Explore Shakespeare for fun not a grade

Did you dislike Shakespeare in school – wading through the language, quizzes, tests, recitations, projects and term papers? Did it feel like cheating to consult notes and modern-language translations of the texts? If so, don't give up on Shakespeare yet. Once you drop the stress of school, you'll discover that Shakespeare is relevant and even funny.

New Shakespeare group

We are starting a new group, Words Do Well, to discuss and explore William Shakespeare's work and modern twists on his work. Our first event on is on Shakespeare’s 458th birthday, Sat, April 23, 2022, 1-3:30pm, Learning Center. We'll do a table read of Comedy of Errors dividing the parts and reading all 1,785 lines out loud. Join us and read a few lines or be several different characters! No theatrical experience is necessary.

After April 23 we'll meet every four weeks for a year – attend as many or as few as you'd like, it's not school. We'll talk about Shakespeare plays, films, graphic novels, current scholarship, modern-day takes on Shakespeare and special events. Regular meetings will be every four weeks on Sundays 6:30-8pm in the library's Learning Center.

Why Shakespeare?

Shakespeare has a lot to teach us about ourselves. His universal themes still resonate today: humor, romance, the importance of history, loyalty, politics, friendship and our individual internal struggles. Writers, theatrical producers and filmmakers use Shakespeare as a starting point for countless adaptations that fit the times. Julius Caesar set in a women's prison. Othello reimagined in a 1990s American prep school. Richard III as a 1930s British military dictatorship with weird Art Deco buildings. Woody Allen's farce A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. A 1950s classic science fiction movie starring Leslie Nielsen inspired by The Tempest. Romeo and Juliet as West Side Story, one of the greatest American musicals.

I recently read Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future by James Shapiro. The book jacket crystalizes the modern Shakespeare experience eloquently:

Shapiro reports firsthand on Shakespeare's undeniable contemporary significance, after a production of Julius Caesar, which depicted the assassination of a President Trump-like Caesar, was exploited calculatedly by Breitbart and Fox News to ignite outrage. With style and unmatched expertise, Shapiro contends brilliantly that few writers or artists can shed as much light on the hot-button issues of American life – such as immigration, same-sex love, political violence, and class warfare – and that by better understanding the role of Shakespeare's plays in American history we might take steps towards mending our bitterly divided land.