Spring 2026
Wednesday, March 18: āAn Evening of Shakespeare: On the Dramaturg's Role in Contemporary Shakespearean Performanceā with Dr. Musa Gurnis at the Meeman Center.
Location: Dorothy King Hall or Virtual
Time: 5:30-7:00pm
Description: Most of us have heard of directors, producers, lighting, sound, set, prop, costume designers, and more. But what exactly is a dramaturg? Drawing examples from her work with noted New York stage directors, as well as from developing devised projects directly with actors, Dr Gurnis will discuss the role of the dramaturg, the theatrical designer of embodied ideas. What does dramaturgy look like in contemporary performances of early modern classics? We will discuss selected scenes from Shakespeare and others to explore how a dramaturg might approach them to expand the text of a script into the world of a play.
Bio: Dr. Gurnis (PhD Columbia) is a theater scholar and practitioner. She is the author of Mixed Faith and Shared Feeling: Theater in Post-Reformation London (U Penn/Folger), and co-editor of Publicity and the Early Modern Stage (Palgrave). She has dramaturged for Bedlam Theatre (NY), Red Bull (NY), Brave Spirits (DC), LABrynth (NY), and the Abbey National Theatre (Dublin). She co-wrote, with Eric Tucker, the award-winning Shakespeare mash-up web series BEDLAM. She has studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Red Bull Theater, and HB Studios; and performs both regionally and in New York (SAG-AFTRA/AEA). She created Red Bullās Early Modern Scene Work Collaborative, bringing together early modern theater scholars and classical practitioners for rehearsal room research. Her directing credits include benefit readings of Daria Kolomiecās documentary theater project Diary of War, sharing first-hand accounts of the full-scale invasion from Ukrainians of all walks of life in aid of Hospitallers, a volunteer organization of Ukrainian combat medics; as well as Tatienne Hendricks-Tellefsenās one-woman apocalyptic anti-rom-com Horny for the End of the World. She was the associate director of the Private Theatreās 2024/5 production of Roysten Coppengerās translation of Ibsenās Doll House.
Thursday, April 23: Prof. Ramie Targoff, āBeyond the Myth of Judith Shakespeare: Forging Women's Networks in the Poetry of Aemilia Lanyer,ā
Time: 6-7:30pm
Location: Blount Auditorium, Buckman Hall
Description: On the anniversary of William Shakespeareās birthday, it is worth thinking also about the women who lived in his world and struggled themselves to write. This lecture will begin by revisiting Virginia Woolfās famous account of Shakespeareās imaginary sister, Judith, and the challenges she might have faced were she endowed with the same gifts of her celebrated brother. We will then consider the true history of Aemilia Lanyer, a contemporary of Shakespeareās who became the first woman to publish a book of her own poetry in 17th century England. In that book, she offered a startlingly feminist defense of Eve and argued for womenās liberty in relation to men. The talk will ultimately explore the ways in which Lanyer sought to create a community of powerful female readers and patrons to support her radical poetic project, challenging Woolfās vision of the woman artist as a lonely and tortured genius.
Bio: Ramie Targoff is the Jehuda Reinharz Professor of Humanities, professor of English, and co-chair of Italian Studies at Brandeis University. She has written multiple books, including Posthumous Love: Eros and the Afterlife in Renaissance England (University of Chicago Press, 2014), Renaissance Woman: The Life of Vittoria Colonna (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018), and most recently Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance (Penguin Random House, 2024). Shakespeareās Sisters was named one of the Best Books of 2024 by both The New Yorker and The Boston Globe.
This event is free and open to the public. Preregistration is required.
Fall 2025
Postponed until Spring 2026; please check back for the rescheduled date.
Thursday, November 13, 6pm CST, Spence Wilson Room, Briggs Hall. Reception to follow.
