Announcements
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.183 Saturday, 10 July 2021
From: Thomas Dabbs <
Date: July 7, 2021 at 10:44 PM EDT
Subject: A Talk with Janelle Jenstad
This is a talk with Janelle Jenstad of the University of Victoria. Janelle is the creator of the Map of Early Modern London online (MoEML), and, among other things, is currently directing the upgrades for Internet Shakespeare Editions: https://youtu.be/LED4gGHeb_I.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.175 Tuesday, 15 June 2021
From: Thomas Dabbs <
Date: June 13, 2021 at 7:34 PM EDT
Subject: Shakespearean Theatres: Heather Knight, MOLA
This is a talk with Heather Knight, Senior Archeologist of the Museum of London Archeology (MOLA) about recent archeological finds at the Curtain, The Theatre, and, most recently, the Boar’s Head. Heather specializes in early modern theatre archeology, and she heads a team that is documenting precisely the space and function of these theatres before and during Shakespeare’s time: https://youtu.be/2olrOWdDiRE
Best regards,
Tom
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.174 Tuesday, 8 June 2021
From: Sarah Enloe <
Date: June 8, 2021 at 1:52 PM EDT
Subject: Blackfriars Conference Announcement-October 28-30
Performance, Playhouse, Practice, and Play
The 11th Blackfriars Conference in Staunton, VA and online
October 28-30, 2021
A hybrid* conference thinking through early modern performances, spaces, playing conditions, and the page.
Submit your Abstract:
This three-day conference invites papers that explore the performative conditions of early modern plays, the effect of place on those performances, the practices of the players, and the texts themselves through time.
- Topics for consideration might include:
- Casting practice, rehearsal practice, performance practice
- Evidence of practice in the extant plays or documents
- Evidence of education or experience in plays or documents
- Connections between texts (editorial, allusions, character symmetry, etc.)
- The status of ‘performance’ in early modern culture
- Audiences and audience response
- Props and costumes
- Spaces of performance
Please submit 250-300 word abstracts for 13 minute (10 minute for papers not employing actors to demonstrate a point) papers by June 30, 2021 to https://americanshakespearecenter.formstack.com/forms/blackfriars_conference_2019_cfp
Presenters will receive notification by August 1, when registration opens.
Presenters wishing to attend in-person must demonstrate proof of vaccination, if you are unable to be vaccinated and your paper is accepted, ASC will arrange for a virtual presentation.
Registration will open August 1 and will include tickets (in-person or streaming) to Henry V, Macbeth, and All's Well that Ends Well.
More information forthcoming (keynote speakers, events, etc.) in the near future.
*In-person: American Shakespeare Center will welcome conference attendees to the Blackfriars Playhouse, where we will join together each day of the conference to hear papers (delivered both in person and through a streaming platform), celebrate attending the plays in our season, and enjoy other social events and activities.
Remotely: American Shakespeare Center will welcome you to join the conference on the digital platform Whova which you may use to schedule your attendance. Whova keeps all of the session information in one place, so you will not have to search for the zoom links for various sessions or the plays you would like to stream. Whova also invites remote participants to engage with one another in breakout rooms and user-managed events. Additionally, each session will be available after the conference closes so you can revisit moments of interest during the keynote and paper sessions.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.174 Tuesday, 8 June 2021
From: Sarah Enloe <
Date: June 8, 2021 at 1:52 PM EDT
Subject: Blackfriars Conference Announcement-October 28-30
Performance, Playhouse, Practice, and Play
The 11th Blackfriars Conference in Staunton, VA and online
October 28-30, 2021
A hybrid* conference thinking through early modern performances, spaces, playing conditions, and the page.
Submit your Abstract:
This three-day conference invites papers that explore the performative conditions of early modern plays, the effect of place on those performances, the practices of the players, and the texts themselves through time.
- Topics for consideration might include:
- Casting practice, rehearsal practice, performance practice
- Evidence of practice in the extant plays or documents
- Evidence of education or experience in plays or documents
- Connections between texts (editorial, allusions, character symmetry, etc.)
- The status of ‘performance’ in early modern culture
- Audiences and audience response
- Props and costumes
- Spaces of performance
Please submit 250-300 word abstracts for 13 minute (10 minute for papers not employing actors to demonstrate a point) papers by June 30, 2021 to https://americanshakespearecenter.formstack.com/forms/blackfriars_conference_2019_cfp
Presenters will receive notification by August 1, when registration opens.
