Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) have announced Shakespeare and the Queen City , a temporary exhibition featuring an original First Folio, the first published collection of William Shakespeare’s works. The First Folio, printed in 1623, is one of only 234 known surviving copies that preserved 36 of Shakespeare’s plays after his death in 1616. To enhance this literary and historic treasure, Shakespeare and the Queen City will examine the works of the literary icon and the way his plays, stories and characters have resonated, evolved and been adapted over time, including their influence on Cincinnati. The exhibition opens at Cincinnati Museum Center August 25, 2017.
The announcement of Shakespeare and the Queen City was made in partnership with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s FREE PROJECT38 Shakespeare Festival. The festival brings together hundreds of local students as they share projects they have created with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company on each of Shakespeare’s 38 plays.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a First Folio on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library. First published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death, the First Folio is the first collected edition of his plays, compiled by fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell in hopes of preserving them for future generations. Amongst the 36 plays included in the First Folio are 18 that appeared in print for the first time, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra , The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It. Written to be performed, many of his plays were never published during his lifetime and without their inclusion in the First Folio, these plays would be lost to modern audiences.
The First Folio comes to CMC after the Folger and CMC toured a total of 18 First Folios across all 50 states in 2016 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. CMC was selected by the Folger Shakespeare Library to provide tour management services, courier and display folios across the country and design and produce graphic panel displays and climate-controlled cases to house the invaluable folios during the tour.
Shakespeare and the Queen City opens August 25, 2017 at Cincinnati Museum Center. For more information visit www.cincymuseum.org/shakespeare