Ambassador D. Bruce Wharton Has Died

The news broke on *April 16, 2026*, confirmed by his family. According to Nehanda Radio's obituary https://nehandaradio.com/2026/04/16/former-us-ambassador-to-zimbabwe-bruce-wharton-dies-after-decades-of-diplomatic-service/, his wife *Julia Wharton* announced his passing in a heartfelt statement, noting - with a kind of beautiful symmetry - that he died *on the night of their 42nd wedding anniversary*. She described it as "both painful and peaceful," and said she was by his side. Her tribute: *"Bruce has flown to his 'next posting'."* Career Highlights

- Joined the U.S. Foreign Service in *1985*, graduating from the University of Texas at Austin. - Served in Zimbabwe *twice* - first as a diplomatic officer, then as *U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe from September 2012 to November 2015*. - Postings across *Latin America and Africa*: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala, and South Africa. - Held senior roles at the State Department in public diplomacy and African affairs, including serving as Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. - *Retired from government service in 2017* after more than three decades. - Was a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/members-1/wharton/david-bruce.

Tributes

Social media has been full of tributes from former colleagues. One LinkedIn post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/karl-stoltz-b6b7b525_the-world-of-public-diplomacy-has-lost-a-activity-7450328218584174593-iHny describes him as "an extraordinary diplomat, colleague and person," while an Instagram tribute https://www.instagram.com/p/DXKwzEmk2dw/ says "the world of public diplomacy has lost a giant... and I have lost a great mentor."

He was 67. His family said plans to honor his legacy would be announced in due course.

On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:15 AM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:

Here's a link directly to the report from Nehanda Radio.

https://nehandaradio.com/2026/04/16/former-us-ambassador-to-zimbabwe-bruce-w...

Mike

On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:03 AM Maria Black mariablack1@gmail.com wrote:

...

No! He was among the very best of men! Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 17, 2026, at 7:08 AM, 'TERRY GALLOWAY' via Shakespeare at Winedale Email List shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com wrote:

He was a lovely, kind sweetheart of a man. And David, thank you for that photo you took of Bruce and me rehearsing the play shall not be named. I always loved the way he was handsome. Terry Sent from my iPad

On Apr 17, 2026, at 2:37 AM, David Sharpe dpsharpeaustin@gmail.com wrote:

 I'll never be able to think of the role of Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing' without thinking of Bruce Wharton and hearing his voice. He did an exemplary and sterling job of embodying the role.

David Sharpe.

On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 11:02 PM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:

...

According to reports I'm getting from Zimbabwean friends, former U.S. Ambassador David Bruce Wharton has died. I don't have much more news than that. I expect there will be obituaries in the national press tomorrow.

For those who may not know him, Bruce Wharton (we knew him as Zimbabweans knew him, as "Bruce") attended Shakespeare-at-Winedale in 1978 and 1979.

Even those of us who do know him may not know that he was beloved by Zimbabweans.

<image.png>

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

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Thank you, Mike, for sharing this news, tragic though it is.

Bruce was one of the shining lights of the 1978 class. As I remember it, that was the last class that got to vote on who would play whom in the plays we were performing, and Bruce impressed us all so much in our first days at Winedale that we entrusted him with the roles of both Nick Bottom and Mercutio. And he ran with those parts, investing them with so much energy and brio and wit that, like the characters in the plays, you wanted to follow him everywhere. Like David said about Benedick and Bruce, I can't hear the Queen Mab speech or Pyramus' rage over Thisbe's death without hearing Bruce's voice. It did indeed do any man's heart good to hear him roar.

Robert

On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 9:06 AM Michael Godwin via Winedale-l < winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:

Here's the bio entry on Bruce at the American Academy of Diplomacy.

https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/members-1/wharton/david-bruce

Mike

On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:15 AM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:

...

Here's a link directly to the report from Nehanda Radio.

https://nehandaradio.com/2026/04/16/former-us-ambassador-to-zimbabwe-bruce-w...

