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Virtual Classroom | Fellowship Home
Meet the Trustees...
Alex McNeil, President
Alex McNeil holds a B.A. from Yale and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He is the court administrator of the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Boston. He has been an Oxfordian since 1992, after reading Charlton Ogburn Jr's The Mysterious William Shakespeare. He is also interested in music and television. He is the author of Total Television, a reference book on TV programming, four editions of which have been published by Penguin Books. And he occasionally hosts "Lost & Found," a show dedicated to music of the 60s and early 70s which airs on WMBR-FM, Cambridge MA (88.1, www.wmbr.org).
Dr. Roger Stritmatter, Vice-President for Outreach and Education
Roger Stritmatter holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts, where he worked in close association with scholars and educators in several departments, including English, Communications, and Business, as well as Comparative Literature. His 2001 PhD dissertation was nominated by the Department of Comparative Literature for the prestigious Bernheimer Award for the best dissertation in Comparative Literature for the year 2001. He became an Oxfordian in 1991 after patiently listening for some time to many bad arguments on the "other side."
Stritmatter holds a previous masters degree in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research in Manhattan, where he studied with the late Stanley Diamond and Joel Kovel, among others; while completing his BA from Evergreen State College, where he studied psychology and anthropology, he worked as the assistant editor of the Cooper Point Journal (under the editorship of Theresa Connors) during a watershed year for the publication's standards of excellence, as noted by internationally recognized columnist David Broder. Stritmatter has published articles in a variety of academic and non-academic publications, including Notes and Queries, Dialectical Anthropology, The Elizabethan Review and The Oxfordian. Currently he serves on the editorial board of Shakespeare Matters and contributes regularly to the Shakespeare Fellowship web site. His current research interests include Ben Jonson and the Shakespeare question, early modern rhetoric and censorship, renaissance Latin, the history of cryptography, romanticism and Shakespeare, and emblem books.
Dr. Richard Desper, Treasurer
Richard Desper attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in 1959 and 1960. He then achieved a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1966 at the University of Massachusetts, then and now renowned for its preeminence in the field of polymer science. After his doctoral degree, Dr. Desper pursued a career in polymer materials science for some 30 years, making significant contributions to the science and engineering of advanced polymeric materials, specializing in polymer microstructure and its relationship to important physical and mechanical properties. He has since retired from his scientific career.
Dr. Desper's interest in the Shakespeare authorship question was aroused in 1989 with the Public Broadcasting System telecast in America of The Shakespeare Mystery, a program featuring Charlton Ogburn Jr. as the chief proponent of the Oxfordian viewpoint. He found the Oxfordian arguments compelling and began at that time his own research efforts into the authorship question, resulting in a number of literature papers setting forth his findings, including several in refereed journals, The Elizabethan Review and The Oxfordian.
Sean Phillips, Secretary
Sean Phillips is a Web designer, semi-amateur historian, and a freelance epistemologist. A former theater technician and lighting designer, he has worked for such diverse organizations as Shakespeare & Company, the Boston Opera Company, the Kennedy Center and the band Aerosmith. A Colorado native, he now resides in Boston, where he spends his time annoying his friends by fruitlessly rooting against the local sports teams. Lynne Kositsky, Trustee
Lynne Kositsky is an award-winning Canadian poet and author who lives in Toronto. Lynne has bachelors’ degrees in psychology and education, a master’s degree in English, and various honors specialist teaching diplomas in English and drama. Her poetry has been awarded the prestigious E .J. Pratt Medal and Award and the Canadian Author and Bookman Award. A teacher most of her life, Lynne has taught at the middle, secondary, and university levels, but resigned four years ago to pursue writing children’s and young adult novels full time.
