Description
Book SynopsisShakespeare in the Light convenes an accomplished group of scholars, actors, and teachers to celebrate the legacy of renowned Shakespearean and founder of the American Shakespeare Center, Ralph Alan Cohen. Each contributor pivots off a production at the ASC’s Blackfriars Playhouse to explore Cohen’s abiding passion, the performance of the plays of William Shakespeare under their original theatrical conditions. Whether interested in early modern theatre history, the teaching of Shakespeare to high school students, or the performance of Shakespeare in twenty-first century America, each essay sheds light on the professing of Shakespeare today, whether on the page, on the stage, or in the classroom. Guided by the spirit of “universal lighting” – so central to the aesthetic of the American Shakespeare Center – Shakespeare in the Light illuminates the impact that the ASC and its founder have made upon the teaching, editing, scholarship, and performance of Shakespeare today.
Table of ContentsIntroductions: Being Ralph Cohen Paul Menzer A Runaway American Dream: The Birth of the American Shakespeare Center Jim Warren Part 1: In the Library Actors as Evidence Alan Armstrong The Pressures of Immediacy: The Alchemist and Theatrical Magic Evelyn Tribble Text as performance as text: the King’s disease in All’s Well that Ends Well Jeremy Lopez Reading Lady Macbeth's Line, 3.4.117 George Walton Williams Blackfriars Then and Now Tiffany Stern Taking Our Hats Off to Ralph Andrew Gurr Facts Don’t Always Do What We Want Them To Farah Karim-Cooper Macbeth and the Power of Poetry Russ McDonald Part 2: In the Classroom Othello: Three Notes for Dr Ralph to Query Patrick Spottiswoode “What wouldst thou do now”: The Visionary Impact of Shakespeare on a Small College Town Mary Hill Cole and Marlena Hobson Ralph Alan Cohen’s Fearless Teaching: The Language of Shakespeare Sally Southall Part 3: On the Stage Dionysus at Play with Antony and Cleopatra Amy Cohen “Change Places”: Playing King Lear with the Blackfriars Audience James Keegan The State of the Art John Harrell Living With the Lights On Patrick Dooley “And practice rhetoric in your common talk”: How Ralph Made Rhetors of us all Matthew Davies Index About the Contributors About the Editors
