<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">From the preface of Bob Abelman’s </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)">new novella </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">“All the World’s a Stage
Fright:”</span><br></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">“To non-theater lovers,” wrote actor Joel Grey in an opinion piece in <i>The New York Times</i> shortly after the
worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., “lamenting the
closing of Broadway in the face of so much widespread suffering may seem, at
best, frivolous. But for many of us, this tragedy has been made that much more
devastating by having to face the nightmare without the laughter, tears and
sense of community that a night in the theater delivers.”</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 8pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">T</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(18,18,18);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">he same </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">thing happened in
London between 1603 and 1613, when the Globe Theatre and other playhouses were
shut down for a total of seventy-eight months – more than 60 percent of the
time – because of recurring bubonic plague outbreaks.  And yet, some of<i> </i>Shakespeare’s best, most creative writing was done in the shadow
of this pandemic</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)">.  W<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">hile his plays and sonnets were by no means a cure, they were certainly
a source of most welcome respite from the suffering.</span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0in;line-height:normal;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">They still are. </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">In immediate response to the coronavirus,
London’s National Theatre Live offered a free streaming of its production of
the comedy <i>Twelfth Night</i> on YouTube.
Actor Sir Patrick Stewart recited all of Shakespeare’s sonnets, one each day, </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sirpatstew/" style="color:blue" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:windowtext;text-decoration-line:none">on his </span></a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sirpatstew/" style="color:blue" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:windowtext;text-decoration-line:none">Instagram
account</span></a><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">. His first po<span style="color:rgb(45,45,45)">st boasted more than 457,000 views and 3,800 comments.</span><span style="color:red;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0in;line-height:normal;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">And I wrote this fictionalized memoir of a true lover of theater,
which is also a love letter to Shakespeare. 
I<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">t is </span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">written for those like me </span>–<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> like you, I think </span>–<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> who need live theater and Shakespeare’s
prose and poetry now more than ever. <span style="color:red"></span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">NEohioPAL gets a $5 donation for each purchase
of this $14.95 book to help it remain a free and vibrant resource for the local
theater community.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"> </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0in;line-height:normal;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Go to: </span><a href="https://www.grayco.com/coupon/neohiopal/" style="color:blue" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://www.grayco.com/coupon/neohiopal/</span></a></p></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Fred Sternfeld</div><div>Neohiopal Ltd. Owner and Administrator</div><div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:fredsternfeld@neohiopal.org" target="_blank">fredsternfeld@neohiopal.org</a></div><div><a href="http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal/" target="_blank">http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal/</a></div></div></div></div></div></div>