The board of the Milwaukee Shakespeare Festival voted to close its doors on Monday night after its top sponsor, the Argosy Foundation, eliminated all funding to the Festival.

The Festival’s website says, “Due to the current financial climate, the Argosy Foundation has eliminated support from Milwaukee Shakespeare in order to put itself in the best position to continue to grow and support the community in the future.” Is that a nice way of saying “the arts aren’t important enough to us to foster its growth in times of need”? The festival showed the most growth this past season, things were looking up. Theatrical companies that fail are not uncommon, but when they seem to be doing things right, the tragic loss of an arts institution increases.

This blogger believes that the arts are much more important than any politician or company makes them out to be. Some research into the Argosy Foundation shows that part of their mission is to “maximize the likelihood of success” of their partners – which include groups in the areas of arts, education, environment, health, and others. One has to wonder which other companies, if any, and in what area of work, the foundation has eliminated funding for.

The loss of a million dollars in funding is undoubtedly a gigantic blow to the livelihood of Milwaukee Shakespeare, but is it a mortal wound? There are funds, although few, that may still prove to keep some aspect of the theatre alive. Minimalize the company perhaps, reach out for volunteer work, or produce cheap productions in local parks. Communities should urge their local arts institutions to educate, entertain, and inspire.

Creative arts are usually the first to go in times of economic uncertainty. Professional, amateur, and school arts departments are suffering everywhere. But “the play’s the thing,” or rather, art is the thing that makes our culture thrive. Can we let culture die due to the dollar?

It was announced some time ago that Julie Taymor (visionary director of Titus, Across The Universe, and Broadway’s The Lion King) is embarking on a new Shakespearean movie project: The Tempest. Only this production has Helen Mirren as the lead character of Prospero.

Changing a character’s gender is old news, there’s not much of a story there (except that it hasn’t really been done on film yet. I can’t really tell what that means if it will be any different than in a theatrical production). What I would like to throw out there for discussion is what different themes and ideas are present with a female prospero? The whole overbearing father bit is now absent, but in modern times perhaps the idea of an over-powerful magical mother might be appealing – just like it Desperate Housewives… but with magic.

More of the cast has been rumored or announced, and includes such screen favorites as Geoffrey Rush, Alfred Molina, Jeremy Irons, and more. An article announcing this news on ScreenCrave.com shows how excited the author is about this cast, calling it “The best cast ever!”. Well, it certainly looks promising.

Now for a little more about what I’m doing. The next project I’m embarking on will be directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s just such a fun show, I couldn’t resist.

This past week was audition time and I’m pretty pleased with the talent that I saw. Definitely a good way to start off the project. Unlike the common school-play way of doing it with everyone having a part and a billion fairies I’m keeping it to a medium sized cast of 13 or 14 actors. I want to keep things simple, and doubling up parts will be helpful in organizing the actors. There are also interesting parallels to be drawn between characters when the same actor plays both, even if they don’t seem similar.

We’ll be performing in a park which is always fun and challenging but sometimes theatre outside of a theatre is rather liberating. Especially for a show that takes place mostly in the woods. And the best part: pre-show picnics!

I didn’t really have a lot to say about this at this time, though I’ll keep you updated on notable challenges and discoveries that arise during the rehearsal process. Stay tuned!

Shephen Colbert and Stephen Greenblatt on the Colbert Report talk about paralells between the current Presidential candidates and Shakespearean characters. Colbert knows his Shakespeare!

Video from Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 Blog.

If you like Shakespeare (as I percieve by your being here none of you hates him) you must check out The Shakespeare Papers. Each of these 16 page marvels are a wonderfully designed exploration into a specific theme of Shakespeare’s works, and worth having.

To give you an example of the sorts of things covered, the first issue covered the motif of “…Morning and the diverse ways Shakespeare describes it to us, sometimes without ever using the word.” Each page includes a couple quotes involving morning from various plays. But it’s not just a random list… they’re all beautifully poetic passages that you may not fully notice or appreciate when reading or seeing the play as a whole. The Shakespeare Papers are kindly asking you to stop, take a look at the little things that make up the whole of Shakespeare’s canon… you will be amazed and know not what to say.

Also included in the first issue is an explanation of the quotes. In fact, each issue includes some sort of analysis of the topic covered… you’re getting some scholarship too in a great looking packet. I should mention that the graphic design is really well done. It’s nice to have something this good looking beside the bland scholarly journals that I receive.

Speaking of scholarly journals, that’s not what you’re getting and it’s a great thing! Too much scholarship can take the fun out of Shakespeare, so you get just enough info to educate you on a small subject. These are very easy to follow along in (it’s only a few pages!) and if you want more, you can get extra tidbits through email every now and then if you’d like. I only wish I could get more issues more often!

It’s very easy to got lost in the forest of knowledge of Shakespeare’s works, the Shakespeare Papers is a wonderful guide to exploring the beauty contained in each tree. At $38 a year for 6 booklets, I would strongly recommend getting a subscription for yourself and one for a friend.

I’d like to share a link that was so kindly shared with me. The website is for“The Inessential Shakespeare”, a project to reword Shakespeare’s plays into simpler, more modern English for the purpose of introducing youngsters to it.

“Translating” Shakespeare is, as you may remember, a topic that I have mixed feelings about. However, I cannot easily deny the merits it has in certain situations. Shortened Shakespeare is an excellent way to introduce the stories to youngsters. The 3rd grade play can easily be a simplified Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This version of the text isn’t vastly different from some other shortened texts I’ve seen but it is kept nicely concise and simple, it does away with many obscure references that other editors decide to leave in for some odd reason.

For those of you who work with or have kids of your own, this is for you. Look it over and give me your thoughts. Also, from your experiences, what makes a good kids version of Shakespeare in your opinion?

Welcome to this edition of the Blog Carnival! I know you’ve been on the edge of your seat in antici…

pation. Unfortunately I’ve only received one submission that I can post so we’ll do this a little differently. Pick any number of quality posts that you’ve read or written over the past month and post a link in the comments! It’ll be a help to me too, I’ve been somewhat distant from the Blogosphere for the past month.

The one link that I have for you is from Fiona Veitch Smith, who write a review for Bill Bryson’sShakespeare: the World as a Stage.

So find some good posts and write up up in the comments! And don’t forget to submit some links for next time!