+ About The Film
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Eager to explore a new medium for our work, we filmed our production of CAESAR MAXIMUS at the Music Concourse to create a new piece that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of film. We proudly present: CAESAR MAXIMUS, a visual exploration of the thematic elements of our original adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic. In collaboration with Tracy Martin, long time friend and videographer of our work, Ava Roy uses the aesthetic language of the original live performance to create a landscape of metaphor that investigates exploitation of power, the danger of mob mentality and collective violence, as well as elevating the presence of the female characters beyond what is found on the page in the original text of Julius Caesar.

+ About The Director of Photography
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Tracy has been documenting our work since 2010 when she and husband Mark Kitaoka shot Hamlet on Alcatraz. Tracy so effectively captures and communicates the feeling of our work that she was a natural choice to partner with on a film. Serving as both director of photography and editor, her vision and creative aesthetic is present throughout the piece. To see more of Tracy’s work visit her website https://tracymartinphotography.com.

+ About The Place
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Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse, originally constructed as the Grand Court for the Midwinter Fair of 1894, becomes Rome on Election Day. This vibrant civic space perfectly transforms into the hustling, bustling circus that is the city under Caesar. Most often recognized as the promenade between the de Young and the Academy of Science, the space is an attraction in its own right with its Temple of Music, pollarded wych elms, and grand Rideout Fountain. Processing through the space, the performance utilizes the entire length of the Music Concourse. In our final act, the horrors of war are viewed from inside a medical tent, staged in the iron-gated pedestrian tunnel below the de Young, as the ghosts of the dead haunt the few left living.

+ Cast & Credits
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Director: Ava Roy
Director of photography/editor: Tracy Martin
2nd camera/drone operator: Mark Kitaoka
Original score and music direction: Charlie Gurke

Featuring: (in order of appearance)
Rotimi Agbabiaka as Marc Antony
Zoltan DiBartolo as Cinna the Poet
Emily Stone as the Soothsayer
Joseph Schommer as Brutus
Hunter Scott MacNair as Cassius, and the Carpenter
Libby Oberlin as Julius Caesar
Chris Steele as Casca
Lauren Hayes as Calpurnia
Alan Coyne as Cinna the Senator, and the Cobbler
Britt Lauer as Portia
Oscar Velarde as Ajax The Juggler

Special thanks to Phil Ginsburg, Dana Ketchum, Shauna Bogetz and James McCormick of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

Additional credits for the 2018 production include: Assistant Director: Nick Medina
Costume Designer: Brooke Jennings
Assistant Costume Designer: Kathleen Qiu
Weaponry and leatherwork: JD Durst Set Designer: Edward T. Morris
Fight Director: Chris Steele
Stage Manager/ Associate Artist: Giselle Boustani-Fontenele
Production Manager: Rosalie Fay Barnes
Production Crew Manager: Lucas Brown
Production Crew members: Alessandra Bongiardina, Lana Richards, Kaileen Wolfe, and Madison Worthington
Our VOLUNTEERS OF GLORY: The Incredible Monica Herbert and The Amazing Ruth Tringham

Musicians
Greg Stephens on trombone
Ricky Lomelli and Tim DeCillis on percussion
Danny Cao, Matthew DePasquale, Aaron Priskorn, and Max Miller-Loran on trumpet