Shakespeare O.C. Makes Plans for a ‘Feast’

Shakespeare Orange County has scheduled “Falstaff’s Feast,” a Renaissance-style banquet on Sept. 11, as the closing event of its current season. The alfresco dinner will feature improvisatory performances by SOC artistic director Thomas F. Bradac as Falstaff, along with strolling troubadours, jugglers and mimes.

Bradac says the event, which is expected to break even financially, is intended not as a fund-raiser but as a celebration of SOC’s second year of operation at Chapman University’s Waltmar Theatre in Orange. “We also see it as a dry run for a full Shakespearean fair we’re planning for next season,” he added Tuesday. “We hope to get the entire university involved in that.”

The opening show of the SOC season, “Much Ado About Nothing,” exceeded budget projects by a small margin, Bradac said. It drew roughly $42,000 at the box office, of which $26,000 came from single-ticket sales and the rest from subscriptions. Bradac said the current show, “Julius Caesar,” which runs to Sept. 11, is slightly below projections.

“Income from the two productions should balance out,” he said, “and we expect to make budget for the season.”

* “Falstaff’s Feast” will take place Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. on the Chapman University campus in front of the Waltmar Theatre, 310 E. Palm St., Orange. $15. (714) 744-7016.