Hi All,
My name's Jeremy and I'm a first year ARM student, although I'm hoping to leave the program to pursue my PhD in English in the Fall. I've just finished an MA in English at Queen's and did my BA at Ottawa University (also in English).
In an ideal world, I'd be working on a PhD thesis on the apprentice actor's on Shakespeare's stage in the early years of the 1600's (Alexander Cooke and Robert Armin in particular). My research interests circle around the original staging of Shakespeare's comedies, but my interest in staging and comedy extend into contemporary theatre, film, and television. I try to keep current on internet and pop culture and I spend an awful lot of time (although, surprisingly, not that much money) on seeing live theatre. I've been to see approximately one show a week since moving to Toronto and am going to see closing night of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart at the end of March (along with If/Then with Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp, which I'm equally excited about).
As far as my interests in the future of the book go, I'm currently looking at new ways to teach Shakespeare through interactive e-book editions of the texts that include multiple notes and built-in audio and video recordings of the plays. Right now I'm working with the Folger Luminary Editions and find them fascinating.
DISCLAIMER: I've got a tendency to write long, thorough blog posts and tend to take devil's advocate positions (or at least positions that question the assumptions of the arguments of others) in order to expand discussions and bring conversations to their most robust conclusions. I genuinely do not mean to harm or offend you if I contradict or question your argument. One of my more neurotic fears is that my comments will be interpreted this way, so I tend to make this disclaimer a lot.
Looking forward to an excellent semester and to getting to know all of you!
-Jeremy
PS. I meant to add before that I work for the Media Commons in Robarts, so feel free to stop by and pick up the latest DVDs!
Hi Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, wow! You're going to see Patrick Stewart! I actually fell down the stairs once because of him (sort of - I was 12 and about to miss an episode of Star Trek...). :)
Second of all, I'm glad to hear that you will be posting "devil's advocate" posts. I find that we (iSchoolers? Canadians?) are all so nice that we're afraid to post thoughts that challenge our fellow students. But isn't that what university should be all about? A safe place to discuss and challenge one another?
Looking forward to reading your posts,
Polina