Ramie Targoff (Brandeis University), "Forging Women's Networks in Aemilia Lanyer's Salve Deusā
Aemilia Lanyerās Salve Deus was a landmark publication: the first book of poems published by a woman in 17th-century England, it offered a startlingly feminist defense of Eve and argued for womenās liberty in relation to men. This talk looks at the ways in which Lanyer sought to create a community of powerful female readers and patrons to support her radical poetic project.
is the Jehuda Reinharz Professor of Humanities, professor of English, and co-chair of Italian Studies at Brandeis University. She has written multiple books, including Posthumous Love: Eros and the Afterlife in Renaissance England (University of Chicago Press, 2014), Renaissance Woman: The Life of Vittoria Colonna (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018), and most recently (Penguin Random House, 2024). Shakespeareās Sisters was named one of the Best Books of 2024 by both The New Yorker and The Boston Globe.
Feb. 24 ā March 5, 2025 Residency with visiting artist .
Hutchison is a director, actor, and lecturer. His work covers television, film, theatre, voice-over, and radio, working for the BBC, ITV, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and Shakespeareās Globe.
As with past residencies, he is available for class visits and workshops.
October 24, 2024, 6pm CST
āHow Plays Teach Us to Seeā
Location: Blount Auditorium, Buckman Hall
(Bard College), āFair is Foul, and Foul is Fairā
Abstract: This talk explores how Macbeth dramatizes a crisis in the operations of judgment, in how individuals distinguish between real and illusory, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Tracing this crisis to how Renaissance educational practices attempted to cultivate ethical statesmen by training them in rhetorical style, Iāll propose that Macbeth anticipates reflections on the continuities between aesthetic and moral judgments by modern philosophers like Iris Murdoch, Stanley Cavell, and Alexander Nehamas. It was obvious to Shakespeare and his contemporaries that writing well did not correspond to behaving well, but in Macbeth he demonstrates that freely deliberating upon the āgood,ā whether it be a poetical word or political deed, always risks rationally making the wrong choice.
(Oberlin College), āTheater as Portalā
Abstract: āMine eyes are made fools of the other senses / Or else are Worth all the rest.ā So says Macbeth, reeling, as he tries to clutch a floating dagger that his murderous thoughts have conjured. Is it physically there before him, or a psychological projection, āa dagger of the mindā? This is partly a question for directors, but it is also an epistemological question. How do we know what we know, and is the ocular sense an asset or hindrance to that knowledge? In the early seventeenth century, early modern optical technologies like the telescope, camera obscura, and (soon enough) the microscope promised newfound access to the invisible and the faraway. In this talk I argue that Shakespeareās āGlobe,ā too, was an ingenious technology of perception, offering glimpses of supernatural realms that natural philosophy (or science) increasingly rejected. At the same time, plays like Macbeth deliberately ambiguate the relationship between the visible and intelligible, foregrounding the contingency of human perception and understanding.
On October 25, Professors Desai and Hyman will also be holding a pedagogy workshop entitled for faculty members.
Speaker Bios:
Adhaar Noor Desai is Associate Professor of English at Bard College, NY and co-founder of the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network. He is the author of Blotted Lines: Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Discomposition (Cornell, 2023).
Wendy Beth Hyman is Donald R Longman Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Chair of Book Studies at Oberlin College, OH. She is Trustee of the Shakespeare Association of America and author of Impossible Desire and the Limits of Knowledge in Renaissance Poetry (Oxford, 2019).
Marjorie Garber, April 10-12, 2024
Renowned humanities scholar returns to Memphis April 10ā12, 2024; her visit is co-sponsored by the and the Project for the Study of Liberal Democracy, Ā鶹ֱ²„ College; and the and the , University of Memphis.
Since serving as our at , Garber has published three more books: ; ; and, most recently, , praised by the as āa delight to read ā¦ beautifully written, and beautifully presented ā¦ a constant source of illumination.ā
On Wednesday, April 10, Garber will lead a discussion at the University of Memphis about the recent history and current state of the academic humanities (12:00ā1:30pm; African American Reading Room, Patterson Hall 221). Following an afternoon interview with WKNOās ā,ā Garber will conduct a Meeman Center class on her books and (5:30ā7:00pm; King Hall).
