The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
Produced by San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Summer 2025.
Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, written in 1594, is one of his earliest comedies, yet its themes still resonate today. At its core, this is a story of movement—across landscapes, across relationships, across the fragile boundaries of loyalty and love. The events unfold with such startling speed and gravity that audiences may find themselves questioning: Did that really happen? It did. And much like in life, the space between actions and their consequences often demands our imagination, our willingness to leap forward and fill the gaps left unexplored.
In our production, we shift the setting from Renaissance Italy to a distinctly American landscape—the vast journey from the Midwest to California. This migration is not just one of geography but of opportunity, ambition, and self-discovery. The American Dream, in all its promise and disillusionment, underpins our approach, echoing the restless energy of young people seeking more—more love, more success, more adventure. This framing allows us to explore the tension between idealism and reality, between romanticized aspirations and the unpredictable, often messy, human experience.
At the heart of this play’s complications lies the question of agency—particularly female agency. In Shakespeare’s world, and too often in ours, women are forced to navigate a landscape where their voices, choices, and autonomy are overlooked or undermined. In our interpretation, Silvia and Julia are not merely objects of affection but architects of their own futures. They resist, they reclaim, they demand to be seen. We lean into moments where these women defy expectation, emphasizing their intelligence and resilience amidst the betrayals and transformations that unfold.
And then there’s the faults of the human experience: the betrayals that feel irredeemable, the friendships tested by ambition, the moral gray areas in which love and loyalty exist. Shakespeare offers no easy resolution, and neither do we. Instead, we invite you, our audience, to sit in the discomfort, to reckon with the speed and severity of human choices, and to examine your own capacity for forgiveness and change. The story demands that we reflect on our own relationships, asking: What are we willing to sacrifice in pursuit of our desires? And how do we reconcile the harm we inflict, knowingly or unknowingly, on those we love?
In staging this production, we embrace the uncertainty, the leaps of logic, the gaps that Shakespeare leaves open. Because in those spaces—between the lines, between the journeys taken and the ones abandoned—lies the heartbeat of this play: flawed, desperate, striving, human.
Perfect Arrangement by Topher Payne
Produced by the Department of Theater and Dance at Sonoma State University, Spring 2025.
At its core, Perfect Arrangement is a play about the masks we wear to survive—masks of conformity, of respectability, of safety. Set in the 1950s during the Lavender Scare, when LGBTQ+ federal employees were targeted and purged from government service, the play forces us to ask: How far have we really come? And how much further do we need to go?
In a time when history is being challenged, rewritten, or even erased, this play reminds us that the fight for visibility, dignity, and justice is ongoing. The struggles faced by the characters in Perfect Arrangement—to live authentically in a world that demands silence—resonate far beyond their era. They echo in today’s conversations about identity, censorship, and the right to simply exist without fear.
As we bring this production to life at SSU, we are reminded of the urgency of art. Theatre is not just entertainment—it is protest, memory, and revolution. It is a space where we confront hard truths, where we imagine better futures, and where we remind ourselves why community and storytelling matter. Now, more than ever, we must invest in and fight for the arts—not just to preserve them, but to ensure that voices, especially those historically marginalized, continue to be heard.
To those who have built, nurtured, and sustained this program: your work does not end here. The impact of the stories you have told and the spaces you have created will continue beyond this stage, this production, and this institution. Thank you for being part of this moment.