Celebrated Stage and Screen Actor Liev Schreiber Will Speak at Yale

Tony Award-winning actor Liev Schreiber will deliver the 20th annual Maynard Mack Lecture, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of New Haven’s Elizabethan Club, on Monday, January 31. The lecture will be presented as a conversation between the actor and the dean of the Yale School of Drama, James Bundy. Free and open to the public, the event takes place at the University Theatre, 222 York St., at 5 p.m.

Schreiber received his training at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Yale School of Drama (‘92, M.F.A.). His Broadway credits include the recent production of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge” (Tony Award nomination); “Talk Radio” (Tony nomination); “Glengarry Glen Ross” (Tony Award); and “Betrayal.” Other stage credits include the title roles in “Macbeth,” “Henry V” and “Hamlet”; Iago in “Othello”; Sebastian in “The Tempest”; and both Jupiter and Iachimo in “Cymbeline” (for which he received an OBIE Award). Schreiber has had lead roles in many films, among them: “Hamlet,” “Salt,” “Repo Men,” “Taking Woodstock,” “The Sum of All Fears,” “Kate & Leopold,” “A Walk on the Moon” and “The Daytrippers.” He made his feature film directorial debut in 2005 with “Everything Is Illuminated,” which he also adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel. His television credits include “RKO 281,” in which he played Orson Welles (Emmy, Golden Globe Award nominations); “Lackawanna Blues”; and “The Sunshine Boys.” Schreiber has also narrated a number of documentaries, including segments of “Nova” and “Nature” on PBS.

Bundy is in his ninth year as dean of Yale School of Drama and artistic director of Yale Repertory Theatre. In his first eight seasons, Yale Rep has produced more than 20 world, American and regional premieres - five of which have been honored by the Connecticut Critics Circle with the award for Best Production of the year, and two of which have been Pulitzer Prize finalists. During this time, Yale Rep has also commissioned more than two dozen artists to write new works and provided low-cost theater tickets and classroom visits to thousands of middle- and high-school students from Greater New Haven through the educational program WILL POWER! Bundy’s directing credits at the Yale Rep include “The Psychic Life of Savages,” “The Ladies of the Camellias,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “A Woman of No Importance,” “Death of a Salesman” and “A Delicate Balance.” He has also directed productions at Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Acting Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and The Juilliard School. A recipient of the Connecticut Critics Circle’s Tom Killen Award in 2007, Bundy currently serves on the board of directors of the national non-profit organization Theatre Communications Group. Previously, he worked as associate producing director of The Acting Company, managing director of Cornerstone Theater Company and artistic director of Great Lakes Theater Festival. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale School of Drama.

The Elizabethan Club, founded in 1911 by Alexander Smith Cochran (Yale Class of 1896), is a private organization that maintains a library and serves as a meeting place for conversation and discussion relating to literature and the arts. The Elizabethan Club administers a lecture series, which every year brings a distinguished theater practitioner to speak on a topic of his or her choice. The lectureship honors the late Yale professor Maynard Mack (1909-2001), renowned scholar and critic of Shakespeare, Pope and other literary figures.

This event is not ticketed and seating is limited.