The Mondavi Center's Season of Shakespeare continues Oct. 20 with a pair of events:

FORUM@MC

"Shakespeare: From Page to Stage," featuring Jane Smiley, author of A Thousand Acres, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that updates Shakespeare's King Lear for modern times.

Forum organizers said Gina Bloom, assistant professor of English, will talk with Smiley about Shakespeare and her book, and issues involved in presenting Shakespeare in contemporary times. The forum is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Jackson Hall, with admission free and open to the public.

The forum should be of particular interest to the Mondavi Center's BackStage Book Club, comprising more than 350 members. The club recommended A Thousand Acres as the book to read in September. All of the club's recommendations coincide with Mondavi Center programming.

FOCUS ON FILM

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, the Mondavi Center plans to show Tim Supple's 2003 Twelfth Night as the second installment in the fall quarter series titled Shakespeare in the Cinema.

Supple's version of the Shakespearean comedy blends modern dress and Elizabethan language and brings together some of the best actors working in Britain today, including Parminder Nagra (Bend It Like Beckham) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things). The film, which is unrated, runs for 125 minutes.

After Twelfth Night, one film remains in Shakespeare in the Cinema: Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, to be shown Nov. 17. For this film, the legendary Japanese director sets Macbeth in medieval Japan, mixing Shakespearean drama and formal elements of Japanese Noh theater for a unique cinematic experience. The 1957 film is in Japanese with English subtitles; it is 90 minutes long and unrated.

BACKSTAGE BOOK CLUB

READING LIST

NOVEMBER -- Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder. Related events: See Campus Community Book Project.

JANUARY -- Transformations, in which confessional poet Anne Sexton takes on several mythological transformations, including Cinderella's. Related events: "Fables, Fairy Tales and the Arts," Forum@MC, 5 p.m. Jan. 29 (free); and Cinderella, performed by the State Ballet Theatre of Russia, 8 p.m. Feb. 6 (ticketed event).

MARCH -- Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Related events: "Just the Facts, Ma'am?" Forum@MC, 5 p.m. April 6 (free); and "A Long Way Gone: A Story of Redemption and Hope," author's address in the Distinguished Speakers Series, 8 p.m. April 8 (ticketed event).

Book club registration (free): mondaviarts.org/bookclub

Book club blog: bookclub.mondaviarts.org

FOCUS ON FILM

WINTER QUARTER: HITCHCOCK -- THE WRONG MAN THEME

JAN. 5 -- Spellbound

JAN. 26 -- North by Northwest

FEB. 23 -- Strangers on a Train

SPRING QUARTER: PAUL HAGGIS PICKS

MARCH 30—Z (1969)

APRIL 13—Rashomon (1950)

APRIL 27—Breathless (1960)

MAY 18—Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

All films start at 6:30 p.m. in the Studio Theatre. Audience members are invited to stay for a reception and open discussion after each film.

TICKETS: $10 for adults, and $5 for students and children, for single films; $75 for season tickets; and $27 for three-film plans (choose your own films).

BOX OFFICE: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org.

MORE INFORMATION