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The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition

PRESS RELEASE

Award-winning Shakespearean actors Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance joined by growing list of declared Shakespeare authorship doubters. Michael York joins fellow actors as SAC Patron. Shakespeare Authorship Coalition marks 2nd anniversary of Declaration of Reasonable Doubt. Seven signatories added to SAC list of 'notables'.
 
Internationally-renowned Shakespearean actors Sir Derek Jacobi, winner of this year's Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Mark Rylance, winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Actor for his leading role in Boeing-Boeing, are being joined by a growing list of actors, academics and others who openly express doubt about the identity of the author of Shakespeare's works.

Both actors are patrons of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC), which advocates for recognition of the legitimacy of the authorship issue in academia. SAC Chairman John Shahan congratulated Rylance and Jacobi for taking the top acting honors on both sides of the Atlantic. "We've always had the best arguments on our side,” he said, “and now we have the best actors!"

Tuesday, April 14, is the second anniversary of the launch of the SAC’s Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare. On that day in 2007, Declaration signing ceremonies were held at both Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, and UCLA's Geffen Playhouse.
Five months later, on September 8, 2007, Rylance and Jacobi teamed up to promulgate the Declaration in the U.K., with a signing ceremony in Chichester, West Sussex, following a performance of Rylance's play about the authorship question, 'I Am Shakespeare'. The event attracted worldwide media attention.

So far, 1,471 people have signed the Declaration, including 263 college or university faculty members. Of the total, 214 have doctorates, and 310 master’s degrees. Among faculty members, the largest category is those in English literature (57). But doubts about the authorship have spread across all academic departments. Portland's Concordia University, and Brunel University in West London, offer master's degree programs in Shakespeare Authorship Studies.

Shahan took the occasion to announce that actor Michael York has joined his two fellow actors as a SAC patron. York has long argued that the authorship question is legitimate. He was a featured speaker at a reception at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles in 1994, when the Shakespeare Association of America and World Shakespeare Congress met there. Shahan said it was his first event as an authorship doubter, and he found York's enthusiasm for the issue inspiring. He said he hopes being a SAC patron portends good things for his career, too!

Notable Signatories
Shahan also announced the addition of seven people to the list of 'notable' signatories on the SAC website. He said it's always difficult to decide whom to put on the notables list because the SAC has so many distinguished signatories. "We have set the bar high, in keeping with the quality of the twenty past doubters named in the Declaration itself," he said. That list includes Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Dickens, John Galsworthy, Orson Welles, Sir John Gielgud, Sigmund Freud and two U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Keep in mind that all faculty members appear on the separate list of academic signatories. We trust you will agree that the following are all worthy additions:

Alan K. Austin – Producer of the documentary "The Shakespeare Mystery," Frontline (PBS). Author of novels "The Adagio" and (due in 2010) "A Walking Shadow," involving Edward DeVere.

Barry R. Clarke, M.Sc. – Daily Telegraph puzzlist; author, “Challenging Logic Puzzles Mensa” (Sterling: 2003), and “The Shakespeare Puzzle” (Lulu: 2008), which argues for Francis Bacon.

Dr. Keir C. Cutler, Ph.D. – Actor, playwright; Ph.D. in theatre; adapted Mark Twain's "Is Shakespeare Dead?" Performed it across Canada, and it was televised nationally.

Mr. Gareth L. Howell, J.D. – President World Affairs Council, Greater Cincinnati, formerly Director of Programs, United Nations International Training Center, Torino, Italy.

Dr. Mark Andrew Morris, Ph.D. – Visiting Scholar-in-Residence, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta – "As Canada's most-performed librettist, I cannot believe Shakspere was the author."

Michael D. Rubbo, M.A. – Director, "Much Ado About Something," award-winning documentary on the case for Christopher Marlowe; co-winner, Hoffman prize. Former lecturer on film, Harvard.

Prof. Jack M. Shuttleworth, Ph.D. – Professor of English, Emeritus, US Air Force Academy; long time Oxfordian; currently editing the Oxfordian edition of Hamlet. We should note that Professor Shuttleworth is also a retired Air Force general, and a former Chairman of the English Department at the Air Force Academy – not a stereotypical doubter.

Signatory recruitment letter
We have asked our patrons and Academic Advisory Board members to help recruit additional signatories by sending letters to prominent doubters and others they know. We would like to ask each of you to do the same. Please try to recruit at least one new signatory this year.

We have created a draft letter you can revise and send. Feel free to change the names at the top to names of other signers who may be known to those to whom you send letters. Please include copies of the Declaration and signing form from our downloads page. You can also copy the text of the letter into an email and send it that way, if you prefer.

Thanks for helping to recruit new signatories. We hope to have another high-profile media event this year, possibly on September 8, the second anniversary of the Doubters’ Day signing event in Chichester. We want to maximize the number of new signers we announce this fall.

Donations
Finally, please make a tax-deductible donation to the SAC. We depend on your donations to operate our website, disseminate the Declaration, recruit signatories, organize signing events, and keep our tax-exempt status. Donors of $40.00 or more ($50.00 outside U.S.) are eligible to receive a Declaration poster like those used in signing ceremonies.

Sincerely,
SAC Board of Directors,
John Shahan, Chairman

http://www.doubtaboutwill.org/