Mike

On Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 8:03 AM Maria Black mariablack1@gmail.com wrote:

...

No! He was among the very best of men! Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 17, 2026, at 7:08 AM, 'TERRY GALLOWAY' via Shakespeare at Winedale Email List shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com wrote:

He was a lovely, kind sweetheart of a man. And David, thank you for that photo you took of Bruce and me rehearsing the play shall not be named. I always loved the way he was handsome. Terry Sent from my iPad

On Apr 17, 2026, at 2:37 AM, David Sharpe dpsharpeaustin@gmail.com wrote:

 I'll never be able to think of the role of Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing' without thinking of Bruce Wharton and hearing his voice. He did an exemplary and sterling job of embodying the role.

David Sharpe.

On Thu, Apr 16, 2026 at 11:02 PM Michael Godwin mnemonic@gmail.com wrote:

...

According to reports I'm getting from Zimbabwean friends, former U.S. Ambassador David Bruce Wharton has died. I don't have much more news than that. I expect there will be obituaries in the national press tomorrow.

For those who may not know him, Bruce Wharton (we knew him as Zimbabweans knew him, as "Bruce") attended Shakespeare-at-Winedale in 1978 and 1979.

Even those of us who do know him may not know that he was beloved by Zimbabweans.

What a busy day, Casey! Yet, so full of productive joy! I would have loved the sonnets by the lake and the scenes in the evening . What a lucky position you have- so proud of you!! Thanks for sharing; it put a smile on my face!😘 Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 24, 2026, at 11:19 AM, Casey Caldwell w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's What We Can Know, a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of Macbeth (with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read Macbeth a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from The Tempest (a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is very intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion Much Ado.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, Grand Theft Hamlethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of Macbeth. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading Macbeth and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of Twelfth Night my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our Midsummer the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced Macbeth for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you! --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Shakespeare at Winedale Email List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list+unsubscribe@googlegroups.commailto:shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW...https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW-NH5sBF4XyUc%3D6jJm6E%2BN6UB6o98FNE_rtGELK2msJAg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer.

Casey, your account of Shakespeare's Birthday droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

Mike

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 7:10 PM Madge Darlington via Winedale-l < winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:

Living the dream, Casey! Happy for you. Your students are very lucky to have you.

Best, Madge

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 11:44 AM Lynn McGuire via Winedale-l < winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

What a busy day, Casey! Yet, so full of productive joy! I would have loved the sonnets by the lake and the scenes in the evening . What a lucky position you have- so proud of you!! Thanks for sharing; it put a smile on my face!😘 Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 24, 2026, at 11:19 AM, Casey Caldwell w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's *What We Can Know, *a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98 https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of * Macbeth *(with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read *Macbeth

• a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs

from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from *The Tempest *(a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is * very *intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion *Much Ado*.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, *Grand Theft Hamlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, *which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of *Macbeth*. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading *Macbeth *and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of *Twelfth Night *my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our *Midsummer *the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced *Macbeth *for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Shakespeare at Winedale Email List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW... https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW-NH5sBF4XyUc%3D6jJm6E%2BN6UB6o98FNE_rtGELK2msJAg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer .

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-- *Madge Darlington, M.F.A.* mmdarlington@utexas.edu (512) 627-6038

*Assistant Professor of Instruction* The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance https://theatredance.utexas.edu/

*Co-founder and Co-producing Artistic Director* Rude Mechs https://rudemechs.com/ _______________________________________________ Winedale-l mailing list -- winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe send an email to winedale-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org

Casey, thank you for reporting on your long and stirring Shakespearean day! Good for your students, and good for you and your family.

