We've launched the 2018-19 season of our signature SOS series in Manhattan with four remarkable evenings at The Players. On Monday, Seprember 17, we joined Stephen Segaller, WNET's Vice-President for National Programming, producers Richard Denton and Nikki Stockley, and such special guests as actor F. Murray Abraham and Folger director Michael Witmore for a memorable overview about Season Three of Shakespeare Uncovered, an evening that featured previews of the six installments that will conclude this impressive 18-play series in October.
And on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, September 25-27, we joined the Players Foundation to host stage readings of the three segments of The Lives of Shakespeare, a new trilogy by playwright Mary Jane Schaefer in which she presents differing perspectives on what Shakespeare might have been like, drawing from historical facts, contemporary anecdotes, and suggestive details in the author's poems and plays.
On Wednesday, October 17, we'll move next door to the National Arts Club for an engaging dialogue with Peter Marks, chief theater critic for The Washington Post. Mr. Marks is one of today's most influential arts journalists, and we look forward to a discussion that will address not only what is now happening in the Nation's Capital, but what audiences are experiencing in New York, London, and a variety of other theatrical settings.
Addtiional attractions, not only at The Players and the National Arts Club but at other venues in New York and elsewhere, will be announced shortly. For information about previous engagements in a Speaking series that is now in its fourth decade, click here.
We opened our recently-completed 2017-18 season of SOS engagements on Friday, October 6, 2017, with educator Joanna Read, who heads the London Academy of Dramatic Art (LAMDA). A few days later, on Wednesday, October 18, we enjoyed a delightful evening with Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks. Then on Monday, November 6, we talked with WNET executive Stephen Segaller, who previewed this spring's attractions in a series called Shakespeare Uncovered, a three-year, 18-episode co-production with the BBC that provides charming introductions to the most popular plays in the dramatic repertory.
On Monday, January 29, 2018, we focused on the inspiring efforts of Stephen Burdman, founder and artistic director of the New York Classical Theatre. Three days later, as part of a February 1 luncheon gathering at the Woman's National Democratic Club in DC, we chatted with actor and director Keith Baxter, who was delighting Washington audiences in three roles (the Ghost, the Player King, and the Gravedigger) in a production of Hamlet that highlighted Michael Kahn's penultimate season as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. One of our attendees, Leslie Weisman, generously shared some reflections on the portion of our conversation that focused on Orson Welles, the actor, director, and producer with whom Mr. Baxter worked when he portrayed Prince Hal in Chimes at Midnight, a 1966 film classic that starred Welles as Falstaff and Sir John Gielgud as King Henry IV.
On February 28 we returned to Manhattan for a memorable NAC evening with with producer Eleanor Bergstein of "Dirty Dancing" fame. On March 20 we hosted a gathering at The Players with artistic director Jesse Berger of the Red Bull Theatre. On April 18 we were back at the NAC with cultural historian Edward Tenner. And on May 15 we repaired to The Players for a wide-ranging discussion with renowned director Sir Richard Eyre, whose scintillating production of Long Day's Journey into Night had just opened at BAM's Harvey Theatre with Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville in starring roles. We concluded our 2017-18 roster of engagements with New Yorker favorite Adam Gopnik in an extraordinarily resonant gathering that took place on Thursday, June 14, at the NAC.
To receive periodic updates from The Shakespeare Guild, you're invited to visit our Membership page for types of affiliation. There you'll find a link to a page where you can register for events, enroll as a Guild member, or provide a tax-exempt donation.
Meanwhile, for background on the Guild's signature Speaking of Shakespeare series, which began in 1998 at the National Press Club in Washington, click here. For details about offerings that have been presented in particular seasons, click on the blue link for the year that interests you: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. And for information about upcoming programs, visit our Current Events page.
