We Invite You to Join Us for Another Season of Memorable Dialogues
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WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US FOR ANOTHER SEASON OF MEMORABLE DIALOGUES PRESENTED BY The Shakespeare Guild IN ASSOCIATION WITH The National Arts Club AND THE NEW YORK BRANCH OF The English-Speaking Union RICHARD EASTON Monday, September 15 RICHARD EASTON achieved stardom in 2001 in Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, for which he received the Tony Award. Mr. Easton has appeared in more than a dozen Broadway shows, with roles that range from the title part in Ionesco’s Exit the King (with Eva Le Gallienne) to Charles Surface in Sheridan’s School for Scandal (opposite Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson). In England he’s played Edgar in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (with Gielgud and Dame Peggy Ashcroft), Nick in the original London production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and several roles with Kenneth Branagh’s RENAISSANCE THEATRE COMPANY, among them Claudius in a 1988 Hamlet which was documented in Mark Olshaker’s PBS VIDEO Discovering Ham- let. This fall he will portray the King in Shakespeare’s Henry IV at LINCOLN CENTER THEATER with Kevin DANA IVEY Monday, October 20 DANA IVEY, who won an Obie Award when she created the title role in an Off-Broadway Driving Miss Daisy (1986-87), had received a previous Obie as Melanie in Quartermaine’s Terms (1982-83). In 1984 she earned featured-actress Tony nominations for two Broadway shows, Heartbreak House (with Rex Harrison and Amy Irving) and Sunday in the Park with George (with Mandy Patinkin and Berna- dette Peters). Ms. Ivey played Gertrude to Kevin Kline’s title character in a 1990 Hamlet, directed by Mr. Kline for the NEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL and later televised by PBS, and she’s now preparing for Mistress Quickly (opposite Kline’s Falstaff) in Henry IV. She recently earned critical plaudits as Con- gresswoman Libby Hauser in Legally Blonde 2. Her other film credits include The Addams Family, The Color Purple, Dirty Rotten Scandals, Home Alone 2, The Impostors, The Kid, and Sabrina. On TV she has been featured in Easy Street, Frasier, Homicide, A Lesson Before Dying, and Oz. SIR PETER SHAFFER Monday, November 17 Playwright PETER SHAFFER is best known for Amadeus, a script that won major prizes in London (among them the 1979 Evening Standard Award) and New York (the 1981 Tony) before it garnered eight Academy Awards (including an Oscar for F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri, the envious rival of Tom Hulce’s Mozart) as the best motion picture of 1984. But several of his other plays have also been exceedingly successful, among them Five Finger Exercise (which opened in London in 1958 under the direction of Sir John Gielgud), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (a 1964 drama which re- appeared as a movie in 1969), Black Comedy (1965), and Equus (which opened in London in 1973 and earned Shaffer the Tony Award for Broadway’s best play in 1975 before it, too, became a cele- brated film in 1977). A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Mr. Shaffer will deliver some re- These three engagements, like those that follow on December 15 (with actress MARIAN SELDES), on January 26 (with director JULIE TAYMOR and composer ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL), and on February 23 (with actor KEVIN KLINE), will all take place at 8:00 p.m. in THE NATIONAL ARTS CLUB at 15 Gramercy Park South in New York. The usual format is very simple: a conversation that commences with Guild president JOHN F. ANDREWS and his guest and then opens up to questions from the floor. The festivities conclude with a dessert reception in the Club’s beautiful lounge. For details, including ticket prices and SHAKESPEARE GUILD membership benefits, see the reverse side of this announcement. Opening a Stellar 2003-4 Season THE GUILD OFFERS A RICH ARRAY OF ATTRACTIONS If you attended A SHAKESPEAREAN REVEL AT LINCOLN CENTER two Junes back, you joined such personali- ties as actors JOHN CLEESE, KITTY CARLISLE HART, DANA IVEY, and TONY RANDALL, writer ADAM GOPNIK, and directors BARRY EDELSTEIN, BERNARD GERSTEN, and MARGOT HARLEY in a salute to KEVIN KLINE as the 2002 recipient of the SIR JOHN GIELGUD AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE DRAMATIC ARTS. In addition to the stars who appeared in person, several who couldn’t be on hand for the event sent greetings, among them KENNETH BRANAGH, who recalled that he’d “had the great pleasure of acting with Mr. Kline on two occasions, once as a legless