Schedule for the Seattle Conference now online

“Places are filling up fast for the upcoming SOF annual conference in Seattle September 24-27,” according to Conference Chair Don Rubin. “The last four conferences have actually sold out in advance, so we urge everyone to register now through the SOF website.

Don added that the advance purchase discount of $25 will also be ending on August 23 as will the hugely discounted hotel rate at the hotel, the Grand Hyatt. “That’s when we have to start locking in numbers with the venue,” he explained. “Please book now if you are planning to be with us in Seattle. We will try to get you in after that date but now is the time when we have all the options.”

The conference, he explained, is the SOF’s largest annual event and is always budgeted on a break-even basis. Registration fees only cover the costs of rental for the venue, video/live stream, a wine and cheese welcome reception, two lunches, refreshment breaks throughout and, of course, an opportunity to hear some two dozen Oxfordian speakers offering new research on the Shakespeare Authorship Question.

Also included this year is a Seattle Harbor boat tour for attendees, a great opportunity to chat with the speakers and renew old friendships. The tour is scheduled for late Friday afternoon.

To aid people in making plans, the full conference schedule is now available online. Take a look

This year’s conference theme —a Shakespearean nod to Seattle — is “North by Northwest” and will feature new research from both major SOF scholars and several new speakers. Among the veterans:

• Margo Anderson who will give the Keynote on why Shakespeare chose to use a pseudonym
• Bonner Cutting on why the Prince Tudor theory is wrong
• Katherine Chiljan on Oxford’s muses
• Robert Prechter on Oxford and the Armada
• Roger Stritmatter on early Oxfordian history
• Earl Showerman on the origins of Shylock
• Michael Dudley, the recently-named Editor of The Oxfordian, on new directions for the SOF’s annual journal

Other featured speakers include Dorothy Dickerman on madness and succession in Hamlet, Phoebe Nir on Venus and Adonis, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan on de Vere’s travels, Matt Hutchinson on Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit, Richard Waugaman on paradigm shifts in the SAQ, Sky Gilbert on de Vere in Italy, Joella Werlin on the First Folio, Elisabeth Waugaman on King John, Lyle Colombo on Chaucer, John Dee and Hamlet and Tom Townsend who will provide an opening authorship 101 talk on “evidence”.

Speakers making their SOF conference debuts will include Caroline Bauman recalling the life of satirist and Oxfordian Richard Kennedy, Ira Bellew on the meaning of “ever-living”, Jeff Falzone on the Sonnets and Thomas Millar on Oxford and the Cecils. 

As well, book collector Stephen Whitehead will be attending the conference (in costume!) displaying and chatting informally about his first edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles.
Book now. Don’t be shut out.

Late Breaking News

Wow. Hamlet will be in town as well.

We just learned that a major new production of Hamlet produced by the Union Arts Center in Seattle — a recent merger of the venerable American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), Seattle Shakespeare and Wooden O (Seattle Shakespeare’s summer company — will open the same day our conference begins.

Because we were sure that many of our people would want to see this production, we have just arranged for 60 discounted tickets for the Saturday evening performance (September 26).

Soon to be available for purchase on the SOF website on a first come, first-served basis, the tickets are priced at a significant savings of $50 each. Attendees can purchase up to four tickets at this SOF discount.

Hamlet is being directed by Victor Pappas who has appeared on Broadway and has worked as an actor regularly at major regional theatres across the US including ACT, the California Actors Theatre, the New Mexico Repertory Theatre, and at the Oregon, Marin and Sherwood Shakespeare Festivals. Among his many directorial credits are Arthur Miller’s The Price, Harold Pinter’s Old Times, Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart, Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, the latter for Seattle Shakespeare.

And Another Option: Live Stream

For those unable to join us in Seattle, please note that we will be live streaming all the presentations taking place at the Grand Hyatt. As with conference registration and the Hamlet tickets, purchase of the live stream is also now available.

See you in Seattle!