Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Pericles
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Pericles
July 29 through August 30, with Opening Night on July 31; Time Choices: 2pm, 7pm, 8pm
Santa Cruz Shakespeare invites you to experience Shakespeare’s Pericles, under the trees and stars of the Audrey Stanley Grove in Santa Cruz’s DeLaveaga Park this summer.
Shakespeare’s brilliant late romance continues the 2025 festival’s sweep into the mythic. The first half of this rarely performed play follows Prince Pericles’ incredible journey through multiple kingdoms, wild adventures, desperate escapes; a magnificent love affair, a pair of storms at sea and a single shipwreck. And that’s just part one. The second half shifts some fourteen years later to Pericles’ daughter, Marina, who must survive her own trials: an assassination attempt, an abduction by pirates, the violence of a brothel. By the power of her kindness, wit and virtue, she rises above each of these dangers, finally meeting her father. The reunion of Pericles and Marina is one of the most beautiful scenes Shakespeare ever wrote. We cannot survive alone; the coming together of father and daughter is the rebirth of a world. The play ends, indeed, with another incredible rebirth; in love and unity, miracles are possible.
Pericles runs July 29 through August 30, with Opening Night on July 31.
Tickets available for purchase starting May 1. More information at santacruzshakespeare.org/season-2025
Seasonal box office hours are Tuesday through Friday from 12p.m. to 4p.m. beginning May 1. Call 831-460-6399.
About Santa Cruz Shakespeare
Featuring professional actors from around the country and inspired by deep local roots that go back more than 40 years, Santa Cruz Shakespeare stages bold productions of the plays of Shakespeare and other great playwrights that stimulate audiences’ senses and spark their imagination. ShakesEDU, a program of Santa Cruz Shakespeare, provides students with opportunities to learn about theatre through after-school classes, summer intensive, traveling troupe and more. For more information about SCS, visit santacruzshakespeare.org.