On Thursday, April 11, the Ā鶹ֱ²„ College committee will host Garber for a conversation about her experience directing Harvardās as well as serving as the President of the (CHCI) (2:00ā3:00pm; Spence Wilson Room, Briggs Hall). Garber will then offer opening remarks at Ā鶹ֱ²„ā 21st Annual Symposium on Gender and Sexuality Studies (3:30pm; Blount Auditorium), reflecting upon why continuing research in this field remains vital. The will have copies of her landmark study available for purchase and signing (Blount Lobby). Later that evening, Garber will give a reading from her most recent book, , at Novel bookstore (6:00pm; 387 Perkins Extension).
On Friday, April 12, Garber will deliver the keynote luncheon address at the of the (ACTC). Her talk is titled Displacement: Shakespeare, Freud, and the Place of the Humanities (12:30ā1:45pm; Heritage Ballroom, Sheraton Downtown Memphis). This luncheon is free to registered ACTC guests, but please note that seating is limited, so pre-registration is required. Following her lecture, registered ACTC guests are also welcome to attend a about Garberās , winner of Phi Beta Kappaās . Respondents include Ā鶹ֱ²„ professors Daniel Cullen and Stephen Wirls as well as (2:00ā4:30pm; Magnolia Room, Sheraton Downtown Memphis).
October 19, 2023, 5:00 pm CST
āWhat is Shakespeareās First Folioāand Why Should I Care?ā
Pearce Shakespeare Endowment Lecture by , Professor at the University of Oxford and best-selling author of āā and ā.ā
(Blount Auditorium, Buckman Hall, Ā鶹ֱ²„ College)
2023 marks 400 years since the publication of the first collected edition of Shakespeareās plays, the book now revered as the First Folio. This talk introduces whatās significant about this book, and what copies can tell us about the way it was put together, and the uses to which it has been put over the last four centuries. From printersā errors to cat pawprints, and from childrenās drawings to commonplacing, First Folios give us a ringside seat to view the changing status of Shakespeare, and the ways in which its cultural, literary, and economic value have become intertwined.
Dr. Smithās talk was one of many events celebrating Ā鶹ֱ²„ Collegeās 175th anniversary
2023 Pearce Law and Literature Speaker Series
The 2023 Pearce Law and Literature Speaker series will bring Renaissance scholars working on the cutting edge of law and literature studies to share their current work with us ā and with each other. All speakers will be present at each session to create a dynamic conversation and continuity across the semester. Speakers will address topics such as race, disability, human rights, equity, and the politics of majority rule.
Schedule
Thursday, Jan. 26, 12:30-1:45 CST
(The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa), āBlack Legend as Legal Rhetoric in Early British Encounters with Sub-Saharan Africaā
Thursday, Feb. 23, 12:30-1:45 CST
(Macalester College), āDisabled by Law: Property and Ablenationalism in Seventeenth-Century Law and Literatureā
(Stanford University), āCoriolanus and the History of Majoritarianismā
Tuesday, March 28, 12:30-1:45 CST:
(Indiana University Bloomington), āA Poetics of Human Rights: The Case of Cymbelineā
(The University of Alabama at Birmingham), āāFor with his own laws he can best dispenseā: Equity and Interpretation in Samson Agonistesā
Thursday, April 13, 12:30-1:45 CST:
Keynote Address: (Merton Professor of English Literature, Merton College, Oxford University), āNeptuneās Sway: Law in the āIsland Nationā Fiction, 1550-1700ā
Co-Sponsored by the Department of English, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the
February 1-11, 2022
Exhibit: āāWhat Do I Know?ā Montaigne's Restless Mindā
Barret Library at Ā鶹ֱ²„ College hosts a student-curated exhibit about the French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533ā92), one of Shakespeareās major influences. Free and open to the public, the exhibit will have an informal closing reception at 4pm (CST) on Friday, February 11.
