END  /  FOUNDERS  / HOME

 

 

 

HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL SHAW SOCIETY

 

 

 

 

          The first two paragraphs below are also on the homepage, from which you’ve likely just come, and if you’ve already read them, skip to the third paragraph.

 

          The International Shaw Society, Inc. (“The ISS”), a society devoted to the very enjoyable and enlightening study of the life, times, and work of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), was officially founded in 2004, largely for the purpose of keeping Shaw talking, his favorite thing, even though he's been dead since 1950. The acronym “ISS” emphasizes Shaw’s continuing presence, his “issness,” in the contemporary world, if only as a talkative spirit with very relevant things to say, and said in a way that is rare in its relative sanity, humanity, and civilizing good humor.  If you like humor of the sometimes hyperbolic and sometimes of the ironic sort, “smiling comedy,” as he called it, Shaw is your man.

 

What keeps a dead author alive?  While alive, Shaw was of the opinion that it was "sedulous self-advertisement" that kept him going and that the only bad publicity was an obituary (unless you wrote it yourself).  But Shaw's afterlife on earth now depends on theater productions and discussion of his life and works, and that’s where the ISS comes in.  Likely to meet anywhere in the world and global in its online reach, the ISS now has members in thirteen countries, on five continents, and grows apace, about half academics and half not, with a generous sprinkling of theater artists in both halves. The ISS invites you to join in the fun and enlightenment of encountering Shaw's plays and discussing the author and his works. 

 

            The history of the founding of the ISS comes first in this account, but you can skip that to get to what it is doing now by clicking here.  Otherwise, read on.

 

            In 2001, at a Shaw Conference sponsored by Marquette University in Milwaukee, the conference concluded with a panel discussion of how Shaw Studies, heretofore dependent upon enterprising individuals for the hosting of conferences at irregular times, might in the near future become more organized and more regular in its meetings, and English Professor Richard Dietrich of the University of South Florida (Tampa) proposed creating an International Shaw Society to accomplish that, first by enlisting teachers, scholars, theater artists, and just plain Shaw enthusiasts to meet at least annually for the seeing of Shaw’s plays and discussing them, and simultaneously to share this with younger people by encouraging their attendance with the offering to them of travel grants, scholarships, and the like.  It turned out that others, especially Emeritus Professor Sidney Albert of California State University at Los Angeles, had had a similar idea and wished to pursue it in the proposed general form.

 

            Also attending this conference at Marquette was Leonard Conolly, an English Professor at Trent University, who had hosted in 1989 at the University of Guelph in Canada the first of three Shaw Conferences of the pre-ISS individualist sort, the second being at Virginia Tech in 1993 under the auspices of Professor Bernard Dukore, the third being the Marquette Conference in 2001, organized by Professor Michael Patrick Gillespie.  This also illustrates that such conferences were few and far between, with none scheduled for the future, an anomaly in a field well populated with both major senior scholars and promising younger scholars.

 

       Professor Conolly, a Canadian then residing within driving distance of the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and an inveterate attender at Festival plays, soon joined with Professor Dietrich in the email recruiting of Shaw-interested people to the Shaw Festival to further discuss forming an International Shaw Society.  Of course necessary to that was finding a place in Niagara-on-the-Lake to meet.

 

 Instrumental to this was Denis Johnston, Co-Director of the Academy of the Shaw Festival and Audience Outreach Director, who listened sympathetically to Conolly’s argument for establishing the ISS and launching that in a meeting at the Shaw Festival.  Johnston then persuaded the Shaw Festival administration to host a “Shaw Summit” in the summers of 2002 and 2003 at which leaders in Shaw Studies could meet to discuss the proposal and vote on proceeding.  At the 2003 meeting, when the vote was in favor of establishing the ISS, Johnston and Conolly further persuaded the Festival to launch and co-host in 2004 on July 23-26 the first of what became annual Summer Shaw Symposia, and to ally in that endeavor the ISS with the Academy of the Shaw Festival, constituting a natural joining of forces.

