New PAR Volume Holds Up the Mirror to Shakespeare
The latest volume of Performing Arts Resources, Holding Up the Mirror: Authenticity and Adaptation in Shakespeare Today, was mailed to all Theatre Library Association members last month, and is now available for sale.
PAR 30 presents the addresses and panel discussions from TLA’s Third Symposium, held in April 2011 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The theme of the Symposium was the interplay between authenticity and adaptation in contemporary Shakespearean performance practice. After a keynote address by Oskar Eustis of The Public Theater, practitioners from three prominent theatre companies – Theatre for a New Audience, the American Shakespeare Center, and American Repertory Theater – examine the notion of authenticity and its usefulness in describing how they approach the staging of Shakespeare. They also discuss the degrees to which research and documentation are part of their process. In her closing remarks, Francesca Marini, former Archives Director at the Stratford Festival, reflects on the importance of documenting theatre, the involvement of the audience, and educational programs at Shakespeare theatres. An annotated bibliography contributed by Denise Buhr rounds out the volume.
Thanks to Associate Editors John Frick, Nancy Friedland, and Marti LoMonaco for their efforts in bringing the Symposium and this volume to fruition.
Stephen Kuehler
Harvard University