Nights with Shakespeare will return this Fall with Richard III on Tuesday, Sept. 24th at 6:30 pm.

• September 24th
• October 1st
• October 15th
• October 22nd
• October 29th
• November 12th
• November 19th
• November 26th
• December 3rd
• December 10th

10/8 and 11/5 had to be skipped due to scheduling conflicts; the rest of the dates are consecutive!

O dear O my whatever shall be said?
Nights With Shakespeare forges ahead
Mellow, dramatic, a little absurd
Our play for the Fall is…Richard the Third!

That much-maligned monster of legend and story
Living in infamy, dying in glory?
No horsing around here, we’ll just have to see
How one Willful teller re-writes hisstory

Great expectations?  High comedy?
A chronicle-set-up for all tragedy?
A sick psychopathic much-thickened plot 
Unearthed ‘neath the pale of a parking lot?

His feudal bones, a futile find?
Or someone’s bloody axe to grind?
To verify a righteous crown
That’s one coney-hole we shan’t go down!

Will truth be told, the Daughter of Rhyme?
Or shall we just have…a merry old time?
The White Rose, the Red Rose, all in one blow
Off with their heads…and on with the show! 

Malevolent Machiavel?  Misunderstood monster?  Or simply, the next King of England…all in good time.  “Now is the winter of our discontent”.  Seasons will turn, strawberries will bloom, heads will roll, wives and mothers will wail.  Shakespeare’s early “monster hit”.  An actor’s tour-de-force.  The perfect culminating history play:  comedy, tragedy, farce, morality.  Distorted fact? Devilish theater!  Come one, come all…

About Leo

Leo Schaff is an actor, singer, songwriter, and poet, with a great passion for Shakespeare. Named “New Yorker of the Week” by Time-Warner Cable TV’s NY1 for his extraordinary contribution to the community through his Shakespeare classes, Leo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and is a member of The Shakespeare Society of New York. Studied with Stella Adler, classically trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, performed at The Actors Studio and The Public Theater, toured the country in the plays of Shakespeare, and has appeared in film and TV (Law & Order).

As a songwriter, his work has been heard from Carnegie Hall to CBGB’s to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where his co-written composition “Give Us Hope” – a children’s choir classic – was performed at President Obama’s First Inauguration. Guitar in hand, his one-man song/spoken-word creations, Found, and Won, played to sold-out audiences at New York’s Emerging Artists Theater Festival. He currently teaches Shakespeare at the 92d St. Y, and looks forward to sharing his sense of Shakespearean wonder and bottomless study with one and all.

Nights With Shakespeare is generously underwritten and presented FREE to the public by R.D. Scinto, Inc., one of the state’s largest real estate developers, at his corporate Auditorium located in the Shelton Corporate Park at 3 Corporate Drive, Shelton, Connecticut.

Tuesday evenings, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm

Seating is limited and is available on a ‘first-come’ basis.
Each participant receives one FREE copy of the play.

Script Downloads

To get a PDF copy of the complete Richard III script, please click here.

Poster Gallery 2017-2023

Poster designs by Joe Pedoto/Premium Blend Productions

Class Calendar – Leo Schaff

Julius Caesar…………………………….…June 20, 2017–August 8, 2017
Hamlet………………………………….………Oct. 3, 2017–April 24, 2018
Richard II………………………………….…May 1, 2018–July 30, 2018
King Henry IV, Part One……………Oct. 2, 2018–Dec. 11, 2018
King Henry IV, Part Two…….…….May 21, 2019–July 9, 2019
Henry V…………………………………….…..Oct. 15, 2019–Dec. 10, 2019
The Tempest……………………..…..……Feb. 4, 2020–March 26, 2020
Othello…………………………….……………Oct. 18, 2022–Dec. 13, 2022
A Midsummer Night’s Dream……March 21, 2023–May 9, 2023

Poster Gallery 2010-2015

Poster Designs – Art Direction: Bob Smith
Designer: Joe Pedoto/Premium Blend Productions

Framed posters from the 2010-2015 series are on permanent display in Corporate One.

Class Calendar – Bob Smith

King Henry the Fifth……………………….February 16 – April 6, 2010
The Merchant of Venice………….……..April 13 – May 25, 2010
Book Talk: Hamlet’s Dresser…………June 1, 2010
Romeo and Juliet……………………….……June 8 – July 24, 2010
Venus & Adonis……………………………….August 3 – August 10, 2010
The Sonnets……………………………….…….August 17 – August 24, 2010
Hamlet………………………………………….…..September 7 – November 2, 2010
All’s Well that Ends Well………..……..November 16 – December 28, 2010
King Lear………………………………………….January 4 – March 22, 2011
As You Like It……………………………..……March 29 – May 17, 2011
Macbeth…………………………………….……..May 24 – June 28, 2011
Measure for Measure……………..……..July 12 – August 30, 2011
Julius Caesar…………………………..………September 6 – October 11, 2011
Antony and Cleopatra………………..…October 18 – November 28, 2011
Twelfth Night…………………………………..December 13, 2011 – January 24, 2012
Coriolanus……………………………….……….January 31 – March 13, 2012
Richard II………………………………………….March 20 – May 1, 2012
Henry IV, Part I…………………….………..May 8 – June 19, 2012
Henry IV, Part II……………………..……..June 26 – July 31, 2012
A Midsummer’s Night Dream…………August 7 – August 28, 2012
The Tempest……………………………….……September 3 – October 9, 2012
Titus Andronicus……………………..………October 16 – November 27, 2012
Much Ado About Nothing…………..….December 4, 2012 – February 5, 2013
Cymbeline………………………….…..…..…….February 19 – April 9, 2013
Love’s Labour’s Lost………………….…..April 23 – May 21, 2013
Richard the Third………………..…………..June 11 – August 06, 2013
The Two Gentlemen of Verona……..August 13 – September 10, 2013
Hamlet (revisited)…………….…………….October 1 – December 10, 2013
A Winter’s Tale…………………………………January 7 – March 4, 2014
Othello………………………………….……………March 11 – April 29, 2014
Pericles……………………………….……………..May 6th – June 3, 2014
Macbeth (revisited)…………………….…..June 10 – July 15, 2014
The Sonnets (revisited)……………..…..July 22 – August 26, 2014
The Rape of Lucrece……………..………..September 2, 2014
Troilus and Cressida……………….……….September 9 – October 28, 2014
King Henry VII………………………..………..November 4 – December 16, 2014
King Lear (revisited)………………………..February 3 – March 24, 2015