At the American Shakespeare Center, our work doesn’t stop at the edge of the stage. Theatre is a conversation that extends beyond performance into how we interpret, teach, and engage with Shakespeare’s works.
Two internationally recognized Shakespeare scholars—Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Dr. Peter Kirwan, Academic Director of Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare & Performance Program, each illuminate how Shakespeare’s work thrives where scholarship and stage meet.
Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper
Reimagining Shakespeare for Every Generation
As the Folger Shakespeare Library reopens its doors after a historic renovation, Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper leads it into its second century with a mission to make Shakespeare’s legacy more inclusive, imaginative, and accessible.
Her award-winning book, The Great White Bard: Shakespeare, Race and the Future, invited readers worldwide to reconsider how we see the Bard through the lens of race and representation, earning recognition from Time, NPR, and The New Yorker as one of the top 100 books of 2023.
This fall, she brings that same fearless inquiry to Staunton for Lights ON Blackfriars, hosted in partnership with Mary Baldwin University: “What Are We Allowed to Say About Shakespeare?: Shakespeare in the Public Eye Post-January 2025”. This Friday, October 24 at 5:00 PM at the Blackfriars Playhouse.
Dr.Karim-Cooper turns to the youngest audiences with her forthcoming book All the World’s Your Stage: Shakespeare for Today (Penguin Random House, Nov 11, 2025).
This beautifully illustrated hardcover introduces readers ages 9–12 to eight of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays—including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Tempest—alongside stories from Tudor London and Shakespeare’s own life. Designed for classrooms and families alike, it proves that Shakespeare’s words still help children think about their world today.
“Readers will discover how Shakespeare gives us tools to think about the world today—and realize that Shakespeare really is for everyone.”
Learn more:
• The Folger Shakespeare Library
• The Great White Bard
• All the World’s Your Stage: Shakespeare for Today (Pre-Order)
Dr. Peter Kirwan
Editing, Performing, and Rethinking What Counts as Shakespeare
As Academic Director of MBU’s Shakespeare & Performance Program, Dr. Peter Kirwan transforms the study of Shakespeare into a living practice. This summer, he joined director Raphael Emmanuel for Lights ON Blackfriars: The Winter’s Tale, exploring forgiveness, loss, and transformation in one of Shakespeare’s most surprising plays.
Reflecting on the experience that launched his career, Kirwan shared:
“I was one of three people who went to see every single production in that festival … I got so excited that this one word Shakespeare could mean so many different things, so many different political beliefs, aesthetics, and so on.”
Now serving as editor of the forthcoming Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series edition of The Winter’s Tale, Kirwan continues that exploration of complexity:
“Most of the editions of the play are very literary … but very rarely very theatrically astute. And most interestingly, most editions believe Leontes. Editors traditionally say this means that. I’m trying to work with the subjunctive. What may this mean? What options might be possible here?”
In addition to his editorial work, Kirwan is General Editor of Shakespeare Bulletin and curator of The Bardathon, the world’s longest-running solo-authored record of Shakespeare performance.
The Bardathon has become a go-to destination for thoughtful theatre reviews, blending the energy of live performance with the depth of scholarly analysis. It offers readers—from students to theatre lovers worldwide—a vivid, insightful chronicle of how Shakespeare continues to thrive on stages across the globe.
(Photo from https://marybaldwin.edu/)
At MBU, Kirwan continues a legacy of collaboration between Mary Baldwin University, the ASC, and the Folger Shakespeare Library—a partnership recently deepened by the Folger’s gift of Greg Wyatt’s Tempest sculpture, now installed at Rose Terrace.
Explore Dr. Kirwan’s work:
• The Bardathon Blog
• Mary Baldwin University Shakespeare & Performance
Join the Conversation
Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper and Dr. Peter Kirwan embody a living Shakespeare—one that belongs to scholars, artists, and audiences alike.
Visit Mary Baldwin University to see The Tempest sculpture and join us on October 24 for Lights ON Blackfriars with Dr. Karim-Cooper.
Together, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Mary Baldwin University, and the ASC invite you to experience Shakespeare’s world through shared light—and see how its stories continue to shape our own.