'Taming of the Shrew,' Talk about Storytelling Offered April 26

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College will give area residents two opportunities to witness great storytelling on April 26.

At 3:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 26, LWC will host a Kentucky Shakespeare Festival production of the classic The Taming of the Shrew in the Norma & Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship, 402 Helen Flatt Drive.

Then at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 26, Kentucky author Georgia Green Stamper will speak about "Kentuckians as Storytellers: So Are You Writing Yours Down?" in the W.W. Slider Humanities Center Recital Hall, 155 Blue Raider Drive.

Both events are free and open to the public.

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's best-known comedies. It tells the story of mistaken identity and romance, and it includes some of the Bard's more outrageous characters. Although written toward the end of the 16th century, Shrew's story - and lessons - have held up quite well over the years, as evidenced by the adaptations of it into Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and the 1999 teen film 10 Things I Hate About You.

Stamper, who is a Lexington, Ky.-based author and commentator for National Public Radio, will discuss how storytelling is "bred into the DNA of Kentuckians."

"Storytelling was the only thing that kept generations of Kentuckians from going stark-raving mad during those long, cold winters in the tobacco stripping room," Stamper said.

Kentuckians' stories, she contends, play an essential role in binding family and community, and in defining people. A seventh-generation Kentuckian, Stamper will read from her personal stories of place and kin, and encouraged her listeners to remember and treasure their own. 

Stamper's talk is co-sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council and the Columbia Women's Club.

For more information about The Taming of the Shrew or Georgia Green Stamper's talk on April 26 at Lindsey Wilson College, contact LWC Professor of Communication Greg Phelps at phelpsg@lindsey.edu or (270) 384-8234.