“O, now, for ever Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content.”
Passion, revenge, and regret: this is William Shakespeare's Othello. In this tragic story of deceit, the cunning lieutenant Iago, feeling overlooked for promotion by the general Othello, plots glorious revenge. With Othello's recent elopement to the beautiful Desdemona at top of mind, Iago plants the seeds of infidelity, which soon blossom into passionate jealousy and destruction. Othello explores themes of loyalty and revenge, all under the poison of racism. Join Professor James Shapiro and John Douglas Thompson as they examine this devastating tragedy through both literary and theatrical perspectives.
Professor of English, Columbia University
Professor James Shapiro has taught Shakespeare at Columbia University for the past four decades. He is the author of a number of prizewinning books, including Shakespeare and the Jews, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, Contested Will, 1606: The Year of Lear, Shakespeare in a Divided America, and the forthcoming Othello: An American Tragedy. He has been awarded Guggenheim, Cullman Center, and NEH fellowships, and his reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the New York Review of Books. He has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, served on the boards of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Folger Shakespeare Library, and since 2012 has advised productions as a Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at New York’s Public Theater.
Tony-nominated Actor
John Douglas Thompson is a Tony-nominated actor who has been hailed by The New York Times “as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation.” He received a Tony nomination for his performance in August Wilson’s Jitney. Other theater credits include King Lear, the revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, A Time To Kill, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Julius Caesar. His work in television includes The Gilded Age, Mare Of Easttown, For Life, and The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks. Film credits include Spike Lee’s Highest To Lowest, Till, 21 Bridges, 355, Let Them All Talk, Wolves, The Bourne Legacy, Glass Chin, Midway, and Malcolm X. Additional work includes Othello (Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award), The Father, A Doll’s House, Man In The Ring (Elliot Norton Award), The Iceman Cometh (Obie and Drama Desk Awards), Tamburlaine (Obie and Drama Desk Awards), and Satchmo At The Waldorf (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the NAACP Theatre Awards).
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