megalomaniac and once as a cartoon,” and Sir DEREK JACOBI, who described the awardee as a man who “lends a true grace to our profession with his very special gifts.” One mes- sage came from a producer who signed himself “Prince Hal – oops, HAL PRINCE.” It proved to be a joyous occasion, but like its predecessors, and like its sequel a year later at the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB with LYNN REDGRAVE as GIELGUD laureate, it was also substantive, with unforgettable reflections not only about Mr. Kline and his achievements but about the heritage those accomplishments illustrate. In this respect it called to mind a May 1999 GIELGUD presentation at Broad- way’s stately BARRYMORE THEATRE, where ZOE CALDWELL, who’d won the 1998 GOLDEN QUILL at the FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, led an eminent parade of theatrical celebrities – performers 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 “HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN,” Dame JUDI DENCH, who had just received an Academy Award as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love and was en route to a Tony as Esmé in David Hare’s Amy’s View. A few months later Dame JUDI and another GIELGUD honoree, Sir DEREK JACOBI, were among the hosts for a January 2000 presentation of the trophy to actor, director, and filmmaker KENNETH BRANAGH in London’s historic MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL. This Bardic SALUTE TO “THE MAN OF THE MILLENNIUM” featured vignettes by composer PATRICK DOYLE and actors SAMANTHA BOND, RICHARD BRIERS, HELENA BONHAM CARTER, BEN ELTON, STEPHEN FRY, BOB HOSKINS, SEAN RAFFERTY, JOHN SESSIONS, and TIMOTHY SPALL. In recent years, through SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE programs in locales such as the BRITISH EMBASSY, the NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, and the WASHINGTON CLUB in America’s capital, the CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER in the Windy City, and the ALGONQUIN HOTEL and the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB in New York, our constituents have chatted with performers F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, JANE ALEXANDER, SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, HENRY GOODMAN, BILL IRWIN, FLOYD KING, MICHAEL LEARNED, LYNN REDGRAVE, ROGER REES, DAVID SABIN, DAVID SCHRAMM, and PATRICK STEWART, directors PETER BROOK, MICHAEL KAHN, and ROBERT WHITEHEAD, media leaders COKIE ROBERTS, SUSAN STAMBERG, and LINDA WERTHEIMER, and writers GEORGE GARRETT, ANTHONY HECHT, KEN LUDWIG, JUDITH MARTIN, DEBORAH TANNEN, and GARRY WILLS. Guild members at any level are entitled to special prices at SPEAKING engagements in various locations. In addition, those who affili- ate with the Guild as SUBSCRIBERS will receive 15% discounts on tickets for a major April 2004 GIELGUD CENTENNIAL celebration in London. CONTRIBUTORS will enjoy 20% discounts on GIELGUD CENTENNIAL tickets. DONORS will save 25%, and BENEFACTORS 30%. PA- TRONS will receive 4 choice tickets free, and 35% reductions on further tickets. SUSTAINERS will receive 10 prime tickets free, and 40% reductions on additional tickets. Members of the GOLDEN QUILL CIRCLE will enjoy 20 free prime tickets, and 50% reductions on addi- tional tickets. For tax purposes, any portions of membership payments that are not offset by benefits claimed are deductible. I wish __ to make a fully tax-deductible donation, or __ to enroll as a Guild member for a year at the __SUBSCRIBER ($50), __CONTRIBUTOR ($125), __DONOR ($250), __BENEFACTOR ($500), __PATRON ($1,000), __SUSTAINER ($2,500), or __GOLDEN QUILL CIRCLE ($5,000) level. I’d like to reserve _ space(s) for the event(s) on _ September 15, _ October 20, _ November 17, _ December 15, _ January 26, _ February 23, at _ the $15 rate for Guild members, _ the $20 rate for non-members. I enclose a check, payable to THE SHAKESPEARE GUILD, for $__________. Please charge $___________ to _American Express _MasterCard _Visa Presenter of THE GOLDEN QUILL The Sir John Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts account_________________________________________(___/___). Name _____________________________________________________ 2141 WYOMING AVENUE NW, SUITE 41 John F. Andrews, President WASHINGTON, D.C. 20008-3916 Address____________________________________________________ Phone (202) 483-8646 Fax (202) 483-7824 E-Mail [email protected] City, State, Zip ______________________________________________ Founded in 1987 and operational since 1994, The Shakespeare Guild is a global Phone, Fax, E-Mail __________________________________________ 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. .