STC Presents MOCK TRIAL, THE PEN vs. THE SWORD, 5/13

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents its Annual Dinner and Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on Monday, May 13, 2013. The Mock Trial begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m., followed by the trial, The Pen vs. The Sword, at 7:30 p.m. A special session of the Supreme Court of Rome will convene at Sidney Harman Hall to hear the case of the estate of Coriolanus (Appellant) vs. The Latin Herald (Appellee), based on characters in the play Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will preside with Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Judge Merrick B. Garland, Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and Judge David S. Tatel. Seth P. Waxman of WimerHale LLP will serve as counsel to the Appellant and Lisa S. Blatt of Arnold & Porter LLP will serve as counsel to the Appellee. Pamela Talkin, Marshal of the United States Supreme Court, will serve as Marshal during the Mock Trial and Abbe D. Lowell, STC Trustee, will moderate.

Since 1994, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has hosted a Mock Trial based on one of each season's plays. This season's Mock Trial focuses on the characters in William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, which runs in repertory with Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein from March 28-June 2, 2013 in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall. The Trial aims to examine the links between classic works and contemporary legal theory that is both thought-provoking and entertaining. Past Mock Trials have explored whether Malvolio (Twelfth Night) was entitled to damages for wrongful imprisonment; whether Iago (Othello) was guilty of the murders of Desdemona and Othello; whether Hamlet (Hamlet) was insane when he murdered Polonius; and whether Sir John Falstaff (Henry IV) should have been compensated for his services to Prince Hal and reinstated as a member of the royal court.