"Want to ease kids into reading full-length Shakespeare? The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series offers fast-paced condensations of six Shakespeare classics. Rather than retell, the series preserves the original play format and the Bard's language, while providing excellent footnotes to archaic words. It's a smart stepping stone to the real thing."
NEA TODAY -
(National Education Association)

The Sixty Minute Shakespeare

Phoenix, AZ - The works of William Shakespeare are timeless-and they are time-consuming. Too valuable to be passed over by today's younger generation, Shakespeare's plays are, nonetheless, all too often avoided by students and teachers alike. Author Cass Foster, who has been involved in all aspects of theatre for over 35 years, has provided a solution.
The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series is an ideal alternative for those who lack the time to tackle the unabridged versions of the world's most widely read playwright. Foster has condensed the Bard's language, but has left the integrity of Shakespeare's writings intact so that students can experience the thrill of his stories as well as the beauty of his prose. In addition, the author has provided footnotes explaining some of the more arcane words and phrases so that the reader can better understand and, therefore, enjoy the plays.

This new series contains Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Hamlet. Foster, is quick to point out that the Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series is intended to be merely a stepping stone in the study of Shakespeare, not a substitute for the original works. He urges readers, "Go beyond the Sixty-Minute versions, using the appreciation and self-confidence you gained to go further. The more you read, the more you gain."

An ideal companion piece, Shakespeare: To Teach or Not to Teach was co-authored by Foster and Lynn G. Johnson. This manual helps teachers prepare and present the teachings of Shakespeare from as early as second grade all the way through high school.

Foster is the director of a theatre program in a small college in central Arizona and currently the fight choreographer for the Grand Canyon Shakespeare Festival. He has directed shows and staged fights at theatres and universities throughout the country.

The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare Series and Shakespeare: To Teach or Not to Teach are available through Five Star Publications, Incorporated, P.O. Box 6698, Chandler, AZ 85246-6698-6698. Inquiries may also be directed by phone to (480) 940-8182 and by fax to (480) 940-8787. Five Star Publications' e-mail address is info.FiveStarPublications.com.