Chicago Shakespeare’s Rowe Lifelong Learning Series encompasses our growing audience enrichment programs. Engagement with scholars, artists, and the Theater’s staff provide thoughtful points of entry—and those who wish to dig deeper will enjoy another lens through which to understand the plays on our stages, and the art-making behind them.
Adult Learning Programs
Shakespeare doesn’t have to be intimidating! Our Demystifying Shakespeare Series is an interactive course in which learners begin to understand foundational structures in Shakespeare’s plays.
Bard Book Club:
Julius Caesar and Rome Sweet Rome
Monday, September 22 | 5:30 PM
Join us for a FREE and enriching discussion of Julius Caesar, the play that inspired the Q Brothers Collective’s upcoming production of Rome Sweet Rome on Monday, September 22 at 5:30 PM. Led by CST’s esteemed PreAmble scholar, Stephen Bennett, this intimate experience is a great opportunity to sink your teeth into Shakespeare’s pivotal play and spark thoughtful conversation.
ABOUT THE DISCUSSION:
Who is Julius Caesar? The play features two representations of Julius Caesar. The physically weak and emotionally vulnerable Caesar that “cried like a sick girl,” when he had a fever. And the mythic Caesar who “doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus…” During our book club discussion, we’ll explore the tension between these two figures and examine which one is more significant.
Additionally, we will discuss the duality of Brutus, looking at the public versus private personas of Brutus and Caesar, and how well they know themselves.
Second Thoughts on “Second Chances: Freud and Shakespeare”
Saturday, September 27 | 2:00 PM
Join Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips on Saturday, September 27 at 2:00 PM at Chicago Shakespeare, as they trace the evolution of the concept of ‘second chances’ from Shakespeare straight through to the works of another Shakespeare scholar, Sigmund Freud. This special discussion is hosted by the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and registration is $50 to attend.
ABOUT THE DISCUSSION:
The phrase “second chance” appears 470 times on “PEP Web,” from the 1920s up to the present day. Greenblatt and Phillips take us back further still, 400 years ago, to Shakespeare’s “Winter’s Tale,” which they call a “template” for understanding second chances. They move on to Freud, inviting us to wonder about Freud’s paradoxical observation that people resist the ‘second chance’ they are given in psychoanalysis, though it is the aim of analysis.
Pre•Ambles
A team of scholars presents free pre-performance lectures on select Saturday and Sunday matinees. These half-hour talks by scholars examine the play through the a historical context, as well as the interpretive choices made by the director, design team and acting ensemble. See Schedule →
Post-show Discussions
These entertaining and informative discussions are offered following most weekday matinees, and after Saturday morning matinees of Short Shakespeare! Audience members have the opportunity to discuss the play, the production, and more with actors from the cast directly following their performance.
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