Tom and Joy report from Seattle

Tom Townsend in Seattle, WA

Tom and Joy Townsend are settling into their new life in Seattle. They plan to close on a home in the upper Queen Anne area on July 2, and they had lunch with several members of the Seattle Shakespeare Oxford Society yesterday. Tom said:

The SSOS is made up of great, smart, well-read people (just like Oberon!). Joy and I enjoyed speaking with each of them. . . . Meetings for the rest of the year have been planned. There is a lot of Shakespeare performed (I’m told) here in Seattle. Some were discussing having meetings just before or after these performances.

Even the weather has been welcoming! Tom reported:

Since we’ve been here the temps have been in the mid 60s to low 70s since we arrived on May 15. There has been scant rain! We continue to miss everyone from the Oberon group and wish everyone the best.

It's good to hear from our good friends and good to know they are enjoying their adventure in the northwest.

International Fountain in Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, WA

Photos courtesy Tom and Joy Townsend

Waugaman named Oxfordian of the Year 2021

by Linda Theil Waugaman taking his first selfie in his home office in Potomac Maryland The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship named Richard Waugaman, MD, Oxfordian of the Year 2021 at their annual conference on October 9, 2021. Waugaman is a clinical professor of psychiatry on the faculty of Georgetown University, a training and supervising analyst emeritus with the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, and is in private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis in Potomac, Maryland. For over a decade Waugaman has published extensively on the topic of Shakespeare authorship including work in journals outside the normal reach of the subject such as Psychoanalytic Quarterly , the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Studies , and Contemporary Psychoanalysis . He has presented on the topic before such diverse venues as the International Psychoanalytic Congress, the New Directions Conference, the Shakespeare Association of America, the American Shakespeare Center, and the Cosmos Club in ...

What's a popp'rin' pear?

James Wheaton reported yesterday in the Jackson Citizen Patriot that the Michigan Shakespeare Festival high school tour of Romeo and Juliet was criticized for inappropriate content -- " So me take issue with sexual innuendoes in Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s High School Tour performances of ‘Romeo & Juliet’" : Western [High School] parent Rosie Crowley said she was upset when she heard students laughing about sexual content in the play afterwards. Her son didn’t attend the performance Tuesday because of another commitment, she said. “I think the theater company should have left out any references that were rated R,” Crowley said. “I would say that I’ve read Shakespeare, and what I was told from the students, I’ve never read anything that bad.” She said she objected to scenes that involved pelvic thrusting and breast touching and to a line in which Mercutio makes suggestive comments to Romeo after looking up the skirt of a female. The problem with cutting out...

“Shakespeare’s Shylock and The Merchant of Venice” by Showerman and Delahoyde presented at Folio: Seattle Athenaeum Tuesday

Earl Showerman, MD and Michael Delahoyde, PhD at Folio: Seattle Athenaeum, March 13, 2018 by guest correspondent Tom Townsend March 14, 2018 Two Shakespearean scholars, Earl Showerman, MD and Michael Delahoyde, PhD discussed critical topics about Shakespeare’s impressive work The Merchant of Venice . Dr. Showerman discussed a real person, Gaspar Ribiero, as the likely model for Shylock; Dr. Delahoyde showcased the need to view different perspectives in Merchant. These presentations took place Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum where approximately 50 people attended. These conversations are timely because The Seattle Shakespeare Company is producing Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice March 20-April 15, 2018. Showerman’s thesis: Ribiero is Shylock Earl Showerman clearly presented many excellent reasons why Gaspar Ribiero, a Sixteenth-century, Portuguese Jew living in Venice — and forced to convert to Christianity — could likely be the...

Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

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