PERRYSBURG — For 150 years, the true identity of William Shakespeare has been the subject of scholarly
debate.
Perrysburg Way Library will weigh in on the subject and come up with a
“final answer” by hosting retired University of Michigan professor Edgar
Willis on Thursday, April 14, at 7 p.m.
As part of the library’s celebration of National Library Week, Professor
Willis will speak on “Who Really Wrote the Shakespeare Plays?”
Chairman of the University of Michigan’s Speech, Communication and
Theater Department for 10 years, Perrysburg resident, Professor Willis
has seen all 37 plays, acted in several of them, and for many years led
discussion sessions during the annual Michigan alumni trips to the
Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario.
Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sigmund Freud are among those who
have doubted the identity of Shakespeare. Christopher Marlowe, the 17th
Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon, and even Queen Elizabeth have been
suggested authors of the plays.
