The Shakespeare Oxford Society and the Shakespeare Fellowship Announce Details For Their 2013 Toronto Joint Conference, October 17 – 20

The theme of this year’s Shakespeare Authorship Conference is “Shakespeare and the Living Theatre.” It will be presented with support of the Theatre and Drama departments of York University and the University of Guelph, two major Canadian universities.

Conference organizer Professor Don Rubin of Toronto’s York University stated “The man who wrote under the name of Shakespeare, was clearly a man of the theatre. We know that William of Stratford had connections to the Globe but few people know that the 17th Earl of Oxford, also had significant theatre connections to both adult and children’s companies of the period.” “We are hoping that the Conference will offer new understandings of these connections as well as insights into theatrical conditions of the time and put to rest the idea that William of Stratford was the only candidate in the authorship debate with strong and profound theatrical involvement.”

There will be a variety of papers on related subjects presented as well as a trip to Canada’s internationally-acclaimed Stratford Festival to see a production of The Merchant of Venice, including a chance to meet and talk with the director of the production (and also the new Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival), Antoni Cimolino.

A preliminary list of speakers and topics is provided below:

Toronto Conference Schedule

                   The following program is subject to change.         

Thursday, 17 October   

    12:00-1:00   Registration

    1:00-1:15     Welcome. Opening of Conference.

    1:15-2:00      Shelly Maycock.  (Virginia)

                         “Essex, Oxford and the Concept of Popularity in Late Elizabethan

                         Discourse.”  How the notion of popularity can be recast from an 

                         Oxfordian perspective.

    2:00-2:45      Priscilla Costello.  (Ontario)

                         “Astrology Confirms de Vere.”   A professional astrologer compares the

                          astrological charts of de Vere and “Shakespeare.”

    2:45-3:30     Ron Halstead.  (Michigan)

                         “Death of a Dictator: The Dangerous Timeliness of Julius Caesar and

                          the Authorship Question.”  De Vere’s interest in rebellion.

    3:30-3:50    Coffee break

    3:50-4:35  Walter Hurst.  (North Carolina)

                           “What’s Your Authority for that Statement: An Approach to

                             Examining External Evidence in Early Modern Authorship.”

                             How to evaluate the strength of historical evidence.

    4:35-6:00         Video: The Naked Shakespeare

                           A new video on the authorship question from Germany.

 

Friday, 18 October 

     8:30-9:15       Ron Hess.  (Georgia)

                            “The Significant History of The Passionate Pilgrim.” Did this work

                              predate both Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece?

     9:15-10:0        Heward Wilkinson.  (UK)

                            “Coleridge and the Implications of Authorial Self-Awareness in

                              Shakespeare.”   There is no sign that the Stratford man embodied

                              the consciousness of “Shakespeare” while there is substantial testimony

                              that Oxford did.

    10:45-10:45     Michael Egan. (New Mexico)

                            “The Shakespeare Grain Dealer Uproar.”  The documented facts about

                             Shakspere’s financial arrangements, when compared with the plays, show

                             clearly that we are dealing with two distinct individuals, the man from

                             Stratford and the man who wrote the plays.

    10:45 –11:05   Coffee Break

    11:05-11:50     Tom Regnier. (Florida)

                              “Could Ben Jonson Think Like A Lawyer? Taking a Closer

                               Look at Clarkson and Warren.”   A revaluation of the 1942 study on

                               property law in Elizabethan drama which disparages Shakespeare’s

                               legal knowledge.

    11:50-12:35      Earl Showerman. (Oregon)

                              “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Shakespeare’s Aristophanic Comedy.”

                               Was Shakespeare acquainted with Athenian drama?  The former

                               President of the SF explores the territory.

                                Lunch on own

     3:00               Bus leaves for the Stratford Festival

                                (Tom Regnier paper on “The Law and Merchant” on bus)

     5:00               Arrive at Stratford.  Meeting with Antoni Cimolino (Director

                                of Merchant)  followed by “on own’ dinner                

      8:00               Merchant of Venice on Festival Stage                      

     10:30             Bus returns to Toronto (arrives about 12:30 a.m.)