Mary Collins 646-554-3076 collinsmary166@gmail.com

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 12:19 PM Casey Caldwell w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com wrote:

Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's *What We Can Know, *a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98 https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of *Macbeth *(with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read *Macbeth *a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from *The Tempest *(a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is *very *intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion *Much Ado*.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, *Grand Theft Hamlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, *which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of *Macbeth*. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading *Macbeth *and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of *Twelfth Night *my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our *Midsummer *the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced *Macbeth *for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Shakespeare at Winedale Email List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW... https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list/CAAzejW-NH5sBF4XyUc%3D6jJm6E%2BN6UB6o98FNE_rtGELK2msJAg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer .

Hi Casey -

Thanks for taking the time to describe all this. Great to hear the kids are alright. Also great to hear of a life lived with purpose.

There’s plenty of good cheese under the mold we’re seeing these days. Grateful for your reminder of that.

Carl

On Apr 25, 2026, at 1:14 PM, Anne Smith Ankleking@gmail.com wrote:

Wowzers. All that in one day!!!

Sent from my iPhone

...

On Apr 24, 2026, at 1:10 PM, Mary Collins collinsmary166@gmail.com wrote:

 Casey, thank you for reporting on your long and stirring Shakespearean day! Good for your students, and good for you and your family.

Mary Collins 646-554-3076 collinsmary166@gmail.com mailto:collinsmary166@gmail.com

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 12:19 PM Casey Caldwell <w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com mailto:w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com> wrote:

...

Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's What We Can Know, a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98 https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of Macbeth (with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read Macbeth a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from The Tempest (a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is very intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion Much Ado.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of Macbeth. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading Macbeth and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of Twelfth Night my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our Midsummer the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced Macbeth for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

---

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-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

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-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

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Dear Casey —

I want to be in Dr. Caldwell’s class…! And your festival… and your English Players…!

Thank you for this inspiration. What a lovely Shakespeare’s Birthday for you, and via your email, what a wonderful birthday gift for all of us.

I was in a Shakespearean swirl yesterday too — first, meeting with three 5th grade teams to make final preparations for the Winedale Festival of Play (tomorrow!), then dashing to campus for the on-campus performance of Dr. Brokaw’s first spring class (I’ve been assisting and also was roped into being part of the “dance band” for the sheep-shearing). An audience of about a hundred friends, faculty, and family members gathered in the good ol’ Parlin-Calhoun courtyard for a lovely evening with a magical play. A gentle breeze blew through the courtyard as solemn music — a cello and an oboe, played by Molly and Shreya, who also composed the tune — sounded out to awaken Hermione’s statue. David Weiser was among the audience members who admitted afterwards to being misty-eyed as the final moments unfurled with such grace.

I’m with Laurel — the spring class students really came together and played with heart and with a commitment to sounding out those amazing words. It’s a class of 20 and their devotion to the program has been an uplifting thing to experience.

There was so much to do yesterday that I completely forgot to tell the 5th graders at Maplewood that it was Shakey’s birthday…! I felt kinda bad about that later, but perhaps we can include Will in our Eeyore’s birthday song on Saturday afternoon under the pecans. I was remembering how when I taught 5th grade at Blackshear Elementary, my mom would make a cake for Shakespeare and bring it to the school and we’d sing...

On Will’s birthday eve, a fifth grade girl at another school was practically doing pogo jumps when I arrived. “I’m so excited!” she told me. “Saturday is Winedale!” They know something special is ahead, something they’ve heard about since my first visit in September. We’ve got students from Austin, Round Rock, Westlake Hills, Gonzales, and — thanks to Robin Grace Soto — Fayette County all heading for the Barn tomorrow to share their work and play, and I can’t wait to just be there and take it all in. And a Winter’s Tale in the Barn tonight, and tomorrow too. As Katie wrote the class today: “How lucky are we?!”

