In February of 2000 we opened the second half of our 1999-2000 season at
the NATIONAL PRESS CLUB in Washington with KEITH
BAXTER, a multitalented actor and director who had first achieved fame
as Prince Hal, playing opposite Sir John Gielgud (King Henry IV) and Orson
Welles (Falstaff) in Welles's classic 1966 film Chimes at Midnight.
A few weeks earlier, at Middle Temple Hall in London, Mr. Baxter had brought
a messsage from Sir John to the 2000 recipient of the Gielgud Award
for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts. In March we conversed with one
of the most distinguished poets and critics of our era, ANTHONY
HECHT, a former Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress (a post
that now carries the title of Poet Laureate). In May we chatted with novelist
and scholar GEORGE GARRETT, a University
of Virginia professor and the author of a celebrated trilogy about Sir Walter
Raleigh.
In September we extended SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE to New York, launching
the Guild's 2000-2001 season at the storied ALGONQUIN HOTEL with MICHAEL
ALLINSON and ELIZABETH SHARLAND. We returned to that prestigious setting
in December with MICHAEL LEARNED,
an actress best known to television viewers as John Boy's mother Olivia
in The Waltons, but a dramatic artist equally familiar to Manhattan
theatergoers for her roles in such demanding works as Edward Albee's Three
Tall Women. Ms. Learned was starring in a Broadway production of Gord
Vidal's The Best Man, and she talked not only about that play but
about her experiences in dramas by Chekhov, Ibsen, and Shakespeare.
For details about offerings that have been presented in other seasons, click
on the years that follow: 1998, 1999,
2001, 2002,
2003, 2004,
2005, 2006,
2007, 2008,
2009, 2010,
2011, 2012,
2013, 2014,
2015, 2016,
2017, 2018,
2019, and 2020
And for information about upcoming programs, visit our Current
Events page.