Speaking of the ESU Newsletter August Through the English Speaking Union October 2018 of New York

Speaking of the ESU Newsletter August through The English Speaking Union October 2018 of New York

Dear Fellow New York Branch Members, National Patrons

The dog days of summer have descended over New York, a The ESU New York Branch acknowledges number of Branch member lifelong learners have returned and thanks the following individuals for from their one-week ESU TLab programs in Stratford-upon- their generous support in this fiscal year Avon and Worcester College at the University of Oxford, 2017-2018, ending June 30, as members of our Branch TLab Scholars, Konstantina Tsiokris and the ESU National Patron Program. List Kelly Brady are winding up their study programs at complete as of June 30, 2018. Shakespeare’s Globe in London, and, with the fall right around the corner, a new season of programming is in the Mr. Matthew Barhydt offing for the ESU New York Branch. On tap are gatherings, Dr. Paul Beresford-Hill CBE KSt.J open to all, of the Branch Mystery Book Club as well as Ms. Alice Boyne readings and staged reading of famous plays under the Ms. Virginia Brody auspices of the ESU Players. Mr. Jacques Brunswick Mr. Peter Buffington In addition, the Branch is sponsoring or co-sponsoring three Miss Barbara Deacon fascinating talks, one each in September, October, and Ms. Alta Devivo November. In September, noted art historian Genista Mr. Peter Frey Davidson will deliver a talk on Art Deco in Great Britain. At Dr. and Mrs. Dentcho Ivanov the end of October, the ESU New York Branch is partnering Ms. Rossana Ivanova and Mr. Pierre Swart with the Royal Oak Foundation on a talk by Phil Reed, OBE Mr. Duncan Karcher on Churchill and the Cabinet War Rooms at The General Ms. Marjorie Kennedy Society Library on West 44th Street. A week later, Peter Ms. Lisa Anne Kressbach Gilliver, who is on the faculty of the ESU TLab Program at Mrs. Alice La Prelle Oxford’s Worcester College, will deliver a talk on The Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Deane Leonard Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Gilliver has been Ms. Carol Losos an editor of the OED for some time. Mr. David Martinelli Mr. Darryl McCormick This year's ESU national annual general meeting will take Mr. Christopher Medalis place in New Orleans in late November. A registration form Mr. William R. Miller CBE KSt.J is part of this newsletter. In early December, we will have Mr. and Mrs. Robert Miness our long anticipated Yuletide Party, and Louise Muse is Mr. Edward Mohylowski cooking up a wonderful panto for the occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morse Mr. and Mrs. Bennet Muse In the meantime, please check our web pages from time to Ms. Dorinda Oliver time for updates: https://www.esuus.org/newyork/ Mr. Jonathan D. Rabinowitz

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Rose -The New York Branch. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley DeForest Scott Mr. Noel Sloan RENEW YOUR ESU NEW YORK MEMBERSHIP Mr. Ellsworth Stanton III MBE KSt.J Mr. and Mrs. Brian Viner The ESU membership year runs from July 1 to June 30. If you have Mr. and Mrs. John L. Warden renewed your annual membership, we thank you. If not, please take Mr. and Mrs. Dave Williams a moment to do so online at https://www.esuus.org/newyork/ Mathew West, Esq.

1 TLab: Branch Lifelong Learners Enjoy Save these Dates ESU TLab Programs in July In addition to current immediate offerings listed Joining the new, one-week TLab programs for ESU on the next page, the ESU New York Branch is members and lifelong learners in July were Branch working on events for the remainder of the year. Members Irina Alekseeva, Louise Muse and Peter Trippi Here are a few dates for your calendar: as well as current and former ESU board members Darryl McCormick, Jim Kerr and Polly Cox. The first evening, December 3, 2018: Mystery Book Club book after a day of lectures and discussions with Shakespeare selection is From Doon to Death by Ruth Birthplace Trust scholars Rendell. and a Royal Shakespeare Company performance December 6, 2018: Yuletide Party in of The Dutchess of Malfi, conjunction with the British Schools and Polly said the program had Universities Club. already exceeded her expectations and that it is December 13, 2018: ESU Players do a superior to any other staged reading of Moss Hart’s and George S. educational vacation Kaufman’s The Man Who Came to Dinner. program she knows. Peter Trippi later recalled that, "I January 2019 (exact date TBD): ESU New York Branch TLab scholarship applications due. knew that I would enjoy discovering the world of

Shakespeare in his hometown, but I did not realize that the February, 2019 (exact date TDB): ESU New Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is such a center of excellence York Branch National Shakespeare Competition. in terms of scholarship, collecting, and public education. The Trust staff—who really functioned more as April 29, 2019 (tentative): ESU National faculty thanks to their unparalleled knowledge—were Shakespeare Competition Finals at Lincoln impressively Center Theater. welcoming and collegial. Anyone June 20, 2019: ESU Players do a staged interested in reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. British culture— theatrical, literary, July 2019: TLab Short Course: From Page to visual, Stage: Text to Theater at Shakespeare’s whatever—should Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon. do this program, primarily because July 2019: TLab Short Course: The Story and you can't really Future of English, Worcester College at the understand Britain University of Oxford. without In addition to the activities listed above and in examining the life-story and astonishingly vital legacy of the calendar on the next page, a number of other its greatest writer." The ESU will again offer both From events are under consideration. Once those are Page to Stage at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust in firmed up, they will be posted on the Branch Stratford-upon-Avon as well as The Story and Future of website : https://www.esuus.org/newyork/ and English at the University of Oxford again next July. Keep included in future newsletters. and eye out for details and sign up!