 

Saturday, 19 October

            8:30-9:30      Annual Meeting of the Shakespeare Oxford Society

9:30-10:15     Cheryl Eagan-Donovan. (Massachusetts)

                         “The Reason for the Alias: Oxford’s Bisexuality and

                           the Elizabethan Theatre.”  A look at the sexual 

                           behavior of  bothactors and audiences of the

                           period suggests that Oxford’s Sexuality may have                                been a prime reason for the pseudonym.  

           

10:15-11:00    Hank Whittemore. (New York)

                                    “The Unbroken Line: Oxford, Acting Companies and the

                                    Phenomenon of Shakespeare.”  A look at de Vere as guiding

                                    force behind the three most important acting companies

                                    of Elizabeth’s reign.

11:00-11:15    The Missing Debate: A Comment. Don Rubin and Keir Cutler.

11:15-12:00      Roger Stritmatter (Maryland) and Lynne Kositsky (Ontario)

                         ‘Much Ado About Nothing: The Tempest Debate.” Two major

                         scholars put the Tempest dating debate to rest.    

            12:00-12:15       The Tempest Book launch/signing (Roger and Lynne)

           

12:15-1:45      Lunch (buffet with Keynote)

                        Mark Anderson (Massachusetts)

                        “Shakespeare, Newton and Einstein: Listening to the Obsession

                        of Genius.”  The author of the major de Vere biography, Shakespeare

                        By Another Name looks at the nature of genius and obsession.

 2:00-2:45        Robert Detobel/Henno Wember  (Germany)

                        “The Outcast State: Oxford’s Passion for the Theatre.”  Was it

                        his love of the theatre that led to Oxford’s “outcast state?”

 2:45 to 3:30    Keir Cutler (Quebec)

                         ‘From Crackpot to Mainstream: The Evolution of the Authorship

                        Question.”  Are the doubts about the man from Stratford becoming

                        mainstream? An actor suggests that the answer is “yes.”

3:30 to 4:15      Sky Gilbert (Ontario)

                         “Was Shakespeare A Euphuist?”  The connections between Shakespeare

                           and Lyly, between Endymion and Twelfth Night done with student actors. 

4:15 to 4:35      Coffee break

4:35 to 6:35    Canadian Premiere Screening: Last Will and Testament. 

Introduction of this full-length film by the directors – Lisa and Laura     Wilson.                                          

 

 Sunday, 20 October

 8:30-9:30         Annual Meeting of the Shakespeare Fellowship

 9:30-10:20       Ramon Jimenez (California)

                          ‘Shakespeare’s Two Lear Plays: How the Playwright Transformed His

                          First Romance into his Last Tragedy.”  From King Leir to King Lear.

10:20-11:20       Michael Morse. (Tennessee)

                           “What the Thunder Said and Tom O’Bedlam’s Song.”  Views of Lear.

11:20-12:15        Gerit Quealey. (New York)

                            “Studying Authorship: Why It Matters for Actors. The Road

                              To Revelation.”  How authorship research can inform and illuminate

                               A Text.” A working actor demonstrates her points with student actors.

12:15-2:00         Closing Banquet with Keynote.  Awards and Final words.

    John  Shahan (California).

    “The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition: Future Strategies.” The

    head of SAC and one of the editors of the volume Shakespeare Beyond

The conference will also include the annual general meetings of both organizations, which, because of the proposed unification of the two organizations, should not be missed.

The conference will be held at the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto; registrants may receive a conference rate of $135/night at the hotel by calling 800-668-6600 or by e-mail at reservations@tor.metropoliton.com. Please mention Reservation ID#269-931 or the SOS or the SF. This hotel room rate will be good for up to three days before and after the conference for those who wish to extend their visit to Toronto. This rate is guaranteed for reservations made before September 17.

