Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 24 February 2012

A few notes and points of interest from the world of Shakespeare studies this week:

• London's Globe Theatre has awarded its first PhDs to Sarah Dustagheer and Penelope Woods. These women are both friends of the ASC: Woods presented on audience studies at our 2009 Blackfriars Conference, and Dustagheer observed an Actors' Renaissance Season, giving presentations to the MBC MLitt/MFA program on the differences between playing the Globe and playing the Blackfriars Playhouse. Congratulations to them both, and to the Globe for enacting this joint degree-awarding venture with Queen Mary, University of London, and King's College London.
• The new "Shakespeare's Sisters: Voices of English and European Women Writers, 1500-1700" exhibit at the Folger Library challenges the notion that early modern women didn't write (or, as Virginia Woolf famously asserted, that, if they did, they must have been driven mad by the frustrations of it). The exhibit celebrates such notable female authors as Veronica Franco, Lady Anne Clifford, Lady Mary Wroth, the Mancini sisters, Aemilia Lanyer, Aphra Behn, Susanna Centlivre, and (my personal favorite early modern woman) Lady Mary Herbert. If you can't make it to DC to see the exhibit in person, selections from it are also available online.
• This week, the ASC welcomes alumni from Dartmouth College for a weekend of entertainment and scholarship. Peter Saccio, the Leon D. Black Professor of Shakespearean Studies at Dartmouth College, was the editor of A Mad World, My Masters for the Middleton Complete Works. Saccio gave a public lecture last night, detailing some of the textual oddities of the script and what that can mean for the stage, and will give several private lectures to the Dartmouth group throughout the weekend.
• Education Week featured an article on the challenge educators face when attempting to tie their lesson plans to Core Curriculum Standards. "Their current materials fall short, and there is a dearth of good new ones to fill the void." ASC Study Guides (now available on lulu.com!) feature not only guidelines for fulfilling Virginia's Standards of Learning, but also the U.S. Core Curriculum Standards.
  

As a final note, remember that you still have a few days to get in your nominations for the 2012 Shakespearean March Madness. I've already heard support for Hotspur, Cassius, the Duke of Cornwall, and Richard II. Pitch your pick for this no-holds-barred brawl here.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits -- 'Anonymous' Edition

As I'm sure you've all noticed, a movie came out last week which, despite its risible nature, seeks to ruffle feathers in the world of Shakespeare studies. Many scholars would rather not dignify the nonsensical issue with a response (not to mention our reluctance to give Emmerich more free publicity), but the matter has pressed itself sufficiently that the community has responded. If Anonymous realized its own fictional nature and were not attempting to masquerade its inventions as fact, perhaps we wouldn't have such a problem, but because Emmerich has taken to the media, smugly pronouncing himself the savior of truth, and because Sony has begun distributing supposedly "educational" packets to high schools (I've seen them; they're alarmingly misleading and ethically irresponsible) -- those conditions provoke the defense that Shakespeare deserves. The kid gloves have come off, and rather than dancing delicately around the issue, many scholars have attacked the issue head-on and free of hedging. I submit here, for your perusal, a smattering of the reviews and opinions published in response to the Anonymous absurdity.

• James Shapiro, author of Contested Will, took to the New York Times in defense of Shakespeare: "Promoters of de Vere’s cause have a lot of evidence to explain away, including testimony of contemporary writers, court records and much else that confirms that Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him. Meanwhile, not a shred of documentary evidence has ever been found that connects de Vere to any of the plays or poems."
• The Times also has a piece by Stephen Marche, which not only disapproves of the attempt to portray the film as educational but also derides the conspiracy theory in general: "No argument could ever possibly sway the Oxfordian crowd. They are the prophets of truthiness. 'It couldn’t have been Shakespeare,' they say. 'How could a semiliterate country boy have composed works of such power?' Their snobbery is the surest sign of their ignorance."
  
• An editorial in the Washington Post sought out opinions from James Shapiro, the Folger's Michael Witmore, and eminent period scholars Eric Rasmussen and Stephen Greenblatt.
• Simon Schama advises, simply, "Don't buy it" in regards to Emmerich's spurious claims. "None of which would matter very much were there not something repellent at the heart of the theory, and that something is the toad, snobbery—the engine that drives the Oxfordian case against the son of the Stratford glover John Shakespeare. ... The real problem is not all this idiotic misunderstanding of history and the world of the theater but a fatal lack of imagination on the subject of the imagination. The greatness of Shakespeare is precisely that he did not conform to social type—that he was, in the words of the critic William Hazlitt, 'no one and everyone.'"
• A public radio commentary fights the idea of privilege attached to the Oxfordian theory: "I could never stand before a class of high school students and tell them that great writing, and a deep understanding of humanity can only be achieved by the educated elite."
• Woman About Town links the "controversy" to other conspiracy theories. "It was only as the centuries passed and Shakespeare’s work began to be seen as the pinnacle of artistic achievement that it was that ‘doubts’ emerged. And the biggest reason appears to have been plain old-fashioned snobbery and frustrated romantic yearnings."
• Jonathan Hobratsch for the Huffington Post presents 10 reasons why Shakespeare is Shakespeare.
• Slate.com has a movie review, complete with podcast, demonstrating that even objective reviewers with no dog in the fight find the whole premise absurd. The podcast is particularly interesting for what the reviewers have to say about the relationship of modern actors to the conspiracy. Another article on the same site asserts the need to defend Shakespeare: "To remain silent in the face of stupidity this blatant is to acquiesce to a kind of culture-destroying ugliness. ... Most of all, I hate the way they pride themselves on the vain, mendacious conceit that they’re in on a grand historical secret deception that only they have the superior intelligence to understand. It’s an insult to everyone else’s intelligence if they’re taken seriously."
  
