Media Advisory: Lecture to Examine 37 Years of Shakespeare in Delaware Park

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Saul Elkin, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Theatre and Dance at the University at Buffalo and founding director of Buffalo's "Shakespeare in Delaware Park," will deliver the 2012 Gray Matter Lecture presented by the UB Humanities Institute on Feb. 1.

His free public talk, "Thirty-Seven Years of Shakespeare in Delaware Park: An Overview and a Look Ahead," will take place at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Screening Room, UB North Campus.

The public also is invited to a wine and cheese reception at 7 p.m., preceding the lecture, in the atrium of the Center for the Arts, where participants can meet the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, E. Bruce Pitman.

In his lecture, Elkin will discuss his experience as artistic director and actor in the summer-long Shakespeare festival in Delaware Park festival, which he founded. One of 60 Shakespeare festivals in the United States, it is the second highest in attendance.

Elkin was a professor in the UB Department of Theatre and Dance for 40 years and was the first UB recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Teaching. He has acted in or directed more than 250 productions on and off Broadway, in films, in summer and regional theaters and on television. Along with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, he is the co-founder and artistic director of the Jewish Repertory Theater of Western New York. Elkin received his BA and an MFA from Columbia University and a PhD from Carnegie-Mellon University.