Schreiber, Easton and More to Read for Shakespeare Society at 'Making of a Leader' 11/3

The Shakespeare Society (Michael Sexton, Artistic Director) will present Liev Schreiber, Richard Easton, and Professor David Scott Kastan in Politics, Prince Hal, and the Making of a Leader on Monday, November 3 at 6:30pm at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, East 68 Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues.  A limited number of tickets, priced at $25 - $45, are available from the Kaye box office at (212) 772-4448.  For Shakespeare Society membership information, call 212-967-6802 or go to www.shakespearesociety.org.

On the eve of the 2008 elections, three of America’s most celebrated Shakespeareans come together to look at Shakespeare’s most successful political leader, Henry V.  Featuring the Shakespeare Society’s signature combination of performance and commentary, the evening will trace the progress of this remarkable figure, role-playing his way from prodigal son to the leader of a nation. What are the keys to—and costs of—political success?

Liev Schreiber (Hamlet, Macbeth, Glengarry Glen Ross) will read selections from Prince Hal and Henry V from the plays Henry IV, Parts I and II and Henry V, which he played in the New York Shakespeare Festival production at the Delacorte Theater.

Richard Easton (The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia, Henry IV) will be reading Falstaff and Henry IV (reprising the role he played in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Henry IV on Broadway opposite Kevin Kline.

David Scott Kastan, General Editor of the Arden Shakespeare and George M. Bodman Professor of English at Yale University, will examine Hal's development as a politician looking at the ways impersonation, role-playing and language are used politically and theatrically as well as what Shakespeare shows are the costs of political power—what is sacrificed in pursuit of political success.

The cast also includes Jeremy Strong who is currently appearing in the Roundabout Theatre production of A Man for All Seasons and whose other credits include the lead role of Spinoza in David Ives’s New Jerusalem at CSC.

The Shakespeare Society is a not-for-profit membership organization presenting entertaining and challenging programs that combine stage performances by outstanding actors with illuminating commentary by noted Shakespearean writers, scholars, and directors.  A fundamental belief of the founders of The Shakespeare Society is that enjoying and understanding Shakespeare begin in the classroom; therefore, a portion of the Society's membership dollars is used to support educational activities in New York City schools.  Past participants in Shakespeare Society performances and events include Harold Bloom, F. Murray Abraham, Stephen Greenblatt, Liev Schreiber, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kathleen Chalfant, Michael Cumpsty, Jefferson Mays, Marcia Gay Harden, Patrick Stewart, Sir Peter Hall, Derek Jacobi, Philip Bosco, Marjorie Garber, Ralph Fiennes, Ron Rosenbaum, Richard Easton, John Guare, and Claire Bloom.

The Shakespeare Society presents Politics, Prince Hal, and the Making of a Leader on Monday, November 3, at 6:30PM at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (East 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues).  $25-$45 for non-members.  To purchase tickets or for ticket information, phone the Kaye Playhouse box office at 212 772-4448.  For more information about The Shakespeare Society or Politics, Prince Hal, and the Making of a Leader, or to join The Shakespeare Society, phone 212 967-6802 or visit www.shakespeareociety.org

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.