Professor Frank Hildy receives prestigious Globe Senior Research Fellowship

Professor Franklin J. Hildy, University of Maryland, recognized for extraordinary contributions to Shakespeare and theatre with Senior Research Fellowship from Shakespeare’s Globe, London.

On Wednesday 21 October, a prestigious line-up of expertise was celebrated at Shakespeare’s Globe with the first Globe Senior Research Fellowships, created to recognise the extraordinary contribution to knowledge of Shakespearean theatre through their work at and for the Globe over two decades or more.

One such Fellow was Franklin J. Hildy, Professor of Theatre and Director of the PhD Program in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. Professor Hildy is also the Director of Shakespeare’s Globe USA Research Archive. Other Fellows are: Professor Andrew Gurr, Professor Emeritus at Reading University and former Director of Research at the Globe; Jon Greenfield, project architect during the reconstruction of the Globe and reconstruction architect of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; Peter McCurdy, Shakespeare's Globe Master Craftsman and director of McCurdy & Co. the timber craftsmen who constructed the Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; Mark Rylance, founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe; Claire van Kampen, founding Director of Music at Shakespeare's Globe and Globe Associate for Early Music; and Professor Martin White, Professor Emeritus at University of Bristol, Globe Associate for Early Modern Lighting and one of the world’s leading scholars of historic theatre lighting whose research greatly informed the construction of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

The appointing committee consisted of Chief Executive of Shakespeare's Globe, Neil Constable, Director of Globe Education, Patrick Spottiswoode and Head of Higher Education & Research and Chair of the Architecture Research Group (ARG), Dr Farah Karim-Cooper. An inaugural lunch and presentation took place at Shakespeare's Globe on Wednesday 21 October.

Dr Karim-Cooper says: “The recipients of these prestigious fellowships are the pioneers of the Globe's highly esteemed academic programme; their own curiosity about the theatres and theatre practices of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has sparked the curiosity of countless others and provoked further research into Shakespearean theatres on a global scale. We are extremely proud of what they have accomplished and what they have enabled the Globe to accomplish”.

Each of the seven new Fellows is a member of the Architecture Research Group and continues to contribute research and academic insight into theatre practice in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The ARG was established to conduct or commission research into Elizabethan playhouse architecture in order to advise the board of the Shakespeare Globe Trust about developing the Globe theatre space in accordance with new research.

Shakespeare's Globe has a highly reputable research programme, in large part due to the extraordinary commitment of the fellows to the organisation over the years. The Fellows also serve as faculty in Globe Education's Higher Education programme, providing lectures and master classes to the Globe/King's College London MA in Shakespeare Studies.

Globe Education has resident academics leading original research and supervising graduate and post graduate studies. The MA in Shakespeare Studies in partnership with King’s College London is now in its fifteenth year. Over 200 students a year participate in undergraduate and MA modules and conservatory acting programmes. In addition, more than one thousand students across the world are involved in short courses.

Franklin J. Hildy is Professor of Theatre and Director of the PhD Program in the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also serves as the Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (USA) Research Archive. He works as a theatre consultant for historic theatre preservation and reconstruction, and is a member of the Architecture Research Group for Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Professor Hildy has conducted field research on historic theatres in twenty one countries. As co-author with Oscar G. Brockett of The History of Theatre, a work generally known as the “bible of theatre history,” his writing on theatre architecture is read worldwide. He serves as convener of the Theatre Architecture Working Group for the International Federation for Theatre Research, is a member of the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) and an associate of Perspectiv—The Association of Historic Theatres in Europe.

Shakespeare's Globe is a unique international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare's work and the playhouses for which he wrote, through the connected means of performance and education. Together, the Globe Theatre, Globe Exhibition & Tour and Globe Education seek to further the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.

Globe Education is the dedicated education department at Shakespeare’s Globe. Established in 1989 by Patrick Spottiswoode, Director, it is today one of the most respected and largest arts education departments in the country, presenting a year-round programme of workshops, lectures, events and family theatre, UK and international outreach projects for schools and learning groups, Higher Education courses, pioneering digital resources and original research led by in-house academics. For more information visit shakespearesglobe.com/education

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Or Jo Philpotts, Press & PR Consultant, on +44(0)7775 895 680 or jo.philpotts@gmail.com