Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's “Shakespeare And Leadership Series” Presents GENDER AND POWER

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, is pleased to present its annual Shakespeare and Leadership series, focusing this spring on GENDER AND POWER through scenes of various Shakespeare plays. The event will take place at the Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre at New England Conservatory, on Thursday, April 26.

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended since space is limited. To reserve a seat log onto https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10249282.

The series features a script-in-hand reading of scenes from various Shakespeare's plays performed by renowned business, government, and community leaders alongside professional actors. The reading is followed by a panel discussion by the participants addressing leadership questions and themes raised in the text. The scenes played will include Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, and Richard III.

Participants in the reading and discussion of will include Dr. Kerry Healey, President of Babson College; Martha Coakley, Former Attorney General of Massachusetts; Cheryl Yaffe Kiser, Executive Director, The Lewis Institute & Babson Social Innovation Lab; Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy for Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh; Anita Walker, Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council; and Dr. Lawrence P. Ward, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Babson College. The actors participating in the event are Ben Church, Nash Hightower, Charlotte Kinder, Deb Martin, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Amanda Ruggiero, Joe Short, and Robert St. Laurence.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), best known for its annual free performances on Boston Common, is a non-profit theater company founded in 1996, dedicated to artistic excellence, accessibility, and education. CSC's Free Shakespeare on the Common has served over one million audience members over its 23-year history and has become a beloved summer tradition enjoyed by nearly 75,000 people annually, including last summer's highly acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet. In 2013, CSC became the Theatre-in-Residence at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. In addition to the annual Boston Common production, CSC now presents fully staged productions at the Sorenson Center for the Arts at Babson, including the recent Old Money, Death and the Maiden, the world premiere of Our American Hamlet and Becket in Brief; "Theatre in the Rough," semi- staged readings including Fear and Misery in the Third Reich featuring Tony Shalhoub, Brooke Adams and local actors; as well as "Shakespeare & the Law," and "Shakespeare & Leadership." CSC fulfills its educational mission with actor-training programs for pre-professional and professional actors through the summer Apprentice program and CSC2. To learn more about these programs, visit www.commshakes.org.