

Cal Shakes started as an artist collective in 1973 and became the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival at John Hinkel Park in 1974. Today the company is known as the California Shakespeare Festival. They the Bruns Amphitheater in the Orinda hills in 1991 and, in 2016, celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Cal Shakes is the cornerstone of Bay Area Theater, producing works that challenge and grow concepts of classic theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Eric Ting, the theater strives to create art that fosters learning and engages the community while dismantling barriers to participation.

Ting says, "At Cal Shakes, we think of live theater as the most human of the arts: human stories offered actor to the audience, person to person, vibrating in a shared experience. We see this work as an essential practice of being in each other's company, wrestling with all the ways we are different even as we seek common ground."

The theater excavates the stories of our past in a manner that also reflects today's plurality. Their productions push boundaries, interrogate assumptions, strive to inspire more humane practices, and create a space where the audiences get to know themselves through art. They achieve this by inviting local communities to participate in their work.

Cal Shakes productions embrace the complexity of conflicting points of view that contribute to more vibrant and truthful stage work. It's work energized by a joyful spirit of belonging. Ting explains, "Just as we hope our art transforms, so do we hope to be transformed by it."

This collaborative t-shirt design beautifully captures the iconic Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, which intentionally mimics Shakespeare's Globe theater in London. It's depicted with an aerial view, open to the skies, surrounded by trees, and filled with people from many different walks of life.

Shop the tee: Cal Shakes
Shop the collection: Hometown