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The Marvin Hunt Exhibition of the History of the NVS, opening 2 March

Feb. 1, 2026

Thanks to a generous donation by Prof. Marvin Hunt, the NVS is delighted to announce the opening of The Marvin Hunt Exhibition of the History of the NVS at the Cushing Memorial Library, Texas A&M University on March 2nd at 4 pm. 
 
The exhibition, which celebrates the craft of NVS variorum editing before the advent of digital tools, will run from March 2nd through April 23rd. Drawing on archival materials such as collation sheets, handwritten commentary notes, edited manuscript pages, budget proposals, calls for volume editors published in Shakespeare journals, and various analogue editorial ephemera, the display reveals the collaborative, labor-intensive process through which variorum editions were assembled. By foregrounding these working documents, the exhibition highlights the intellectual craftsmanship, institutional coordination, and material history that shaped variorum scholarship in the pre-digital era.

A reception with food and drinks will follow the launch at LAAH 453 from 5 to 7 pm on March 2nd.
 
The reception event will also include the launch of Going Viral with Shakespeare and Other Essays by Professor Eric Rasmussen, NVS General Editor.

NVS conference: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'The Winter's Tale', 10-11 Feb 2026

Jan. 29, 2026

On 10-11 February the New Variorum Shakespeare hosted a conference about A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale, the two texts we have recently published in variorum format on our website. The conference was held at the Glasscock Center, Texas A&M University. We heard from distinguished scholars across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, and had important discussions about both plays and about the future of the variorum. The schedule was as follows:

TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY
10:00 Welcome and introduction (Troy Bickham, Robert Stagg)
10:15 New Variorum Shakespeare: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'The Winter's Tale'
Chair: Laura Mandell
Discussants: Roberta Barker, Kris May, David Nicol, Lena Orlin, Eric Rasmussen, Bryan Tarpley, Dorothy Todd, Katayoun Torabi, Paul Werstine
11:30 Text, Editing, History, Theater History
Chair: Katie Adkison
Discussants: Peter Holland, Eric Rasmussen, Tiffany Stern, Paul Werstine
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Gender, Sexuality, Desire
Chair: Robert Stagg
Discussants: Mario DiGangi, Eric Rasmussen, Melissa Sanchez, Valerie Traub
15:30 Genre, Style, Art, Artifice
Chair: Melissa Sanchez
Discussants: Katie Adkison, Mario DiGangi, Curry Kennedy, Whitney Sperrazza, Robert Stagg
17:00 Conclusion of discussions
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY
10:00 Earliness, Lateness, Time [zoom only]
Chair: Jessica Chiba
Discussants: Urvashi Chakravarty, Rory Loughnane, Gordon McMullan, Goran Stanivukovic
11:30 Power, Hierarchy, Hospitality, Environment
Chair: Margaret Ezell
Discussants: Katherine Steele Brokaw, Ruben Espinosa, Sujata Iyengar, Peter Kirwan, Lena Orlin, Valerie Traub
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Performance
Chair: Alexandra LaGrand
Discussants: Katherine Steele Brokaw, Peter Holland, Sujata Iyengar, Peter Kirwan
15:30 Miscellaneous discussion session
Chairs: Ruben Espinosa, Tiffany Stern, Nancy Warren
17:00 Conclusion of discussions; closing remarks (Robert Stagg, Paul Werstine)
 
We extend our thanks to the following institutions at Texas A&M for helping to fund the conference: the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research (who have provided primary sponsorship and generous administrative support), the English Department, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the John and Sara Lindsey Chair (and more particularly its current occupant Prof. Margaret Ezell).

NVS Seminar: Prof. Nataliya Torkut, 29 January 2026

Jan. 7, 2026

Our first NVS Seminar of the Spring Semester 2026 was given by Prof. Nataliya Torkut, the Director of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre, under the title 'Shakespeare in Ukraine: from translating to re/imagining'. As well as her role directing the USC, Prof. Torkut is a Professor at Zaporizhzhia National University, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Shakespeare Institute, a Research Fellow of the Shevchenko Institute of Literature (part of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), and a Visiting Scholar at King's College London.

The seminar took place live from Ukraine over Zoom on 29 January 2026 at 12 noon CT and the video recording can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eo-UPCzyCCxnBDykC0ry9s3aXFmQDaiu/view

We thank Prof. Torkut for making the time to speak to the NVS in such strenuous circumstances.

