Shakespeare in LA

Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse presents a panel discussion, Faire(y) Tales For Grown-ups, featuring four L.A.-based authors on Thursday, May 26 at 7pm. The panel is moderated by Renaissance Faire fan Petrea Burchard. Joining her are Faire participants Greg Bell, Corey Holst and Maggie Secara. Together they will share insights about their books, and explore the popularity of fantasy and why millions of adults immerse themselves in imaginative worlds like the Renaissance Faire. Musician Holllienea, herself a Faire feature, performs live harp music before the program and during the signing that follows.

The authors and their works:

Looking for Will: My Bardic Quest with Shakespeare by Greg Bell chronicles a lifelong journey through the ghosts of the past toward William Shakespeare. He is a Shakespearean actor who calls himself “archaeologist of the invisible,” as he tracks the trajectory toward his internationally acclaimed solo play, Alms for Oblivion. Bell’s experience playing Shakespeare at Renaissance Faire has had a profound effect on him. He now facilitates the Green Poets Workshop at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center.

In Petrea Burchard’s book Camelot & Vine, a failing Hollywood actress flies through a gap in time and accidentally saves King Arthur’s life. Love might be possible, if only the Dark Ages weren’t such a perilous time for an actress with an honesty problem. Burchard is a voice actor and author. If you’re an anime fan you’ll know her as the voice of Ryoko, the sexy space pirate in the anime classic, Tenchi Muyo.

Corey Holst’s book Defender of the Realm portrays the fictional castle-town of Dansford poised on the edge of the Welsh frontier in 12th C. England. During a daring night attack, a simple merchant inadvertently becomes a hero and is taken on a journey of self-discovery. A native of Southern California, Holst graduated from CSULB with a degree in Theatrical Design, and has been working behind the scenes in live theatre for over thirty years.

The Dragon Ring is Book 1 in Maggie Secara’s Harper Errant series. In the story, reality TV host Ben Harper owes the Faerie king a favor. Paying that debt takes him through the wolf-haunted forests of Viking Age Wessex and the rowdy back streets of Shakespeare’s London. Through his adventures, he rediscovers his own gifts while facing the queen of Faerie, who will do anything to stop him. Secara is a historian and a poet wholse lifelong research project, A Compendium of Common Knowledge 1558-1603, was published in 2008.

Faire(y) Tales for Grown-Ups was conceived by Petrea Burchard and Greg Bell, to coincide with Renaissance Pleasure Faire season (April 9 – May 22 at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, CA). The term “Renaissance” connotes “re-birth,” specifically as it relates to art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world. Though not all confined their books to the centuries ascribed to the Renaissance, Burchard, Holst, and Secara have studied the era in order to create their own dynamic fantasies, while Bell has focused on real events surrounding the life and times of the period’s icon, the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.

Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse is located at 1010 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011, at the intersection of Foothill Blvd. and the Angeles Crest Hwy. Take the Angeles Crest exit off the 210, turn south, make a right onto Foothill Blvd., and turn left onto Chevy Chase. Parking is in the rear of the store. For more information, call (818) 790-0717 or go to www.flintridgebooks.com.