Costumes on loan from the Folger Theatre of the Folger Shakespeare Library are on display inside the library throughout the month.
Costumes may be viewed during library business hours. No registration is necessary.

This 1965 film was created by Orson Welles as a mashup of several of Shakespeare’s plays. The plot focuses on the character of Sir John Falstaff (from several plays, most notably Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Parts I and II) and the relationship he has with young Henry V. Featuring Welles as Falstaff, Keith Baxter as Prince Hal (the young Henry V), and Sir John Gielgud as King Henry IV, the film unfolds as both a comedy and drama as the foibles of the gregarious and drunken Falstaff are set against the ominous texture of civil war.
Register

Join us for a presentation by Matt Saltzberg, avant garde theatrical artist and instructor at Salisbury University. Saltzberg mounted an alternative staging production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the university. True to the text but adapting inventive staging, gender-fluid casting, and other provocative ideas, Matt will speak to us of how he conceived the production and share pictures, responses, and thoughts on this and other alternative approaches to Shakespeare.
NOTE: due to a family emergency, this lecture will be presented online via Zoom. The library will live-stream the Zoom in the large meeting room or you may watch it at home.
Register

Due to circumstances beyond our control, this lecture has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you will join us at another of our Shakespeare Festival events.
Join us for a presentation by Dr. James Keegan, professor at the University of Delaware and professional acting veteran of many Blackfriar’s Theatre productions at the American Shakespeare Center. Keegan will speak of the intrepid character of Falstaff and of his experiences playing the role in several different productions.
Register

Join us for the world premiere performance of Falstaff the Friend, Falstaff the Fool by the Fultontown Theatre Company.
Falstaff is one of the few repeat characters in Shakespeare’s works – he appears in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV Part I, and Henry IV Part II and is briefly mentioned in Henry V. This adaptation of Shakespeare’s works by the Fultontown Theatre Company traces Falstaff’s story and highlights some of his most important and memorable interactions with other characters.
Fultontown Theatre Company (FTC) is the resident theatre ensemble affiliated with Salisbury University and primarily composed of alumni and current students. FTC endeavors to create and produce ethical, joyful, and professional-level theatre performances on the Eastern Shore and surrounding areas and in so doing, provide support and additional opportunities to members of the Fulton School of Liberal Arts at Salisbury University as well as local and regional high schools.
Register

Contemporary poet Caroline Randall Williams published a startling and powerful book of poetry, Lucy Negro, Redux inspired by the Shakespearean sonnets dedicated to a Black woman (sonnets 127 – 152). Nashville Ballet commissioned Ms. Randall Williams and composer Rhiannon Giddens to create a full-length work which they toured and recorded for national broadcast over PBS. It is a remarkable work sure to move you.
Stay afterward for a discussion on the piece hosted by Shakespeare Festival Volunteer Artistic Director David White and moderators Dr. Adenike Marie Davidson and Dr. Lynnette Young Overby.
Adenike Marie Davidson, Ph.D., is a professor of Literature and Gender Studies at Delaware State University. She is also the Director of the Women’s and Gender StudiesProgram. Dr. Davidson is the author of the book, The Black Nation Novel: Imaging Homplaces in Early African American Literature. She also serves on the board of Delaware Humanities.
Lynnette Young Overby, Ph.D., is Professor of Theatre at the University of Delaware. She has served as Equity Administrator for the University of Maryland College of Health and Human Development where she spearheaded efforts to recruit and retain minority students and faculty. Before coming to UD, she served as the College of Arts and Letters Associate Dean of Outreach, Engagement and Inclusivity at Michigan State University. Currently, she serves as Faculty Director of Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning and a Professor of Theatre and Dance.
This program is partially funded in honor of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and Operation Frederick Douglass on the Hill.
Register

Join us in welcoming Delaware Shakespeare.
Delaware Shakespeare will present readings from the book Lucy Negro, Redux by contemporary poet Caroline Randall Williams and corresponding sonnets from Shakespeare. The book of poetry was inspired by the Shakespearean sonnets dedicated to a Black woman (sonnets 127 – 152). Nashville Ballet commissioned Ms. Randall Williams and composer Rhiannon Giddens to create a full-length work which they toured and recorded for national broadcast over PBS. Delaware Shakespeare is the pride of Delaware professional theatre dedicated to the work of Shakespeare.
Stay afterward for a discussion on the piece with the performers, moderated by Dr. Adenike Marie Davidson and Dr. Lynnette Overby.
Adenike Marie Davidson, Ph.D., is a professor of Literature and Gender Studies at Delaware State University. She is also the Director of the Women’s and Gender StudiesProgram. Dr. Davidson is the author of the book, The Black Nation Novel: Imaging Homplaces in Early African American Literature. She also serves on the board of Delaware Humanities.
Lynnette Young Overby, Ph.D., is Professor of Theatre at the University of Delaware. She has served as Equity Administrator for the University of Maryland College of Health and Human Development where she spearheaded efforts to recruit and retain minority students and faculty. Before coming to UD, she served as the College of Arts and Letters Associate Dean of Outreach, Engagement and Inclusivity at Michigan State University. Currently, she serves as Faculty Director of Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning and a Professor of Theatre and Dance.
This program is partially funded in honor of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and Operation Frederick Douglass on the Hill.
Register

Kristen Matulewicz, Director of Education at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, will present a compelling lecture and discussion of depictions of Ophelia by visual artists, focusing on Pre-Raphaelite works.
Ms. Matulewicz holds an MA in Art History and Visual Studies, with specialty in Victorian art, death practices, and immersive environment.
Register

Join us for an evening with The Writer’s Room and The Troupe, a program for High School and College Writers and Actors.
“The Writer’s Room and the Troupe” company led by Sadie Andros, Theatre Teacher at Cape Henlopen High School and Dr. Anne Colwell, professor at the University of Delaware, will present an evening of brand new works written and performed by local high school and college students.
This program is partially funded by the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Register

Join us in the library or online as we close out the Lewes Public Library Shakespeare Festival with a conversation with Elizabeth Winkler, author of Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature, a thrillingly provocative investigation into the Shakespeare authorship question, exploring how doubting that William Shakespeare wrote his plays became an act of blasphemy…and who the Bard might really be.
In this book, journalist and literary critic Elizabeth Winkler sets out to probe the origins of this literary taboo. Whisking readers from London to Stratford-upon-Avon to Washington, DC, she pulls back the curtain to show how the forces of nationalism and empire, religion and mythmaking, gender and class have shaped our admiration for Shakespeare across the centuries. As she interviews scholars and skeptics, Winkler’s interest turns to the larger problem of historical truth — and of how human imperfections (bias, blindness, subjectivity) shape our construction of the past. History is a story, and the story we find may depend on the story we’re looking for. An irresistible work of literary detection, this book will forever change how you think of Shakespeare… and of how we as a society decide what’s up for debate and what’s just nonsense, just heresy.
Elizabeth Winkler is a journalist and book critic whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Economist, among other publications. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University and her master’s in English literature from Stanford University. Her essay “Was Shakespeare a Woman?”, first published in The Atlantic, was selected for The Best American Essays 2020. She lives in Washington, DC.
We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books by clicking HERE. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes signed. Books will be available for sale and for signing at the event.
NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer.
Register