The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad

What can a play from sixteenth century England tell us about how antisemitism and other prejudicial beliefs operate in our world today? What perceived truths does a play reveal about the society in which it was created, and what ideas within that society does it reinforce?
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Bringing together elements of The Merchant of Venice with Elizabethan history and news from the 21st century, The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad takes a kaleidoscopic view of the ways in which members of a society displace their fears on the “other” during times of upheaval.
The environment of Shatto Chapel at FCCLA, with its iconography and architecture, provides a unique landscape for this investigation of Shakespeare’s classic play. In addition, the work is infused with adaptations of traditional English Christian melodies played on the chapel’s pipe organ.