Presenters wishing to attend in-person must demonstrate proof of vaccination, if you are unable to be vaccinated and your paper is accepted, ASC will arrange for a virtual presentation.
Registration will open August 1 and will include tickets (in-person or streaming) to Henry V, Macbeth, and All's Well that Ends Well.
More information forthcoming (keynote speakers, events, etc.) in the near future.
*In-person: American Shakespeare Center will welcome conference attendees to the Blackfriars Playhouse, where we will join together each day of the conference to hear papers (delivered both in person and through a streaming platform), celebrate attending the plays in our season, and enjoy other social events and activities.
Remotely: American Shakespeare Center will welcome you to join the conference on the digital platform Whova which you may use to schedule your attendance. Whova keeps all of the session information in one place, so you will not have to search for the zoom links for various sessions or the plays you would like to stream. Whova also invites remote participants to engage with one another in breakout rooms and user-managed events. Additionally, each session will be available after the conference closes so you can revisit moments of interest during the keynote and paper sessions.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.173 Tuesday, 1 June 2021
From: Colleen Kennedy <
Date: June 1, 2021 at 3:57 PM EDT
Subject: Will on the Hill at Shakespeare Theatre Company
I want to share with SHAKSPER members that Shakespeare Theatre Company’s annual educational fundraiser, Will on the Hill, will be on Monday, June 7 at 7 PM ET. Members of Congress don gowns and crowns for this annual event that mixes contemporary politics and Shakespearean shenanigans.
This year’s script, Will on the Hill and Far Away—written by playwright, director, and actor Nat Cassidy (Any Day Now, Old Familiar Faces) and directed by STC’s Senior Director of Engagement and Education, Samantha Wyer Bello—follows a definitely-not-mad scientist who crashes a Congressional hearing held to determine once and for all what’s so great about the works of Shakespeare. In this silly scenario, harkening back to old sci-fi classics, a hapless handful of politicians are transported directly into the world of Shakespeare’s plays when a time machine backfires.
Tickets are pay-what-you-will and benefit the Theatre’s educational programs. https://www.shakespearetheatre.org/support/special-events/will-on-the-hill/
Thank you,
Colleen Kennedy
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.172 Tuesday, 1 June 2021
From: Thomas Dabbs <
Date: May 31, 2021 at 1:14 AM EDT
Subject: World Shakespeare Bibliography
This is link to a talk with Heidi Craig about the World Shakespeare Bibliography and Shakespearean paratexts et al. at: https://youtu.be/2dnG4OmeiE4
This talk is part of a series funded by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.168 Saturday, 29 May 2021
From: Sarah Barnden <
Date: May 28, 2021 at 6:38 AM EDT
Subject: Conference: Finding Shakespeare in the Royal Collection, 17-19 June
Finding Shakespeare in the Royal Collection
The AHRC-funded ‘Shakespeare in the Royal Collection’ project (ShaRC)—led by King’s College London and Birkbeck University of London in partnership with the Royal Collection Trust—is pleased to announce that registration is now open for its conference ‘Finding Shakespeare in the Royal Collection’, which is taking place via Zoom on Thursday 17-Saturday 19 June 2021.
The Royal Collection contains Shakespeare-related objects collected by generations of British monarchs, stretching back as far as Charles I, through principally concentrated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Since 2018 the AHRC-funded ShaRC project has been researching these holdings, and this conference brings together an international group of experts from fields including Shakespeare studies, history of art, collection studies, Romantic literature, and royal history, to explore some of these objects in greater detail. From paintings, rare books, prints and watercolours to furniture, decorative objects and photographs, these items tell a fascinating and overlapping set of stories about the intertwining across time of the Shakespearean afterlife and the royal family, the history of collecting, the histories of royalty and empire, and of elite and popular culture, as we seek answers to the paired questions: What has Shakespeare done for the royal family? And what has the royal family done for Shakespeare?
Attendees are invited to attend live online panels 17-19 June, or to view recorded panels for a limited time afterwards. We have speakers from Singapore to Texas, and the panels are timed across the day to maximise the possibility of attendance worldwide.
To view the full conference programme, please see https://sharc.kcl.ac.uk/events
The online conference platform is Zoom webinar. For any access queries, please email
The conference is free to attend but registration is essential. Registered attendees will be emailed details of how to join the day before the event. By registering, you agree to abide by the conference’s Code of Conduct. To register please see https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/finding-shakespeare-in-the-royal-collection-tickets-148638099557.