Transportation from the Toronto airport directly to the hotel can be obtained from Airport Express (905-564-6333 or http://www.torontoairportexpress.com). Rates are $27.95 one-way and $42.00 for round trip. There is a 5% discount for ordering online. There is a 10% senior and student discount for one-way only ($25) so this is not practical if you want a round trip.

Full registration for the conference includes all presentations and materials as well as lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Per day rates are also available. Registration is also possible onsite, including reduced daily rates for Saturday and Sunday that do not include lunch.

Please note, however, that the trip to Stratford may not be available for registrations received after September 15. 

For more conference information or to register for the conference, please visit www.Shakespeare-Oxford.com.

Pasadena Shakespeare Authorship Conference, October 18-21 — More Info About Speakers and Activities. Be Sure To Register and Book Your Hotel Room

The eighth annual joint authorship conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society will convene in Pasadena, California October 18-21, 2012 at the Courtyard Pasadena Old Town by Marriott. For special conference room rates, call 888-236-2427 or reserve rooms on line at: www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/laxot-courtyard-los-angeles-pasadena-old-town.

More details below about the outstanding lineup of activities, speakers and performers at the Pasadena Shakespeare Authorship Conference, October 18-21.  Be sure to register and book your hotel room soon.  Visit: http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/?p=138 or our main website: http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com.

Opening the conference on Thursday, 10/18 are Alex McNeill, Jamieanne Reinelt, Linda Taylor, and Professors Helen Gordon and Don Rubin. Tour of the Huntington Library at 1:00 pm.

On Friday, Jennifer Newton, creator of The Shakespeare Underground, will open the conference, followed by Sabrina Feldman, author of The Apocryphal William and then Professor Roger Stritmatter. During our hosted lunch, James Ulmer will present a program on Shakespeare in Hollywood Film.

John Hamill will open the afternoon session, followed by a group exhibit of 16th century Oxfordian titles at the Huntington Library. The afternoon session will conclude with performances by Alan Green, author of The Holy Trinity Solution, as well as Sylvia Holmes and Betzi Roe. Friday evening will be dedicated to a screening of Lisa Wilson and Laura Wilson Mathias’ documentary, Last Will. and Testament.

Saturday morning will begin with a screening of outtakes from Last Will. & Testament, followed by presentations by Bonner Cutting and Professor Jack Shuttleworth, who has recently completed editing of the Oxfordian Hamlet edition.

After a hosted Lunch, the conference keynote address will be delivered by Professor Tony Pointon, author of The Man Who Was Never Shakespeare. The afternoon will also feature Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s new documentary, Nothing is Truer than Truth, as well as Katherine Chiljan, author of Shakespeare Suppressed, and John Shahan, Chairman of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition.

Sunday presentations will focus on Shakespeare’s medical knowledge with presentations by Dr. Lance Fogan and Dr. Earl Showerman, and on Shakespeare’s legal knowledge with Tom Regnier. The conference will conclude with a  hosted awards banquet and panel on new media and the authorship challenge.

Save The Date: 2012 Shakespeare Authorship Conference in Pasadena, CA — October 18-20, 2012

The Shakespeare Oxford Society and The Shakespeare Fellowship Society Present

The 2012 annual Shakespeare Authorship Conference will be held in Pasadena, CA on October 18-20. The conference venue is the Courtyard Pasadena Old Town by Marriott and a block of rooms in the hotel has been reserved for attendees.

Phone Reservations: 888-236-2427

Internet Reservations: http://cwp.marriott.com/laxot/shakespeare/

Proposals for conference papers are now being accepted. Because the sponsoring organizations are dedicated to academic excellence, guidelines for presentation of papers for the joint have been prepared and are available here. Presenters are expected to consult these guidelines prior to submission of a proposal. Proposals should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 250 words and a brief one-paragraph biography.

Proposals must be submitted to Bonner Cutting, John Hamill, or Earl Showerman. The deadline for submissions is July 15, 2012.