• James Ley challenges Sony's choice to promote the fictional movie as educational: "There is something pernicious about the way Anonymous is being promoted. The 'teach the controversy' strategy, beloved of those whose arguments are on the wrong side of the evidence, is now apparently so normalised that an implausible work of speculative fiction can be brazenly offered as an exercise in historical revisionism and an educational tool."
• Skeptical Humanities also challenges the movie presenting fiction as fact: "So, no, Anonymous is NOT just a movie: it is a huge propaganda machine that wants desperately to sway viewers and students."
• Stanley Wells and Paul Edmondson, from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, have written an e-book which they’ve made freely available. Shakespeare Bites Back synopsizes the argument nicely and also advocates that we stop using the term "anti-Stratfordian" and begin calling a spade a spade with the term "anti-Shakespearean". Additionally, Edmondson and Wells discuss the issue in a short podcast, Wells has a piece in the Telegraph, and a series of posts from back in June demonstrates that Shakespeare solidly wins the debate.
  
• Finally, the Utah Shakespeare Festival solicited responses from a number of scholars and practitioners from Shakespeare institutions around the country. When they asked the ASC for our thoughts, Sarah was kind enough (and brave enough) to let me reply -- so if you want to know what I personally think about the issue, my argument is encapsulated there in a 500-word essay.

I'm also in the process of finally reading Shapiro's Contested Will, which Simon & Schuster sent to me for a review, so hopefully I'll be able to post that soon. It's also worth noting what several of the scholars who've weighed in have pointed out: this conspiracy is not something that dominates the field of Shakespeare studies. It is a distraction from real work. As entertaining as it sometimes is to spork a ridiculous fiction, I think we'll all be quite pleased when the movie flops (as it's reportedly doing), the hype dies down, and we can go back to arguing about the finer nuances of scansion, pedagogical technique, and the merits of Q1 Hamlet.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits - 22 July 2011

A smattering of links for you today, on performance and education:

• The Shakespeare Schools Festival in the UK aims to give every student the chance to perform Shakespeare: "The idea is that kids learn not just literacy skills but the benefits of teamwork, application and pride in appearing on a proper stage." Early reports show that the students involved are not just learning the skills of collaboration, but also the ways in which Shakespeare branches into other disciplines of study.
  
• Globe Education has debuted a new website, full of information on their programming.
  
• This article in the Huffington Post talks about emphasizing the "story" in history to keep it alive and interesting for students -- and uses Shakespeare as an example.
• Musically inclined? About.com has posted a list of composers inspired by Shakespeare.
  
• Actor Kevin Spacey shares his thoughts on playing Richard III.
• Another article in the HuffPost relates the ongoing health care debate to Beaumont & Fletcher's Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding -- which the ASC will be producing during the 2012 Actors' Renaissance Season!

Hope everyone's keeping cool!

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits - 24 June 2011

Just a few links for you this week, with a focus on the idea of what Shakespeare continues to mean and what appeal his plays continue to have in modern society.

• A blog post asks "Do we stage too much Shakespeare?" Or, rather, are theatres staging the same few plays too many times? Cass says: Not a problem at the Blackfriars Playhouse, given how many near-unknown (outside of academic circles, at least) plays we revive each year. Who's ready for Tamburlaine the Great this fall?
• From London, we have some more information on Shakespeare's prominent place in the Cultural Olympiad of 2012. Celebrations will include televised versions of the plays, a series of plays staged by foreign companies at the Globe, and a two-part documentary by Simon Schama. With some wondering why Shakespeare takes so much precedence as England's cultural ambassador (over others like Dickens, Austen, Chaucer, or the Bronte sisters), Schama says first that Shakespeare has a more universal, less-Angleophilic appeal than many post-Industrial authors, and that unlike Middle English authors like Chaucer, "The amazing thing about Shakespeare is that if you actually deliver Hamlet, or Romeo and Juliet, to teenagers they actually do get the language."
• Our Director of Mission Ralph Alan Cohen gave a radio interview yesterday with WOSU in Columbus, Ohio on the enduring appeal of Shakespeare in modern life. Dr. Cohen discusses the interplay between actor and audience that Shakespeare and other early modern authors offer -- the interaction which makes theatre a fundamentally different form of art than movies.
  
• Our college prep theatre camp started up this week -- If you want to follow along with their activities, check out the ASCTC Blog, and come out to see their final performances on July 10th.
  

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 10 June 2011

Just a few links today: Shakespeare reaching across language boundaries, new research into old records, and a good laugh for the end of your week.

• "Shakespeare as a Second Language" examines using Shakespeare to reach students in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Langauges) classrooms. The author of the article believes that Shakespeare shouldn't be "saved for high school English class or reserved for only gifted students," but that early experiences with his works can have great benefits.
• Speaking of the benefit of Shakespeare to other languages, the "Learning English" website has a radio feature on Shakespeare's treatment of law, justice, and human conflict.
  
• Shakespeare in the Park not for you? How about Shakespeare in a Bar? As the website posits, "Where else can you sit next to Caesar after his death and share a pint as you both watch the rest of the story unfold?" Cass says: This sounds like such an entertaining way to spend an evening -- Who's up for starting this at Zynadoa or The Mockingbird?
• On the more erudite end of things, research into Tudor England coronary reports has revealed a possible inspiration for Ophelia's drowning. Cass says: Whether or not you buy into this possibility, the article is worth reading just for the Darwin-Award-worthy list of accidental deaths. Who knew that Christmas games and maypoles could be so dangerous?
• Is theatre good for you -- as in, potential-health-benefits good? Is it possible to overdose?
  
• And finally, if you need a laugh, check out cracked.com's 6 Most WTF Moments in Shakespeare (this article has an adult language warning) -- and as a bonus, one of the pictures for King Lear is from an ASC production! So what do you think? Does the article feature your favorite moment of stage insanity? Or did they miss out on something spectacular? Cass says: If that author thinks Shakespeare has some crazy stuff going on, we need to introduce him to Middleton and Ford. (And, er, as always on the Internet, don't read the comments if you value your sanity).
  

