Very cool that we’re in the Back to School issue of L.A. Parent! You can pick up a free issue all over Los Angeles county – there’s even a San Fernando Valley edition – or you can browse or download the online edition here.
Why Shakespeare? from The Mousetrap
I hope you already know and love The Mousetrap podcast, especially their hilarious Shakespeare Madness. It’s a site that’s long been one of our favorite bookmarks. So we are unbelievably thrilled and honored to be featured on their latest podcast, entitled Why Shakespeare? Thank you Dori!
Shakespeare Star Wars
If there’s one thing I love probably as much as Shakespeare, it’s probably Star Wars, which kind of makes me a double geek. So you can understand why I love this book so much. And trust me, it’s not just any old transliteration of George Lucas’ screenplay using Shakespeare’s diction – this is the real thing, with layers of meaning, with references and in-jokes, and with serious scholarship (and artistry).
I wrote a fawning fan letter to Ian Doescher and names-dropped my recent participation at the Folger and my fellow presenter Ken Ludwig, and was honoured to receive a wonderful and generous personal response, where Mr. Doescher told me that one of his hopes was to introduce young people to Shakespeare through his work. Bravo!
You’ll really have to read the book for yourself to appreciate its brilliance, but if I may, I’d like to share with you this excerpt from its afterword, from just after the paragraph where the author talks about the parallels between the main characters in the Star Wars movies and Shakespeare’s archetypal characters:
Shakespeare’s plays and Star Wars also feature a host of colorful supporting players. C-3PO and R2-D2 observe and comment on the action like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Chewbacca is as untamable as Caliban. Lando is as smooth and self-interested (at first) as Brutus. Obi-Wan Kenobi is like a wise Prospero (before death) or a haunting King Hamlet (after). Jabba the Hutt enjoys a diet worthy of Falstaff. Boba Fett is like Richard III‘s murderers 1, 2, and 3, but with a jetpack and blaster instead of a knife. Yoda’s speech is as backward as Dogberry’s but as wise as Polonius’s.
Following in Footsteps
Sherman’s begun composing! She was reading a book by Julia Donaldson she’d borrowed from the library, and in it there were words to a song without music. Naturally, she began setting those words to her own melody. You can watch the video HERE.
Shakespeare Geek on KinderBard
Let me just start off by saying that the Shakespeare Geek is an actual personal hero of mine. I’ve read and commented on his intelligent, learned, playful and inspiring blog posts at his site which he’s maintained since 2005, he’s a man truly dedicated to his passion, and not one to go for a quick buck either – his iPhone app ShakeShare is another of his labours of love – a fantastically entertaining little treasure trove of quotes and jokes and puns and one-liners by and about our favourite playwright.
So when I discovered that he had written about us – and begun his post with the words,
I think that Daeshin Kim would be fun to hang out with
well, I was thrilled! In fact that first sentence was the only thing in the entire blog post that he was wrong about – everything else is pure gold! Thank you so much, sir, for taking the time to look at our work and to write about it!
Beach Bound Books loves Shakespeare
Stacie Theis tells me she had no idea today was Shakespeare’s birthday, but I think she knew, subconsciously. How else would you explain the fact that after emailing and tweeting each other for a few months about her wish to publish an interview with me on her wonderful book review site, Beach Bound Books, she went ahead and published it today?
By the way, Stacie and Sohyun have so much in common – not only did Sohyun go to university in San Diego, where Stacie lives, but they are both art teachers and both wives, moms and illustrators. We are so thrilled an honored to have received Stacie’s support!
You can read our interview here.
KinderBard on CBS Los Angeles
We’ve just returned from our live interview on CBS Los Angeles (KCAL9 News). Thank you so much to Brittany Johnson for taking care of us, and to the amazing Sandra Mitchell for inviting us and interviewing us. We’ll publish a video clip as soon as we get hold of it…!
KinderBard at Folger’s Annual Education Conference
We are so thrilled to have been invited to the Folger Shakespeare Library‘s annual Conference on Teaching Shakespeare in the Elementary Classroom on June 24-26, 2013 in Washington D.C.
For those of you who don’t know, the Folger Shakespeare Library is home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials, and their annual conference connects with educators from around the country for three days of interactive workshops, discussions and activities for bringing Shakespeare to life in our elementary classrooms.
We will be presenting uses of our book, using materials from our free guide which many of you have already downloaded. There will also be a book signing event after the conference – oh, and they’re now stocking our book in Folger’s gift shop!
Conejo Valley Shakespeare Society’s Youth Shakespeare Company
Remember the blog post just over two months ago about how much the Conejo Valley Shakespeare Society impressed us with their acting skills, and that we decided to use these talented children’s voices in our iPad app?
Well, we began the recording process and Alicia Doyle from the Ventura County Star wrote an article about it! Thank you again to Mary Carrig for organizing the day, to Pete Turpel for letting us use his studio, and Karen Quincy Loberg for the wonderful photographs!
Our precious children
Many of us this week have been thinking perhaps more than usual how precious our children are to us, and in that spirit, here’s to the children in our lives, and here are the children of our most generous backers and most special friends, children who brighten our days and inspire our work.