An innovator in the modern essay form, Montaigne continues to enchant readers across the globe. With idiosyncratic charm, heās as apt to examine poetic verse as he is to scrutinize his own thumb. Montaigneās capacious spirit encourages us to āexamine everyoneās talent; a peasant, a bricklayer, a passenger: one may learn something from every one of these in their several capacities.ā
This exhibit includes rare books dating back to the 1400s, early editions of Montaigneās works, and other fascinating memorabilia. Ā鶹ֱ²„ students have selected and arranged Special Collections materials that illustrate how generative Montaigneās work has remained for centuries of thinkers. Topics explored include Montaigne and women; his interest in indigenous peoples; his engagement with biblical as well as classical sources; and his literary and educational legacy.
ENG-380 students (Fall 2021) include Brittany Ashley, Lucie Christian, Emma Dove, Harrison Glaze, Tess Herzog, Katie Hopper, Sujung Hwang, Ellen Lemm, Madison McCloud, Diana Miranda, Ben Reynolds, Isabel Rodriguez, Lily Thomas, Emily Ulmer, Patsy Wardlaw, Rory Wilson, and Yifei Zhang.
Special thanks to Mr. William Short, Associate Director of Barret Library and Head of Special Collections, who has been tirelessly devoted to making this exhibit happen.
September 5, 2021
Co-sponsorship of Hattiloo Theatreās , written by William Shakespeare; conceived by Geoffrey Owens.
continues the 200-year-old tradition of producing Shakespeare's work with Black actors. Shakespeareās complex creations ā men and women, kings and beggars, villains and heroes ā stand alone and speak aloud their inmost thoughts. Although Geoffrey Owens is best known for his TV and film performances, he has appeared on Broadway in and in Julius Caesar at the in Washington, D.C. He has done rolesāincluding Romeo, Richard the Third, Othello and Puckāat numerous theaters, including the New York Shakespeare Festival, the , , and the . For student tickets, please email newstokS@rhodes.edu.
Spring semester 2021
Artists and scholars e-visited our Midsummer Nightās Dream seminar
February 4, 11, 18, 25: Nick Hutchison on rehearsing/directing the play
March 4: on āā
March 9: Julia Gaisser on
March 11: on
March 16: on
March 18: on the
March 23: on Miltonās āā
March 25: Vanessa Rogers on ās opera
March 30: on his 1999 film
April 6: on Brittenās opera
April 8: Rob Myles and on
April 13: on his Arden edition of the play
April 15: Don Rodrigues on queer theory and The Phoenix and the Turtle
April 20: on his book
April 22: on
April 27: on her
January 9, 2021
Co-sponsorship of , with the , the , and presenting a concert of a work in progress including original music and songs from the 1939 production. Streamed live from the in Stratford-upon-Avon, this jazz-infused version of A Midsummer Nightās Dream opened on Broadway with an all-star cast, including Louis Armstrong and Maxine Sullivan, along with musical contributions from Count Basie and Benny Goodman.
September 18, 2020
, Vanderbilt University Writer-in-Residence, discussed her book , which plays on the so-called Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. This Zoom event was co-sponsored by the Ā鶹ֱ²„ College Pearce Shakespeare Endowment and Jack D. Farris Visiting Writers Series.
September 2020
Digital residency with visiting artist Nick Hutchison
Nick Hutchison worked closely with Ā鶹ֱ²„ students on interpreting Shakespeareās sonnets.
April 23ā24, 2020 [Postponed due to COVID]
Law and Literature Symposium
This free public symposium convenes scholars of early modern law and literature, working primarily but not exclusively in the field of English. Invited speakers will take into account questions of form and content, both legal and literary; temporalities and periodization; space, mobility, and motion; and slavery, personhood, and the laws of property. (Oxford University) will deliver the keynote on April 23, followed by a pedagogy workshop and panel presentations on April 24 by (Indiana University); (University of AlabamaāBirmingham); Stephanie Elsky (Ā鶹ֱ²„ College); (Stanford University); and (University of AlabamaāTuscaloosa). The symposium will conclude with Ā鶹ֱ²„ Theatreās production of Qualities of Mercy: Scenes of Law & Justice on the Shakespearean Stage. Co-sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the .
February 15 ā March 6, 2020
Residency with visiting artist Nick Hutchison
Nick Hutchison is a director, actor, and lecturer. His work covers television, film, theatre, voice-over, and radio, working for the BBC, ITV, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and Shakespeareās Globe.
As with past residencies, Nick is available for class visits and workshops.
November 16, 2019 (7:30am-5:00pm, English Commons, 312 Southwestern Hall)
Marathon reading of āParadise Lostā
Join the āfit audience . . . though fewā who have read Paradise Lost. We commence early (7:30am) with coffee and pastries for your eager appetite, break for noontide repast (a.k.a. pizza), rashly eat fair enticing fruit around 3pm, and take our solitary way after 5pm.
Drop by for just a few lines, or stay for all 10,565!
October 21, 2019 (7:30pm, McNeill Concert Hall, free admission)
Luna Nova Music presents An Evening of Music and Shakespeare
Featuring music by Claude Debussy, Juan Maria Solare, John Dowland, G. P. Telemann, Roger Quilter, and Erich Korngold, performed by Daniel Gilbert, violin, Kelly Hermann, flute, Ben Minden-Birkemaier, guitar, Brian Ray, piano, and Paul Murray, baritone
ā 901-493-0958
October 4, 2019 (noon-2pm, Hyde Hall, Catherine Burrow Refectory)
ā discussion with
Burt is a poet, scholar, and critic. Co-sponsored by Ā鶹ֱ²„ College Creative Writing and the University of Memphis .
February 21, 2019: Lecture by Prof. , director of the at the University of Alabama.
March 15, 2018 (7pm, Blount): Lecture on by Marc Shell (Harvard University), co-sponsored by English, Environmental Studies & Sciences, Latin American and Latinx Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures, Phi Beta Kappa, Political Economy, and the Project for the Study of Liberal Democracy
March 2, 2018: Shelby County students are invited to submit their original composition for Ā鶹ֱ²„ College's inaugural Sonnet Contest, sponsored by the Department of English's Creative Writing Program and the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment. Winners will receive a prize book and have their poem published in Ā鶹ֱ²„' literary magazine, The Southwestern Review. Ā鶹ֱ²„ English Professors will select the top sonnet in two categories: Shakespearean sonnet (14 lines of iambic pentameter with an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme), and non-Shakespearean sonnet (where the only constraint will be 14 lines). Sonnet submissions must include name, age, school or home school, grade, and contact information, and must be e-mailed by Friday, March 2, 2018 to Lorie Yearwood.
January 25, 2018 "Why the Reformation Still Matters," lecture by Brad Gregory (Notre Dame), co-sponsored by the Batey Lecture with Search, Religious Studies, History, and West Tennessee Churches of the ELCA
November 2, 2017 (7pm, Hardie): Phi Beta Kappa lecture on Shakespeare and Race by Ayanna Thompson (George Washington), co-sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa, Africana Studies, English, Theatre
October 26ā28, 2017 (8pm, Ewing Studio): SHAKESPEARE'S WOMEN, staged reading directed by Ā鶹ֱ²„ alumna Leslie Reddick ā82
February 22, 2017: Jews and Muslims in Shakespeare's World, a conversation between (Ā鶹ֱ²„), (Columbia), and Ayanna Thompson (George Washington). Co-sponsored by Communities in Conversation; .
April 21ā22, 2016: 1616 Symposium, with a keynote address (Thomas Christensen, author of ), the regional premiere of a show based on the last days of Shakespeareā²s life (by UK artist Gareth Somers), and lectures by scholars ranging across the liberal arts: (Stanford) on print culture c. 1616; Owen Gingerich (Harvard) on Galileo; (Stanford) on Cervantes; (Alabama) on the origins of slavery in the Bermudas; Michael Legaspi (Penn State) on the genesis of biblical hermeneutics; Gideon Manning(USC) on early modern medicine; (Indiana), on alchemy and chymistry; (UBC), on Tang Xianzu and Kun opera; (Rutgers) on the early modern corporation; Wendy Wall (Northwestern) on recipes and knowledge. As part of the symposium, Barret Library displayed 1616-related items from our special collections. At the , a copy of Shakespeareā²s First Folio was on display from April 11āMay 1, 2016. The 1616 symposium was co-sponsored by Asian Studies, Barret Library, Biology, Chemistry, English, History, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Modern Languages & Literatures, Physics, Political Economy, Psychology, Religious Studies, and Theatre, as well as the , Communities in Conversation, and the Confucius Institute.
November 8, 2015: the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment partnered with the Film Festival for a screening of Orson Wellesā classic āā (a.k.a. āFalstaffā), celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1965 release, as well as the 100th anniversary of Wellesā 1915 birth. The screening was be preceded by arias from Falstaff operas, and followed by a discussion with Welles scholar (Marymount). Film Studies and CODA co-sponsored this event.
September 28āOctober 23, 2015: artistic residency with British actor and director Nick Hutchison, who visited dozens of classes as well as worked closely with students in rehearsal. Hutchison's visit culminated in a free public Symposium on Shakespearean Comedy, co-sponsored by the Departments of English and Theatre. In addition to Hutchisonās direction of student scenes, (McGill) discussed āGender, Shakespeare, and Emotion on the Eighteenth-Century Stage.ā Her visit was co-sponsored by Ā鶹ֱ²„' Gender & Sexuality Studies program.
April 23, 2015: Shakespeareā²s Birthday Lecture by John Guillory (NYU), who will discuss "Monuments and Documents: On the Object of Study in the Humanities" (6pm, Blount). Guillory reflected upon Erwin Panofskyā²s use of the terms ā²monumentā² and ā²documentā² to describe the works of art studied by the art historian or critic, and on the utility of these terms in describing the object of study across humanities disciplines generally. Co-sponsored by English, Art, and the Search Program. Guillory also discussed his pre-circulated paper on the Common Core State Standards Initiative (3:30pm, Palmer 203).
November 1, 2014: Regional premiere of Romeo and Juliet in Harlem at Film Festival (9:45pm, reception 9:00pm), with director and actor . Co-sponsored by the Ā鶹ֱ²„ Africana Studies Program, Ā鶹ֱ²„ Office of Multicultural Affairs, Ā鶹ֱ²„ Film Studies, CODA, and the at the University of Memphis.
March 27, 2014: Phi Beta Kappa lecture by Marjorie Garber: "Occupy Shakespeare: Shakespeare and/in the Humanities." Interview in Chapter 16; Memphis Flyer "Shakespeare Our Contemporary"; "Occupied Shakespeare." Co-sponsored by the Ā鶹ֱ²„ College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; the Department of English; the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program; Greek & Roman Studies; the Search Program; and the Spence L. Wilson Chair in Humanities.
November 2, 2013: Regional premiere of H4 at the film festival (). H4 is the first black Shakespeare film, transporting the Henry IV plays to contemporary Los Angeles to explore political struggles in the African American community. Actor/producer and scholar/screenwriter (George Washington University) attended the screening as well as engaged in an informal discussion with Ā鶹ֱ²„ students, faculty, and staff (3:30pm, Rhea Lounge). Interviews with Lennix: ; Ferdy on Films; JET. Reviews: Show Biz Chicago; Antagony & Ecstasy; Memphis Flyer; The Bloodshot Eye.
