The Hawaii Shakespeare Festival is offering free companion lectures to "Richard II," "Pericles" and "Merry Wives of Windsor" before select performances.

Lectures are 30 minutes long and begin at 6:30 p.m. in the gallery of The ARTS at Marks Garage. The lectures are free and open to the public, whether they attend the festival or not. The companion lectures for "Richard II" will be held on July 11 and July 15; for "Pericles" on July 25 and July 29 and for "Merry Wives of Windsor" on Aug. 15 only.

The lectures, presented by Brenda Machosky, assistant professor of English at the University of Hawaii West Oahu, will present background information on the plays generally and highlight aspects of the current productions to watch for in performance. Machosky is also offering a full course on Shakespeare, including all three Hawaii Shakespeare Festival plays, at UH West Oahu beginning today. For more information, e-mail machosky@hawaii.edu.
Machosky teaches courses in Shakespeare, medieval and Renaissance literature, world literature and writing. She earned her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and she has taught at Stanford University and Cornell University. She is a member of the Shakespeare Association of America.
For more information on the companion lectures or the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival, visit HawaiiShakes.org or e-mail tony@hawaiishakes.org.