Marsha Mason Stars In California Shakespeare Theater's HAPPY DAYS 8/12 - 9/6

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) continues its 35th anniversary season with Samuel Beckett's funny, wrenching Happy Days, starring renowned theater actress and four-time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason and Cal Shakes Associate Artist Dan Hiatt, directed by Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone. The production runs August 12-September 6 at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater.

Happy Days marks Ms. Mason's return to the Bay Area stage; she is remembered by local audiences for her memorable performances with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater early in her career, including William Ball's landmark production of Cyrano de Bergerac, also broadcast on PBS.

"Doing Samuel Beckett's Happy Days is scaling Mt. Everest", says Ms. Mason. "I am adventurous and respond to big challenges and I may fail to reach the summit of this play, but I love the trying and the danger and it scares the hell out of me, literally."

"I share Marsha's view of this play - it's a mountain." adds Jonathan Moscone. "But today we started working on the play, Marsha, Dan Hiatt and I, and we saw the humanity come alive in their relationship, this marriage that has withstood the test of time and still moves forward even through its underlying disappointments. We found amazing humor, sadness, warmth, yearning, poetry, and so much to investigate in the next four weeks that I can't wait to be in the rehearsal room again to carve out this piece, finding as many colors of Beckett's painting as possible in four weeks. This is a huge endeavor for our company despite the relatively small number of cast members. Epic ideas, feelings, thoughts, expressed in a thoroughly theatrical way by a 20th century master. Very exciting."

The brilliant portrait of a woman, Winnie, buried up to her waist in sand-and in the comically painful toil of her life-is considered one of the greatest, most challenging roles for a stage actress, and original Goodbye Girl Mason is more than up to the task. It will be the first time Beckett has been performed on the Cal Shakes stage, and the first time Moscone has tackled this legendary 20th-century playwright.

Marsha Mason has been a professional working actor in film, television, and theater for over 30 years. Her most recent work includes Impressionism at the Schoenfeld Theatre, opposite Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons, and Steel Magnolias on Broadway. She has worked in New York, London, California, and regional theater. In film and television, she has earned four Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globes, two People's Choice awards, an Emmy nomination and two Life Achievement awards. She also received a Grammy nomination for her comedic recording of the London production of Prisoner of Second Avenue for LA Theater Works and has directed for theater and television.

Ms. Mason is also a farmer and entrepreneur with a working farm and line of wellness products which can be seen on her Web site, www.restingbytheriver.com. Her memoir, JOURNEY, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2000.

Popular Cal Shakes Associate Artist Dan Hiatt (Friar Lawrence in this season's Romeo and Juliet) will portray Willie, Winnie's mysterious sparring partner. The metaphorical mound of dirt and sunny but possibly apocalyptic surrounds will be crafted by Todd Rosenthal, who won a 2008 Tony for his August: Osage County set. Cal Shakes Associate Artist Meg Neville (An Ideal Husband, King Lear, Othello, The Winters' Tale) will design Winnie's anachronistic formalwear. York Kennedy, who created the evocative natural light for last season's Uncle Vanya, returns to illuminate Happy Days, and Bradford Chapin takes on the challenge of creating the soundscape.

Single tickets range from $32-$68, with discounts available for seniors, students, persons age 30 and under, and groups. Prices subject to change. For information or to charge tickets by phone with VISA, MasterCard or American Express, call the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666. Additional information and online ticketing are available at www.calshakes.org.

California Shakespeare Theater's 2009 season is sponsored in part by BART, Bay Area News Group, City National Bank, KDFC, Lafayette Park Hotel and Spa, Meyer Sound, and Peet's Coffee & Tea, and receives institutional support from The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation and The Shubert Foundation. Artistic Learning programs are underwritten by generous support from Citigroup Foundation, The Dale Family Fund, The Thomas J. Long Foundation, Koret Foundation, Oakland Fund for the Arts, The San Francisco Foundation, and Yahoo! Employee Fund.

Founded in 1974, California Shakespeare Theater is a fully professional, critically acclaimed theater known for its innovative productions of the plays of William Shakespeare and other reimagined classics. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone and Managing Director Susie Falk, Cal Shakes is committed to being a leading community citizen by nourishing the imaginations of audiences, artists, and learners of all ages. Cal Shakes makes boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics; provides in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances; and brings disparate communities together around the creation of new American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.