NBM Shakespeare Fact Sheet FINAL

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM 401 F STREET NW WASHINGTON, DC 20001 TEL. 202.272.2448 FAX 202.272.2564 EXHIBITION FACT SHEE...

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NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

401 F STREET NW

WASHINGTON, DC 20001 TEL. 202.272.2448 FAX 202.272.2564

EXHIBITION FACT SHEET EXHIBITION

Reinventing the Globe: A Shakespearean Theater for the 21st Century

WHEN

January 13 – August 27, 2007

WHERE

National Building Museum, second-floor galleries

OVERVIEW

In association with the Shakespeare in Washington festival, the National Building Museum presents Reinventing the Globe: A Shakespearean Theater for the 21st Century. This exhibition traces the longstanding fascination with the Globe theater, in which many of Shakespeare’s plays premiered, and the numerous efforts to evoke the spirit of that structure in subsequent theater designs. The show culminates with a series of hypothetical Shakespearean theaters for the 21st century, which suggest innovative strategies for bringing the playwright’s work to modern audiences. These projects, commissioned especially for the exhibition, were created by set designer and theater consultant John Coyne of Connecticut; and the architecture firms H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture of New York, the Office of Mobile Design of Venice, California, the Rockwell Group of New York, and Michele Saee Studio of Beverly Hills. The exhibition includes drawings, models, and computer renderings of the proposed projects; plus interpretive models, renderings, and photographs of the Globe and other Shakespearean theaters over the past 400 years.

ARTIFACTS

Divided into four sections, the exhibition begins with an introduction to Elizabethan theaters, where visitors will see reproduction maps, images, excavation diagrams, and drawings of 16th- and 17th-century England and its numerous theaters. The Globe theater is represented by a 1950s conjectural model by John Cranford Adams made of walnut, plaster, and pencil eraser strips, plus reproduction engravings and other illustrations. In the third section, photographs and models of Shakespearean theaters built around the world since the Globe illustrate the longstanding interest in the Bard and his famous stage. New projects include the Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, DC, by Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. (scheduled for completion in 2007) and the New Globe Theater in New York, New York, by Foster and Partners (scheduled for completion in 2012). The exhibition culminates with five proposals for 21st-century Shakespearean theaters by individuals and teams of talented architects and designers: John Coyne, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, Office of Mobile Design, the Rockwell Group, and Michele Saee Studio. Digital sketches and models bring the innovative ideas to life.

CURATORS

Reinventing the Globe is curated by Martin Moeller, senior vice president and curator at the National Building Museum. Moeller has served as lead curator for several Museum exhibitions, including Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete and The Turner City Collection: Rendering a Century of Building. Reed Haslach, also of the National Building Museum, served as assistant curator. Haslach most previously worked on the exhibitions The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design and Tools of the Imagination. -more-

EXHIBITION DESIGN

The exhibition installation is designed by MaryJane Valade, exhibition designer at the National Building Museum. Graphic design is by Nancy Van Meter.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS

Reinventing the Globe: A Shakespearean Theater for the 21st Century is made possible by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Mrs. Emily Malino Scheuer; Jacqueline and Marc Leland; and the Wolfensohn Family Foundation.

MUSEUM INFORMATION LOCATION

The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C., at the entrance to the Judiciary Square Metro station on the Red Line.

HOURS

The Museum is open to the public Monday through Saturday, from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, from 11 am to 5 pm — closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

ADMISSION

Admission to the Museum is free; $5 donation suggested.

GROUP TOURS

Exhibition and building tours are available for groups of 10 or more by appointment. For more information or to schedule a tour, call the Museum’s group tour coordinator at 202.272.2448, ext. 3561.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Electronic images are available upon request by calling the National Building Museum’s Marketing & Communications department at 202.272.2448 or emailing [email protected] or [email protected].

INFORMATION

Public information is available by calling 202.272.2448 or by visiting the Museum’s website at www.nbm.org.

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