History
In 1983, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) came to New York City for the first time, hosting a week of events that later came to be known as the Shakespeare Project. During the day they played host to workshops, panel discussions, and seminars for the general public, and in the evenings staged readings of early modern plays in repertory with Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Inspired by this approach, a number of “projects” or staged reading series arose across the country, including the Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Back Room Shakespeare Project, Boston Shakespeare Project, and Portland Shakespeare Project, among others.
ASP is not the first of its kind in the American southeast, but arises from Improbable Fictions (IF), a staged reading series which ran from 2007 to 2020, cut short by the coronavirus global pandemic. Inspired by IF, at the center of ASP remains a year-long series free and open to the public. With a central question, topic, technology, or character in mind, each season is curated under the advisement of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty at UA.
We hope you’ll join us on this journey.
Inspired by this approach, a number of “projects” or staged reading series arose across the country, including the Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Back Room Shakespeare Project, Boston Shakespeare Project, and Portland Shakespeare Project, among others.
ASP is not the first of its kind in the American southeast, but arises from Improbable Fictions (IF), a staged reading series which ran from 2007 to 2020, cut short by the coronavirus global pandemic. Inspired by IF, at the center of ASP remains a year-long series free and open to the public. With a central question, topic, technology, or character in mind, each season is curated under the advisement of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty at UA.
We hope you’ll join us on this journey.