June
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0212 Thursday, 3 June 2010
From: Joseph Sullivan <
Date: June 2, 2010 3:18:49 PM EDT
Subject: CFP Update: "Shakespeare's Loose Ends"
Shakespeare's "Loose Ends"
A Call for Papers
Owens College, Toledo, Ohio Campus
October 14-16, 2010
The planning committee of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference is seeking abstracts and paper proposals that investigate the gaps, lacunae, indeterminacies, omissions, silences and "undecidabilities" in the work of Shakespeare and/or his contemporaries. Papers can focus on individual works (E.g. what happened to Lear's Fool? Why is Isabella silent?), or on cultural, dramaturgical, cinematic, theoretical and editorial issues. How do actors, directors, and editors deal with the inevitable gap between players and performers? How do biases and the historical treatment of Shakespeare reflect and affect appreciation? How have biographers dealt with Shakespeare's early years?
Abstracts or proposals are due by June 15, 2010 (early decision) or August 27th (final deadline). All inquiries should be directed to: Russ Bodi/ English Department/PO Box 10,000/Toledo, OH 43699-1947 or e-mail
Plenary Addresses:
Katharine E. Maus, Editor, Norton Anthologies. Author, Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance, Four Revenge Tragedies of the English Renaissance, Soliciting Interpretation: Literary Theory and Seventeenth-Century Poetry, (ed. with Elizabeth Harvey), and Ben Jonson and the Roman Frame of Mind.
Matthew Wikander, Author: Fangs of Malice: Hypocrisy, Sincerity, and Acting; The Play of Truth and State: Historical Drama from Shakespeare to Brecht; Princes to Act: Royal Audience and Royal Performance; contributor to the Cambridge Companions to Shaw, Strindberg, and O'Neill.
National Players will present a live performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. "America's longest running classical touring company, has now reached its 60th consecutive season of touring." Toledo Repertory Theater's Staged Reading of A Merry Regiment of Women. Six of Shakespeare's women discuss the availability and quality of women's roles in Shakespeare's plays.
All sessions of the conference will be held at the Owens Performing Arts Center. Special room rates will be available for conference attendees. The Friday evening conference banquet and theatrical performances, musical performances and art exhibits will be included in the registration fee.
OVSC invites graduate and undergraduate students to compete for the M. R. Smith Prize. Conference proceedings are published in a juried, online journal. Visit our website http://www.marietta.edu/~engl/OVSC/
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S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0213 Thursday, 3 June 2010
From: Richard Waugaman <
Date: May 27, 2010 4:09:50 PM EDT
Subject: Meeting Announcement
All are invited to a free University Forum on King Lear at the meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in Washington, DC on Friday, June 11, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. It will take place in the Renaissance West B (Ballroom Level) at the Renaissance Washington Hotel (999 Ninth St., N.W.). This was the site of the April, 2009 SAA meeting. Speakers include Meredith Skura of Rice University and Michael Mack of Catholic University. No registration is required.
Please join us.
Richard Waugaman
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0214 Thursday, 3 June 2010
From: Jack Heller <
Date: May 31, 2010 6:18:01 AM EDT
Subject: 2010 PEN Prison Writing Prize
Colleagues,
The PEN prize for prison writing was given to Hal Cobb, a founding inmate member of Shakespeare Behind Bars, for an essay discussing his ongoing engagement with the role of Prospero. His performance of Prospero filmed in the documentary film also titled SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS. (Cobb performed Leontes in May 2010 in SBB's The Winter's Tale.) Here's Cobb's essay: http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/4923
Also, if you are willing to have a little fundraising: Shakespeare Behind Bars is a non-profit program of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival funded entirely by contributions (not from government support). It is about $1500 short of the funds needed for the upcoming 2010-2011 program year. Online contributions may be made here: http://www.kyshakes.org/SFiles/
Thanks,
Jack Heller
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0215 Thursday, 3 June 2010
From: Paul Barry <
Date: Monday, 31 May 2010 18:12:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Book Announcement: A Lifetime with Shakespeare
My book, _A Lifetime with Shakespeare, Notes from an American Director of All 38 Plays_, will be published this July. Here is the publisher's description:
Written by the only American to direct and fight-choreograph all of Shakespeare's plays, this text represents an expert and practical guide to the Bard's oeuvre. From the Henry VI plays through The Tempest, the plays are explored in their full theatrical complexity, with particular attention paid to directorial and acting challenges, character quirks and development, and the particularities of Shakespearean language. Directing successes are recounted, but the failures are not shied away from, making this an indispensable text for anyone interested in producing Shakespeare.
