Seventeen citizens of Warren, Pennsylvania, met at the home of Judge
and Mrs. Rasselas E. Brown on February 25, 1884, to organize a
"Shakespere Club." A constitution and by-laws were adopted by the
founders, and in the next few months new members were added until the
membership numbered 40 (20 men and 20 women). Currently there are 40
"Active" members who are expected to attend all meetings and have voting
privileges, and six to ten "Alternate" members who enjoy all the
pleasures of the club except voting.
From 1884 until the present day, on wintry Tuesday nights, men in
tuxedos and women in dressy attire, have gathered to socialize and read
Shakespeare. Originally the reading season lasted from October to June
and averaged 32 meetings per year. As much as the members loved the
club, this turned out to be an awful lot of meetings and at the sixth
season, 1889-90, the club cut back to 25 meetings per year, convening
between the last week of October and the first week of May. The club met
this often until the 1930's when it dropped to about 20 meetings per
year. Currently, the club meets weekly from November to March and
averages sixteen meetings per reading season.
Originally the club met at members' homes, but, for the last 70
years, our club has met in a mansion which was built in 1872 by one of
the early Shakespeare Club members and is now owned by the Warren
Woman's Club. We gather in the parlor at 6:45 for a period of greeting
and then proceed to the dining room where dinner is served.
After a lovely meal, we move upstairs to a large sitting room where
the evening's entertainment takes place. Three Shakespeare plays are
read aloud each season. A modern play is presented one evening and
lectures by club members fill the remaining meetings. Traditionally
there are three celebrations each year: a Christmas party with extended
families, "Mid-winter's," which celebrates the club's founding, and an
end of the season party known as "Alternate's Night." For "Mid-winters
and "Alternate's Night" the members write and present, in costume,
original entertainments--plays, skits, musicals, etc. These are always
extremely creative and usually humorous evenings.
The club has met continuously for one hundred and twenty
years--despite blizzards, floods, wars, depressions, personal
tragedies--and the invention of television. The traditions and history
of our club are fascinating. We meet on Tuesday nights, read Shakespeare
and party often. It is a formula that has ensured the club's existence
for well over a century. The founders "builded better than they knew."
Our club is like a large, supportive family. As an early member
wrote, "We have never sought ostentatious advertisement and our affairs
are as sacred as those of the family circle." We keep the proceedings of
our meetings private and it is a long held tradition that we do not
discuss our membership in the club-- except in our obituary. This
website is a break with tradition, but we think it is valuable to share
some of our history.
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