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits - 3 June 2011

This week: debates about the value of a degree, and some insights into acting.

• There's been quite a bit of hullabaloo in the news cycles recently about the value not just of a college education, but of the economic advantage given by one degree over another. Turns out that majors like engineering, math, and computer science earn 50% more than the humanities. (Cass says: Raise your hand if this comes as a major shock to you). The idea of "gainful employment" may soon be affecting how much college students pay for courses -- or how much they're allowed to receive in loans. (Choose a low-earning major? Like, say, English or education? Sorry; we're cutting you off).
  
• The humanities, however, aren't taking this lying down. One clever article assumes Shakespeare's voice for its rebuttal. Another op-ed states, "No matter how much they earn or don't earn, no one can ever take from them their poetry, literature, music or art. Many, probably most, never lose their love of Shakespeare, Mozart, Cezanne or whatever the source of their youthful passions." Cass says: And for my part, I'd rather have the job satisfaction I have right now than be making twice as much in a job that made me miserable.
• And, for what it's worth, President Obama's new education plan includes strategies for teacher retention.
  
• The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Santa Cruz reports exploding popularity for its adult-learning programs. The ASC encourages lifelong learning through programs at the Playhouse and by hosting excursions for the Road Scholars program.
• British actress Eve Best, currently on stage at the Globe in Much Ado About Nothing, talks about performing Shakespeare, including this tidbit on cross-gender casting: "There’s something really interesting about crossing genders because you’re no longer caught in the sexual politics of your part... I think with some roles like Lady Macbeth and Isabella [in Measure for Measure] as an actress one is always trying to exonerate the character slightly. When you cross genders you don’t have to worry about that stuff – it’s unbelievably liberating."
• ABC News has a lovely piece on the art of acting, as voiced by 81-year-old actor Christopher Plummer, which includes thoughts on how his approach to acting Shakespeare has changed over time.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 20 May 2011

This week's Imprimis features several articles on non-traditional approaches to getting students to enjoy Shakespeare, as well as some thoughts on the enduring place of Shakespeare in modern culture.

• This blog post examines different versions of Hamlet (Q1, Q2, and F1) through Wordles.
• A new play uses Shakespeare to talk about issues of teen bullying. In "Cruel to Be Kind," rehearsals of As You Like It are disrupted by harassment, and it's up to Shakespeare to set things straight.
• The BBC is running a new recitation and performance competition for secondary schools: "Off By Heart Shakespeare," through which they hope to show that "the best way to get to know and love Shakespeare is by performing his words."
• "How do you get kids into Shakespeare? Get to them before they know it's supposed to be tough" -- a lovely article on teaching Shakespeare through performance. Cass says: This is exactly my philosophy, and it's why we're so enthusiastic at the ASC about our summer programs for teenagers and pre-teens.
• Then, check out 7 Quirky Ways Students Learn Shakespeare for some more exciting, performance-based approaches that teachers and students are exploring around the country.
  
• An article from The Huffington Post about the new Shakespeare High documentary also suggests that bare-bones Shakespeare, without elaborate costumes, sets, or lighting designs (rather like how the ASC performs...), could be the answer to keeping theatre and the arts alive in our current era of budget-slashing (when the arts are too often the first thing on the chopping block).
• This blog post relates current technology-induced changes in the English language to the revolution of vocabulary during the early modern period. Cass says: Interesting premise, but I'm not quite sure that netspeak is as ultimately beneficial as Shakespeare's creative inventions.
• Finally, the Staunton Newsleader has given Shakespeare his own page. This aggregate collects Shakespeare-related news within Staunton, from the ASC, and from around the world.
  

Imprimis: Link and Tidbits, 29 April 2011

A birthday and a wedding have dominated the Shakespearean news cycles (and my Twitter feed) over the past week -- Did you celebrate either? Both?

• This past week, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust organized a blogging event in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday. If you want to catch up with all of the participants, check out the official Happy Birthday Shakespeare site.
• Couldn't make it to the Blackfriars Playhouse for our birthday party? The Staunton Newsleader has an article and some great pictures from the event.
  
• The Big Think has produced some more leadership lessons from Shakespeare. Sarah says: This features some of the very items we use in our leadership seminars.
• The RSC is promoting Shakespeare to the under-10 crowd, using some of the same methods and approaches that the ASC employs when working with younger students, particularly at our Midsummer Day Camp.
• A New Zealand teacher has been fired for teaching King Lear -- or so the headline reads. The actual details seem a bit fuzzier, as she seems to have been using a modern adaptation. Cass says: I wonder if some of the objectionable bits would have slid by if she'd stuck with the original?
• Big in social media news this week has been the production of Much Ado about Nothing which is using Facebook in its lead-up to explore the relationships in the play and to highlight issues of bullying and gossip.
• Kate Powers, who will be directing A Midsummer Night's Dream this summer for the ASC Almost Blasphemy tour, talks about her experiences teaching theatre in prisons.
  
• We don't usually give time to authorship controversies here, but I like this one because it proposes that Prince William and Prince Harry, through their mother, may be descendents of both Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare.

Finally, I want to wish all the best to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Their Royal Highnesses Prince William and Princess Kate. "Heaven give you many, many merry days!"

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 22 April 2011

Just a few tidbits from the past couple of weeks:

• Ever wondered what your brain looks like on Shakespeare? Now you can know! Scientists have conducted neurolinguistic experiments to suss out just what Shakespeare's rhetoric does to the processing centers of your brain. It turns out that the brain enjoys the challenge of unusual syntax and receives a satisfying reward when it unravels Shakespeare's linguistic riddles. Cass says: Scientific proof that my obsession with rhetoric is well-founded!
  
