International Association of Shakespeare Theatre Leaders to Convene at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, 1/7-12

Leaders from theatres around the world whose primary mission is to produce the works of William Shakespeare will meet at the home of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Center Valley, Pennsylvania January 7 - 12, 2013.

From Stratford, Prague, Utah, Oregon, and Chicago, and from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, and England - Shakespeare artists, leaders, and educators will share their visions for the future and discuss their best practices and most pressing challenges.

The Shakespeare Theatre Association's 22nd annual meeting includes representatives from 49 companies, 26 states and 8 countries. The theme of the conference is What Dreams May Come: Vision into Action. Topics include how Shakespeare connects different cultures, faiths, and languages; environmental factors impacting the marketability of Shakespeare; and a wide range of others, from classical rhetoric in performance to Shakespeare in the classroom.

"The role of Shakespeare in our world continues to inspire and challenge artists and audiences, scholars and Shakespeare theatre leaders," says PSF Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy, "and we are honored to host this conference."

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is hosting the conference on the Center Valley campus of DeSales University, located 90 miles west of New York City and 45 miles north of Philadelphia. Since 1992, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has produced a summer season of Shakespeare plays and other world classics from master dramatists for more than 500,000 patrons from all 50 states. Artists in recent seasons have included Broadway headliners and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk, Lortel, Jefferson, and Barrymore awards.

Shakespeare Theatre Association Pre-Conference

Select programming, Monday, January 7 - Wednesday, January 9
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

Monday, January 7
9:00a - 9:30:
Warm-ups
9:45 - 12:00n:
Shakespeare's Geography of Thought

Presenter: Lisa Wolpe, Globe InterNational Theatre Fellow, Actor, Director, Playwright

Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company

1:00 - 3:15:
Voice & Movement

Presenter: Dennis Krausnick, Director of Training, Shakespeare & Company

3:30 - 6:00:
Gender-Crossing in Shakespeare

Presenter: Lisa Wolpe

Tuesday, January 8
9:45 - 12:00n and
Dennis Krausnick "Voice & Movement"
1:00 - 3:15

3:30 - 5:45:
New World Shakespeare
Presenter: Terry O'Brien, Founding Artistic Director, Hudson Valley Shakespeare
7:30 - 9:30:
Working with At-Risk Populations
Presenter: Curt Tofteland, Founder & Producing Director, Shakespeare Behind Bars

Wednesday, January 9
9:45 - 12:00: Original Practices and the Actor/Audience Connection
Presenter: Laura Cole, Director of Education and Training, Atlanta Shakespeare Co. (The Tavern)

Shakespeare Theatre Association Annual Conference
What Dreams May Come: Vision into Action

Wednesday, January 9
7:30 - 8:30pm
Welcome & Keynote
Susan Corbett, First Lady of Pennsylvania and Chair, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Philip Horn, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

Thursday, January 10
9:00 - 9:50am
Warm Ups - Steven Dennis, PSF Associate Artist & DSU faculty
10:00 - 11:50am Welcome and Member Updates
Plenary
Welcome to Pennsylvania and STA 2013 from Conference Host Patrick Mulcahy and
STA President Patrick Spottiswoode
Agenda:
a. Member Theatre Updates - 1 min each
b. Associate Members - one sentence introductions
c. New Member & International Organizations - 3 minutes
d. Update from Institute of Outdoor Drama - 10 minutes
e. Update from Internet Shakespeare Editions - 5 minutes

12:30 - 1:40pm Vision and Tribe
Plenary
A true organizational vision is worthy of your life...and is successful only if others believe in it, too. The session focuses on why a vision matters and how your tribe can help make it a reality.
Moderator: Patrick Mulcahy (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival)
Speaker: David Mallette (Management Consultants for the Arts)
2:00 - 3:10pm
Breakout Sessions
Session A: Crafting a Core Aesthetic
Moderator and Panelist: Jeff Watkins (Atlanta Shakespeare Company)
Panelists: Stephen Burdman (New York Classical Theatre); Terry O'Brien (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival)
Session B: Counting New Beans - Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre
We make art to make better human beings and to make being human better, but spend most our time evaluating the economics instead of the impact of what we do. This session will encourage a new way for theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and funders to talk about the value of the art they make and consume, drawing on a two-year national research project conducted by Theatre Bay Area and research firm WolfBrown.
Presenter: Patricia Miller (Theatre Bay Area)
Moderator: Rebecca Ennals (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival)
3:30 - 4:40pm
Tour of Theatre with presentations by PSF about its operations
4:50 - 6:00pm
Breakout Sessions by Budget Size
A group discussion of the successes and challenges facing Shakespeare theatres in the same budget size.