 

More precisely, the ISS was successfully founded in principle at the first of two “Shaw Summits” on August 24th, 2002, at the Shaw Festival, with the details of its scope and operation yet to be worked out.  To discuss and vote on such matters, a second “Shaw Summit” was scheduled in the new Shaw Festival Theatre Library on August 20th, 2003.  About a dozen, mostly senior Shaw scholars attended the first meeting and twenty or more the second.  Others were consulted by email.

 

Two main proposals were discussed, one conceiving the ISS as an unincorporated, all-volunteer organization that would meet annually in Canada at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. This ISS would confine itself to an annual symposium co-hosted by the Festival, which would be open to all and not dependent upon dues-paying membership in the ISS for funding.  Participants would just pay for the symposium through the Shaw Festival box office, and included would be tickets for whatever Shaw plays were produced that year, which would be the focus of most of the papers accepted for the symposium.

 

The other proposal was to incorporate the ISS as a not-for-profit institution in the United States, from which most of its dues-paying members would come, branching out to the hosting of not only an annual Summer Shaw Symposium at the Shaw Festival but also of more largely attended conferences far and wide, eventually outside North America, wherever co-hosts, mostly universities, could be found to share costs and wherever productions of Shaw plays would be available to work into the conference schedule. Seeing Shaw’s plays on stage has always been at least as important as discussing Shaw’s works.

 

After lengthy discussion, a decision was made, at the second “Summit” in Canada, to apply for not-for-profit, tax-exempt status in the United States, and Professor Dietrich was elected Acting President to oversee the transformation of the ISS into a full-fledged, legally-established, dues-paying literary society, committed to providing meetings, both in North America and internationally, for established scholars, theater artists, and general enthusiasts, but also to aggressively recruit younger members, with much of its funding devoted to the latter.

 

As of January 30, 2004, the ISS was legally established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation with the U.S. federal government and the state of Florida (where the ISS Founding President resided). That accomplished, Professor Dietrich was elected as its Founding President, in which capacity he served for the first six years of the ISS, 2004-2009.  The Founding Vice-President was Don Wilmeth of Brown University, the Founding Treasurer was Lagretta Lenker of the University of South Florida, and the Founding Membership Secretary was Lori Dietrich. Richard Dietrich also served as the Founding Webmaster and began building a website at www.shawsociety.org.    

 

The second ISS President was Professor Leonard Conolly of Trent University, serving from 2010-2012. The third ISS President was Michael O’Hara, Professor of Theater & Associate Dean of the School of Fine Arts of Ball State University, beginning in 2013.  The fourth ISS President was Robert Gaines, retired Chair of the Theater Department at Auburn University at Montgomery. Other officers currently serving with President Gaines are Jennifer Buckley, teaching at the University of Iowa, as Vice President, Sharon Klassen, teaching at Redeemer University in Ontario, as Recording Secretary, and Mary Christian, teaching at Central Georgia State University, as Membership Secretary. 

 

What it’s doing now (or BACK to the history):

 

The ISS has grown in size and influence as the years have passed, and now is in charge of the editorship of the biannual journal SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies (Pennsylvania State University Press).  In addition to its co-hosting the annual Summer Shaw Symposium, now in its 16th year, at the Shaw Festival, it has co-hosted occasional symposia in Chicago with the ShawChicago Theater Company, has featured the work of David Staller’s “Project Shaw” in New York at its New York conference om 2015, and the staging of Shaw plays by the Washington Stage Guild, where Shaw has served as their house playwright for many years. The ISS has also co-hosted eight major conferences in sixteen years, initially at the University of South Florida’s branch campus in Sarasota on the Ringling Estate in 2004, afterwards at Brown University in 2006, The Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. in 2009, the University of Guelph in Canada in 2011, University College Dublin, Ireland in 2012, “Shaw’s Corner” in Ayot St Lawrence, United Kingdom, in 2013, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York, in 2015, and an eighth conference in 2017, “SHAW at THE SHAW,” in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, co-hosted with the ISS by The Shaw Festival and York University, adding up to four in the United States and four internationally, in Canada, Ireland, and England.  The next conference, being planned for 2020 with the topic being “Shaw and Europe,” will be in Caceres, Spain.

 

The ISS is also very active on the internet, with many links off its homepage at www.shawsociety.org to much important and enjoyable information. 