• This article on Shakespeare and leadership cites our very own Director of Mission, Ralph Alan Cohen. The ASC works with the Federal Executive Institute several times each year to train government officials in leadership techniques, and we welcome any other corporate institutes to sign up for our leadership workshops.
• This thoughtful essay examines the poignancy of Shakespeare's perspective on parenting in The Tempest.
• A new approach to Shakespeare and queer theory: "Rather than referring exclusively to homosexuality, 'queer' should encompass everything and anything odd, eccentric, and unexpected, such as the fairy queen Titania falling in love with the donkey-headed Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, or King Lear's complicated take on the limits of the human."
• An appeal for aid from a substitute teacher, hampered by educators who are letting their students get away with reading "modern translations" of Shakespeare. Sarah says: This breaks my heart. What I want to do more than anything in the world, is reach the teachers who fear Shakespeare and get them past it and into the realm of comfort, so that their students--our future audience members and--more importantly?--leaders will be able to speak well and appreciate deep text and the humanity Shakespeare so well portrays.
  

And don't forget: Shakespeare's 447th birthday is tomorrow! Join us at Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton on Saturday, from 10:30am-1pm, or at the Playhouse on Sunday, from 4:30pm-6pm, to celebrate with the ASC.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 8 April 2011

Greetings, all -- I hope your April has started well. This week we have a smattering of links, several focusing on Shakespeare's influence outside of the scholastic world:

• We'd like to give a shout-out to the Empty Chair Theatre Company, a production company based in Arlington, Virginia, founded in 2007 by Julia Sears and Elizabeth Nearing, both veterans of our ASC Theatre Camp (Young Company Theatre Camp, or YCTC, as was). Many of their staffers are also alums of our program. This summer, they'll be producing Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus, and word is they've even snagged a night performing at the Folger Theatre. The company also has a blog, if you'd like to keep up with their projects. We are so proud of our camp alums, and we wish them so much success and joy in their endeavors. Doreen says: I can attest to the professionalism and high standards that these women value in their work, and I respectfully consider them colleagues and collaborators, both philosophically and creatively, in the endeavor of making of dynamic Shakespearean theatre.
• The NY Times claims that Shakespeare invented teenagers -- What do you think?
• Utah Shakespeare has delved into using performance to teach Shakespeare. One teacher comments that students who normally "would be sitting in the back twiddling their thumbs or punching someone next to them" are engaged by and interested in more active learning processes. Imagine that!
• This article details some of the ways scholars attempt to date Shakespeare's plays. It has an Oxfordian bent, though, trying to re-date plays to correct for de Vere's 1604 death. Cass says: And blatantly ignoring topical references and plain common sense, while they're at it.
• BigThink.com is hosting a month of "How to Think Like Shakespeare." The project is designed to imagine how "studying Shakespeare enriches the various disciplines—from neuroscience to business to psychology and beyond." Author James Shapiro is among the panel of experts commenting on Shakespeare's applicability to many different realms of life.
  

And no, I'm not even acknowledging that Anonymous travesty.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 11 March 2011

Just a short links round-up this week:

• We'd like to give a shout-out to Alexi Sargent and the ShakesPEER Group, who will be presenting Macbeth next weekend in Ardmore, PA. If you're in the area, go give them your support -- Alexi is a veteran of our summer camps, and ShakesPEER is a not-for-profit student-run theatre group.
• Tagging along from last week's controversy over Dame Helen Mirren's statement about not reading Shakespeare in classrooms, this op-ed takes her side in the debate.
• Globe Education has a new home -- congratulations to our brethren on the other side of the Pond! The facilities look amazing.
• An interesting article on how studying the humanities can help the homeless and disadvantaged: one 60-year-old student, clean and sober for a year after a lifetime of addiction, says the class contributed to his improvement because "I can sit in my apartment right down the street from here, for the first time in my life I can sit there by myself and read, and not feel like I'm alone." Another student says ""This is a way for me to stay clean. This is a way for me to change my life, and the trap that I was caught in."

That's it for this week -- We hope you're enjoying our March Madness, and we'll see you next week for the Round of 16!

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits - 4 March 2011

Just a short little round-up this week, but some of them are pretty interesting, so take a look:

• The Huffington Post is hosting an editorial by Rick Ayers on current educational battles, through the lens of Declan Kiberd's new book, Ulysses and us: The art of everyday life in Joyce's masterpiece.: "Schooling has been robbed of this welcoming spirit of literature, of the numerous popular and revolutionary voices which populate powerful writing. It has reduced literature to the prescriptive scolds of a Harold Bloom or the forbidding elite museum of a William Bennett. Our students aren't invited to read and engage with literature. They are ordered to decode, to adopt the distant language of eviscerated analytical prose. Kiberd refreshingly reminds us that, just as at a sporting event, everyone should feel entitled to have a valid opinion on the game, even if they are viewing it in different ways. ... He points out that in the early twentieth century it was common for reading groups to exist among working people in Ireland and England which did not hesitate at all to take up Shakespeare or any other text. But one of the great travesties of the universities has been to undermine democratic literacy: ‘Democracy was no longer seen as the sharing of a common fund of textual knowledge but as providing access to this or that super-educated grouping. No longer was the prevailing idea that anyone bright enough could read and understand Hamlet or Ulysses but that anyone sufficiently clever could aspire to become one of the paid specialists who did such things.’ ... We need to be about the business of transformative and deep learning." Sarah says: It’s as if some one got inside my head and coalesced all of the thoughts that have been swimming around in there for the last few months. This details why we teach liberal arts, not just science or business. Why we teach the great authors to all, and for all. It is, basically, what is at the heart of every one of our education department discussions. Cass says: I love the bit about "working people" taking up Shakespeare, because it goes to what I always say about it -- if no one tells you it's hard, you probably won't think it is. If you go into it assuming, "Yeah, I'm smart enough to get this," then you will have a much easier time than if you've been told all your life that it's difficult to understand and beyond most people's reach. Yet more backing for why Shakespeare needs to be rescued from the clutches of the Ivory Tower.
  