October 10ā11, 2013: "The Past and Future of the Book" symposium on the latest developments in book history as well as innovative digital approaches to interpreting Shakespeare. Lukas Erne discussed "Disseminating Printed Shakespeare in Early Modern Englandā; Michael Witmore addressed "Writing Literary and Cultural History at the Level of the Sentenceā; Robert Darnton responded to these presentations, and engaged in a roundtable discussion with Erne and Witmore. Darnton also lectured at the University of Memphis: "Digitize and Democratize: Libraries, Books, and the Digital Future". Facebook event page; Flyer interview; interview; Smart City Memphis; Intermission Impossible; Commercial Appeal; event poster (pdf).
April 12ā13, 18ā21, 2013: Production of As You Like It, with the return of visiting director Nick Hutchison. Interview with the director; review in the The Memphis Flyer; view photos. This production garnered nine Ostrander nominations for most outstanding college drama, winning awards for Supporting Actress in a Drama (Madison Tallant) and Supporting Actor in a Drama (Stephen Brown).
October 5, 2012: Symposium on "Global Hamlets," with Nick Hutchison, and David Schalkwyk. Media: poster (PDF); lobby placard (PDF); Smart City Memphis; Memphis Flyer; interview.
November 10-11, 2011: Symposium on "The King James Bibleā²s 400th Anniversary," with Robert Alter, , Ena Heller, Naomi Tadmor, and Vincent Wimbush. Media: flyer; poster; schedule; facebook page; Chapter 16 interview with Alter; with Alter; Commercial Appeal review of Alterā²s book; Memphis Flyer interview with Alter; article on symposium; Faith in Memphis entry on "Manifold Greatness" exhibit; Manifold Greatness and ; The Bible and Interpretation blog.
April 1-2, 14-17, 2011: Production of Twelfth Night, in celebration of the McCoy Theatreā²s 30th anniversary season, with visiting director Nick Hutchison. Review in The Memphis Flyer; this production garnered eight Ostrander nominations for most outstanding college drama, winning awards for Leading Actress (Kilby Hodges), Leading Actor (Stephen Brown), and Supporting Actor (.
January 23, 2011: Panel discussion of the history and practice of adapting Shakespeareā²s works to music, with Ā鶹ֱ²„ professors (English) and Vanessa Rogers (Music). Presented in conjunction with ā² production of a new musical version of ().
March 26, 2010: Symposium on "Green Shakespeare: Environmental Studies and the Bard," with a keynote lecture by Robert Watson was followed by a roundtable discussion on the "state of the field" with Dan Brayton, Simon Estok, Sharon Oā²Dair, Karen Raber, and Robert Watson. Co-sponsored by the Ā鶹ֱ²„ College Environmental Program, with additional support from the (ACS) and the Ā鶹ֱ²„ College Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts (CODA). Press release; newspaper article; Memphis Flyer recommendation; Smart City blog posting; Counterpoint radio program; Watsonā²s lecture handout.
October 20, 2009: Concert: Music of Shakespeareā²s England, performed by The City Musick.
April 24, 2009: Lectures on The Taming of the Shrew by Dympna Callaghan and Leah Marcus co-sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.
October 3, 2008: Lecture on As You Like It by Paul Kottman, co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and by CODA.
January 25, 2008: Symposium on Macbeth, āShakespeare in Colorā (PDF), with Aleta Chappelle, Wallace Cheatham, Peter Erickson, Harry Lennix, Marguerite Rippy, Amy Scott-Douglass, and Ayanna Thompson. Co-sponsored by CODA, the African American Studies program, and the Departments of English and Theatre. This event was held in conjunction with the production of the play at Hattiloo Theatre, directed by Professor Cookie Ewing, and Verdiā²s Macbeth by Opera Memphis. Lectures from the symposium (by Wallace Cheatham,Peter Erickson, Harry Lennix, Marguerite Rippy, Amy Scott-Douglass, and Ayanna Thompson) have been published in an expanded collection of essays, Weyward Macbeth.