By Laura Garber
A heady warning rang out in Hermosa Beach’s Valley Park last Thursday. “Beware the ides of March,” a soothsayer begged during Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”
Since 1998, residents across Los Angeles have gathered in public parks for the annual Shakespeare by the Sea performances, started by now-retired Lisa Coffi.
If handsome women and backstabbing constituents fit your fancy, you’ll enjoy Shakespeare by the Sea’s “As You Like It” and “Julius Caesar,” which are touring the South Bay through the end of July.
Shakespeare by the Sea is presenting 27, admission-free shows during its 28th season, for residents across Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. The company relies on donations, grants and partnerships for support.
Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach are the only two Los Angeles cities to have fully funded performances. In 2025, the City of Hermosa Beach donated $7,500 to SBTS. Each performance cost approximately $13,000.
Free Shakespeare for all LA residents is part of the SBTS mission. “Arts are vital for the health of communities. If we have more accessibility to the arts, it will grow more art lovers,” Stephanie Coltrin, a co-artistic director of SBTS and director of “Julius Caesar” said.
Last Wednesday, July 9, SBTS performed “As You Like It” in Hermosa Valley Park. Over 500 people attended, making it the best attended show of the season thus far, according to Coltrin.
Suzanne Dean, co-artistic director of SBTS, has incorporated modern elements into her direction of “As You Like It,” including an acoustic guitar, a rendition of Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” and a marginally updated script.
Many of the actors perform in both of this season’s plays, an impressive feat, considering the plays keep 80% of the original Early Modern English, and the actors have only five weeks of rehearsals, Coltrin said. The modern translation for “Julius Caesar” was completed by Shishir Kurup, an award winning playwright, actor and modern verse translator.
In explaining Shakespeare’s timelessness, Coltrin asked, “Did he talk about missing a text message from somebody? No. Did he talk about a letter someone was supposed to get and didn’t? Yes. A child’s death? Being in love? I can’t think of a single human experience that isn’t represented in Shakespeare’s play, and that’s why I think they endure.”
Valley Park’s open-air amphitheater exposes each performance to cawing crows and honking cars, which provide contemporary flourishes to Shakespeare’s English Renaissance.
In some cases, the open-air venues enhance the set-design, as if written by the Bard of Avon himself. Caleb Towns, who’s debuting with SBTS as Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar,” recalled how a thick fog rolled in over the cliffs of Palos Verdes during his “Friends, Romans, countrymen” monologue. “It was epic,” Towns said.
Wayne Rogers, a Torrance resident from the UK, has been attending SBTS performances in Hermosa Beach for over 20 years. “It’s so much fun to see, innit? The actors are so bloody good,” Rogers said.
The impermanence of the park stage and production is a reminder of the traveling theatrical troupes from times’ past. The actors set up the stage, perform and strike the set at the end of the shows. “That’s bloody hard work, you have to admire them for that.” Rogers said.
Over the years, SBTS has developed into a mid-sized arts organization that includes the Little Fish Theatre, a year-round theatrical experience of new, classic and contemporary works, according to their website.
After being closed for 18 months, Little Fish Theater is moving to ‘The Pond’ theater, on the Beach Cities Health District campus in Redondo Beach. Little Fish’s 23rd festival, “Pick of the Vine: Finding Your Way Home,” will feature nine short plays, running August 8 to August 24.
“As you Like It” will be performed at Polliwog P ark in Manhattan Beach on Thursday, July 17 and in Redondo Beach’s Veteran’s Park on Friday, July 25.
“Julius Caesar” will have shows at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach on Friday, July 18, and Redondo’s Dominguez Park on Saturday, July 26, SBTS’s closing show. ER