Friday, January 11
9:00 - 9:50am
Warm Ups - Anne Lewis (PSF Associate Artist/DeSales faculty)
9:20 - 9:50am
STA Exec Officers' Meeting
10:00 - 11:10am Where's the Shakespeare?
Plenary
What percentage of a Shakespeare theatre's programming should be Shakespeare? What environmental factors are impacting the marketability of Shakespeare culturally, and in different markets?
Jim Volz - facilitator
11:30am - 12:40pm Set in Stone: Building America's New Generation of Arts Facilities, 1994-2008
Plenary
In 2007, the University of Chicago's Cultural Policy Center, a joint initiative of the Harris School of Public Policy and the research organization NORC, launched a major study of cultural building projects in the United States, looking at a building boom between 1994 and 2008 that included museums, performing arts centers, and theaters. Highlights and an overview of the findings.
Moderator: Patrick Mulcahy (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival)
Speaker: D. Carroll Joynes (Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago) and Joanna Woronkowicz (Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago)

1:20 - 2:30pm One Touch of Shakespeare Makes the Whole World Kin
Plenary
As Hymen, in As You Like It, sings, "Then is there mirth in heaven When earthly things made even Atone together." Shakespeare provides a meeting place for different cultures, faiths, and languages. This session includes a perspective on the Globe's "Globe to Globe" season which brought 37 plays in 37 languages to London and a plea to think collaboratively -- across state and national boundaries.
Moderator: Patrick Spottiswoode (Shakespeare's Globe)
Panelists: Tom Bird (Shakespeare's Globe), Guy Roberts (Prague Shakespeare Festival)
2:50 - 4:00pm Breakout Sessions by Focus Groups
STA has three Focus Groups which support the first line of the organization's mission statement: "STA was established to provide a forum for the artistic, managerial, educational leadership for theatres primarily involved with the production of the works of William Shakespeare."
Session A: Management.
Session B: Artistic Site-specific/Off-site/Alt. site Shakespeare
Chair: Lisa Tromovitch (Livermore Shakespeare Festival/ Shakespeare's Associates)
The National Theatre of Scotland is a "theatre without walls." It has no building. Are "traditional" theatre spaces attracting younger audiences? How many Festivals are experimenting with site-specific work or pop-up theatres both to attract new audiences and to re-invigorate existing patrons? Is the "place" rather than the "play" the thing?
Session C: Education
Discussion with Carol Losos, English Speaking Union
Chair: Rebecca Ennals (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival)

4:20 - 5:30pm Celebrating Shakespeare 400
Plenary
How should STA commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death? Discussions began at the 2012 Orlando conference and a STA 400 Working Group was formed. Tina Packer will report on the group's current plots, drunken prophecies, and dreams for 2016.
Moderator: Tina Packer (Shakespeare & Company)
Panelists: Ralph Cohen (American Shakespeare Center), Philip Sneed (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), Kristin Clippard (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival), Michael LoMonico (Folger Shakespeare Library), Becky Kemper (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival)

Saturday, January 12
9:00 - 9:50am Warm Ups
10:00 - 11:10am Break Out Sessions by Focus Groups
11:30am - 12:40pm "Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric" - a Performance Enhancing Drug
Plenary
Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights could help actors hear what they had in mind by the use of the figures of speech that every 16th century schoolboy learned in studying classical rhetoric. This partly interactive presentation suggests that classical figures of speech can give contemporary actors and
directors a tool that helps audiences hear those lines as well.
Speaker: Ralph Cohen (American Shakespeare Center)
1:20 - 2:30pm Breakout Sessions
Session A. Playing the Quartos for Actors, Directors, Dramaturgs, and Audiences
Session B: Meet the Funders
Session C: "Have you collected them by tribes?" The World Shakespeare Project, iEducation, and Performance-based International Exchange
2:50 - 4:00pm
Breakout Sessions
Session A: Boards and Major Planning Activities
Session B: NEA Shakespeare in American Communities Grant
Session C: Internship programs - cultivating the next generation of creative and administrative staff