The conference committee will be sending out updates as papers are accepted and included on the agenda.

The Pasadena theatre company, A Noise Within, will have a fall program in production during the authorship conference. Last fall the company produced Twelfth Night and this spring Antony and Cleopatra will be in production. Their fall schedule will be released by June 1 at which time a group order for tickets will be secured if the production contributes to the goals of the conference.

SOS-SF Joint Shakespeare Authorship Conference October 13-16, 2011 In Washington DC. Registration Form Now Available

The Shakespeare Oxford Society and The Shakespeare Fellowship Society

Present

The Washington DC Joint Authorship Conference

 October 13, 14, 15, and 16, 2011 in Washington, D.C.

A tour of the Folger Shakespeare Library has been scheduled for October 14.

The 2011 joint authorship conference sponsored by the Shakespeare Oxford Society and the Shakespeare Fellowship will be held in Washington DC from October 13-16. Arrangements have been made for a block of rooms at the Washington Court Hotel. The program will include a tour of the Folger Library with a viewing and discussion of the Earl of Oxford’s Geneva Bible.  Arrangements may be made for a trip to a local Cineplex for a group viewing of Anonymous.

The registration form is available by visiting the Shakespeare Oxford Society’s website:

http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/?p=138

If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact:

Shakespeare Oxford Society

P.O. Box 808

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598-0808

Telephone: 914-962-1717

sosoffice@optonline.net

Speakers who have already made proposals or signaled their intent to speak include Mark Anderson, Roger Stritmatter, Bonner Cutting, Gerit Quealy, Richard Waugaman, Ron Hess, Barbara Burris, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, Tom Hunter, Tom Townsend, Albert Burgstahler and Earl Showerman.

The SOS and SF are dedicated to academic excellence, as defined through the independent scholarship of several generations of scholars, among them J.T. Looney, B.R. and B.M. Ward, Charles Wisner Barrell, Charlton Ogburn, Jr., Ruth Loyd Miller, and Mark Anderson, among others.

The primary focus of both organizations is to consider and advance the case already argued by these and other writers identifying Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true mind behind the mask of “Shakespeare.” Although papers exploring alternative authorship theories (e.g., Mary Sidney, Francis Bacon, etc.) are welcome, presenters should bear in mind that conference attendees are for the most part well versed in the arguments for and against Oxford’s authorship as presented in these seminal works. Those desiring an audience for alternative authorship scenarios, or writing from an orthodox “Stratfordian” perspective, should prepare themselves by carefully considering the expectations of their audience.

To inquire about submitting paper or for further information about the program, please contact:
John Hamill,   Earl Showerman,  or   Bonner Cutting.

The Conference is scheduled to begin just two weeks after the expected release of a Sony Pictures film, Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich and featuring a cast of Shakespearean thespian luminaries such as Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis, Joely Richardson, Rhys Ifans, and Sir Derek Jacobi.

A recently released trailer promoting Anonymous begins with this intriguing question:  “What if I told you Shakespeare never wrote a single word?”  Later in the trailer a male voice says:  “Promise me you’ll keep our secret safe.”  An older woman’s voice, presumably that of Queen Elizabeth played by Vanessa Redgrave, says ominously:  “None of your poems or your plays will ever carry your name.”

The tantalizing trailer ends with a clever tagline — “We’ve All Been Played” – followed by a stage filled with actors taking their bows and the audience applauding wildly.

Here’s the link to the trailer.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBmnkk0QW3Q&feature=channel_video_title

In light of the scheduled release of this major motion picture – the first-ever that explicitly challenges the traditional authorship theory – the Shakespeare Oxford Society reiterates its position that traditional scholars have been “Barding up the wrong tree” in Stratford-upon-Avon.   Indeed, there is a long and distinguished history of doubting the traditional “Stratfordian” attribution of the “Shakespeare” works. Noted doubters over the years include Mark Twain, Henry James, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, and Sigmund Freud. More recent skeptics include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and former Justice John Paul Stevens along with renowned Shakespearean actors Derek Jacobi, Michael York, Jeremy Irons, and Mark Rylance, former artistic director at the Globe Theatre in London.

