COVID-19 wiped nearly everything off our calendar. Our spring AFTLS tour was cut short, requiring all 5 members of the cast to fly directly back home to England a week early. (Thankfully, they all got home smoothly.) We had to reschedule our annual NDSF productions to next summer, and later had to cancel the fall 2020 AFTLS tour of As You Like It. Grant Mudge’s Shakespeare classes at DePaul Academy here in South Bend went online; Grant was only allowed back into the facility after meeting a series of strict safety protocols. We also had to move our planned 4th international Shakespeare in Prisons Conference online. Notre Dame, of course, is officially shut down at the moment, so we’ve all been working from home since early March. Plus, many of us are parents, so we’re homeschooling our kids on top of everything else.
We were fortunate to be able to shift to an entirely digital program for both our summer NDSF season and the Shakespeare in Prisons Conference this year, all of which can be found at shakespeare.nd.edu. This summer’s NDSF events range from workshops and presentations to prerecorded (and sometimes live) Q&As and performances. The best way audiences can support us is to watch these events as they become available, share them, and support the presenters, performers, and participants however they can.