Shakespeare Festival Founder Marilyn Strauss with Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner and the bard at city hall.
William Shakespeare died 400 years ago but has never exactly gone away.
The city council on Thursday passed a resolution commemorating his death on April 23 and praised Marilyn Strauss, the founder of the Heart of America Shakespeare festivals in Southmoreland Park.
The council declared World Shakespeare Day a city-wide celebration of his legacy.
Strauss said she learned from working in New York City with Joseph Papp, the creator of Shakespeare plays in Central Park.
Papp said, “Theater is social force, not just entertainment,” Strauss said, and he wanted to bring it to people other than the rich and middle class.
As for Shakespeare, she added, “it has been said there was never anyone near (as good in) teaching life’s lessons, motives and consequences ….”
The council resolution states he “documented the tragedies, comedies and errors of man through his contribution of 38 plays and over 2,000 household words to English literature as it is known today….”
Strauss encouraged people to go to this year’s show of Twelfth Night, his last romantic comedy, from June 14 to July 3.
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