Editors' Note: For more biographical information on each of the panelists, contact Mike Liguori in the CU-Boulder News Services Office at (303) 492-3117.
Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart will be part of panel discussions on the political, religious and sexual themes in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 29 and 30.
"Measure for Measure: Sexual Comedy, Political Power, Religious Values" is part of the free public symposia at CU-Boulder and the DCPA. Panel discussions will be held Jan. 29 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom at the DCPA, and Jan. 30 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Center for British and Irish Studies inside Norlin Library on the CU-Boulder campus. Audiences will have the opportunity to meet the panelists at receptions following the discussions.
The Denver Center's production of "Measure for Measure" runs Jan. 26 to Feb. 25 in the Stage Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The play is known as one of Shakespeare's most unpredictable and least classifiable dramas. The plot follows the efforts of a puritanical character as he tries to clean up the lecherous streets of Vienna but ultimately gets caught up in his own erotic dream.
Hart and three other panelists will explore the play's continuing power as a performance, roles of women in Shakespearean drama, problematical exchanges of love and money and interactions between politics, sexuality and religion. Jeffrey Cox, director of CU-Boulder's Center for Humanities and the Arts, will moderate the Jan. 29 symposium. Katherine Eggert, chair of the CU-Boulder English department, will moderate on Jan. 30.
The other panelists will be CU-Boulder economics Professor Ann Carlos, University of Wyoming English department chair Susan Frye, and Kent Thompson, new artistic director of the Denver Center Theatre Company and director of "Measure for Measure."
In addition to the two symposia, the theater company's Higher Education Advisory Council will hold a post-show discussion on Jan. 28.
To purchase tickets to the Denver Center production of "Measure for Measure" at the Stage Theatre, call (303) 893-4100 or visit
The "Measure for Measure" symposia are the sixth in a series of annual events jointly sponsored by CU-Boulder and the DCPA. In Boulder, the event is supported and coordinated by the Center for Humanities and the Arts.
For more information visit the center's Web site at
or contact Paula Anderson at (303) 492-1423 or paula.anderson@colorado.edu. For more information on the Denver symposium, contact Dane Witherspoon at (303) 893-6034 or dwitherspoon@dcpa.org.