Echoes of Shakespeare can be heard in some of the most fundamental documents in American history, including the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Join one of America’s leading authorities on Shakespeare, Barry Edelstein of The Old Globe; Kevin Hayes, author of Shakespeare and the Making of America; and Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University for a look at how the Founders understood Shakespeare and how his work relates to American constitutional values today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates the discussion.
Participants
Barry Edelstein is the Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director of The Old Globe and a stage director, producer, author, and educator. He has directed over half of the Bard’s plays. His Globe directing credits include The Winter’s Tale, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. He also directed All’s Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour. He is the author of two books on Shakespeare, including Thinking Shakespeare and Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.
Kevin Hayes is emeritus professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma. He is the author of several books about American literature and culture, including George Washington: A Life in Books; The Mind of a Patriot: Patrick Henry and the World of Ideas; The Road to Monticello: Thomas Jefferson and the Life of the Mind; and most recently Shakespeare and the Making of America.
Lucas Morel is John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University, where he teaches courses on politics, political theory, and politics and literature — including the seminar in Political Philosophy: Theories of Statesmanship in Shakespeare's Henry V. He is the author of several books, the most recent of which is Lincoln and the American Founding.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Kevin Hayes, Shakespeare and the Making of America
- The Old Globe Theater
- Barry Edelstein, Thinking Shakespeare: A How-to Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable With the Bard
- Lucas Morel, Lincoln and the American Founding
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
- Thomas Jefferson, Literary Commonplace Book
- Project Gutenberg, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare & Beyond, "The Astor Place riot: Shakespeare as a flashpoint for class conflict in 1849"
- James Shapiro, Shakespeare in a Divided America What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865)
- Barry Edelstein, Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions
- Lucas Morel, "Charnwood's Lincoln: Biography as Civics Lesson"
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