2 Events & Dates for Members Sept Labor Day ESU New York Branch 3 Awards TLab Sept EiA and ARNIC classes resume Scholarships for 2018 4 Contact your tutors to confirm. Summer Study in the UK Sept Mystery Book Club (with film) Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers The ESU New York Branch again 6 6:00 pm Free participated in the ESU TLab (Teachers Learning Abroad) Sept ESU Players program this year by awarding Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse 20 6:00 pm Free scholarships. one for $5,000 and the other for $1,000, to NY area Sept Member Lecture co-sponsored by the Art Deco Society secondary school teachers to engage Art Deco in Great Britain, a talk by Genista Davidson 27 in two to three weeks of formal 6:30 pm (doors open at 6:00 pm) Fee study at either Shakespeare's Globe Oct in London, University of Oxford or Columbus Day University of Edinburgh . 8 Konstantina Tsiokris, the Chair of Oct ESU Players the English Department at Dancing At Lughnasa by Brian Friel Pathways College Preparatory 11 6:00 pm Free School in Queens, accepted a full Oct Mystery Book Club scholarship to participate in 15 Gallows View by Peter Robinson “Teaching Shakespeare Though 6:00 pm Free Performance” at Shakespeare’s Globe. The Branch made its Oct Special Member Theater Event and Reception At the Amateur Comedy Club: Noises Off. Details Forthcoming second award to Kelly Brady, a TBD 6:00 pm at the ESU Fee Drama Teacher at P53K in Brooklyn, also to study in the same Oct Member Lecture co-sponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation program at Shakespeare’s Globe. Churchill and the Cabinet War Rooms, a talk by Phil Reed, OBE 31 We look forward to their reports. 6:15 pm at The General Society Library, 20 West 44th Street Fee The ESU New York Branch will Nov ESU Players again participate in this national Noel Coward Evening ESU program in 2018-2019. 1 6:00 pm Free Details will be announced later in Nov Mystery Book Club (with film) the fall regarding deadlines to Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie apply for scholarships. Details will 5 6:00 pm Free also be announced regarding the number of, and amount for each of, Nov Member Lecture the scholarships the Branch will The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Peter Gilliver 8 6:00 pm Fee award. High School teachers are encourage to apply for two to three Nov weeks of summer study at the Veterans Day renowned institutions noted above. 11 ESU Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA Interviews will be held at the ESU Nov For details, consult: https://www.esuus.org/esu/activities/18AGM/ House in Manhattan by invitation 17-19 Fee only in February 2019, and the All events take place at the English-Speaking Union House at scholarship awards will be announced shortly thereafter. 144 East 39 Street, New York, NY 10016 unless otherwise noted.

Early Fall Mystery Book Club Selections New York Branch National The first selection for the season, for September 6, Shakespeare Competition is Busman’s Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry and go spend their honeymoon at Christina Liberus Wins New York Branch Talboys, an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire, which he has National Shakespeare Competition bought her as a present. The

honeymoon is intended as a Christina Liberus, a student of Gabriel Eden from break from their usual routine of Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts in solving crimes (him) and writing Manhattan won first place at the English-Speaking about them (her), but it turns into Union National Shakespeare Competition New York a murder investigation when the City Branch tournament seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of on March 9. It took place the cellar steps with severe head injuries. at the Morgan Library and Museum on Lexington The October 15 selection is Gallows View by Peter Avenue in Murray Hill. Robinson. Investigating a series of cases is Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, a Ms. Liberus completed perceptive, curious and compassionate policeman with representatives from recently moved to the Yorkshire some 75 NYC high Dales from London to escape the schools. Christina later stress of city life. Banks has to represented the New York deal with local feminists and his Branch when she competed with more than 50 other attraction to Jenny Fuller, a contestants from around the country at the English- young psychologist. As the Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition tension mounts, both Jenny and at Lincoln Center Theater in New York on April 23, Banks’s wife, Sandra, are drawn 2018, where she placed as one of the ten finalists. deeper into the events. The cases weave together as the story reaches a tense and surprising climax.

ESU Players Announce Early Fall 2018 Staged Readings

On September 20, the ESU Players will do a staged reading of Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse. Set in England in 1880 this comedy is about a maker of fine shoes, and his three daughters who reluctantly work for him unpaid. One of the daughters takes matters into her own hands leaving her father with a “Hobson’s choice”.

On October 11, the ESU Players will perform a staged reading of Dancing At Lughnasa by Brian Friel. This nostalgic play is told from the point of view of Michael of Donegal, Ireland, the son of one of the five Mundy sisters, who recounts the summer of 1936, when he was seven years old. That summer they acquired their first wireless set which inspired them to an expressiveness that had been repressed. His Uncle Jack, a missionary in Africa, returned changed by his experiences. Other changes occurred that included the return of Michael’s father and the forbidden love affair of one of the sisters.