Her first novel, Candles, was an "Our Choice" selection of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and was short-listed for the Geoffrey Bilson Historical Award. Rebecca’s Flame was also an "Our Choice" selection. Lynne's third novel, A Question of Will, concerns the Shakespeare Authorship question and has garnered considerable critical acclaim. Lynne has also been awarded a major Ontario Works in Progress Grant and a major Canada Council Grant for a forthcoming book about the Acadians of Nova Scotia, and several other Toronto and Ontario grants for her new Holocaust novel, which will be published in the spring of 2004.
Lynne’s first book in the Our Canadian Girl Series, Rachel: A Mighty Big Imagining, published by Penguin, has won an international White Raven Award, given by the International Youth Library in Munich to books which "contribute to an international understanding of a culture and people." It is also an "Our Choice" selection of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and has been nominated for a Hackmatack Award. Her second book in this series, Rachel: The Maybe House, has just been published and has been given a four star review by Canadian Materials Magazine. Both books are best sellers in Canada.
Four other novels are in press at the present time, including two further sequels to Rachel: A Mighty Big Imagining. Lynne is now researching and writing a novel for adults about Emilia Bassano Lanier, possibly the Dark Lady of the sonnets.
Dr. Sarah Smith, Trustee
Sarah Smith is a bestselling northeast American novelist, website guru, and generally adorable person. The bio on her Chasing Shakespeares Site reads as follows: Sarah Smith studied film and literature in London as a Fulbright scholar and in Paris on a Harvard fellowship, and has also held an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities. A graduate of Harvard University, where she received her B.A. and Ph.D. in English literature, she taught at Tufts for several years.
Sarah Smith has written three historical mysteries, The Vanished Child, The Knowledge of Water, and A Citizen of the Country; The Vanished Child and The Knowledge of Water were named New York Times Notable Books of the Year. They have been published in twelve languages and in the UK, and have reached bestseller status here and abroad. She has also written three hypertextual novels (novels meant to be read on the computer or the Web) and has collaborated on several books. Her poems and stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. She has taught writing at Hofstra University Summer Writers' Program, the Brown University Learning Community, Book Passage, Corte Madera (with Katherine Neville), and Stonecoast Writers' Workshop (with Dennis Lehane).
She has been a judge of several literary awards. She is Webmaster of the Mystery Writers of America, a board member of the Shakespeare Fellowship, a board member of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, and a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America's Contracts Committee; she has also served as president of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Sarah Smith is profiled in Contemporary Authors, International Authors and Writers Who's Who, Who's Who in the World, and Who's Who in America. In 1997 the College Club of Boston named her one of its Notable Women of the Year, and in 2002 the Newton Library named her one of its Author Honorees of the Year.
She lives near Boston, Massachusetts, with her family, including two gray cats. In addition to serving on the Board of Shakespeare Fellowship since its founding, Sarah is the Fellowship's Essay Contest coordinator. Her new book, Chasing Shakespeares , features an Oxfordian sleuth, Harvard graduate student Posy Gould.
Michael Dunn, Trustee
Michael Dunn's performances have thrilled audiences throughout the country. Trained at New York's famed Juilliard School, Dunn enjoyed a lengthy award-winning theatrical career in his native Chicago, where he was honored several times by the Joseph Jefferson Awards for his portrayals in works ranging from Shakespeare to Lerner and Loewe, as well as leading roles in national touring companies of such hits as Forbidden Broadway and The Cocktail Hour.
At the Chicago Shakespeare Theater Dunn studied for several years with artistic director Barbara Gaines, absorbing the First Folio-based method of Shakespearean acting. He also studied the acting methods used in Elizabethan times as taught by director Richard Fletcher of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Michael's favorite roles in the Bard include Jaques in As You Like It and Feste in Twelfth Night. Rounding out his education, Dunn earned a Bachelor's Degree in the humanities from Shimer College.
A lover of Shakespeare since childhood, Dunn was "amazed and thrilled" when he first discovered the Shakespeare Mystery. Originally among those who scoffed at the notion that anyone but Will Shakspere of Stratford wrote the immortal works, earnest study has inspired him to create "Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Mystery," humbly joining the company of such illustrious names as Sir John Gielgud, Sir Derek Jacoby, Sigmund Freud, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and three modern U.S. Supreme Court Justices in rejecting the Stratfordian authorship, and urging deeper study of what must surely rank as one of the great mystery stories of all time.