 

Near the top of the homepage, in that column on the left, is a series of links to pages that explain why one should join the ISS and a form provided for doing that at shawsociety.org/2019-membership-form.htm. Just change the year for years later than 2019, if this page hasn’t been updated. 

 

As one of the principal goals of the ISS is to encourage younger generations to experience the delights of reading and seeing Shaw's works and participating in the discussion of them, the ISS offers a generous program of support in the form of scholarships, travel grants, and prizes, most of which are allied with particular events, such as symposia and conferences. To that end, in fifteen years eighty young scholars have been awarded ninety-nine Travel Grants to attend such events. To learn more about that and how to apply, please go to www.shawsociety.org/iss-travel-grants-2019.htm, which features the offerings of the year 2019 that can serve as a model for future years as well.   Just update the year in the address as the years pass.

 

Continuing down the list in the left column, there are a series of links to meetings, journals, and book series, all of which are seeking manuscripts for books or papers and/or list relevant publications for purchase. In addition to the need of ISS symposia and conferences for “talks” to be delivered and the need of the biannual SHAW: The Journal of Shaw Studies for articles every year, the ISS has been much involved in the recruiting of book manuscripts for three series, The University Press of Florida’s Shaw Series, edited by R. F. Dietrich, the University of Toronto Press’s Shaw Correspondence Series, edited by Leonard W. Conolly, and the Palgrave Macmillan “Shaw and His Contemporaries” series, edited by Nelson Ritschel and Peter Gahan.  Click on the links provided at www.shawsociety.org if you have a manuscript you wish to have considered by the latter, the only series that is still considering book manuscripts.  

 

Continuing down the left side of the ISS homepage are links to various interests of a more academic nature, mostly authored by Gustavo A. Rodrigues Martin, the “Shaw Archive” being a gold mine of information, but also including the ever-popular search engine—“Search Shaw”--for those seeking the quotations of the most quotable of authors and any other kind of reference, followed by links to a variety of Shaviana that should appeal to all.

 

 Among the more innovative websites is one called “GeoShaw,” maintained by Gustavo A. Rodriguez Martin, which tracks Shaw’s movements on Google Earth, and “A Virtual Tour of Shaviana,” edited by Kay Li, that illustrates the great variety of Shaw’s life and times.  Click on “Newsletters” to get a more detailed and vivid account of the sorts of things the ISS has been up to over the years. Again, the links for all are at www.shawsociety.org.  

 

One thing the ISS makes clear is that, like the author they study, Shavians enjoy exploring the world as Shaw did and leaving nothing unexamined, and they look forward to meeting with kindred spirits to continue the adventure of listening to and debating with the very lively spirit of GBS.

 

 

 

 

 

ISS PLANNERS, FOUNDERS & FOUNDING ISS COUNCIL  

TOP      

Below is, first, the list of people who attended either the August 24th, 2002 Planning Committee meeting or the August 20th, 2003 meeting, or both, supplemented by a few who did not attend but who later agreed to serve as members of the founding Advisory Board and/or as signatories on applications for non-profit status, followed by a list of the founding ISS Council, composed of an Executive Committee and an Advisory Committee. Last but not least are the Founding Members of the ISS who acquired membership in 2004. 

 

 

I S S   F O U N D E R S

 

Sidney P. Albert

Elaine Amromin

Alan Andrews

Stuart Baker

Elisa Beshero-Bondar

Ron Bryden

Charles A. Carpenter

Nancy Cole

Tracy Collins

Leonard Conolly

 

MaryAnn Crawford Monty Davis

Sara Deats

Richard F. Dietrich

Lori Ruse-Dietrich

Bernard Dukore

Anthony Ellis

Evelyn Ellis

Frances Evans

T. F. Evans

Tony Gibbs

 

Nicholas Grene

Peter Gahan

Christopher Innes

Norma Jenckes

Denis Johnston

Mitchell Klein

Lagretta Lenker

Gale Larson

Kay Li

Barry Morse

Rhoda Nathan

 

 

