Dr. Michael Friedman of the University's Department of English and Theater presented a research seminar about producing Shakespearean plays.  Two features of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew cause problems for both literary scholars and theatrical directors staging the comedy.  First, the play seems to put forward an outdated sense of the power relations between husbands and wives that conflicts with modern notions about equality within marriage.  Second, the play begins with an Induction featuring characters who drop out of the action and fail to reappear after Act 1.  In my presentation, I described how I dealt with these interrelated issues in a production of The Taming of the Shrew that I directed for Actors Circle at the Providence Playhouse in 2005.