Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
2023/24 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence Simon Godwin
Simon Godwin will serve as the Aspen Institute Arts Program 2023/24 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence. In this role, Godwin will offer his artistic vision to various Policy Programs, events, leadership activities and more in Aspen, New York, Washington D.C., and elsewhere.
Godwin has been the Artistic Director of Shakespeare Theatre Company since 2019. He has directed the acclaimed King Lear featuring Patrick Page, Much Ado About Nothing featuring Kate Jennings Grant and Rick Holmes, and Timon of Athens featuring Kathryn Hunter and co-produced by New York’s Theatre for a New Audience. When the pandemic shuttered theater doors, Godwin directed Romeo & Juliet for the National Theatre, an original film for television. He will direct his fourth production for STC, Macbeth, in the 23/24 Season. He previously served as Associate Director of the National Theatre of London, the Royal Court Theatre, the Bristol Old Vic, and the Royal and Derngate Theatres (Northampton).
HBO’s hit show “Succession” is the latest example of how well the themes of tragedy, betrayal, ambition, and love — which Shakespeare depicted for the stage centuries before even the most basic technology — are capable of being magnificently transformed for the screen. Brian Cox, renowned Shakespearean actor and star of “Succession,” and Simon Godwin, Shakespeare Theatre Company artistic director and Aspen Institute Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence, join former CEO of The Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner to discuss how they bring the Bard to life in this session from the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival.
