The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) has named the American actor, director and writer Lisa Wolpe as the first recipient of the Diane Meyer Lowman Shakespeare Studies Award.
Lisa will use the Award to research her next solo show, on Charlotte Cushman (1816–1876), one of the most celebrated and innovative actors of the nineteenth century. Cushman was renowned on both sides of the Atlantic, not least for playing male roles such as Romeo.
Lisa's research will draw on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's library and archive collections in Stratford-upon-Avon. The project continues the Trust's Women Who Made Shakespeare programme, which concludes this year.
The judging panel was unanimous in its praise for Lisa’s application.
Paul Edmondson, Shakespearian and Local Studies Specialist, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: “Lisa's application stood out for its ambition and for how directly it engages with our collections. Charlotte Cushman changed what audiences thought a Shakespearean actor could be. It is fitting that the first Lowman Award should go to an artist who has spent her career doing the same.”
Diane Meyer Lowman said: “I’m delighted to congratulate Lisa as the inaugural recipient of this award. She embodies so many of the qualities that matter to me and to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. I look forward to seeing what she creates.”
Lisa Wolpe will be in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in April 2027.
Lisa Wolpe is an authority on cross-gender performance and has played many of Shakespeare's male leads, including Hamlet, Iago, Leontes, Richard II, Richard III, Romeo and Shylock. From 1993 to 2016 she was Producing Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company, an all-female, multicultural company. Her solo show Shakespeare & the Alchemy of Gender has toured internationally. She is Guest Artistic Director of the Verona International Shakespeare Fringe Festival and an Associate Artist of Prague Shakespeare Company. She has worked with leading US companies including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep and Shakespeare & Company. Her honours include the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Sustained Excellence and the Shakespeare Theatre Association's Award for Excellence.
The Diane Meyer Lowman Shakespeare Studies Award is funded by a gift from the American writer and philanthropist Diane Meyer Lowman to Shakespeare's Birthplace America (SBA) and administered by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. It provides an annual grant of $1,700 for original work rooted in the Trust's collections. The work may be scholarly, creative or performance-based, and applications are welcome from students, academics and independent scholars worldwide.
More information: www.shakespeare.org.uk/lowmanaward
ENDS
For further information please contact [email protected].