Zendaya Makes “Generous” Donation to Theater Where She Started Acting
Zendaya is honoring her roots in a big way.
The Oakland, CA-based California Shakespeare Theater (a.k.a. Cal Shakes), where the Emmy-winning actress got her start, announced that Zendaya made a sizable donation alongside the Women Donors Network to the theater’s North Star Fund.
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In a statement shared on Cal Shakes’ website, executive director Clive Worsley wrote, “We are deeply grateful to Zendaya and the WDN for their partnership, and their generous grant of $100,000 to the North Star Fund. This gift helps keep Cal Shakes going strong as we prepare for our 50th anniversary season!”
Leena Barakat, the President and CEO of the Women Donors Network added, “Women Donors Network (“WDN”) has approved a 2024 501(c)(3) grant of $100,000 for California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes). We are very pleased to be able to offer this general support grant in partnership with Zendaya. We hope that our funding supports your work and helps further your strategic vision, wherever funds are most needed.”
According to the theater’s announcement, the Dune 2 star’s donation will go towards “upgrading sound and lighting systems, enhancing the café and of course funding our 50th anniversary production of As You Like It, directed by Elizabeth Carter.”
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Zendaya’s mother Claire Stoermer worked at Cal Shakes while the actress was a child. The actress would often accompany her mom to work and became enamored with acting through her time there, eventually taking acting classes at the theater.
Trish Tillman, who previously taught acting at Cal Shakes, told the publication, “I think that her early work with Cal Shakes, with me and watching those actors onstage and various other teachers, taught her the value of how to do the work, how to get into that text, how to understand the people around you, how to harness what her natural tendencies and qualities are.”
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