News release
Since before William Shakespeare’s time, the post of the Lord Chamberlain was the royal representative responsible for patronage of the arts. Shakespeare himself was patronized by the Lord Chamberlain, and one of the companies Shakespeare wrote for was named The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
The Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival also has a Court of the Lord Chamberlain. Each year the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival honors a member of the community with an induction into the Court of the Lord Chamberlain, recognizing their contributions to the arts in the community and to the organization.
This year the Santa Clarita Shakespeare honors one of the theater community’s own with the induction of TimBen Boydston, longtime executive director of the Canyon Theatre Guild.
Boydston joins other dignitaries, with past recipients including: Arts Commissioners Susan Shapiro and Michael Millar; Marc Winger; former county Supervisor Michael Antonovich; Councilwoman Laurene Weste; Steven Lavine, former president of California Institute of the Arts; Frank Kleeman; Dianne Van Hook, chancellor of College of the Canyons; cultural arts leaders Phil Lantis, Sean Morgan and Michael Marks; and last year’s inductee, Arts Commissioner Patti Rasmussen.
The Court of the Lord Chamberlain gala marks the opening of the annual summer theater season of the Summer Theatre Festival. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 8, and includes dinner, drinks, dessert and a short induction ceremony. Those who can’t attend can donate in recognition of this year’s inductee.
Tickets are $65 and are available at LordChamberlainCourt2023.eventbrite.com. The funds raised through this event support free Shakespeare performances, and the educational outreach program, providing free and low-cost programming for local schools.
For more information about the Summer Theatre Festival, and the calendar of events, visit SCShakespeareFest.org.
The Summer Theatre Festival is a summer cultural festival presented by the nonprofit Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival.
