Mini: Theatres of Value with Dr. Danielle Rosvally

Shakespeare Anyone?

In today's episode, we are joined by friend-of-the-pod, Dr. Danielle Rosvally to discuss her new book, Theatres of Value: Buying and Selling Shakespeare in Nineteenth-Century New York City, and how Shakespeare had value for New Yorkers in the 1800s, and how Shakespeare came to be so prominent in American culture.

About Danielle Rosvally:

Danielle Rosvally is an assistant professor of theatre at the University at Buffalo. Her work examines Shakespeare as cultural capital, particularly iterations that intersect with performance and theatrical labor. Her book Theatres of Value: Buying and Selling Shakespeare in Nineteenth-Century New York City explores how nineteenth-century New York theatre makers bought and sold the commodity of Shakespeare, and how these performances of value intersect with American nation building and national identity. Her next project, Yassified Shakespeare, is a multimedia exploration of how iterations of Shakespearean performance and Shakespeare’s cultural capital critically intersect with drag and drag aesthetics. Danielle is a fight director, director, actor, and dramaturge. Her work has been published in Theatre Topics, Studies in Musical Theatre, Borrowers and Lenders, Early Modern Studies Journal, several edited collections, and Shakespeare Bulletin, as well as on TikTok: @YassifiedShax

About Theatres of Value:

Theatres of Value explores the idea that buying and selling are performative acts and offers a paradigm for deeper study of these acts—"the dramaturgy of value." Modeling this multifaceted approach, the book explores six case studies to show how and why Shakespeare had value for nineteenth-century New Yorkers. In considering William Brown's African Theater, P. T. Barnum's American Museum and Lecture Hall, Fanny Kemble's American reading career, the Booth family brand, the memorial statue of Shakespeare in Central Park, and an 1888 benefit performance of Hamlet to theatrical impresario Lester Wallack, Theatres of Value traces a history of audience engagement with Shakespearean cultural capital and the myriad ways this engagement was leveraged by theatrical businesspeople.

Want to read Theatres of Value?

• Request a copy at your library and DM Danielle a screenshot at @DRosvally on X (Twitter), and Danielle will send you some cool stickers
• For the month of July 2024, post a picture of you and a slice a pizza with hashtag #theatresofvalue and tag @DRosvally and @SUNY on X (Twitter), and Danielle will DM you a code for 30% off through SUNY Press.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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