Delaware Theatre Company's series of audience enrichment events, Connections: A Community Conversation, concludes on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 with "Shakespeare in Wartime." This event is presented in conjunction with the theatre's production of Henry V by William Shakespeare, adapted by Sanford Robins. This topical forum will explore how the plays of Shakespeare have been appropriated over the years by different sides during numerous wars to make various political points. Kevin Burke and Miranda Wilson, two University of Delaware Shakespeare scholars, will guide the discussion, which will feature actors from the Delaware Shakespeare Festival reading selections from the plays being examined. The Connections forum will follow the 2:00 p.m. matinee at approximately 4:45 p.m. and run about 90 minutes. The event is free and open to the public and is partly funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information call 302.594.1100.

Kevin Burke is a doctoral candidate in medieval literature at the University of Delaware. He has taught Shakespeare and early British literature at the University and has given papers on Shakespeare and other Renaissance writers at academic conferences in the U. S. and Canada. His review of The Poetics of Transubstantiation appears in the current issue of the Seventeenth Century Journal and his article on Shakespeare's contemporary is forthcoming in the St. Austin Review.

Miranda Wilson received her B.A. from Carleton College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, and is currently Assistant Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Delaware. Her current book project, Works of Darkness: Poison and Ways of Knowing in Early Modern England explores the period's fascination with poison, arguing that when English writers attempt to make visible the invisible weapon of poison, they help shape the period's notions of causality, proof, and certainty. Along with medical, legal, and theological aspects of poison, Professor Wilson's research and teaching interests include gender, the history of science, architecture and cultural studies in early modern British culture.

"Shakespeare in Wartime" will take place at Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water Street in Wilmington. The event will follow the 2:00 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, April 28th, 2007, beginning at approximately 4:45 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 302.594.1100.

Connections: A Community Conversation is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Delaware Theatre Company's 2006-2007 season is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase. Media Sponsor for Henry V is WRTI. Artist transportation provided by Amtrak. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to promoting and supporting the arts in Delaware. The Delaware Division of the Arts provides technical and financial assistance to artists and arts programs and serves as a clearinghouse for information on the arts.

Delaware Theatre Company, Delaware's largest professional theatre, is located at 200 Water Street, on Wilmington's exciting Riverfront. Delaware Theatre Company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, Theatre Communications Group, the Arts Consortium of Delaware, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, and the Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau.