SAVORING THE CLASSICAL TRADITION IN DRAMA
ILLUMINATING PRESENTATIONS BY The Shakespeare Guild
IN COLLABORATION WITH The National Arts Club The English-Speaking Union The Shakespeare Theatre Company
F. MURRAY ABRAHAM x Monday, October 15
F. MURRAY ABRAHAM is best known for his compelling Salieri in the 1984 film Amadeus. For this performance he earned both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. He’s also widely admired for such films as The Sunshine Boys (1975), All the President’s Men (1976), Scarface (1983), The Name of the Rose (1986), Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Last Action Hero (1993), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), and Finding Forrester (2000). What Mr.
Abraham’s fans may be less familiar with are the stage protago- NATIONAL ARTS CLUB nists he’s depicted, among them Bottom, Iago, Lear, Macbeth, 15 Gramercy Park South Malvolio, and, most recently, Shylock, in a stirring Merchant of Manhattan Venice that won plaudits not only in New York but in Stratford- upon-Avon, where it was a highlight of the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE Program, 7:30 p.m. COMPANY’s Complete Works festival. He’ll talk about these and Members, $25 Others, $30 other roles during a dialogue with the Guild’s JOHN ANDREWS.
KEN LUDWIG x Monday, November 5
A globally renowned playwright, KEN LUDWIG has enjoyed success on Broadway, in London’s legendary West End, and in dozens of other prestigious settings. Actors who have performed his works include stars like Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Joan Collins, Hal Holbrook, Frank Langella, Lynn Redgrave, and Mickey Rooney. LEND ME A TENOR, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has become one of the most popular comedies of our era; it won
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB two Tony Awards in New York, and it was nominated for an Olivier when it graced the British theatre that is now named 15 Gramercy Park South for Sir John Gielgud. CRAZY FOR YOU earned both an Olivier and Manhattan a Tony and was telecast over PBS’s Great Performances. During Program, 7:30 p.m. a conversation with JOHN ANDREWS, Mr. Ludwig will talk not Members, $25 Others, $30 only about these hits but about such recent triumphs as MOON OVER BUFFALO, SHAKESPEARE IN HOLLYWOOD, and LEADING LADIES.
ALVIN EPSTEIN x Monday, December 10
A complete man of the theater, ALVIN EPSTEIUN is both a celebrated actor — with Broadway cred- its in such roles as the Fool in Orson Welles’s rendering of King Lear, Lucky in the American premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Clov in the first U.S. production of Beckett’s Endgame, and Peachum in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera — and an eminent producer and director. Among the institutions for which Mr. Epstein has held
leadership positions are Harvard’s AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE, NATIONAL ARTS CLUB Minneapolis’ renowned GUTHRIE THEATER, and New Haven’s 15 Gramercy Park South YALE REPERTORY THEATRE. In 2006 Mr. Epstein received glowing Manhattan reviews for a deeply moving portrayal of King Lear. Over a career that has spanned than half a century, he has also distin- Program, 7:30 p.m. guished himself in a number of film and television parts. In Members, $25 Others, $30 1996 he won the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence.
Join the Guild, and Greet the Stars EVENTS IN LONDON, NEW Y0RK, WASHINGTON, AND ELSEWHERE
If you attended A SHAKESPEAREAN REVEL AT LINCOLN CENTER five Junes back, you relished such per- sonalities as actors JOHN CLEESE, KITTY CARLISLE HART, DANA IVEY, and TONY RANDALL, writer ADAM GOPNIK, and directors BERNARD GERSTEN and MARGOT HARLEY in a toast to KEVIN KLINE as the 2002 recipient of the SIR JOHN GIELGUD AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE DRAMATIC ARTS. It proved to be a joyous occasion, but like its predecessors, and like its sequel a year later with LYNN REDGRAVE as GIELGUD laureate and with her brother CORIN and her sister VANESSA as presenters at the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, it was also substantive, with scintillating remarks not only about the honoree’s achievements but about the heritage they illustrate. In this respect it called to mind a May 1999 GIELGUD presentation at Broadway’s BARRYMORE THEATRE, where ZOE CALDWELL, who’d won the 1998 GOLDEN QUILL at the FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, led a parade of theatrical celebrities – actors KEITH BAXTER, BRIAN BEDFORD, HAL HOLBROOK, RONALD PICKUP, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, and TOBY STEPHENS, playwright Sir DAVID HARE, director Sir RICHARD EYRE, Masterpiece Theatre producer REBECCA EATON, and news host ROBERT MACNEIL – in a sparkling tribute to Dame JUDI DENCH. A few months later Dame JUDI and another GIELGUD honoree, Sir DEREK JACOBI, were among the hosts for a January 2000 presen- tation to performer, director, and filmmaker KENNETH BRANAGH in London’s historic MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL. This Bardic SALUTE TO “THE MAN OF THE MILLENNIUM” featured vignettes by U.S. Ambassador PHILIP LADER, composer PATRICK DOYLE, and actors SAMANTHA BOND, RICHARD BRIERS, HELENA BONHAM CARTER, RICHARD CLIFFORD, BEN ELTON, STEPHEN FRY, BOB HOSKINS, GERALDINE MCEWAN, and TIMOTHY SPALL.