Michel Pharand

John Pfeiffer

David Rose

Ann Saddlemyer

Isidor Saslav

Julie Sparks

Jay Tunney

Tramble T. Turner

Rodelle Weintraub

Stanley Weintraub

Don Wilmeth

I  S  S    C  O  U  N  C  I  L

 

E X E C U T I V E

 

A D V I S O R Y

R. F. Dietrich,  President

Don Wilmeth,  Vice President

Lagretta Lenker, Treasurer

Norma Jenckes, Recording Secretary

Lori Ruse-Dietrich,

Membership Secretary

Sidney Albert

Charles Berst

Leonard Conolly

Bernard Dukore

T. F. Evans

Anthony Gibbs

Nicholas Grene

Denis Johnston

Jacques Barzun, Honorary

Eric Bentley, Honorary

Ron Bryden, Honorary

Dan H. Laurence

Martin Meisel

Rhoda Nathan

Margot Peters

Sally Peters

Ann Saddlemyer

Al Turco

Stanley Weintraub

Tom & Frances Evans, Honorary

Dan H Laurence, Honorary

Barry Morse, Honorary

 

 

MEMBERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE FOUNDING OF THE ISS -- 2004

FOUNDING PARTNERS

Sidney Albert

Charles & Roelina Berst

John & Mary Ellen Bertolini

Tracy Collins

Richard Dietrich

Tony Gibbs

Aubrey Hampton & Susan Hussey

John Pfeiffer

Margot Peters

FOUNDING SPONSORS

Stuart Baker

Leonard Conolly

Lori Dietrich

Norma Jenckes

Gale Larson

Lagretta Lenker

Jean Reynolds

Jay Tunney

Al Turco

Rodelle and Stan   

Weintraub

Don Wilmeth

FOUNDING CONTRIBUTORS

Thomas Bahring

Albert Braverman

Al Carpenter

Wendi Chen

Nancy Cole

Mary C. Crane

Sara Deats

Howard Einsohn

Peter Gahan

Husne Jahan

Mitchell Klein

Dan H. Laurence

Martin Meisel

Michael O’Hara

Sally Peters

Harold Pagliaro

Michel Pharand

Gary A. Richardson

Nelson Ritschel

Ann Saddlemyer

Isidor Saslav

Julie Sparks

Tramble T. Turner

Nicholas Williams

Jonathan Wisenthal

 

 

FOUNDING MEMBERS    

Elaine Amromin

Alan Andrews

George Austin

Cary Barney

Patrick Berry

Michael Bertin

Elisa Beshero-Bondar

         A.  K. Bhatt

Ronald Bryden

Toni Burke

Richard Cheski

James Chow

Glenda Cimino

Nancy Cole

Mary C. Crane

MaryAnn Crawford

Sara Deats

Vincent Dowling

Bernard Dukore

Anthony Ellis

Evelyn Ellis

Kathleen Erwin

Michael Fountain

Peter Gahan

Robert Gaines

Angela Grayson

Nicholas Grene

Polly Guerin

Cynthia Halpern

Kim Hanna

Arthur Horowitz

Christopher Innes

Denis Johnston

Gale Larson

Kay Li

Valerie Lipscomb

John MacDonald

Masahiko Masumoto

 

FOUNDING MEMBERS

Jackie Maxwell

Donal McManus

Charles Mehler

Hisashi Morikawa

Rhoda Nathan

Sasha Normand

Mia Nottoli

Julius Novick

Donall O’Luanaigh

     National Library of Ireland

Zeljka, Radelic

Rosemarie Rowley

Lynn Marie Ruse

Travis Ruse

Toshhiko Sato

Hannes Schweiger

Totaro Shimamura

Rev. Alexander Seabrook

Julie Sparks

P. S. Sri

Margaret Taylor

Michael Timko

Joy Timko

Douglas Warsett

Susan Warsett

Leo Wong

Christa Zorn

 

HONORARY MEMBERS

Jacques Barzun

Eric Bentley

Tom and Frances Evans

 Peter French (USF at Sarasota VP)

Dan H. Laurence

Barry Morse

Laurie Stryker (USF at Sarasota CEO)

 

TOP

END

Webmaster: dietrich@usf.edu

 

Read More