ASU serves up Elizabethan food, discussion for Bard's birthday

No time this month to travel to Stratford-upon-Avon?

This idyllic-sounding place in England was the long-time home of William Shakespeare, considered by many to be the greatest writer and dramatist in the English language. He would be 447 years old this April 23 (or thereabouts – his actual birth date is unknown).

If you find yourself more inclined toward a “stay-cation” than a journey across the Atlantic, then join in the festivities in the Language and Literature building, room 316, Friday, April 22, as the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Project Humanities present “Shakespeare’s Places: A Celebration of the Bard’s 447th Birthday.”

ASU’s observance of the occasion will consist of Elizabethan food, birthday cake, and a variety of events, including ASU students’ readings and performances of creative work inspired by Shakespeare, and a roundtable discussion featuring ASU faculty Cora Fox, David Hawkes, Bradley Ryner and Ayanna Thompson, who will take questions from the audience on the subject of “place” in Shakespeare.

This event will explore the many possible interpretations of “place” as it applies to Shakespeare and his works, including, but not limited to, the settings for his plays, the playhouse as a physical space, and Shakespeare’s place in English literature.

Event organizer Cora Fox describes the format as “a way for us to celebrate the especially rich faculty expertise in Renaissance Studies that we have in our department and the wonderful student enthusiasm for this area of study as well.”

The theme of “place” also echoes other discussions happening at ASU this year, including the inaugural Project Humanities, a universitywide initiative with “the expressed goal to show the interactions among humanities and other areas of scholarship and human endeavor.” Its emphasis on “place” explores the word’s many definitions, and the way it “allows us to create, to share, to organize, to practice inclusion and exclusion, and to foster unity and alienation.”

For more information, please contact Cora Fox or visit english.clas.asu.edu/shakespeare.

Written by Lisa Ricker