On April 19, 2004, in the London theatre that had been renamed for Sir John in 1994, a few months after the SHAKESPEARE GUILD unveiled a gleaming JOHN SAFER trophy to perpetuate a great actor’s legacy “with golden quill” (Sonnet 85), the Guild joined the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY and the ROYAL ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ART for a celebration of the centenary of Sir John’s birth. In an eve- ning that was hosted by the BBC’s NED SHERRIN, playwrights ALAN BENNETT and Sir DAVID HARE, director Sir PETER HALL, and actors Dame JUDI DENCH, CLIVE FRANCIS, ROSEMARY HARRIS, MARTIN JARVIS, BARBARA JEFFORD, BARBARA LEIGH-HUNT, Sir IAN MCKELLEN, MICHAEL PENNINGTON, RONALD PICKUP, PAUL SCOFIELD, and Sir DONALD SINDEN commended their late-departed friend. On June 12, 2006, the GUILD returned to the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB for a Manhattan salute to CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, who was feted by JULIE ANDREWS, ZOE CALDWELL, CLIVE FRANCIS, NAC President ALDON JAMES, ROBERT MACNEIL, AUDRA MCDONALD, and LYNN REDGRAVE. A few months later, on May 21, 2007, the GUILD joined the ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION at the BRITISH EMBASSY in Washington for a reception at which SIR DAVID AND LADY MANNING, JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG, performers HELEN CAREY and TED VAN GRIETHUYSEN, and other notables toasted MICHAEL KAHN, artistic director of the SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY, for his contributions to the cultural life of the Nation’s Capital.
In recent years, through events in locales such as the NATIONAL PRESS CLUB in D.C., the CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER in Illinois, and the ALGONQUIN HOTEL in New York, GUILD attendees have chatted with luminaries like actors JANE ALEXANDER, SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, RICHARD EASTON, HENRY GOODMAN, BILL IRWIN, MICHAEL LEARNED, ROGER REES, PATRICK STEWART, and MICHAEL YORK, directors PETER BROOK and ROBERT WHITEHEAD, media leaders COKIE ROBERTS, SUSAN STAMBERG, and LINDA WERTHEIMER, and writers E. R. BRAITHWAITE, Sir HAROLD EVANS, GEORGE GARRETT, ADAM GOPNIK, STEPHEN GREENBLATT, ANTHONY HECHT, KEN LUDWIG, JUDITH MARTIN, DEBORAH TANNEN, and GARRY WILLS. GUILD constituents are entitled to member prices at all SPEAKING engagements. In addition, those who affiliate with the GUILD as SUBSCRIBERS receive 15% discounts on tickets for our annual GIELGUD GALA. CONTRIBUTORS enjoy 20% discounts on GIELGUD tickets, DONORS 25%, and BENEFACTORS 30%. PATRONS receive 4 prime tickets free, and 35% reductions on additional tickets. SUSTAINERS receive 10 prime tickets free, and 40% reductions on additional tickets. Members of the GIELGUD CIRCLE enjoy 20 prime tickets, and 50% reductions on additional tickets. Any payments that are not offset by benefits clamed are fully tax-deductible.
I wish __ to make a fully deductible donation, or __ to enroll as a Guild member for a year in the __SUBSCRIBER ($50), __CONTRIBUTOR ($125), __DONOR ($250), __BENEFACTOR ($500), __PATRON ($1,000), __SUSTAINER ($2,500), __GIELGUD CIRCLE ($5,000) category. I’d like __space(s) at $25 __at $25 for October 15, __ space(s) __ at $25 __ for November 5, __space(s) at $25 __ for December 10. I enclose a $_____check. Please charge $______to __American Express __MasterCard __Visa account ______(_____/_____).
Name ______Presenter of the GIELGUD AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE DRAMATIC ARTS A Prize Created in 1994 to Honor Sir John and Perpetuate his Legacy Address______1604 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVENUE NW John F. Andrews, President City, State, Zip ______WASHINGTON, DC 20009-2512 www.esuwdc.org/shakespeare.html Phone, Fax, E-Mail ______Phone & Fax (202) 234-4602, 234-4639 [email protected]
The information requested in this order form can be submitted by phone, Founded in 1987 and operational since 1994, The Shakespeare Guild is a global fax, or e-mail if you’d prefer. Guild contact details appear to the right. nonprofit corporation that celebrates, and endeavors to cultivate larger and more appreciative audiences for, the dramatist who has been applauded in one society after another as our most reliable guide to the mileposts of life.