Sol Schwartz Set for Shakespeare & Company's AUTHOR! AUTHOR! Series Today

Due to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to last year's combination of special presentations and performances, Shakespeare & Company has announced the return of FOUR favorite happenings. This series of events is perfectly tailored to its summer performance season. Engaging discussions, riveting talks, and insightful Q&A's will all be featured in the Company's already packed calendar. For more information on all of Shakespeare & Company's special 35th Season offerings, including Author! Author!, Studio Series, Tuesday Talks, Wednesday Q&As, Behind the Scenes Tours, and other special events, visit www.Shakespeare.org.

FIRST UP: Author! Author!
The 2013 Summer Season will see the return of Author! Author!, our popular series of talks with bestselling and award-winning authors. Author! Author! showcases authors both local and national, covering a wide array of literary expertise. These lively and informal discussions are sure to entertain and enlighten. Tasty, light breakfast items are available at Josie's Place before and after discussions, and book signings with the authors always follow the discussion!

Author! Author!
July 14 Sol Schwartz (Drawing in the Dark, Drawing Music, Connections in Line)

July 21 Elisabeth Gitter (The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, The Original Deaf-Blind Girl)

July 28 Honorable Deval Patrick, Massachusetts Governor (A Reason to Believe: Lessons in an Improbable Life) and Mrs. Diane Patrick

Aug 4 Dr. Carol Gilligan (Pearl; In a Different Voice; The Birth of Pleasure), son Jonathan Gilligan (Pearl) and Grammy-nominated opera conductor Sarah Jobin

Aug 11 David Black (The Extinction Event; Like Father; The King of Fifth Avenue; Murder at the Met)

Aug 18 Olympia Dukakis (Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress; Mother Courage)

Aug 25 Letty Cottin Pogrebin (How to Be A Friend to A Friend Who's Sick)

Sol Schwartz is a philanthropist and visual artist whose work has been showcased at the Norman Rockwell Museum and Shakespeare & Company in the Berkshires, and at the School of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. His recent bookDrawing in the Dark is filled with sketches and renderings of actors and artists from Shakespeare & Company, Tanglewood and beyond. On July 19th, the Lenox Library will celebrate "The Art of Sol Schwartz" with a new exhibit while in the Welles Gallery and also dedicate The Shakespearean Corner of the library's main reading room to the memory of Elayne P. Bernstein. The celebration will include performances by the Advanced Ensemble of Pittsfield-based Kids 4 Harmony and members of Shakespeare & Young Company.

Elisabeth Gitter is a professor of English at the City University of New York's John Jay College who specializes in the Victorian era. She is a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Studies Department and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for Making Objects Speak: Grants for Teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development.

Honorable Deval Patrick was reelected to a second term as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in November 2010. Governor Patrick is a graduate of Harvard College and of Harvard Law School. In 1986, he joined the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow and was named partner in 1990, at the age of 34. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the nation's top civil rights post. He has also served as Texaco's Vice President and General Counsel, as well as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Coca-Cola Company. He and his wife Diane Patrick have been married for more than 25 years and have two daughters.

Dr. Carol Gilligan is a writer and psychologist whose work in gender studies has earned her numerous awards, including being named to Time Magazine's list of 25 Most Influential Americans. She is the author of several books including In a Different Voice.

Jonathan Gilligan is Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University and Associate Director for Research at the Vanderbilt Climate Change Research Network. His research includes relationships between environmental change and population migration in Bangladesh; adaptation to drought and water stress by rice farmers in Sri Lanka; and policy measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

David Black is an accomplished journalist, novelist, screenwriter and producer. His recent novel Like Father was named one of the seven best of the year by theWashington Post, and a notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. Black has worked as a writer and producer for Law & Order for many years, a producer for Miami Vice and most recently as a writer for Blue Bloods.

Olympia Dukakis, is an actress, director, producer, teacher, activist, and, most recently, author of the bestselling Ask Me Again Tomorrow. She has performed in over 130 productions Off-Broadway and regionally at theatres including A.C.T., Shakespeare in the Park, Shakespeare & Company, and the Williamstown Summer Theatre Festival, where she also served as Associate Director. As well as a founding member and Producing Artistic Director of the Whole Theatre in Montclair, NJ for 19 years, she is also a founding member of the Actor's Company and the Charles Playhouse, both in Boston. She taught acting at New York University (graduate school) for fourteen years and teaches master classes for colleges and universities across the country. Her films include Cloudburst, most recently, Mr. Holland's Opus, Steel Magnolias, Dad, Look Who's Talking I, II & III, Mighty Aphrodite, among many others. She has also performed in teleVision Productions of "Last of the Blond Bombshells," "Tales of the City," "More Tales of the City," and "Further Tales of the City," among many others.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is an author, activist, and national lecturer. A founding editor and writer for Ms. Magazine, she is also the author of ten books, among them two memoirs, a novel, and the recently published How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick. She is the editor of the anthology, Stories for Free Children. Her work can also be found in various magazines and other publications. Pogrebin's honors include a Yale University Poynter Fellowship in Journalism; an Emmy Award for Free to Be You and Me, inclusion in Who's Who in America, and dozens of awards and commendations from a variety of organizations and educational institutions in the U.S. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and lives in New York.

Tuesday Talks

Join the actors, directors, designers, and scholars of Shakespeare & Company for an intimate discussion of the process behind creating this season's productions and the key themes of these thought-provoking plays. All talks take place at 5 pm in the lobby of their respective theaters.

July 9 Les Faux Pas
July 16 Richard II
July 23 None But the Lonely Heart
July 30 Master Class
Aug 7 Mother Courage and Her Children
Aug 13 The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Wednesday Q&As

The productions have you talking, so why not include the actors in your conversation? Join Shakespeare & Company for these select performances in July and August, followed by an informal Q&A with the actors from the following productions:

July 10, 7:30 pm Richard II
July 17, 7:30 pm Love's Labour's Lost
July 24, 3:00pm None But the Lonely Heart
July 31, 8:30 pm Master Class
Aug 7, 8:30 pm Heroes
Aug 14, 7:30 pm Mother Courage and her Children
Aug 21, 8:30 pm The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Studio Series

The Studio Series returns to Shakespeare & Company giving a weekly stage to new and unique works. The staged readings feature many popular Company actors and directors who explore the work of provocative contemporary voices. Many of the plays are subsequently selected for full productions in the coming seasons, including last years Cassandra Speaks and Parasite Drag, and this season's The Beauty Queen of Leenane featuring Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer and Elizabeth Aspenlieder. Please note full cast list forthcoming.

STAGED READINGS INCLUDE:

JULY 24 Seminar by Theresa Rebeck
directed by Nicole Ricciardi
featuring Kate Abbruzzese, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Wolfe Coleman, Rocco Sisto, and Tom O'Keefe

JULY 31 Johnson Lives! by Lee Kalcheim
directed by Jonathan Croy

AUG 7 The Waiting Room by Lisa Loomer
directed by Tony Simotes

AUG 14 An Impossible Life by David Black
directed by Joe Cacaci

AUG 21 A Thousand Words by Gwendolyn Rice
directed by Tony Simotes
featuring Josh Aaron McCabe and other artists

AUG 28 Foreclosure by Vincent Delaney
directed by Roger Danforth

Behind the Scenes Tours

Every Wednesday and Saturday in July and August at 10:30 AM, go behind the scenes at Shakespeare & Company. Peek around the curtain with this in-depth tour, which takes visitors to the costume shop, scene shop, backstage areas, weapons storage, and more. An interesting and informative two-hour adventure not to be missed! Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.

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