James Shapiro wears many hats – author, scholar, cultural historian, consultant to New York's Public Theatre – discusses his work with actors and students, as well as his invaluable books A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, and Shakespeare in a Divided America. Shapiro also shares experiences of working on this summer's Twelfth Night in New York's Central Park; working with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway in Othello; how he first discovered Shakespeare; what he learns from working with actors; the power of knowing whether a thou is a formal thou or an eff-you thou; being scolded (rightly!) by F. Murray Abraham; whether he prefers to be known as a historian, a mensch, or the Shakespeare Guy; how his thoughts about America have evolved since he wrote Shakespeare in a Divided America; how his correspondence with a Supreme Court justice was the Shakespeare in the coal mine; and how we look at the news for what’s happening today but turn to Shakespeare to find out what’s at stake. (Length 26:51)