30-Year Affair with Hofstra: Director David Kaplan Guest Lectures

East Brunswick, NJ — Author/ Stage Director David Kaplan will guest lecture on Shakespeare’s Roman Plays on Thursday, November 29^th at Hofstra University. The lecture is based on “Chapter 12: Shakespeare’s Classic” from Kaplan’s new digital theater history textbook, Shakespeare, Shamans, and Show Biz: An Impolite Guide to Theater History. David Kaplan will be visiting the classes of Professor Patricia C. Navarra. Professor Navarra is an early adopter of Mr. Kaplan’s new digital textbook on theater history, Shakespeare, Shamans, and Show Biz. Mr. Kaplan is looking forward to feedback from Professor Navarra’s students about using his new “Impolite Guide to Theater History” as the series is known.

David Kaplan’s Thirty-Year Connection to Hofstra University

David Kaplan’s connection to Hofstra’s theater department dates back to the early 1980s. At that time Hofstra professors Richard Mason, Miriam Tulin, and Rob Weiner inspired their students to become theater artists and create their own work. A Hofstra production of The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, directed and designed by Professor Rob Weiner is still referenced by Kaplan as a standard of excellence. A number of Hofstra graduates came to study at Kaplan’s Manhattan studio, among them were the creators of Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding including Nancy Cassaro, Moira Wilson, and Elizabeth Dennehy; actress Monica Horan Rosenthal; Jef Hall-Flavin, now executive director of the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival; the novelist and playwright Judy Sheehan; editor/author Resa Alboher; and now veteran performer Tom McGowan. Hofstra professor Patricia C. Navarra brought Kaplan’s new theater history book, Shakespeare, Shamans and Show Biz, to Hofstra University this fall 2012 semester.

About David Kaplan

As author, director, and teacher, Kaplan exemplifies the synergy of scholarship and artistic creation. His research into the life and writings of Tennessee Williams has led to two books: Tennessee Williams in Provincetown and Tenn at One Hundred: The Reputation of Tennessee Williams. At the same time, he has directed productions of Tennessee Williams’ plays in Europe, Asia, South America and throughout the United States, and co-founded the prestigious Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, now in its seventh year, for which he is curator. Kaplan has lectured at NYU, Columbia, Bard, Rutgers, and Hofstra on subjects as diverse as Racine, Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, Ibsen, and Ubu Roi.

 About Shakespeare, Shamans and Show Biz

Shakespeare, Shamans, and Show Biz: The Impolite Guide to Theater History by David Kaplan is a theater history textbook published by Hansen Publishing Group. It is available only in digital format and is being released chapter by chapter through online retailers Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, and BarnesandNoble.com. Shakespeare, Shamans, and Show Biz: The Impolite Guide to Theater History will ultimately consist of twenty-four chapters. For more information, please visit http://www.theaterhistoryguide.com/.