The Shakespeare Guild Kicks Off SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE Series Tonight, 10/22

The Shakespeare Guild has announced three upcoming programs that will continue its focus on the classical tradition in the dramatic arts.

Shakespeare and the American Musical
Monday, October 22, at 7:30 p.m.
National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
No Charge, but Reservations Advised

Have you ever wondered how a poet whose 450th birthday is less than two years away continues to supply material for films, TV screenplays, Broadway hits, and other forms of popular entertainment? If so, you’ll want to join The Shakespeare Guild for a chat with Hunter College’s Irene Dash, who’ll talk about "Shakespeare and the American Musical," copies of which will be on hand for purchase and inscription. Russell Jackson, a consultant for several of Kenneth Branagh’s cinemas, has praised Professor Dash’s new book for its “lively and expert understanding of the theatrical medium” and for its “thorough and scholarly” grounding in plays that have inspired classics like Kiss Me, Kate and West Side Story. A pioneer in early-modern gender studies, Irene Dash is widely admired for such groundbreaking volumes as "Wooing, Wedding, and Power: Women in Shakespeare’s Plays" (1981) and "Women’s Worlds in Shakespeare’s Plays" (1997).

A Conversation with Director Nagle Jackson
Monday, November 19, at 7:30 p.m.
National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
No Charge, but Reservations Advised

Not only has he earned acclaim on Broadway, at the Kennedy Center, and in other settings around the nation, but Nagle Jackson was the first American to be invited to direct in the Soviet Union. As a producer he has enjoyed lengthy artistic directorships at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (1970-76) and at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre (1979-90), which has been recognized with a regional-theatre Tony Award. He has seven productions to his credit at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, along with shows in such settings as the Hartford Stage Company, the Seattle Repertory Company, San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, and San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. MR. Jackson is also a dramatist and actor, and his roles have included Autolycus (The Winter’s Tale), Bertram (All’s Well That Ends Well), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Feste (Twelfth Night), Lucio (Measure for Measure), and Octavius (Antony and Cleopatra).

James Shapiro’s BBC Series on Shakespeare
Monday, December 17, at 7:30 p.m.
National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
No Charge, but Reservations Advised

As the author of such award-winning volumes as "Shakespeare and the Jews" (1996), "Oberammergau" (2000), "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare" (2005), and "Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?" (2010), Columbia University’s James Shapiro has established himself as one of today’s most prominent scholars and reviewers, with frequent appearances on the Charlie Rose Show and other television and radio programs, and with numerous articles in periodicals such as the New York Times. On this occasion he’ll preview a riveting segment from his latest endeavor, a three-hour BBC documentary, "The King and the Playwright," which has been shortlisted for a major TV award in the UK. After Mr. Shapiro screens his fascinating account of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot against James I and his court, and its impact on the chief dramatist for the theatrical company that profited from the monarch’s own patronage, he and the Guild’s John Andrews will join the audience for an engaging discussion of the episode.

For additional detail about these and other offerings, and for information about membership in The Shakespeare Guild, visit www.shakesguild.org.