• The NEA has released several reports on arts participation in the US. Electronic media has (perhaps unsurprisingly) increased interaction, and people who create art are significantly more likely to attend artistic events.
  
• Helen Mirren wants to ban Shakespeare. Or, rather, she wants to ban reading it in classrooms in exchange for taking students to see productions. Cass says: While I think she's on the right track, it shouldn't be an "either-or" situation; it should be a "both-and" -- really, a "both-and-also" with the additional component of staging the text in the classroom. Nothing helps students learn Shakespeare more than actually doing it.
• The Toronto Star has an editorial on "Why Dead White Men Are Cool Again," advocating the revival of aspects of classical education, and Seattle University is revising its core curriculum, and some are protesting the changes to the humanities. Opponents of the new system, which would allow students to choose either history or literature as a requirement, rather than mandating both, emphasize the importance of cultural capital: "Cultural capital refers to a person's accumulated knowledge in society. When a student learns about the causes of the American Civil War or reads William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' they gain cultural capital, which will benefit them throughout their personal and professional lives."

Have a good weekend, all -- and don't forget to vote for your favorite Shakespearean competitors in our March Madness showdown!

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 25 February 2011

The links this week have a somewhat historical bent -- using Shakespeare to find connections between the past and the present.

• The New York Times assembled a look at how politicians on both sides of the aisle around the time of the American Civil War used Shakespeare in their arguments: "In a different age, politicians quoting Shakespeare might not have gotten far with voters; in Bard-mad 19th-century America, it was a sure way to win over a skeptical audience."
• The Tempest and Thomas Jefferson: The University of Houston hosted a two-day seminar on bringing together ideas of political theory and Renaissance literature, including a lecture on Shakespeare's influence on Thomas Jefferson. Cass says: Shakespeare, politics, and my beloved TJ? I'm not sure how you get much better than that.
  
• We're seeing more and more this year about the King James Bible, as 2011 marks its 400th anniversary. This article posits an interesting link between Shakespeare and the KJB, particularly in regards to teaching: "A gay, Jewish professor of mine once observed that he proferred teaching English literature in bible-belt colleges in his native US rather than in east-coast liberal arts institutions (or, indeed, English universities in south-west England) because the students 'got so many of the references easier'." Cass says: I was actually discussing this with a few friends just the other day, and it's part of why I feel comparative religions should be mandatory in high schools. Students should be able to understand the references at the heart of so many different cultures -- Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, pagan -- they're all part of literature's heritage. Regardless of what or whether you believe in any, all, or none of them, you should at least know the stories.
  
• Tom Hodgkinson, owner and operate of the New Idler's Academy, has opened a 18th-century style coffee house in London, where he hopes to host lectures, discussions, and lessons on such varied and oft-esoteric topics as philosophy, grammar, Latin, rhetoric, maths, carpentry, and gardening. He states, "The taste for public learning is definitely coming back... Over the last half-century, an odd division has grown up between two forms of education: one supposedly old-fashioned, didactic and bloodless; the other progressive, relative, and depressingly fact-free. There's no reason why intellectual instruction shouldn't be entertaining as well as rigorous." Cass says: Sounds like the kind of place I'd love to spend my time. And if you need to fly someone in to talk about rhetoric, I'd cheerfully volunteer!
  
• Another take on educational reform, via Jamie Oliver, the "Naked Chef." He brings folks from the tops of their professions in to work with kids who have failed out of school. Sarah says: I particularly like what the kids have to say about the experience at the end of the article.
• The Edmonton Journal declares "Pursuit of knowledge just as worthy as pursuit of career." Cass says: I could just weep with happiness when I see that sentiment shared by others, because it's 100% exactly what I believe. Education for its own sake has value.

Have a good end-of-February, everyone -- can you believe it's almost March? ASC Education unanimously agrees that this is clearly nonsense, as surely it was the New Year just yesterday.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 18 February 2010

An eclectic mix of links this week, covering a range of topics. We've also started posting some of the most relevant Shakespeare news to our Facebook page, so you can keep a watch for information there as well.

• Shakespeare is Everywhere: The New York Times has published an article which mostly focuses on the abundance of Shakespeare currently showing in the Big Apple, but which also discusses Shakespeare's lasting appeal and how to entice audiences that might be a touch jaded.
• A piece from the Dakota Student on the importance of the arts: "Why is it so essential that we support the National Endowment for the Arts, arts education, and the arts in general? Beyond the economic benefits, there are many more. How about the fact that nearly any recent study on the subject links academic success with exposure to and participation in the arts? The values of creativity, leadership, and innovation that the arts foster are more good reasons. Also, the arts provide an opportunity for community citizens to interact and communicate via mediums that have no right or wrong answer and no winner or loser. The arts celebrate heritage and express culture, as well as promote diversity, tolerance, and ultimately, a value in individuality." Sarah says: I couldn't have said it better myself... though I keep trying!
• Michael Kaiser, President of the JFK Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, asks: "What's wrong with the arts?"
  
• Teachers and students demonstrating how to learn Shakespeare by doing and by acting rather than by reading alone. Sarah says: Now that's what I'm talking about!
• Additionally, another school discusses the advantages of introducing primary school students to Shakespeare.
  
• Stephen Greenblatt discusses the possibility of Shakespeare as a re-writer and the ephemeral nature of writing composition today.
• The UK Guardian discusses the language lessons of the King James Bible (which turns 400 this year, and which Shakespeare may have had a hand in composing), including that familiarity with KJV Bible versions makes Shakespeare's plays more accessible.
  
