We opened our 2019 SOS programming on Monday, January 28, at the
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB with actor,
director, producer, and author DAKIN
MATTHEWS. Mr. Matthews was riveting audiences as Judge Taylor in a Broadway
presentation of To Kill a Mockingbird that was on its way to multiple
Tony Awards, and during what turned out to be a memorable evening, he discussed
not only his pivotal role in that play but his many contributions to the
presentation of other classics on stage and screen. He then concluded a
special gathering with a brief master class on scansion, focusing brilliantly
on ways to approach a famous speech in The Merchant of Venice.
The following night, Tuesday, January 29, we moved next door to the venerable
Dining Room and Theatre of THE PLAYERS
for a 7 p.m. gathering with FROG
& PEACH, a company that was founded by members of The Actors Studio
to explore new approaches to Shakespeare's classics. Between February 22
and March 17 this energetic troupe presented Twelfth Night at the
SHEEN CENTER (18 Bleecker Street), and director LYNNEA BENSON and her talented
performers offered vivid illustrations of the artistry of an ensemble that
has featured such luminaries as Karen Lynn Gorney, Earl Hyman, and Austin
Pendleton.
Earlier that day, at 2 p.m. in the beautiful Parlor of the NAC, the Guild
helped inaugurate a new series of Afternoon Salons, focusing a
gentle spotlight on ALICE QUINN
of the Poetry Society of America, who reminisced about her work with some
of the most influential writers of our era. Among the participants in this
scintillating conversation were two prestigious sculptors, BABETTE
BLOCH and MARC MELLON, who were our guests for a similar gathering on
Monday, February 25. That event was followed a few hours later by an 8 p.m.
Speaking of Shakespeare dialogue with acclaimed playwright and
director NAGLE JACKSON.
A few weeks later, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13, we enjoyed a special
PLAYERS evening with JIM
DALE, a multitalented performer who garnered an Oscar nomination as
composer of the theme song for "Georgy Girl," who earned acclaim as an actor
with Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company and later won a Tony Award
for his title role in "Barnum," and who holds multiple Grammy Awards for
his narrative recordings of "Harry Potter." The following day, at 8 p.m.
on Thursday, March 14, we were back at the NAC
for a wide-ranging SOS conversation with ETHAN
MCSWEENY, who had worked in such prestigious venues as the Guthrie Theater
in Minneapolis and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington and had
recently become Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center in
Staunton, Virginia.
We then drew an eventful week to a close on Friday the Ides of March, with
an NAC Salon that
featured a resonant tour of THE PLAYERS. RAYMOND
WEMMLINGER, who oversees the Hampden-Booth Theatre Library and presides
over The Players Foundation, welcomed us to the final home of the club's
founder, Edwin Booth. He reminded us that one of the tragedian's favorite
protagonists was Brutus, a role he'd played during a benefit presentation
of Julius Caesar on November 25, 1864, at New York's Winter Garden
Theatre, and one that his younger brother made notorious when he staged
his own "lofty scene" five months later at Ford's Theatre in Washington.
(For background on what has been described as the most dramatic moment in
American history, click here
and follow the blue links in the opening paragraph.)
In April we focused on attractions that commemorated Shakespeare's
455th birthday. The first of these was a 2 p.m. Salon on Tuesday
the 23rd, at the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB with filmmaker MELINDA
HALL, who provided samples of the fascinating interviews she's recorded
with stars such as F. Murray Abraham, Stacy Keach, Sir Ben Kingsley, Estelle
Parsons, and Liev Schreiber for a fascinating YouTube series called
How Shakespeare Changed My Life. A few hours later we moved next
door to THE PLAYERS for a 7 p.m. presentation of
Ever the Twain: William Shakespeare in Mark Twain's America,
drawing on a script that had been presented twice at the Lensic Performing
Arts Center in Santa Fe. The following day, at 2 p.m. on Wednesday the 24th,
we enjoyed an informative session about The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
with Artistic Director BONNIE J. MONTE.
We enjoyed two mid-May events
in a SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE series that is now in its third decade.
One was a memorable conversation with F.
MURRAY ABRAHAM, who joined us for an 8 p.m. NAC gathering on Monday,
May 13. Best known for the Academy Award he earned as Antonio Salieri in
the film version of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, Mr. Abraham has won
a new generation of admirers in the role of Dar Adal on Showtime's mesmerizing
Homeland series. In 2010 the Guild honored him with a
Gielgud trophy during a Grand Gallery ceremony that featured
such luminaries as Tom Hulce and Ann Meara and Jerry Stiller, and warm memories
of that NAC gala resurfaced as a roomful of admirers enjoyed another special
evening with one of today's most charismatic performers. The next afternoon,
Tuesday, May 14, we returned to the club's welcoming parlor for a spirited
2 p.m. Salon with
JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON, an impressive actor who was earning plaudits as Kent
in a Broadway presentation that starred Glenda Jackson in the title role
of King Lear.
A few weeks later we welcomed the arrival of summer on Tuesday, June 25,
with a special afternoon salon that focused on cultural leader
LINDA ZAGARIA, who presides over the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB. We then moved next
door for an evening at THE PLAYERS that featured an entertaining dialogue
with New Yorker favorites ROZ
CHAST and PATRICIA
MARX. They discussed and signed copies of their illustrated guide to
the care and tending of hard-to-please mothers, Why
Don't You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It?, and charmed
us with ukulele duets similar to those that had captivated audiences a few
nights earlier at the legendary Carlyle Hotel.
After a summer recess we launched our 2019-20 SOS series with ADAM
GOPNIK of The New Yorker on Monday evening, September 30, at
THE PLAYERS.
Our primary focus was Mr. Gopnik's new book, A Thousand Small Sanities:
The Moral Adventure of Liberalism, a brilliant analysis of contemporary
life that David Brooks had commended in an eloquent column for the New
York Times. But we also explored a broad spectrum of other topics,
among them the insights a sensitive scrutiny of Shakespeare brings to the
social and political challenges we're currently experiencing.
On Monday, November 18, we returned to THE PLAYERS for a wide-ranging conversation
with Washington Post drama critic PETER
MARKS. An influential arts journalist who has been augmenting his regular
theater reviews with a unique series of performance-oriented observations
about leading contenders for the 2020 presidential election, Mr. Marks treated
us to incisive comments about what he noticed, for instance, when he looked
in on the campaigns of Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth
Warren.
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For details about offerings that have been presented in other seasons, click
on the years that follow:: 1998,
1999, 2000,
2001, 2002,
2003, 2004,
2005, 2006,
2007, 2008,
2009, 2010,
2011, 2012,
2013, 2014,
2015, 2016,
2017, 2018,
and 2020. And for information about upcoming
programs, visit our Current Events page.