Delaware Shakespeare Festival Program Explores Societal Barriers.

After a record-breaking 2014 season, Delaware Shakespeare Festival returns in 2015 with new programming and a new community outreach program leading up to this summer’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew.” “Kate Speaks,” DSF’s 2015 Community Cornerstone project, will explore issues of social barriers in connection to “The Taming of the Shrew,” as artists from this summer’s production, including director Samantha Bellomo and actor Felicia Leicht, visit lifelong learning centers, a high school and a women’s business group to learn how Delawareans have run into—and hopefully overcome—societal barriers in their lives. DSF artists will also hold writing workshops at Groves Adult High School with students responding to Kate’s famous final monologue, where she gets the opportunity to address key members of her community about a woman’s role in society. A culminating public forum will take place at Wilmington University, where the artists (and some participants) will share what they learned. “After our ‘I Am Hamlet’ program was such a success last year, we realized how important it is to our mission to spark conversation and show how these classic works still speak to us today,” says David Stradley, producing artistic director of Delaware Shakespeare Festival. “It’s our ‘community cornerstone’ because it lays the foundation for everything we do in the course of a year.” See more at www.delshakes.org.