International Shaw Society

Mid-Year Newsletter for 2010

Mission Statement

The International Shaw Society, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, provides a means for those interested in the study of the life, times, and career of Bernard Shaw and his circle to coordinate their activities, exchange information and ideas, and promote an interest in Shaw worldwide. It welcomes anyone with an interest in Shaw to join (see the end of this section for an application form). To encourage the study of Shaw and the use of his works, the ISS arranges biennial or triennial conferences, annual symposia, and occasional special sessions and seminars around the world at which anyone interested in Shaw can find a gathering of kindred spirits and an occasion to speak on and discuss Shaw and to hear and see his works in performance. Because it particularly wishes to encourage the young, the ISS offers scholarships and travel grants to young people who wish to contribute to its goals.

• Report on 1 June 2010

• by Michel W. Pharand, editor, ISS Newsletter

• ISS Homepage: www.shawsociety.org

• Email: michelpharand@yahoo.com

ISS Council

Executive Committee	Advisory Committee
Leonard Conolly, President Jay R. Tunney, Vice President Richard F. Dietrich, Treasurer John McInerney, Recording Secretary Lori Dietrich, Membership Secretary	Charles Berst John Bertolini Bernard Dukore Anthony Gibbs Nicholas Grene Denis Johnston Martin Meisel Margot Peters Sally Peters Michel Pharand Ann Saddlemyer Al Turco Stanley Weintraub Don Wilmeth	Honorary Members Sidney Albert Jacques Barzun Eric Bentley Sir Michael Holroyd Stanley Kaufmann Rhoda Nathan Barbara Smoker

ISS Events & Actions of 2010

MLA MEETINGS: To qualify for affiliate status with the Modern Language Association, which would give the ISS a lot of free advertising if accomplished and might help to spur interest in Shaw in academia, the ISS has begun sponsoring sessions at MLA annual conventions, beginning in December of 2006 at Philadelphia. As attendance at these sessions is also an important factor in receiving MLA affiliate status, we hope as many of you as possible will attend. See the ISS Homepage at www.shawsociety.org for a link that will announce the exact date and place, when that becomes available. You can attend these sessions without being an MLA member, but you must be an MLA member to be eligible to participate in the panel.

THE 33rd ANNUAL COMPARATIVE DRAMA CONFERENCE, from 26 to 28 March 2010, sponsored by Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, offered three special sessions on Shaw, arranged by Tony Stafford of the University of Texas El Paso and cosponsored by the ISS: “Shaw: Studies in Individual Plays,” “Shaw and Female Characters,” and “Shaw: Text and Idea.” Papers were presented by Tony Stafford (UTEP), Matthew Yde (Ohio State University), Jorie Licking (UTEP), Ellen Dolgin (Dominican College of Blauvelt), Amanda Cuellar (UTEP), Sidney Albert (California State University, Los Angeles), Peter Gahan (Independent Scholar), and Styarth Prakash Tripathi (Sana’a University).

THE SEVENTH ANNUAL ISS SHAW SYMPOSIUM, co-sponsored by and meeting at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, took place on 23-25 July 2010. Our thanks to Suzanne Merriman of the Shaw Festival and Leonard Conolly, the academic coordinator for the Symposium, for their invaluable assistance in setting this up. The scheduled speakers, in alphabetical order, were Margot Backus (University of Houston), Murray Biggs (Yale University), Brad Kent (Laval University), Kay Li (York University), Al Lyons (Grand Valley State University), John McInerney (University of Scranton), Sandra Russell (Central Michigan University), Tony Stafford (UTEP), David Staller (Artistic Director, Project Shaw, New York City), Larry Switzky (University of Toronto), and Biljana Vlaskovic (University of Kragujevac, Serbia). Most of the papers were on the Shaw plays produced by the Shaw Festival, The Doctor’s Dilemma and John Bull’s Other Island. Featured were discussions of current productions by Festival actors and directors.

Past ISS Events and Achievements

• • On 26 February 2010 ISS president L.W. Conolly gave a talk to about 35 members of the Shaw Society of London on the history of the Shaw Festival. He drew on the work he has been doing for his history of the Festival, to be published in...