California Shakespeare Theater plans to produce a show of its own in 2024, after operating exclusively as a rental house this year.

The production, “As You Like It,” directed by Elizabeth Carter, will mark the company’s 50th anniversary and run Sept. 12-29 at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda.

The announcement, made Friday, Sept. 22, serves as a welcome sign of stability amid this year’sspate of Bay Area theater closures.Cal Shakes’ survival was far from certain, Executive Director Clive Worsley told the Chronicle, noting that “there wasn’t any plan for programming in place for 2023, nor was there any funding in place for a season.”

在他Worsley描述面临重重障碍promotion last October, succeeding Artistic DirectorEric Tingand Managing Director Sarah Williams. Multiple other staffers followed Ting and Williams out the door.

“I don’t know that departing leadership expected us to make it past a couple of months,” he said.

Williams declined to comment. Ting, who moved to the East Coast because his wife had gotten a job in New York, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

When Worsley announced there would be no homegrown Shakespeare in 2023, many, including San Francisco actorCatherine Luedtke,feared the worst.

“As an actor who considers Cal Shakes an artistic home, I grieved the loss of returning to that stage, saying the words to the people, coyotes; and cows; of sitting in that audience, of being at one with that formidable, magnificent ‘Wooden O’ in the wilderness,” she told the Chronicle.

Worsley added that he also faced some resistance to his venue-centric vision for viability. Before the pandemic, the Bruns was synonymous with Cal Shakes and high-quality Shakespeare productions. Now, he said, “we are a multidisciplinary performing arts and cultural center, with a classical theater company at the center.”

The rest of the company’s summer 2024 calendar is still getting pinned down, but Worsley said he’s in talks with Native American comedy series Good Medicine, Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, peacemaking and conflict resolution nonprofit the Mosaic Project, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and SFJazz about scheduling events at the venue.

In his more than 20 years teaching with Cal Shakes, Worsley said he’s heard a recurring theme from East Bay residents: “Oh, I drive by there all the time, and I’ve never been.” Now, he’s turned that into a mandate: “Diversify the programming, or face imminent closure of the venue.

“Whether you’re into Shakespeare or you’re into Michael Franti,” he went on, “all of those people deserve to be out there having a moment of celebration and joy.”

But many Cal Shakes diehards have objected, asserting there is demand for the classics.

In March, Worsleywrotea lengthy blog post detailing how the company’s earned ticket revenue as a percentage of show expenses has declined dating back to 2008, suggesting that reduced demand isn’t just a pandemic blip.

In addition to rentals, Worsley’s deepened other revenue streams to help offset that demand. Some of those alternatives have included making the theater’s scene shop, in Concord, a hub for set building for other theaters including Shotgun Players, Berkeley Playhouse, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Rep and American Conservatory Theater. He now has 9-10 employees in the scene shop year-round instead of seasonally.

Shotgun Players Managing Director Liz Lisle was effusive about the arrangement.

“I know Shotgun Players is not alone in feeling incredibly lucky to have access to the shared resource of a stellar build team in this area, as well as an example of what can happen when we collaborate within the industry to meet collective needs,” she told the Chronicle.

Now with a Cal Shakes “As You Like It” production on tap for next year, Worsley hopes that stalwarts will soon see, as he puts it, “We’re not taking the Shakespeare away.”

The show, a romantic comedy with a wrestling match, cross-dressing disguises, a journey into a forest where love notes are pinned to trees and the “All the world’s a stage” speech, will mark Carter’s directorial debut at the theater.

“To me, ‘As You Like It’ is ultimately about the freedom to uncover ourselves,” Carter said in a statement. In the show, she added, “The least of us is the most of us.”

Thematically, it should also serve as a celebration of the grand outdoor venue, which has breathtaking panoramas of the Orinda hills.

“You get out of the constrictions of your life that are imposed on you by parents, church, school,” Worsley said, of the play’s message. “You step out into the natural world, and magical things start to happen.”

When you’re in communion with the forest, he continued, “you almost can’t help but fall in love with your genuine self.” And once you’re there, “that’s when you’re in a position to actually love somebody else.”

Reach Lily Janiak:ljaniak@sfchronicle.com