• Pajiba.com reviews the best and worst modern Shakespeare adaptations. Check the list out and see if you agree with their assessment.
  
• Three women have been honored for their letters to Juliet, singled out from the 40,000 missives that Juliet Capulet of Verona received this year. The Juliet Club strives to respond to every message in the language in which the original author sends it.

Next week, ASC education will be super-busy with the Poetry Out Loud competition, a day with the Federal Executive Institute, and the first of our Little Academes for the semester. Be sure to keep a watch on Twitter for updates on all of our events.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 4 February 2011

This week brought us scholarship through Twitter, a new podcast from the ASC, enlightening research on Shakespeare's world, and the ongoing debate about the humanities in education.

• I had a blast during #AskShakespeare Day. This idea, cooked up by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, brought scholars from all over the world together to answer questions about Shakespeare posed on Twitter. It was so wonderful to see how many people out there cared enough to ask questions about Shakespeare, and I got to trade ideas with some great scholars. We did see the authorship question pop up a few times, and plenty of people wanted to ask scholars and practitioners what our favorite plays and characters are, but we also encountered a range of other questions, some with concrete answers, but many that invited speculation: What race was Othello, really? Why do people talk about Hamlet having an Oedipus complex? Did Shakespeare pursue his own publication? What's the most gruesome scene in an early modern play? (Votes went to the heart-on-a-knife in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and the head-bashing in Tamburlaine -- both of which you'll be able to see at the Blackfriars next year!). What's the most underrated of Shakespeare's plays? How would the plays have been different if women had been allowed on the stage? The whole experiment was so entertaining and a real intellectual rush. I think we should do it once a month. Of course, I'm happy to answer questions any day of the year -- just ping @ASC_Cass.
  
• The first Actor-Scholar Council podcast is up and waiting for you to listen to it. Greg Phelps, Tyler Moss, Sarah Fallon, John Harrell, Chris Johnston, and Jeremiah Davis joined a panel of scholars to discuss The Comedy of Errors. We'll be recording the Council session on Look About You next week.
• If you're within easy traveling distance of Staunton, be sure to see Shannon Schultz's directing project, an all-male version of Romeo and Juliet, on February 7th and 8th. The Staunton Newsleader interviewed Shannon about the project. (Please note that the Newsleader article has the performance time wrong: the show will start at 8pm both nights).
• "Hellraising Antics of Shakespearean Actors Revealed": The London Telegraph has posted an interesting article on what recent research has revealed about the theatrical world in which Shakespeare lived. Kidnappings, riots, thefts, vandalism, all brought to light courtesy of the new Early Modern London Theatres database.
• If you still haven't read James Shapiro's Contested Will, here's another review praising it as "an entertaining reappraisal of Shakespeare's enduring fascination and a conspiracy story worthy of play by the great man himself."
• Dale Salwak of Citrus College, CA, shares his approach to getting his students to love Shakespeare. Cass says: I agree with a lot of what he has to say -- that students say they hate Shakespeare because they really hate the way it's been taught, that you don't need to waste time teaching the plot, that it's okay for art to make demands of the audience -- but I still think he's missing some key elements. His approach remains very page-based, with the augmentation of audio recordings. There's so much to be gained by teaching the plays as plays and making the students take on the responsibilities and decision-making of actors.
  
• And, because no edition of Imprimis would be complete without some links discussing the value of the humanities in education: How Liberals Killed the Liberal Arts, and The Humanities in America: An Endangered Species?
  

Imprimis will be on hiatus next Friday, as I will be at the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Conference in Phoenix, along with Sarah and intern Liz, so you'll get a double-issue on February 18th. Sarah and I will be Tweeting from the conference as well, and I'll be posting about it when we get back.

Imprimis: Link and Tidbits, 28 January 2011

Our links this week focus in large part on how the humanities should be handled: what emphasis to put on them, what skills they provide, and how we can use technology to teach them.

• First, a blog rec: Open Source Education: Shakespeare. The author states his hopes that his blogging project "will become a place where together we can explore what Shakespeare continues to mean to us in an era of Web 2.0."
• Duke University professor Cathy Davidson talks about the need to change the way we teach in order to integrate technology into the classroom. She also suggests that innovative technology might help bridge the gap between the STEM disciplines and the humanities.
• On the other side of the techno-debate, a Yale student suggests that banning the Internet in classrooms might not be such a bad idea.
  
• Another professor, this time from Bowdoin College in Maine, weighs in on why the humanities are important: "Reading and writing a lot in college is not an 'English major thing' or a 'government major thing;' it's an 'educated person thing.'" Cass says: Quite right, and that certainly holds true after you leave college, as well. The need for those skills doesn't dissipate when you receive your degree.
• 50 responses to the question "Why is it so important for young people to receive a good arts education?" Cass says: I have two answers: because cultural literacy is important if you want to interact with your society, and because the arts teach creative and critical thinking skills that other disciplines do not. What's your answer?

At the ASC, we have another Actor-Scholar Council today, this time on The Malcontent. Paul Menzer, head of the MBC MLitt/MFA program, will be moderating, and our attending actors today are Ben Curns (Malevole), Patrick Midgley (Ferneze and Guerrino), Alli Glenzer (Maquerelle), Miriam Donald (Bianca and Maria), and John Harrell (Mendoza). There's still some time to ask us a question on Facebook if you'd like to hear it in the podcast.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 20 January 2011

This week in Shakespeare: the Stratfordian defense, using technology to open up new avenues for learning, and promoting literature in education.

• Bardfilm is on a mission, and we'd like to support it. In an attempt to show why anti-Stratfordians are, tragically, misinformed, the blog takes on first the Oxfordian conspiracy, then the Marlovian, then produces a list of resources for anti-anti-Stratfordians. Sarah says: Thank you for this reasoned critique of the argument. Cass says: I hope I see the day these anti-Stratfordian arguments get quashed once and for all, because it's just sad, really. I do still think the Marlovian conspiracy would make a great movie, but the trouble is, if it got made, more people would believe these theories than already do.
• Following up from the past few weeks of the Huck Finn censorship controversy, the Shakespeare Standard has an op-ed on why using sanitized texts is teaching a lie.
  
