Let’s take a moment to revisit some of the biggest Shakespeare stories in the news this year, from the discoveries that grabbed headlines to the spectacular celebrations of the 400th anniversary to the celebrity performances that generated the most buzz. Discoveries and Scholarship Archaeologists have been busy this year. After taking hi-tech scans of Shakespeare’s… Continue Reading »
Posts Tagged: The Wonder of Will
What better way to pay tribute to the world’s greatest storyteller than with stories, Folger Director Michael Witmore said as he welcomed the audience to a special event commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death on April 23, The Wonder of Will Live. The chancellor of DC Public Schools, NASA’s chief scientist, and other guests… Continue Reading »
Shakespeare died 400 years ago this week. Who cares? Well, millions and millions of people. Shakespeare remains the most produced playwright in America. Over 90% of American high school students study his plays and poetry, not to mention half of all secondary school students around the world. His reach as a cultural force extends well… Continue Reading »
The Wonder of Will Live Watch the live broadcast of The Wonder of Will Live on Saturday, April 23, at noon EDT, on C-SPAN2’s Book TV or streaming online. Hear Shakespeare stories from Kal Penn, Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, NASA’s chief scientist, and other featured guests. The live event, held in the beautiful… Continue Reading »
2016 marks 400 years after William Shakespeare’s death, and the world is celebrating the quatercentenary with Shakespeare performances, festivals, and fireworks. One hundred years ago, what was said about the Shakespeare tercentenary in the United States? We see one of these windows on the past in The New York Times, which ran a special Shakespeare commemorative series… Continue Reading »
From a Hot Pepper Shakespeare contest to a Romeo and Juliet masquerade ball, the party doesn’t stop. These First Folio host sites are living it up, celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare across the United States.
This year we remember the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. But 1616 also saw the passing of another great writer: Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, who we know best as the author of Don Quijote. As Shakespeare left an indelible mark on the English language, Spanish has been referred to as “la… Continue Reading »
Over the course of 2016, the Folger Shakespeare Library is sending a First Folio to all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. Each month we’ll be checking in on the progress of this traveling exhibition, First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare.
How did you first encounter Shakespeare? Was it in a classroom or a theater? How old were you? Was it love at first sight, or did it take you some time to warm up to the Bard? Did any particular lines or characters really stick with you? As part of The Wonder of Will in 2016, a… Continue Reading »
What can we learn from Shakespeare’s revisions to his plays, and what does that mean for the actors and directors who make their own changes to his texts today? Oregon Shakespeare Festival explores these questions in a new original work called Sweetly Writ, which demonstrates how Shakespeare conceived different takes on the same characters and… Continue Reading »