In 1996, the great Shakespearean actor Sir John Gielgud, while serving as president of the World Shakespeare Congress, signed the following petition:

“We, the undersigned, petition the Shakespeare Association of America, in light of ongoing research, to engage actively in a comprehensive, objective and sustained investigation of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon, particularly as it relates to the claim of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.”

In 2007, the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC) began collecting signatures on a compelling “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare.”   Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, and Brunel University in West London have launched degree programs in Shakespeare authorship studies.

About The Shakespeare Oxford Society
Founded in 1957, the Shakespeare Oxford Society is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of “William Shakespeare. The homepage of the Society also says the group is “Dedicated to Researching and Honoring the True Bard.”  Visit www.shakespeare-oxford.com and www.shakespeareoxfordsociety.wordpress.com for more information.  SOS on Facebook.  Join SOS or renew your membership online here: http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=27020.

Guidelines for papers 2009 SF/SOS conference

The Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society announce the 2009 Joint Conference to be held November 5-8, 2009 in Houston , Texas at the Houston Intercontinental Airport DoubleTree Hotel.

The Conference’s two sponsoring organizations, the Shakespeare Oxford Society and the Shakespeare Fellowship, are both organizations dedicated to academic excellence, as defined through the independent scholarship of several generations of scholars, among them J.T. Looney, B.R. and B.M. Ward, Charles Wisner Barrell, Charlton Ogburn, Jr., Ruth Lloyd Miller, and Mark Anderson, among others.

The primary focus of both organizations is to consider and advance the case already argued by these and other writers identifying Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true mind behind the mask of “Shakespeare.” Although papers exploring alternative authorship theories (e.g., Mary Sidney, Francis Bacon, etc.) are welcome, presenters should bear in mind that conference attendees are for the most part well versed in the arguments for and against Oxford ‘s authorship as presented in these seminal works. Those desiring an audience for alternative authorship scenarios, or writing from an orthodox “Stratfordian” perspective, should prepare themselves by carefully considering the expectations of their audience. Please weigh the arguments for Oxford ‘s authorship and construct your own arguments in relationship to them.

Since 2009 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shake-Speare’s Sonnets, the Conference encourages presentations that shed light on the Sonnets.

1) The default time slot for all presentations will be 45 minutes, with 10 minutes for questions and answers. All presentations will have a question and answer section. If you are not able to condense the essentials of your argument to a 45-minute time frame, you may request more time from the committee, but additional time will only be granted to proposals that, in the opinion of the committee, are especially deserving of more extended consideration by conference attendees.

2) Send an abstract of no more than 250 words to the committee and a brief biography before July 31, 2009.

3) If you have not previously presented at an SOS, SF, or Concordia , Oregon  conference, we welcome your submission. However, you are also requested to send a draft of your presentation, either as a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, to the committee by the July 31 deadline.

4) Academic presentations, ideally construed, are acts of persuasion. It goes without saying that all papers should be grounded in a clearly identifiable thesis supported by examples or evidence. Proposals that do not fit this criteria are unlikely to be accepted for presentation.

5) If you have previously presented a topic that you believe deserves continued attention by the Oxfordian community, please consider presenting it again if you have a fresh layer of argument or evidence to present.

6) In the past, papers concerning cryptograms and codes have proven particularly problematic within the anti-Stratfordian community.  Anyone interested in presenting an argument that involves cryptological evidence will be expected to show that his or her proof fulfills the criteria for validity advanced by William F. and Elizabeth S. Friedman’s classic The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined (1957).

To submit a paper or for further information: contact John Hamill (hamillx@pacbell.net),  Earl Showerman (earlees@charter.net), Bonner Cutting (jandbcutting@comcast.net).