• Remembrance of General Education Past. Sarah says: A lovely personal argument for the values of humanities courses.
• Stolen Shakespeare Folio on Display in Cardiff. Cass says: I confess, when I first read the headline, my immediate thought was, "Wow, that takes a lot of nerve." But no -- it's a Folio that was stolen but was then recovered, which makes far more sense.
  
• Another idea about using technology to enhance the study of Shakespeare - this article on "Gadgets for Small Businesses" also includes an interesting Shakespeare-related use, specifically, the ability to read a scene and then, at a touch, being able to pull up several different versions of that scene in performance.
• Touting the philosophy we whole-heartedly believe in, this British blog advocates actually seeing the plays you study.
• And finally, for a little international flavor (following up after our last post), a refreshing take on the value of literature and its place in the school day... in China. "They were jumping up and down, telling the other kids what they read, and why others should read it. Every kid was dying to talk." Would that all classrooms could have that energy!

I hope everyone's had a lovely week. At ASC Education, we're getting ready to hold our first Actor-Scholar Council of the year today, discussing The Comedy of Errors -- stay tuned for the podcast of the event, which should be available sometime next week.

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 14 January 2011

For reasons unknown, the Authorship Controversy seems to have been rearing its hideous head on the Internet this week, along with more connections to Shakespeare sprouting out of the Huck Finn controversy, and the continuing debate over the worth of teaching literature.

• To start with, from last weekend's Shakespeare Theatre Association Conference, our managing director, Amy Wratchford, blogged about Shakespeare's relevance and about the value of discussing Shakespeare on Twitter.
  
• This blogger equates being a Stratfordian to being a stroke victim. Cass says: If you're not quite sure what to do with that (or can't decide to whom that's most insensitively offensive), you're not alone.
• The I Love Shakespeare blog defends the Stratfordian cause rather sassily, noting that the only way other theories make sense is if you "fudge the historical record with airy fiction."
• And then this article refutes the anti-Stratfordians, but then overshoots and goes into the "Shakespeare as a secret Catholic" theory.
• An op-ed in the Washington Post theorizes that educators can't be reformers.
• The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles is putting Hamlet on trial, with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy presiding. Sarah says: We did that!
• A writer for NPR uses the Huck Finn censorship controversy to expound his thoughts on why Shakespeare needs translation. Sarah says: Oh, no. Interesting that he uses the word "bowdlerized" in his discussion, since that man is roundly criticized for doing exactly what this author proposes. The quote he uses from Measure for Measure: "Of government the properties to unfold / Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse / Since I am put to know that your own science / Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice / My strength can give you," is, as in most of Shakespeare's "hard language," offering a tremendous number of clues to the actor and reader about what kind of character this is. When we look at Shakespeare as performance-based literature, the "hard stuff" becomes a tool for discovering insights about characters and playable moments. It becomes its own translation when staged.
  
• Gilbert, Arizona is cutting literature from its high school curriculum. Sarah says: This came across my Google Alerts just moments after Cass posted our "book wish list." A very scary tenet is working in Arizona, apparently. It seems they think kids need to read more non-fiction (and less Shakespeare) in order to become better prepared for the business world. Wonder if they realize how much business theatres generate, or how hungry people are for innovative, creative, and critical thinkers. They are doing their students a deep disservice. Cass says: And not just stage theatres -- movies, books, and musicals generate how many billions of dollars in revenue each year? Not to mention how important it is to examine the stories a culture tells about itself and what they say about who who we are, who we've been, and who we want to become.
• Finally, check out this review of James Shapiro's Contested Will. Sarah says: And then come see us discuss the book at the Charlottesville Public Library on April 15th.
  

Here at ASC Education, we're finishing the week on a rather busy note -- a pair of workshops this afternoon, and then a board meeting tomorrow. Hope you all have had a good week and have a great weekend!

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 7 January 2011

Quite a few links for you this week, since we took a break from posting them over the holidays.

• Just in time for the new semester, a list of Top Ten Tips for Studying Shakespeare. Sarah says: A good collection of recommendations.
• A blog entry proposes approaching Shakespeare in the classroom more like a rehearsal. Cass says: A lot of the techniques here are similar to the ideas we build into our study guides. The more alive and active the text feels, the more the students get the idea that they're working on something real, the easier it is to comprehend.
• Can you judge a production company by their Romeo and Juliet? This blogger thinks so.
  
• This workshop announcement from the University of Sheffield brings up a great point about the intersection of the literary and theatrical worlds. Cass says: The announcement also points out why we have the Romantics to blame for the idea of Shakespeare-as-literature-only (and I always like it when I have more reasons to blame the Romantics for things).
• Addressing Shakespeare's relevance, a professor at West Virginia University has written a paper linking Shakespeare to law school.
• "Bringing the Bard behind Bars in South Africa": With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, South Africa has begun exploring new ways to rehabilitate offenders -- and, as it happens, turning them into actors might be just the thing.
  
• An opinion piece in The Washington Examiner critiques the NEA's Poetry Out Loud competition. Cass says: We support Poetry Out Loud at the ASC -- we even host one of the competitions -- because we firmly believe in the value of reading verse out loud, but this article still makes some interesting points, particualarly regarding the competition's selection bias towards modern poets over the more metrically regular verse of previous centuries. It's not often these days that someone takes up in favor of stricter verse against free verse, so I'm pleased to see that.
  
