Writer, performer to discuss death in Shakespeare’s works

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Writer and performer Melinda Hall will present “Shakespeare’s Funeral: An Illustrated Lecture” at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 15) at The Anvil in the former University Church, 320 North St., West Lafayette.

Hall will discuss death as a theme in Shakespeare’s poems and plays. “Shakespeare’s Funeral” explores a variety of dead Shakespearean characters, common causes of death in Shakespeare’s time, and early modern burial rites, as well as Shakespeare’s own death and recent discoveries about his grave. It incorporates images from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., where Hall is a reader.

Hall premiered this presentation at the Morbid Anatomy Museum in 2016 to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. A New York City-based writer, director, actor and producer, Hall has a company, Willful Pictures, that produces the online web series “How Shakespeare Changed My Life.” Her experience in directing and teaching Shakespeare has spanned 20 years.

The Anvil, where the presentation will take place, is a student-run startup incubator for Purdue students and community members in Greater Lafayette. A reception will follow the lecture. It is free and open to the public.

The event is presented by the College of Liberal Arts, Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts, and the Babcock Lanczos lecture fund. Cornerstone will offer a new, two-semester humanities sequence, “Transformative Texts, Critical Thinking and Communication.” The courses will allow students to experience the worlds of engineering, technology, science, medicine, business and public policy from the perspective of the liberal arts, helping them understand, for example, the dynamic interplay between new technologies and society. 

Media Contact: Gabby Hlavek, 765-494-4134, ghlavek@purdue.edu

Source: Melinda Zook, 765-494-4134, mzook@purdue.edu