And today I got a bit teary-eyed again watching five 3rd grade girls at Blackshear — where my program really began in 1997 — perform the Mercutio and Tybalt fight scene in the library one last time before I headed out for the next stop. Avis, playing Mercutio, just had the sweetest smile as she said in a delicate voice… “a scratch… a scratch” while beaming and holding her side. I had to laugh too, it was so sweet and genuine and, because Avis is so tiny, also comical, like an echo of what we often experience watching a beautiful performance of Thisbe’s death speech in MND. They are our lead-off batters tomorrow and I predict the audience will be entranced for those four minutes.

The kids are alright, indeed! I say amen, Gonzalo!

Love to all of you, and eternal thanks to each of you on this list for everything you’ve done to make these moments of Shakespeare at Winedale possible. And keep up the great work and play, Casey and Viola and Sebastian and family…!

At the Duke’s Oak we meet,

cs

From: shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com on behalf of Casey Caldwell w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com Date: Friday, April 24, 2026 at 11:19 AM To: shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com Winedale shakespeare-at-winedale-email-list@googlegroups.com Cc: Shakespeare at Winedale 1970-2000 alums winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org; Katy Reedy katyree@gmail.com Subject: About Shakespeare's Birthday

Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's What We Can Know, a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of Macbeth (with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read Macbeth a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from The Tempest (a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is very intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion Much Ado.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, Grand Theft Hamlethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of Macbeth. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading Macbeth and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of Twelfth Night my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our Midsummer the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced Macbeth for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

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Casey,

What a wonderfully vigitant day! And what a beautiful life you have built, immersed in Shakespeare, exercising your talent and knowledge with appreciative folks, and wrapped in the love of your beautiful family. Perfit.

I miss you and long to catch up and reminisce, my dear Falstaff!

Love, Susan

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 5:19 PM Casey Caldwell w.casey.caldwell@gmail.com wrote:

Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's *What We Can Know, *a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98 https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of *Macbeth *(with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read *Macbeth *a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from *The Tempest *(a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is *very *intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion *Much Ado*.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, *Grand Theft Hamlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, *which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of *Macbeth*. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading *Macbeth *and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of *Twelfth Night *my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our *Midsummer *the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced *Macbeth *for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

-- Be vigitant, I beseech you!

---

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Casey,

Your self-described "busy day" on the 23rd -- what an understatement! -- reads like a riff on *Ulysses*, with you in the role of Leopold Bloom and Shakespeare standing in for Dublin. So many encounters, so many adventures, so much joy -- Pericles was a piker by comparison! Thank you for taking us along on this singular journey. In just a handful of hours, in your present life and in memory, you experienced the full scope of Shakespeare's work: the sonnets, Macbeth, The Tempest, Much Ado, Hamlet, Twelfth Night. And yet your details about the day -- the spring weather, the flicking of Trinculo's nose, the pizza and soda (and their price tag), the 14 students and two professors collaborating on Macbeth, James seeing your Midsummer after his back surgery, your Viola and her Play-Doh puppy -- kept it all personal and intimate, much as Shakespeare does in his writing. What a joy to follow you on that day. You gave us a grand gift for the Bard's birthday.

Thanks and ever thanks, Robert

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 11:20 AM Casey Caldwell via Winedale-l < winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hi, all,

I had a busy day on April 23rd, the day we traditionally celebrate as Shakespeare's birthday, and I found myself thinking about our Winedale family a lot throughout. In these dark times, I thought it might be nice to hear about it.

I started my day teaching from Ian McEwan's *What We Can Know, *a (post-)post-apocalyptic novel that, at its heart, is about the role literature and literature professors can play after the world has collapsed. There are many allusions to Shakespeare in the novel and if you've not read it, I highly recommend you do. Yesterday, we focused on the novel's depiction of future college students' lack of interest in history and whether they saw themselves in these students—most said that in high school they found rote memorization boring but in college they were becoming more interested in history as a conversation and contested subject. A hopeful note!