• An article in favor of technology as the future of education. Cass says: The author favors giving classrooms over to computers as entirely as possible, with teachers merely "facilitators" rather than actual instructors. I can't help but feel that he's missing something. I'm all for more focused use of technology in classrooms, but a computer can't inspire, it can't make something great for you -- and a computer, no matter how well you program it, will never be 100% prepared for all of the questions and surprises that can arise from students. That human element is always going to be necessary.
• Along those lines, here are a couple of articles debating one school district's decision to bring iPads into the classroom. Interestingly, both articles use Shakespeare as an example. Cass says: I feel a little torn about this. I think the best argument in favour of the iPad (or other similar devices) is the textbook thing -- great to cut down on paper, great to get rid of the weight in backpacks -- and electronic devices offer so many more opportunities. You wouldn't have to conform just to the standard textbooks used by the state. Teachers could choose for themselves what texts they wanted students to have access to. And it would also allow easier access to some of the great educational web resources that are out there. On the other hand, though, I feel more and more like more money should be put into the actual teaching at schools. Money to train teachers, to teach teachers, to give them the tools, rather than just using technology as a crutch. And, hey, maybe even money to pay teachers what they deserve someday. I also find it interesting how often Shakespeare is the catch-all for "education."
• And speaking of Shakespeare-as-litmus test, he's also been brought into the recent controversy over a decision to publish a sanitized Huck Finn. Apart from the more generic Bowdlerization accusation, some commentators have opined that changing words for understanding is one thing; changing them for political-correctness is quite another. Even author Neil Gaiman got into it on Twitter, saying, "It's public domain, so you can make Huck a Klingon if you want, but it's not Mark Twain's book." Cass says: This is an interesting controversy for me, because it asks that question we frequently have to ask when cutting plays for performance: When have you changed so much that it's no longer the author's original work? Only the most stalwart of purists would say that you can't change a single word (a tough argument to make, particularly in cases where we have quarto editions different from the First Folio). But when have you gone too far? If you cut 20 words? 20% An entire character? An entire scene? All the naughty words? Is it still Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice if you tone down the anti-Semetic language? Is it still Shakespeare's Othello if you sanitize the references to Moors?
• On the more light-hearted side of things, a man is re-enacting Will Kempe's famous Nine Days Wonder, planning to morris dance from London to Norwich, to raise money for a community vegetable garden. Cass says: To my English friends, please, I beg you, if anyone sees this, post the video.
  
• Hot on the heels of Miramax announcing Shakespeare in Love 2, we're now hearing about the possibility of Shakespeare in Love: The Play.
• Finally, it's worth mentioning that the ASC has a considerable staff contingent attending the Shakespeare Theatre Association conference in Colorado. If you (like me) aren't there but wish you were, follow the hashtag #STAA11 on Twitter. Our own Amy Wratchford and Sarah Enloe, as well as Richmond Shakespeare's Grant Mudge, have been diligently Tweeting.
  

Enjoy your weekends!

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 20 December 2010

You may have noticed that it's not Friday. The office's holiday schedule means that I won't be manning a desk this Friday or the next, so I decided to hold last week's Tidbits till today, and we'll get back on our usual Friday rotation after the new year.

This week: A lot on the merit of the humanities and a little bit of pop-Shakespeare.

• Victor Davis Hanson writes in defense of the liberal arts, suggesting that, of the problems America could have, a population "immersed in and informed by literature, history, art, and music is not one of them." Cass says: I love pretty much everything in this essay. The humanities don't teach you what to think; they teach you how -- how to think incisively, creatively, deliberately. Hanson also talks about the imperative of linking the modern world to our historical heritage, with the ever-present threat that history may repeat itself, and that it becomes more likely to do so the less we know about it. With the danger of losing our common touchstones, the stories that hold populations together as nations, "No wonder the public is drawn to stories like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, in which characters speak beautifully and believe in age-old values."
• An essay asks "Amid globalization, what do we read?" and posits that, when constructing curricula, we should not throw out old (European) classics just because we're now including material from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Rather, by embracing all possibilities, we might just construct a more well-read society.
  
• Another essay: "The STEM of a plant cannot survive alone" -- STEM meaning "Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics," ie, the disciplines viewed as more profitable and necessary to our economy. As the author points out, the humanities offer problem-solving skills and command of language, and they also ask the difficult questions. "But pleasure isn't the only benefit of an education filled with humanities, especially because not everyone enjoys taking classes in the humanities. Part of the importance of reading Shakespeare is its difficulty. The guy writes in a code that, in order to understand, you need careful attention and problem-solving skills. It's like Sudoku, only you're constantly learning new things along the way. Remembering all of the twists and turns of King Lear's wandering may not help you ten years down the line, but the skills gained through challenging yourself will."'
• New York theater takes on world history, with productions on topics such as war-torn Afghanistan, renegade American president Andrew Jackson, and race relations in the 1930s. Cass says: I love history plays, of all kinds. I think they illustrate so well why we ought to be interested in history, not just because of what it tells us about ourselves and how our culture developed, but because, plain and simple, most history is about sex and violence and incredible personalities -- precisely the stuff of good theatre. As the article points out, "Shakespeare did history plays. But it's the drama, not his manipulation of history, that lives on."
  
• California Shakespeare Theater's Box Office Manager Robin Dolan talks about the myth of the off-season. Cass says: We empathize, Cal Shakes! The ASC produces shows 52 weeks a year, and the education department just discussed at our last meeting how our year has evolved so that we hop right from one exciting event or project to the next.
• Finally, as you may have heard by now, the Weinstein Company and Miramax have signed a deal to produce a sequel to Shakespeare in Love. Cass says: There's been a lot of Internet muttering about this lately, and I'm not fully certain why. If they get Stoppard back to write the sequel, I think it could be good entertainment. Leave Viola in the New World, though; let Will find someone new to inspire him, some influence that creates his darker, later plays.

Happy holidays, everyone! And in the words of Theseus: "Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love accompany your hearts!"