Oregon Shakespeare Festival To Modernize Shakespeares Entire Canon
b'No one debates that Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in the English language. What is debatable is just how much today\\u2019s audiences actually understand that language.
\\u201cI\'ll be really honest to say I can\'t understand all of it all the time,\\u201d says Lue Douthit, the director of literary development and dramaturgy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival \\u2014 and she makes her living studying theater.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced today it plans to bridge that comprehension gap with an unprecedented project underwritten by the foundation of tech entrepreneur David Hitz. \\u201cPlay On\\u201d will commission 36 dramatists to translate the Bard\\u2019s entire canon of 38 plays into contemporary modern English. Ranging from award-winning playwrights to up-and-comers and translators, the writers represent a wide diversity of voices: more than half are women and more than half people of color.
\\u201cThe goal is to keep all of the structure of the language intact, and the setting intact,\\u201d says artistic director Bill Rauch. \\u201cBut to actually take words that may have lost their meaning or may have different meanings today and look at translating those words.\\u201d
Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-shakespeare-festival-to-modernize-shakespeares-entire-canon'