The College community is invited to join Assistant Professor of English Will Steffen in the Flag Room of the Shea Library on Wednesday, April 12, at 11:30 a.m. for a talk in celebration of his new book, Anthropocene Theater, and the Shakespearean Stage, published by Oxford University Press.

Anthropocene Theater and the Shakespearean Stage revises the anthropocentric narrative of early globalization from the perspective of the non-human world to demonstrate Nature's agency in determining ecological, economic, and colonial outcomes. It welcomes readers to reimagine theater history in broader terms and to account for more non-human and atmospheric players in the otherwise anthropocentric history of Shakespearean performance.

This book analyses plays, horticultural manuals, cosmetic recipes, Puritan polemics, and travel writing to demonstrate how the material practices of the stage both catalyze and resist early forms of globalization in an ecological arena. Steffen addresses the role of understudied ecological performance history in determining Shakespeare's iconic cultural status and models how non-human players have undermined Shakespeare's authoritative part in colonial discourse.

Finally, this book makes a celebratory argument for the humanities in the age of climate change and invites interdisciplinary engagement in a research community that is compelled to find strategies for cultivating a hopeful tomorrow amidst unprecedented anthropogenic environmental changes.

The talk is open to everyone, and light refreshments will be served.