French Actor, Director, Poet Pierre Chabert, October 13

French actor, director, poet Pierre Chabert to read at Literary House, October 13 Acclaimed French actor, director and poet Pierre Chabert will give a public reading of French poetry on Monday, October 13, at 4:30 p.m. in Washington College's O'Neill Literary House. All are invited.
Chabert was a friend of Samuel Beckett for more than 20 years and was directed by Beckett in Robert Pinget's “Hypothesis (L'Hypothèse)” and “Krapp's Last Tape (La Dernière bande).” Beckett also advised him when he played the character of Hamm in “End Game” in Paris in 1981. Since 1983, Chabert has directed several shows, including Beckett's last plays and theatrical adaptations of his novels. In addition, Chabert has re-directed most of Beckett's shows in English with the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Lincoln Center in New York, and the Barbican in London. He also has performed “Krapp's Last Tape” at various venues around the world and toured extensively, presenting lectures, readings and workshops.
Before he became a director in the 1980s, Chabert was an actor in the prestigious Jean-Louis Barrault and Madeleine Renaud Company, where he performed plays in classic and modern repertories. Currently, he serves as associate director of the research group on the aesthetic of contemporary arts of the CNRS (National Center on Scientific Research) and has written numerous articles on contemporary theatre as well as on his work as a director.
The event is sponsored by the College's Sophie Kerr Committee and French Club.

Samuel Beckett Friend & Biographer to Speak at WC

Chestertown, MD — Was Samuel Beckett, the great innovator of modern theater, inspired by the paintings of the Old Masters? In his lively and accessible illustrated talk, James Knowlson, Beckett's authorized biographer, will address that question. His lecture is at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday April 18 in the Casey Academic Forum at Washington College. It is free and open to the public.

Knowlson will base his talk on Beckett's unpublished correspondence and personal diaries, to which he has had exclusive access. A personal friend of the playwright for twenty years, Knowlson wrote the acclaimed biography "Damned to Fame. The Life of Samuel Beckett" in 1996. The book was short-listed for the Whitbread Biography Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1996, and won the Southern Arts Association's prize for the best nonfiction work over a three-year period. In the United States, It was also awarded the George Freedley Memorial Award for the outstanding book on theater of 1996. An emeritus professor of French at the University of Reading, Knowlson has written or edited ten other books on Beckett and founded the Journal of Beckett Studies. In 1971, he established the Beckett Archive, now The Beckett International Foundation at Reading.

Knowlson was extensively involved with the productions of Beckett's works during his lifetime. After Beckett's death, he was a consultant for several London theater productions and television films. He has lectured in Japan, Holland, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, where his books have also been translated.

"Beckett and the Old Masters" is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee at Washington College.