From the Desk of the Chancellor, Jan. 31, 2011

Chancellor Charles R. Bantz View print-quality image

Think you’ve seen Hamlet? Think again. Beginning this weekend, Hoosier Bard and the IUPUI New Oxford Shakespeare Project will present Young Hamlet at the IndyFringe Theatre. Directed by our own Terri Bourus, associate professor of English drama in the School of Liberal Arts, the fast-paced play is based on a rarely performed early script of Shakespeare’s drama.

Professor Bourus brings an experienced stage perspective to her scholarly work as one of three general editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare. The play’s production is the first by Hoosier Bard, an IUPUI-based student theatre company Bourus founded last fall. The New Oxford Shakespeare is a comprehensive, multimedia edition of Shakespeare’s works that includes such treasures as alternative early versions of works like Young Hamlet and digital performance clips from film and stage versions of the plays. As she has said, this new edition will “bring the stage to the page.”

Keeping Shakespeare relevant for today’s readers and audiences is Terri’s passion in both her scholarship and stage work. She uses a combination of modern technology, like beta radiographs, and old-fashioned textual analysis to reveal new insights into the printing and publication of Shakespeare's scripts. This opportunity for the campus and the community to see humanities scholarship at its best is an opportunity not to be missed.

While we await the completion of the 250-seat theater in the lower level of the Campus Center, IndyFringe Theatre will be the place to be to see Young Hamlet on February 4, 5, 11, or 12. The theatre is located at 719 East St. Clair St., near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indy. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students and may be purchased at http://indyfringe.org/calendar/event/young-hamlet or at the door.

Comments? Write chancllr@iupui.edu.