Shakespeare acting expert

Hailed by The New Yorker and New York Times as one of the best American actors of Shakespeare, John Douglas Thompson has stared in major stage productions from Macbeth and Othello to Hedda Gabler to A Time to Kill; click here for a video clip of his Louis Armstrong in "Satchmo" at the Waldorf. This Friday, Oct. 9, Thompson comes to Skidmore’s Bernhard Theater for two public events:

* 2:30 p.m., “Please, God, Make Me an Actor!”—stories from his life, with audience Q&A; no reservations needed

* 3:30 p.m., “Shakespeare for All of Us,” discussing African American actors in classic theater; reservations recommended by emailing eferreir@skidmore.edu

Eunice Ferreira, of Skidmore’s theater faculty, says Thompson is a compelling “example of someone who has broken many barriers in terms of how the ‘classics’ are staged.”