Bonner Miller Cutting, Trustee
A Louisiana native, Bonner Miller Cutting graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tulane University in New Orleans and has a Masters of Music from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, where she served as adjunct faculty after her graduation. Both of her degrees are in piano performance, and she is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Bonner still concertizes occasionally and appeared recently as soloist with the Columbia River Chamber Orchestra in Longview, Washington, playing Mozart's 21st piano concerto. In years past she has appeared as soloist with the New Orleans Symphony and other orchestras in Louisiana. She was a teacher of piano for many years and still judges piano festivals and auditions for the National Guild of Piano Teachers and other organizations.
Bonner came to the Shakespeare Authorship debate by right of heredity. As most of you know, she is the daughter of Oxfordian pioneer Ruth Loyd Miller and Judge Minos Miller. As Bonner tells the story: "Mom's interest began when I was in college. Mom was a lawyer and had read a series of articles on the authorship question that appeared in the Journal of the American Bar Association. The articles were published together in a little green book titled Shakespeare Cross-Examination. Mom was intrigued and ordered the book. That little green book was the culprit! She was intrigued with the Shakespeare Authorship debate and things just snowballed from there!"
In recent years, Bonner assisted her mother in her continued research, and is now working to further the cause in which her parents made such significant contributions. Bonner notes that "Being a Cradle Oxfordian is a lot of responsibility."
Dr. Martin Hyatt, Trustee
Martin Hyatt is a biologist (B.A., Harvard University; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) from Pennsylvania. He was last sighted somewhere in the Pacific Ocean (Photo © Mara Hyatt, used with permission).
Emeritus and Honorary Trustees
Honorary Lifetime Trustees
Sir Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek Jacobi is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished Shakespearean actors of the 20th century. His myriad stage roles have included Cyrano de Bergerac, Uncle Vanya, Adolf Hitler, Oedipus Rex, and a slew of Shakespearean heroes and antiheroes. Jacobi is perhaps most well known, among followers of contemporary cinema, for his stunning performance in the title role in the award-winning I, Claudius (1977), one of several miniseries in which he has starred.
Jacobi's many film credits include collaborations with Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh, and voiceovers for two documentary series by Ken Burns. His most recent appearance on film was Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe. Jacobi was knighted in 1994. Beginning in 1995 he won the affection of PBS audiences as Ellis Peters's inquisitive monk in the eponymously titled Cadfael series. His interest in the authorship question goes back some years and was cultivated through private conversation with the late Sir John Gielgud, a convinced Oxfordian.
Michael York
Michael York is well known audiences all over the world as one of the most prolific and talented stage and screen actors of our day, having appeared in over 100 films, among them Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet and, most recently, The Omega Code. Audiences have long admired Michael York's versatility. With an impressive body of work on screen, stage, television and with audio recording over the past 40 years, this consummate performer still retains the fire for the actor's life which first blazed when he was a teenager in England.
York is also an accomplished writer and lecturer, who has written several books. His book on performing Shakespeare, A Shakespearean Actor Prepares (written with longtime colleague, actor/director Adrian Brine) was praised by Spectator magazine as "A triumph... the most illuminating study of the dramatist since Granville Barker's Prefaces. It deserves to become a classic." In the book, York declares his belief that Oxford was the true mind behind the Shakespearean canon: "Like other actors --Leslie Howard, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin -- I have an instinctive feeling that there is something that does not quite add up," writs York in that book. "The glorious renaissance mind revealed by the plays does not square with the crabbed, litigious personality of the Straford claimant with his trivial, almost anonymous legacy of a few scrawled signatures, a second best bed and not one single book. Wheras Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, appears an ideal candidate."