NVS announces Spring 2026 events

Jan. 5, 2026

The New Variorum Shakespeare is delighted to announce its events schedule for the Spring Semester 2026.

We begin with a NVS Seminar by Prof. Nataliya Torkut, Director of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre, on 29 January. On 10-11 February the NVS will be hosting a two-day international conference about the two texts we have recently published in variorum format online, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale -- further details can be found below on our 'News' page. In March we will open an exhibition about the history of the NVS at Texas A&M's Cushing Memorial Library, which has been generously sponsored by one of our volume editors Prof. Marvin Hunt. Finally, Dr. Dorothy Todd and Dr. Robert Stagg will be co-chairing a seminar about 'Variorum Shakespeare' at the Shakespeare Association of America conference in Denver on 2 April.

Further details of all our events will be forthcoming very soon. Please send any questions to our Director, Dr. Robert Stagg: rstagg@tamu.edu

NVS to host two-day international conference on 'Dream' and 'Tale'

Dec. 17, 2025

The New Variorum Shakespeare is excited to announce that we will be hosting a two-day international conference about the two plays we have recently published in variorum format online, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale. This conference will bring together scholars from around the world for open discussion of the two plays in their various aspects. Taking place at Texas A&M University on 10-11 February 2026, the event will also be livestreamed and recorded on Zoom.

Speakers from outside Texas A&M will include: Roberta Barker (Dalhousie), Katherine Steele Brokaw (UT Austin), Urvashi Chakravarty (Toronto), Jessica Chiba (Shakespeare Institute), Mario DiGangi (CUNY), Ruben Espinosa (ASU), Peter Holland (Notre Dame), Sujata Iyengar (Georgia), Peter Kirwan (MBU), Rory Loughnane (Kent), Gordon McMullan (KCL), David Nicol (Dalhousie), Lena Orlin (Georgetown), Eric Rasmussen (Nevada), Melissa Sanchez (UPenn), Goran Stanivukovic (SMU), Tiffany Stern (Shakespeare Institute), Valerie Traub (Michigan), and Paul Werstine (UWO).

Full details, including a Zoom link and a schedule, will be coming soon. We are grateful to the following institutions at Texas A&M for funding the conference: the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, the English Department, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the John and Sara Lindsey Chair.

NVS Seminar: Prof. Steven Urkowitz, 4 December 2025

Nov. 19, 2025

Our final NVS Seminar of the Fall Semester 2025 was given by Prof. Steven Urkowitz (CUNY) in conversation with our General Editor Prof. Eric Rasmussen on Thursday 4 December 2025.

Prof. Steven Urkowitz is Professor Emeritus of English and Theater at the City College of New York (CUNY). Most notably for this NVS Seminar, he is the author of Shakespeare's Revision of King Lear (Princeton University Press, 1980). He has been a trustee of the Shakespeare Association of America and the American Shakespeare Center, and has directed and dramaturged around the world.

The New Variorum Shakespeare took the occasion of Prof. Urkowitz's NVS Seminar to announce that we will publish the digital variorum text of King Lear in the first few months of 2026. A further announcement will take place when the edition is available on our website.

A recording of Prof. Urkowitz's NVS Seminar is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VqmTZa7iHDKtD_5-dKTjxvpB8xf7jYzs/view?usp=sharing

NVS Seminar: Prof. Eric Rasmussen, 18 November 2025

Oct. 20, 2025

Our November NVS Seminar was given by Prof. Eric Rasmussen under the title 'The Fifth Folio: Shakespeare Without Rules' on 18 November 2025 at 1pm (Central Time).

Prof. Rasmussen is one of the two General Editors of the NVS and one of the editors of the NVS 'Hamlet'. He is Foundation Professor Emeritus of the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also served as Chair of the English Department. Prof. Rasmussen is one of the world's leading experts on the First Folio and his work to authenticate copies has led to him being described as "the Robert Langdon of the Shakespeare world" by 'The Washington Post'. He is the author of 'The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folio' (2011) and he is the co-editor of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Complete Works', of the definitive catalogue of Shakespeare First Folios, and of 'The Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama' (2002). His editorial work extends to editions for Oxford World's Classics, the Arden Shakespeare, the Revels Plays, and the Malone Society. Both his research and his teaching have received numerous distinguished awards.

A recording of Prof. Rasmussen's NVS Seminar can now be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1veJXOFW9T71UjLRmDpiSvXb31gLuq8Ly/view