No other playwright has captured the human experience quite like William Shakespeare, whose 39 plays have been produced more often than those of any other writer. He is unrivaled in his masterful and playful use of the English language to express love, jealousy, hate, despair, sadness and the entire spectrum of emotions that govern our mortal lives.
“He hits you right in the soul,” says Phillip Leyva, co-founder of the Berkeley Shakespeare Company. “Shakespeare is woven into so many aspects of our lives, we don’t even realize it sometimes.”
Leyva, along with fellow actors Emily Newsome and Jennifer Gallagher, founded the Berkeley Shakespeare Company in 2021, in the heart of Covid-19. Says Newsome, “Everything shut down. We were very uncertain about the future, but we were hungry to do more.”
The three decided to start their own company so they could create more opportunities for actors. They raised $7,000 in an Indiegogo campaign to help pay for initial setup costs and chose Berkeley as their home base. “We wanted to establish a company in a central location in the Bay Area so we could attract actors from all over,” Leyva says.
Their first production was Macbeth, staged in the Finnish Hall in Berkeley in December 2021. Leyva, who played the title role, recalls the power of such an intimate space: “We squeezed about 40 people into this very small room, and we removed the lightbulbs from the chandeliers to make it super dim. The audience was right there with me, and it really allowed me to use the timbre of my voice to its greatest effect.”
As a theater company with no stage, equipment, costumes or props of its own, Berkeley Shakespeare Company relies on partnerships with other venues and companies to put on shows. “The Bay Area theater community is really tight,” Newsome says. “They will always help you get what you need.”
In 2024, the company was awarded with a Going Green Achievement by Theatre Bay Area for its production of Cymbeline. All of the sets, props and costumes for the show were recycled or borrowed. It allowed Newsome, Leyva and Gallagher to focus more on direction and acting.
Berkeley Shakespeare Company is committed to creating powerful and impactful shows, hoping to stretch social boundaries by casting nontraditional actors in lead roles. “We have showcased a variety of performers of different body types, ethnic and racial backgrounds, and sexual and gender identities,” Leyva says.
Actor Lisa Wang, with the group since the beginning, loves the accessibility of the company. With no previous Shakespeare experience, she was cast as Don John in the 2022 production of Much Ado About Nothing. “This is a dark, juicy role that I normally wouldn’t have had access to. It was so much fun!” she says.
“That was our intent from day one, to let actors play whichever role they wanted,” Newsome says. They also wanted to present Shakespeare, which is often challenging for audiences to understand, in a new and accessible way. “Sometimes Shakespeare is perceived as a bit academic or stuffy. We try to deliver the lines with a more modern tone of voice while still preserving the rhythm and integrity of the original text.”
Leyva, who spent some time teaching high school English to a minority population, thinks Shakespeare belongs to everyone. “My students were often skeptical that they could learn anything from this old white dude,” he says. “But Shakespeare was really breaking all the rules back then, creating his own words and using language in his own way. His stories are universal.”
The company is currently gearing up to present Julius Caesar at the Live Oak Theatre in Berkeley. Directed by Christian Vaughn-Munck, it stars Lisa Burton Guevara as Caesar. “Traditionally this is a very heavy and dramatic play,” Vaughn-Munck says. “I’m trying to find the goofiness in it all. Think Mel Brooks, Monty Python and Dr. Strangelove.”
Leyva thinks audiences are going to love it. “It’s set in this post-apocalyptic world where the norms of dress are different and there are these residual power structures in place, like Mad Max,” he says. “We don’t necessarily want this to be a reflection on the current political climate, that would be too easy. Of course, there are some disturbing similarities …”
And in October, Berkeley Shakespeare Company will team up with the Point Montara Lighthouse to present a unique, on-site production of The Tempest. “It’s going to be this immersive experience where we start outside and then move indoors. It’s a very beautiful and stunning location,” Leyva says.
“We’re very familiar with working with nature,“ Vaughn-Munck adds, laughing. He cites their 2023 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Musical! at the Kensington Amphitheatre as an example. “It was really windy, the fog started rolling in and you could barely hear anyone!”
Despite a variety of setbacks, Berkeley Shakespeare Company has persevered, creating a safe, creative space that’s open to everyone. “Kindness, that’s number one,” Leyva says. “I don’t care if you’re Denzel Washington—if you come in and you’re unkind, then you’re someone we don’t want in our dressing rooms and rehearsal space.”
As the fledgling company celebrates four years in existence, the three founders hope to continue to grow and experiment. “The Shakespeare catalog is so massive, there are so many great roles,” Vaughn-Munck says. “There’s so much room for exploration as we continue to push the boundaries about what a Shakespeare play looks and feels like.”
Newsome smiles. “And maybe someday we will move beyond Shakespeare to other works,” she says. “Anything can happen—as long as we continue to be a playground for actors to have fun, a place they can call home.”
Berkeley Shakespeare Company’s ‘Julius Caesar’ plays through June 29 at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. berkeleyshakes.org
