Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

Reinaldo Perez, 1944-2016 Our long-time friend and colleague Reinaldo Perez (1944-2016) passed away December 12, 2016 at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor due to complications from heart surgery performed October 26, 2016. Rey is deeply mourned by his Oberon friends. Rey was retired from the University of Michigan where he taught in the language department at the Dearborn campus. A memorial gathering will be held in January 2017. More information will be added as it becomes available. UPDATE January 14, 2017: The obituary of Reinaldo Perez has been published at  Legacy website and will appear in the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press on January 15, 2017. No information is yet available regarding memorial services. Pam Verilone and Rey Perez enjoy conversation during the Oberon party at Stage Deli --  annual holiday party on January 4, 2013 at the Stage Deli in West Bloomfield, Michigan Rey Perez with his mother in his homeland, Cuba, where he liv...

Oberons met Nov. 19, 2016 at Bloomfield Twp. Library: Richard Joyrich, Robin Browne, Mara  Radzvickas, Rosey Hunter (back) and Sharon Hunter (back). Photo credit: Linda Theil by Linda Theil Oberon's met on Saturday, November 19, 2016 at the Bloomfield Twp. library for the first time in several months. We were delighted to enjoy the company of Sharon Hunter, Robin Browne, Mara Radzvickas, Rosey Hunter, and our chairperson Richard Joyrich, MD for an afternoon of companionship. We missed our good friend Reynaldo Perez who suffered complications from surgery on October 26 2016 and is currently being cared for at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital at    5301 McAuley Dr, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. We send our love and support. Joyrich reported on the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship's Nov. 3-6 conference in Boston where he retained his first vice-president position on the SOF board of trustees.  Joyrich gave a PowerPoint review of our Oberon colleague Tom Townsend's con...

         Christopher Marlowe, 1564-1593 by Linda Theil Oxford University Press   raised a storm of major media coverage this week with the announcement   that their new edition of Shakespeare’s complete works credits Christopher Marlowe as co-writer on Shakespeare's Henry VI plays. OUP editor Gary Taylor and others have recently devoted themselves to the notion of Shakespearean “collaboration”, but this is the first time that an academic publisher has broken the authorship taboo by admitting there may be unanswered questions about the origin of Shakespeare’s works. Taylor, a staunch Stratfordian, doesn't realize that an emphasis on Shakespearean “collaboration” invites investigation of the entire Shakespeare authorship question by validating the search for authentic attribution.  Oberon asked Dr. Ros Barber  -- who wrote her 2012 doctoral dissertation and her award-winning novel ,  The Marlowe Papers ,...

"Shakespeare Live!" from by Royal Shakespeare Company, April 23, 2016 By guest blogger  Catherine Hatinguais About two weeks ago, I went with friends to the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA, one of several Boston cinema venues for Shakespeare plays: NT Live   Globe on Screen Garrick Theater All have telecast events there and worldwide. We wanted to see the re-broadcast of the joint BBC and  Royal Shakespeare Company  celebration entitled "Shakespeare Live!" which promised a feast: extracts from various plays as well as music, operas and ballets inspired by Shakespeare. The place was packed, largely but not exclusively, with grey heads. The performers -- actors, musicians and dancers -- were all good to excellent. With Miren, Dench, Suchet, Cumberbatch, McKellen, Fiennes, and more; how could it go wrong? the short scenes were alternatively funny and moving, but the hosts, David Tennant and Catherine Tate, were uninspired and as predictable ...

Rosey Hunter, Richard Joyrich, and Pam Verilone at Paisano's in Ann Arbor June 25, 2016 by Linda Theil Oberons met June 25, 2016 in the private "wine room" at Paisano Restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI. Oberon chair Richard Joyrich, Rosey Hunter, Pam Verilone, Rey Perez and guest, and Linda Theil attended the luncheon get-together. At our meeting, Oberons committed to participating in a Shakespeare symposium on April 23, 2017 at Interlochen Center for the Arts  in Interlochen, MI. We are grateful to Interlochen instructor of theater, David Montee , for his invitation to participate in the event. All Pam Verilone's Oberon friends congratulated her on her natal day, and on her successful teaching career at her recent retirement from Southfield Public Schools. Our group sends good thoughts and best wishes to Oberon members Sharon Hunter and Robin Browne who are recuperating from illness, and unable to join us in Ann Arbor. 

Rosey Hunter at after-meeting dinner at Beau's in Bloomfield Hills, MI May 14, 2016. Oberons send hugs to our friend Robin Browne who is recuperating after surgery at Beaumont Hospital May 11. Get well soon, Robin! On June 18, 2016 several Oberon members will attend   author   James Shapiro's talk on the topic of "The Scottish Play" at 10:30 a.m. in the Studio Theatre as part of the Festival Forum series of lectures in Stratford, Ontario. We discussed the Oberon blog, particularly the Mark Twain Project Online (MTPO) article titled “Mark Twain’s Benighted Book”   and the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship's letter of protest to the Bancroft Library at UC/Berkley and the National Endowment for the Arts that is partially funding the MTPO. An article titled "SOF responds to omission of authorship book from Mark Twain Project" appears on the SOF News weblog online We urged Oberon members to sign up for email notification of Oberon posts on t...

Oberons and guests at "Reasonable Doubt about Shakespeare" presentation April 24, 2016 at UM-Flint. In photograph back row: Paul Gifford; Matthew Wyneken, PhD; (Declaration of Reasonable Doubt) Richard Joyrich, MD; Pam Verilone; front row: Sharon Hunter, Rosey Hunter (almost invisible behind Sharon), et al. by Linda Theil Richard Joyrich, MD spoke yesterday at the Oberon Shakespeare Study Group presentation, "Reasonable Doubt about Shakespeare" organized as part of a worldwide project by the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition . Matthew Wyneken, PhD, welcomes attendees at "Reasonable Doubt about Shakespeare" April 24, 2016 at UM-Flint Oberon member and University of Michigan--Flint associate professor Matthew Wyneken, PhD organized the local event at UM-Flint and welcomed guests to the program, saying: "I feel it is incumbent on academia to study and investigate the matter [of the Shakespeare authorship]."  Richard Joyrich, M...

Shakespeare Authorship Coalition Chairman John Shahan, shared this news with Oberon readers: Jacoby and Rylance discuss the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt on SAC YouTube channel. by John Shahan Claremont, California --  In an interview with  Renee Montagne , host of NPR's  Morning Edition , on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, Shakespearean actors  Derek Jacobi  and  Mark Rylance   reaffirmed support for the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare , which they launched in the U.K. in 2007. The Declaration has been signed by "over 3,000 actors, academics, lawyers and others," Montagne said, later adding that several U.S. Supreme Court Justices have been doubters, and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and John Paul Stevens have actually signed the Declaration. In the interview, titled " Shakes...

On the Media podcast April 22, 2016 "On Shakespeare" with James Shapiro  Open letter to On The Media from Linda Theil: Hi, thanks for your show; I love it!  I would like to comment on your [April 22, 2016] Shakespeare presentation with James Shapiro : I know you are in the business of bringing truth to light, and you dislike conspiracy theories and ignorance of all kinds, but I would like to point out that perhaps your zeal was inappropriate in the case of the Shapiro interview [re: the Shakespeare authorship controversy]. For one thing, you allowed no one but Shapiro to speak on the topic — so only one viewpoint was allowed. I know this has to do with false equivalence on the part of newscasters, but I think it produced an inaccurate view of the topic. Secondly, the language used to describe the topic is antagonistic: calling those who are interested in the authorship question “Shakespeare deniers” — a term used several times in the course of the in...