What Is a Character? Keynote Lecture for Symposium on Shakespeare October 15, 2010

No aspect of the theater seems as simple and indispensable as the characters on stage, and yet the question of character has been subject to much revision, challenge, and even hostility in both the theatre and academia. Over the course of two days, actors, scholars, and directors will address the issue of Shakespearean character, beginning with the Keynote Lecture delivered by two of the leading figures from theatre and academia: Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and Marjorie Garber, Professor of English at Harvard University. In a prolific career that has spanned over thirty years, Carey Perloff has directed award-winning productions around the world of contemporary plays as well as classics. Professor Garber is the author of over a dozen distinguished books on Shakespeare as well as contemporary culture, including Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety and Shakespeare and Modern Culture.

Official Website: http://www.wellesley.edu/NCH