April 26, 1999 Volume 21, No. 15

A Midsummer’s Tour of British Theater Ithaca College is sponsoring a special weeklong tour of British theater this summer for alumni and other friends of the College. Participants will attend performances of five plays in London and the hometown of the Bard himself, Stratford-upon-Avon, and will be treated to informal meetings with actors and lively lectures given by experts in British theater, literature, and social history. In addition, local tours of major sites of interest, including pubs and shops, will be integrated into the daily programs. Scheduled for July 24–31, the tour will begin and end at Ithaca College’s own London Center. It will explore the many varieties of theater in England, from a production as Shakespeare himself might have staged it (in the re-created Globe Theatre) to a current West End hit, from "fringe" theater in a pub to a classical play in a charming old village. Lectures, discussions, and video presentations will round out the experience. The seminar leaders will be Lizbeth Goodman, a senior lecturer in theater and performance studies at the University of Surrey, and Stephen Regan, chair of the Open University’s Literature in the Modern World and Shakespeare courses. Goodman has directed plays in Cambridge, London, and Edinburgh and is currently working with Regan on a teaching text, Shakespeare Studies Today. Regan previously taught literature and social history at Ruskin College, Oxford, and is the founding editor of The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory. The tour price includes theater tickets; hotel accommodations; continental breakfast each day; all lectures, seminars, and group tours and excursions; and two receptions at the London Center. The cost of travel to London is not included in the tour price; if there is sufficient interest, however, a group flight may be possible to arrange. The tour is being cosponsored by the Offices of Alumni Relations and International Programs and the Division of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions. For more information contact the continuing education office at 274-3143 or cess@ithaca.edu.