Next, I hosted a Shakespeare Sonnet Festival by the lake on our campus. Many students came out to read and discuss Shakespeare's sonnets on the grass by the lake. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. If you're familiar with the weather in the Midwest, you know April (but also May) is the cruelest month, so these truly spring days must be cherished. I broke the ice by reading sonnet 98 https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/98/?q=April,%20winter#line-98.1; I noted that I'm happily married to a wife that was nearby, so the spring day was actually a spring day for me, but that I had spent many wintery Aprils in my earlier life.

After, my Shakespeare course met to watch the Joel Coen film adaptation of *Macbeth *(with Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand). We read *Macbeth *a couple weeks ago and next week they'll be performing short dialogs from the play. The students really like the two lead performances, the creative choice with Kathryn Hunter as the witch(es), and what I called Coen's creation of a "Super Ross" whose motives seemed to transcended the world of the play.

After a quick breather and snack bar, I went in to rehearsal for the English Players, a student group I direct that I have re-oriented around Winedale's learning through performance practices. We'll be putting on two scenes from *The Tempest *(a play I selected because we'll be taking students in the fall to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and it will be one of the performances they'll see). Last night we were playing with 3.2, the scene in which the drunken clowns brag about how much they can drink, plot the murder of Prospero, and rhapsodize about the isle being full of noises. We had good fun trying out different versions of Stephano's beating on Trinculo and thinking about how they advanced the story the story in different ways. Right now, she's flicking Trinculo on the nose in the belief that this is *very *intimidating. I remembered warmly David Ziegler's inimitable and drunken Borachio not wanting any colors colored in our 2015 reunion *Much Ado*.

I then had just enough time to walk-jog over to an auditorium in the student union where I was hosting a movie night. I was showing students the documentary, *Grand Theft Hamlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloHiBOMPm8, *which follows two British actors during lockdown in 2021 attempting to put on a production of Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online. It's a funny and surprisingly touching look into two actors seeking to continue their art and find human connection during a time of isolation. An ensemble builds up around them in an inspiring way. The students loved it (plus the $200 worth of pizza and soda I supplied; I'd have included a keg of Shiner if the college would have let me; as an adjunct, I have my own version of the Sword of Damocles I must be ever-mindful of).

Finally (and this may have been my favorite part of the day), I walked back across campus to the arts building for a staged reading of *Macbeth*. A student in my Shakespeare course told a friend with whom he shares strong Scottish lineage that we were reading *Macbeth *and they decided to do a reading of the play, just the two of them. Word of mouth spread, however, and this spontaneous event blossomed into fourteen students and two professors, homemade costumes, wooden swords, sound cues including a screeching owl, and a couple kilts. They improvised and improved all of this themselves in a truly ensemble spirit (with two Peter Quinces to guide the overall process). The pure spirit of play in the room would have been immediately recognizable for all of you. It was vivifying. I had no idea this was happening until my student told me about it a week or so ago; it was truly student created and led, I was merely a contingent factor.

On my hour-long drive home last night, I was tearing up from the complex mix of emotions and exhaustion. This last event affected me the most. Thoughts swirled of the production of *Twelfth Night *my Winedale classmates and I put on after our 2003 summer and of James Loehlin attending our *Midsummer *the same day he'd had back surgery; of Doc and the first students originating Winedale in the same spirit of play and exploration and how the practical origins of the circle created a lasting ritual; of my children asleep at home with my wife who is also a Shakespearean and how I'm about the same age my dearly-departed father was when he came out to Winedale in 2003 and finally understood the life I'd chosen (Doc, he was a Vietnam vet and the bootcamp structure helped with that a lot!); and of just the simple joy I could see in the students' faces as they experienced *Macbeth *for the first time last night.

As I write this, my daughter, Viola, is engaging her imagination with Play-Doh, creating something she is calling a "boody puppy," while our real puppy, Sebastian, dances about her feet.

In these frightening days, some of the kids are alright. Thought you'd like to know.

Taking pains to be vigitant, Casey

---

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