Conversations from the Cullman Center: James Shapiro and John Lithgow

James Shapiro and John Lithgow discuss Shapiro’s most recent book, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, which shows how tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year—King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.

James Shapiro is Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University. He is the author of five previous books, the editor of Shakespeare in America, a Governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library, a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at New York’s Public Theater, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Shapiro has been awarded fellowships by the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEH, and the Huntington Library. He worked on his book Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? at the Cullman Center in 2006-2007.

John Lithgow is an award-winning actor, musician, artist, and author, known for his work on stage, television, and film on both sides of the Atlantic. He writes best-selling children’s books and music, and published a memoir called Drama: An Actor’s Education, in 2011. He played the title role in King Lear at Shakespeare in the Park in 2014, and wrote a diary blog about it for The New York Times (“Learning ‘Lear’”). James Shapiro was the dramaturge for that production.

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