For any further queries, please email
We hope to see you there,
The Shakespeare in the Royal Collection project team
Dr Sally Barnden
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.167 Thursday, 27 May 2021
From: Shakespeare Theatre Company <
Date: May 27, 2021 at 8:00 AM EDT
Subject: SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY DECLARES “PLAY ON!” FOR 36th SEASON
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY DECLARES “PLAY ON!”
FOR 36th SEASON
2021/22 Season includes first Broadway-bound musical premiering on STC’s stage, Once Upon a One More Time
The season includes two Shakespeare plays—Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice, a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience
Pre-season limited engagements include Academy Award nominee David Strathairn in a moving biographical drama and the triumphant return of The Amen Corner
Washington, D.C., May 27, 2021—Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director SIMON GODWIN announced the Company’s 2021/22 Season in a virtual town hall meeting for season subscribers, donors, Board members, and STC staff. The Tony Award-winning theatre will resume live performances in September with a season that will showcase “vivacious stories, audaciously shared” explains Godwin.
“We’ve titled our coming season ‘Play On!,’ after the famous opening phrase in Twelfth Night,” continues Godwin. “After such a long pause, we are ecstatic to safely welcome audiences back into our theatres for live performances. Play On! captures this playfulness and this urgency for theatre, for community, for being together again.”
“There has been so much encouraging news and we have been planning for so long to safely and effectively reopen to full capacity this autumn,” shares Executive Director CHRIS JENNINGS. “We are so grateful for the generous donors, supporters, and patrons, as well as our incredible staff, who kept the Theatre going during this difficult year.”
The 2021/22 Season officially opens at Sidney Harman Hall in late November with the Broadway-bound musical ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME. Directed and choreographed by internationally acclaimed Drama Desk-nominated artists KEONE and MARI MADRID (Beyond Babel, BTS, Justin Bieber’s "Love Yourself”), Once Upon a One More Time features an original story written by JON HARTMERE (bare, The Upside) and the music of Grammy Award winner BRITNEY SPEARS. Creative Consultation for the production is by five-time Tony Award nominee DAVID LEVEAUX (Nine; Romeo & Juliet on Broadway; NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar). The show’s previously announced debut in Chicago was canceled when theater industry operations were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Casting for the newly scheduled premiere will be announced in the coming months.
“In my first season at STC, I made a promise to offer shows for all-ages for the holidays, and Once Upon a One More Time is a jubilant, funny, and rousing update on classic fairy tales that will delight all audiences,” shares Godwin. “Britney Spears is an American pop icon, and the team of this musical has worked with her to craft a story that captures her joie de vivre and her indomitable spirit. We are beyond thrilled to have our first Broadway-bound production, and for it to be this inspiring, empowering musical.”
“I’m so excited to have a musical with my songs – especially one that takes place in such a magical world filled with characters that I grew up on, who I love and adore,” said Spears in a previous statement. “This is a dream come true for me!”
STC Associate Artistic Director ALAN PAUL (Camelot) will direct Thornton Wilder’s OUR TOWN with a cast that celebrates the artistic talent of the D.C. area. An American classic set in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, the play has continued to captivate audiences with its minimalistic set, meta-theatrical commentary, and its probing questions about love, life, death, and belonging.
“Shakespeare remains our lodestar,” Godwin says, “and we are excited to produce three Shakespeare-centric titles that we previously announced.”
A co-production with Theatre for a New Audience in New York City, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will feature the STC debut of JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON (Mare of Easttown, Satchmo at the Waldorf) as Shylock. Shakespeare’s problem play will be directed by TFANA’s Resident Director ARIN ARBUS. Thompson and Arbus are both TFANA resident artists.
After the international acclaim for his filmed-for-television production of Romeo & Juliet starring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor for National Theatre of London, Godwin plans to direct MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING set in a contemporary cable TV newsroom. “Beatrice and Benedick will bicker in front of the camera while behind the scenes they fall in love,” he explains.
The season will conclude with RED VELVET, written by LOLITA CHAKRABARTI and directed by JADE KING CARROLL about the great Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. During his lifetime, the American-born Black actor played many of Shakespeare’s most notable roles across Europe, and this thrilling play centers his debut as Othello on London’s greatest stage.
