Washington and Lee University
The American Shakespeare Center (ASC), of Staunton, Va., one of the country’s leading performers of Shakespeare, has donated its archives—directors’ notes, prompt books, set designs, posters, fliers, still and candid photographs, playbills, programs and recordings—to W&L’s Special Collections. “It’s a very rich treasure trove for anyone studying the performance of Shakespeare,” said Hank Dobin, dean of the college at W&L and a scholar of Shakespeare. He was instrumental in bringing the collection to W&L and also serves on the ASC’s board of trustees and as head of its education committee.
Part of the reason for bringing the collection to W&L was for faculty and students in drama and English to use it for research. “If I were teaching a Shakespeare class, I would assign a research paper to my students to use this archive,” said Dobin. “Maybe they could compare two different productions of ‘Hamlet’ that occurred at the ASC over the years, or they could compare an ASC production of ‘Hamlet’ to a movie production. So it offers a lot of opportunities for W&L students.”
Scholars will also be able to study the ASC archives to understand how the company’s performances have evolved over the years. And Vaughan Stanley, Special Collections librarian, plans to set up a DVD player to view the performances.