Start quoting him now*
I am very happy to announce the launch of Round Robin Shakespeare!
We’re going to embark on Thursday, March 21st, on a 3 year mission to read the entire canon of Shakespeare’s plays aloud. All of them!
This is a community project, open to anyone in the area, organized by me (!) in association with the Clay County Public Library. I am especially pleased to be doing this with the Library because my grandmother was the very first employee of the Clay County Library system. She put the first books on the first shelves, and she worked there for decades. I rode the bookmobile with her when I was seven.
I never thought I would be living here in the area of my grandparents’ farm—I was only a summer visitor throughout my life until now—and I certainly never thought I’d be working with the library. It does almost seem like fate, however.
Anyway, I think this is going to be fun!
I have a lot of work to do. Press releases, reaching out to local high schools and community theatres, maybe senior centers. I’m thinking a notice on Craigslist and maybe a Meetup. Certainly, I need to set up a Facebook page. If you’ve got any other suggestions for getting the word out, perhaps you could post a comment.
I have faith that this will go well once I get over the initial announcement hurdle. It may start small, but I think there will be enough interest to keep us going until we make it through all 38 plays. (Some people say 37, but I intend to be large-minded and inclusive about this.) The big hurdle will be getting folks out to the first meeting. I really hope I don’t have to do a solo rendition of Henry VI. For everybody’s sake, we’ll hope a future Monday Miracle post reports massive attendance for Part 1 of Henry and Round Robin Shakespeare!
* Cole Porter, Kiss Me Kate
See Brush Up Your Shakespeare in concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIpp2Jj8AQ
