If you’re planning to attend this summer’s Heart of America Shakespeare Festival presentation of Hamlet, the Library offers a number of opportunities to learn more about the play and the production: upcoming events at which you can hear from festival organizers, scholars, and cast members about what it takes to bring the tale of the infamous Danish prince to life onstage. All in conjunction with HASF’s 25^th anniversary celebration.
 

Hamlet: From the Page to the Stage

Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Reception: 6 p.m. / Program: 6:30 p.m.
Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.
 
Veteran British director and master acting teacher Ian Wooldridge, who has overseen two Heart of America Shakespeare Festival productions, examines soliloquies/speeches from HASF’s upcoming production of Hamlet. Actors discuss and interpret specifics to help attendees follow the plot and see how interpretation can tell the story in different ways.
 
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Behind the Scenes: Hamlet

The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival presents four-part series of inside-the-play presentations that focus on its summer production of the masterful, revenge-tinged tragedy Hamlet.

All programs: 1:30 p.m.
Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

JUNE 5:  Introduction to Hamlet
Featuring HASF dramaturg Alyson Germinder.

JUNE 12:  Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Featuring Adam Potthast, chair of the Department of Liberal Studies at Park University.

JUNE 19:  Putting on the Show
Featuring HASF’s executive artistic director, Sidonie Garrett, and cast members.

JUNE 26:  The Play’s the Thing
Featuring Robert Willson, emeritus professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
 

A Bit of Bard-based Bookishness

A year ago this month, the Library hosted the traveling First Folio exhibition from The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which placed 18 of its 82 Folio copies on tour in commemoration of the 400^th anniversary of the Bard’s death. As a tie-in to the exhibit, the Library’s 2016 Adult Winter Reading Program featured a number of Suggested Reads that were about (or inspired by) Shakespeare. If you’re looking for an array of books or films to get your Shakespeare fix, check out the list here!