BLISS TO BRING SHAKESPEARE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Tea-Time and Theatre to Transpire in Oceanside

Bliss Tea & Treats in Oceanside, California is partnering with the Southern California Shakespeare Festival Guild (SCSF Guild) to bring The Bliss Tea Experience and a live adaptation of Twelfth Night on December 12.

Rushell Gordon, owner of Bliss Tea & Treats, has Safely cultivated community gatherings since the shop’s opening in Spring 2020. Following local and state Covid-19 guidelines, Bliss has hosted a monthly book club, a spoken word poetry reading, cookie decorating, a Mad Hatter Tea Party and the Oceanside Strong campaign. While many of these were achieved online, some in-person sittings happened at 25% seating capacity, where each party had their own table socially distanced from others. 

“At Bliss Tea & Treats our priority is the safety of our guests to bring a special experience to the community this holiday season. In order to manage social distancing we are pre-registering show seatings in the tea room at 11:30am and 4pm on December 12. Each guest will be served an artisan afternoon tea experience with sandwiches, salad, medley of desserts and scones.  
During this time that we are in, we are embracing a sense of community around tea-time. We have celebrated various art forms this year and will continue to do so throughout the holidays. 

Limited availability so we encourage you to reserve your seat early” says Rushell Gordon. 

The SCSF Guild has also enjoyed working through a creative pivot in 2020. After building momentum over the past five years at such venues as Casa Romantica in San Clemente, The Miles Playhouse at Reed Park in Santa Monica, and the Covina Center for Performing Arts in West Covina, it was quite a hurdle when the entire 2020 season was cancelled.  

The company transformed plans to produce Shakespeare’s King Lear into A Year with Lear, a series of online performances and the production of two short films curated from Shakespeare’s original text. 

“The SCSF Guild is honored to partner with Bliss Tea & Treats in presenting our adaptation of William Shakespeare’s brilliant comedy Twelfth Night,” says SCSF Guild Artistic Director Linda Bisesti. “SCSF Guild honors the timeless relevance of Shakespeare, redefined in today’s world, with our commitment to a multi-ethnic, multicultural aesthetic of artists and the celebration of Shakespeare’s reverberate themes.”

A site-specific adaptation of Twelfth Night seemed the perfect fit for the Bliss holiday lineup.

“After working with Rushell on the Oceanside Strong campaign, I knew that Bliss would be the perfect place for our theatre company to reach a fantastic community through performance,” says Richard H. Pluim, a producer in Los Angeles and board member of SCSF Guild.  

Tickets for this limited-seating engagement are available on Eventbrite. For list of upcoming engagements at Bliss Tea & Treats visit our website or visit SCSF Guild fore more information on their events. @bliss_teatreats @s_c_s_f

Register here!