We are thrilled to welcome you to the 2024 Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference! The theme this year is “Shakespeare & Play”. Our conference features presentations of exciting work from students at colleges across the U.S.

Please review our schedule of events below. We hope to see you there on April 27!

REGISTER HERE

Location: Clark University, Dana Commons

8am – 9am | Dana Commons Atrium (1st Floor)

Welcome & Breakfast for Attendees

9am – 9:15am | Fireside Lounge (2nd Floor)

Opening Remarks

9:30am – 10:30am | Higgins Lounge (2nd Floor)

Session 1: Stage Play

Peyton Van Deusen (Clark U) – “Trumpet Playing in Othello: Music vs. Noise

Allison Rinehart (Clark U) – “Doomed Lovers and Rude Mechanicals: Plot and Purpose in A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Play-Within-A-Play”

April Chronowski (Clark U) – “Shakespeare and Theater as Our Green World”

10:30am – 10:45am | Dana Commons Atrium (1st Floor)

Snack/Coffee/Tea Break

10:45am – 11:45am | Higgins Lounge (2nd Floor)

Session 2: Remix/Replay

Esther Yankah Koranteng (Northeastern U) – “Race and Gender Politics in Love’s Labours Lost by William Shakespeare”

Juliana Hall (Clark U) – “Shanghai’s Bleeding Heart: Analyzing Emotional Agency in Chloe Gong’s YA Romeo and Juliet Adaptation”

Natalie Lorenia Ibarra (Northern Arizona U) – “Machismo Mayhem and Modern-Day Romance: Gentefying Shakespeare”

11:50am – 12:35pm | Higgins Atrium (2nd Floor)

Lunch

12:35pm – 1:30pm | Fireside Lounge (2nd Floor)

Keynote Lecture: “Shakespeare & Play: The Art of Visualizing Race through Virtual Reality” (see poster below)

David Sterling Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, Trinity College

1:45pm – 3:15pm | Higgins Lounge (2nd Floor)

Session 3: Playing Things

Edwin O’Connor (CC of Rhode Island) – “’Balm thy broken sinews’: King Lear’s Mock Trial”

Giovanna Iosso (Clark U) – “’Keep me in temper’: Performance, Purgation, and Madness in King Lear”

Bobby Robbins (Bentley U) – “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Totally Deadises: The Absurdity of Reflection”

Leo Brisson (Clark U) – “The Father of Every Insane Form: Law, Love and Comedy in The Merchant of Venice”

3:15pm – 3:30pm | Dana Commons Atrium (1st Floor)

Snack/Coffee/Tea Break

3:30pm – 4pm | Dana Commons Atrium (1st Floor)

Swordplaying Demonstration – Clark U Theater Dept

4pm – 4:30pm | Higgins Lounge (2nd Floor)

Essay Prize Ceremony & Closing Remarks

Dinner on your own

8pm – 10pm | Jean McDonough Arts Center (JMAC), Downtown Worcester

Twelfth Night Performance (The Hanover Theatre Rep)