STC is also offering two special pre-season limited engagement productions outside of the subscription season. James Baldwin’s masterpiece THE AMEN CORNER will return to STC for a two-week-run. Directed by STC Associate Director WHITNEY WHITE, the play was a critical and commercial success, but its original run was curtailed in March 2020 by the pandemic. Academy Award nominee DAVID STRATHAIRN (Good Night, and Good Luck; Nomadland) will play the titular Holocaust witness, activist, and Georgetown professor in REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI, written by DEREK GOLDMAN and CLARK YOUNG, and directed by Goldman.
Some previously announced shows remain in development for future seasons, including Whitney White’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which will be a part of the 2022/23 Season.
All dates, titles, and artists are subject to change.
Full 5-show subscriptions as well as 3- and 4-show subscriptions are on sale now at ShakespeareTheatre.org; STC Subscribers have first access to the pre-season limited engagement performances. Tickets for the pre-season shows The Amen Corner and Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski go on sale July 19. Single tickets for all shows will be available for purchase later this year. Advance access to single tickets will be made available to STC Subscribers and Members.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.166 Tuesday, 25 May 2021
From: Timothy Keenan <
Date: May 25, 2021 at 10:53 AM EDT
Subject: Call for Submissions
International Online Symposium: “The Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot: How do we use the Inigo Jones stage?”
Hosted by: The School of Creative and Performing Arts, Liverpool Hope University (UK)
Date/Time of symposium: 15 September 2021, 10am to 5pm (BST) (9-4 GMT)
Deadline for submitting proposals: June 25
This symposium will take place online via Zoom. It will comprise six pre-recorded presentations, with live Q&As and discussions.
In summer 2022 the new Shakespeare North Playhouse will open in Prescot, Merseyside. The theatre, based on an Inigo Jones design or the Cockpit-in-Court (1623), is located in one of the poorest boroughs in England, but thanks to its educational and community remit it has the full support of local and metropolitan councils. The location sets up both opportunities and potential tensions between social and community uses and what might be perceived as the academic (elitist?) aims of a replica theatre. Moreover, the design itself is bound to divide opinion.
Will there be a dialogue between contrasting social uses, or will the Playhouse be one building with two distinct purposes and audiences? Will the replica stage stimulate or inhibit contemporary practice? How might practitioners approach using this space for contemporary or historically-distant theatrical production? How were plays staged at the Cockpit-in-Court? What can we learn from 17th century theatre practice and can that knowledge be transferred to the replica? What purposes do replica theatres serve anyway?
We invite short abstracts (maximum 350 words) for 15-minute pre-recorded Zoom presentations offering answers to the question “How do/did we use the Inigo Jones stage?” We particularly welcome contributions working on the interrelations of text and space, original practices of performance, actor training and acting style, theatre and performance history, educational workshop design and performance research.
Contributions might address topics such as (but not limited to):
- Specific productions in the Cockpit-in-Court
- Performance recovery
- Using the spatial resources of the replica
- The actor’s skill set then and/or now
- The Playhouse as teaching tool
- Researching, and experimenting with, replica theatres
- Cue scripting, director-less production and other practices
To minimise Zoom fatigue there is no keynote speaker at the event; however, online resources for the symposium are planned to include supplementary talks by invited speakers available from August.
Contributors will also be invited to develop their talk into a short chapter for an edited book on the symposium topic.
Guidelines for Submission
Abstracts should be submitted via email to
- Full Name of the Applicant
- Affiliation and Contact Details
- Title of Presentation
- Presentation Abstract (maximum 350 words)
Notification of acceptance will be sent out on 2 July 2021.
Please send any queries to Tim Keenan,
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.165 Tuesday, 25 May 2021
From: Tom Bishop <
Date: May 24, 2021 at 6:51 PM EDT
Subject: TMR 21.05.10 Ingram, Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth (Attreed)
I thought the list might be interested in this summary account of a new book, in relation to Shakespeare’s play. The book includes fascinating perspectives on the Continental entanglements of the various English parties, and a new account of the action at Bosworth.
Best,
Tom
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 32.155 Thursday, 20 May 2021
From: Daniel H Spector <
Date: May 18, 2021 at 6:58 PM EDT
Subject: Announcement
Colleagues and Friends,
Wanted to share with you a project I’ve been working on with my undergrad acting students over the course of the past few months. Call it our version of “Zoom theater”:
www.MeasureForMeasureTheMiniseries.com
This is a play by which I’ve long been fascinated. Suffice it to say, the past year’s limitations (and opportunities) have provided a chance to view it in a different light.
Best to you all,
Daniel