Get Ready for Shakespeare!

The Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival begins its 10th-anniversary season July 15, and its organizers are hoping the public gets excited and will support this year's show.

The Festival Theatre Ensemble, the nonprofit group that represents all the actors, staff and volunteers who participate in the plays, was busy this week putting together the stage for the Thursday-through-Sunday 8 p.m. presentations at Oak Meadow Park.

Los Gatos resident Mary Tomasi-Dubois, a member of the Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors, said the season will end Aug. 6, and the ensemble will perform the non-Shakespearean Charley's Aunt comedy, the Tragedy of Macbeth and Twelfth Night.

Tomasi-Dubois corrected people's perception that festival-goers have to sit on the lawn. "It's outdoor, but it's an enclosed venue. Once the public goes in, there is theater seating. We'll have risers and all seats offer good view allowing one to see above the row below. It's row, stadium seating," she explained.

Since the performances end at around 9:30 p.m., Tomasi-Dubois encouraged the public to take blankets or jackets to stay warm and be comfortable.

"Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival has been around for 10 years," Tomasi-Dubois said. "It's still quite a secret to a lot of people. Many don't know that it's even been here. Many aren't even aware that Oak Meadow Park is a Los Gatos park ... They think it's the same as Vasona Park."

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and youth under 17 years of age.

Funds raised help support the ensemble. "People don't realize how expensive costumes are. They have to rent all the lighting equipment and the seats and risers have to be rented. The ensemble doesn't own that ... the only thing the ensemble owns is the set," Tomasi-Dubois explained.

The ensemble was founded in 1994 by Artistic Director Bruce W. De Les Dernier and is dedicated to the production of classical theater and stage adaptations of classic novels, legends and fairy tales, according to the ensemble's website.

The show was originally created for touring as was done in the 16th century, when acting groups moved from place to place performing wherever possible, the website said.

In 2001, however, the ensemble settled in Los Gatos and founded the local Shakespeare Festival, performing under the stars each summer at to the delight of about 200 people each evening.

The organization also runs Camp Shakespeare, which lasts 10 weeks and caters to young actors up to age 18.

"We're trying to make people aware that we're even in town," she said. "There are a lot of people who don't know we've been around for 10 years."