I might add that this is a how-to/how-not-to book. It consists of a series of road maps to steer directors back to the unencumbered original texts and the direct simplicity of Elizabethan stage practices, around the land mines of cliches and production missteps from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries that have hung on and become traditions. My production approach is practical, at once quick and dirty, then complex and detailed.
The book is now being offered by Amazon and Barnes & Noble (links below). Both booksellers are accepting orders now for its release in late July.
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0216 Thursday, 3 June 2010
From: Hardy M. Cook <
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Subject: Sir Patrick Stewart
As I am sure most of you have heard, Patrick Stewart was knighted by the Queen on Wednesday, June 2. At the ceremony, he paid tribute to the English teacher who first encouraged him to perform and expressed amazement at being named a theatrical knight, joining the company of his childhood heroes Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, and Sir Alec Guinness.
My Patrick Stewart story:
Four years ago, I believe it was, my younger daughter, Rebecca, and I saw Patrick Stewart in Stratford in _The Tempest_ as Prospero in one of the least satisfying RSC production I have ever watched.
[This eco-Tempest was not to my taste (but it certainly was not as __________ (Fill in with appropriate adjective)* as the Hew Haw** Kornfield Kountry _Winter Tales_ of many years earlier. *appalling, awful, atrocious, abysmal, terrible, dreadful, horrendous, horrific - I could go on but still not find an adjective that would accurately describe how terribly wrong this Appalachian Tale was. **Hew Haw was an American television show of the late 1960s and early 1970s, featuring country music and "cornpone" humor, see http://dixiedining.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/cornpone-humor/ and http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1106574/4046570 ]
A couple of days later, Becca and I were in London to see _Titus Andronicus_ . At the interval, we were standing by the gate and Patrick Stewart rushed past and accidentally kicked Rebecca in the foot. He stopped and offered a rapid sorry, heading off to his destination.
When I later told the story to a Shakespearean who had been in attendance with us at the Memorial Theatre, the response was "She should have kicked him back."
Here are some of the Internet accounts of Sir Patrick's knighting.
*****
The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/sir-patrick-stewart-joins-childhood-heroes-1990020.html
Sir Patrick Stewart joins childhood heroes
By Emma Bamford
The actor Sir Patrick Stewart said he was "astonished" to ?nd himself in the company of his childhood heroes Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness in becoming a theatrical knight as he attended Buckingham Palace yesterday.
The Queen is said to be a fan of the star, who has enjoyed a 50-year career in ?lm, television and the theatre, including 16 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, 178 episodes of Star Trek and three X-Men movies. Sir Patrick said: "The knights of the theatre represented to me not only the pinnacle of the profession but the esteem in which the profession was held. And now to ?nd myself, to my astonishment, in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me. . . . "
*****
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10217872.stm
Star Trek star Patrick Stewart knighted at Palace
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Sir Patrick called his knighthood "an unlooked-for honour" Actor Sir Patrick Stewart paid tribute to a former teacher as he was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
The 69-year-old said he owed "literally everything" to the English teacher who first encouraged him to perform.
"Although many people in my life have had great influence on me, without this man none of it would have happened," he said following Wednesday's investiture.
The classically-trained actor is best known for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men films.
He was recently seen on the London stage appearing alongside fellow actor knight Sir Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot.
Sir Patrick said his knighthood - announced in the New Year Honours List - had been "an unlooked-for honour".
"But as I grew up as a child, falling in love with the theatre and Shakespeare, my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier [and] Sir John Gielgud," he continued.
"The knights of the theatre represented to me not only the pinnacle of the profession but the esteem in which the profession was held.
Sir Patrick is best known for his roles in Star Trek and X-Men "To find myself, to my astonishment, in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me."
The Yorkshire-born star said he would be celebrating his knighthood with Cecil Dormand, the teacher who first encouraged him to consider acting as a profession.
"He was the one that put a copy of Shakespeare in my hand [and] said, 'Now get up on your feet and perform'."
[ . . . ]
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.