Sabrina Feldman is an accomplished author and Program Manager at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Born and raised in Riverside, California, she attended college and graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley, where she enjoyed the wonderful performances of the Berkeley Shakespeare Company, studied Shakespeare’s works for a semester with Professor Stephen Booth, and received a Ph.D. in experimental physics in 1996
She spoke to the Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable in 2018 regarding Thomas Sackville as a candidate. In January, she will be speaking for us again to share with us why after extensive research, she still favors Sackville over Thomas North. She will also provide an update on the current state of affairs regarding the authorship debate.
Check out her 1st book’s Facebook Page. You can also read an ARTICLE she published in the Oxfordian. We are grateful to have Sabrina as a board member and are looking forward to her January event.
Below is Julia Cleave’s talk on Alchemy. You can also watch Marty Hyatt discuss metaphysical themes in the Sonnets and Lisa Wolpe discuss the Alchemy of Gender as well as perform.
Our September 25th Fundraiser and Season Opener was a wonderful Zoom event. We had 3 brilliant speakers and a lively and learned hostess in Gerit Quealy, author of Botanical Shakespeare.
Thank you to all our speakers and supporters for making the event a success with regards to the continued exploration of the Shakespeare Authorship question. Above all, we gained a new appreciation for the thematic complexity of the works with regard to spirituality.
Two of Shakespeare’s most enduring and endearing tragedies are alive and well in 2021. Not one but two versions of two plays hit theaters this year. Famous for lines like “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” and “Out, damned spot!” Neither play lacks for multiple versions but these new adaptations have some heady, minimalist attributes.
Starring Josh O’Conner of “The Crown” fame – he of the prominent ears, and Jessie Buckley (RADA graduate) recently seen in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” This well-reviewed National Theater filmed production (already released this spring on PBS) can be viewed in the USA by using the PBS viewing app. For more information about the production go HERE.
Arriving this fall from a man of mammoth influence comes Steven Spielberg’s remake of 1961’s “West Side Story”. It looks to be equally colorful though not filmed in Technicolor. Or is it? The name “Disney” is attached as well since they now own 20th Century Fox. Most people know that “West Side Story” is a brilliant adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
Originally called “East Side Story”, the Broadway play was going to feature a conflict between the Jews and the Catholics. Slightly more Shakespearean than the Puerto Ricans vs. the Whites. The composer of the music, Leonard Bernstein, shared at the time that the score was deeply influenced by his Jewish heritage.
Regarding the man who would be king, we have two scintillating adaptations. Did you know it was bad luck to mention a certain Scottish Lord whose name begins with an “M” ? Let’s not take this Lord’s name in vain, especially since one of the movies is called “Joji” and you can watch it on Amazon Prime. The film is an Indian Malayalam-language, modern crime drama directed by Dileesh Pothan and written by Syam Pushkaran. The story admittedly inspired by that famously ambitious Scottish fellow.
The other Macbeth is written and directed by an unusually solo Joel Coen. It stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand (Joel’s lauded wife). To be released a month before Halloween, perhaps it should be called “The Witches’ Play” as they three are certainly crowd-pleasing favorites whatever the production. In this one, one actress (Kathryn Hunter) plays all 3 witches! Genius film composer Carter Burwell did the music. McDormand, as authentic and no-nonsense as they come, is typecast in this role but she has more than earned the right to have a go at it.
Even if you can’t get to the theater in person, there should be a way to see all 4 of these films via streaming sources sooner that you might imagine. And the Bard (whomever he may be) lives on and on. What are your favorite Romeo & Juliet or Scottish Play adaptations? Please let us know in the comments below.
On May 8th, 2021 we had a wonderful Authorship Roundtable Zoom Talk given by Michael Blanding and Dennis McCarthy. The talk is separated into two videos which will play simultaneously below.
The newly discovered Elizabethan manuscript: “A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels” by George North (Thomas’s likely cousin) is shown to contain nearly identical source material of 11 Shakespeare plays. The reprint of the manuscript with analysis is available on Amazon and is written by Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter.
Michael Blanding, an investigative journalist who wrote a New York Times article about Dennis McCarthy’s work with plagiarism software in 2018, added his own research on Thomas North. His new book, “North by Shakespeare” was featured in Smithsonian Magazine in April.
Please watch the video below and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more thought-provoking talks on the Shakespeare Authorship Debate.
Another boon of the Pandemic. PLAY ON, an organization based in Ashland that used to get together in person and study one play at a time to discuss the specific language in the plays and how to make them more accessible, is now available on a Podcast.
Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable 