McCrea, Scott

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Office—Conservatory of Theater Arts and Film, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase, NY 10577. E-mail—scott.mccrea@purchase.edu.

CAREER: Purchase College, Purchase, NY, faculty member in the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film.

WRITINGS:

The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2004.

Also author of plays.

SIDELIGHTS: A playwright and theater teacher, Scott McCrea is the author of The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question, which tackles the old debate about whether or not William Shakespeare was actually the author of his plays. A number of scholars have held that, because of Shakespeare's relatively humble background and lack of education, he was not capable of producing such brilliant works of poetry and drama. McCrea maintains, however, that his authorship is actually probable, and that those who say otherwise have to stretch their facts and strain credibility to make their arguments. Although Times Literary Supplement critic Brian Vickers felt that the author "has missed some relevant points" in the book, he concluded that McCrea "gives reliable and well argued accounts on both sides, bringing out the 'sleight of hand,' 'specious logic' 'imaginary evidence,' 'misdirection,' and above all 'subjective' approaches that have spawned so many rival candidates" to Shakespeare. The author "strengthens his argument," added Shana C. Fair in a Library Journal review, "by placing information within a larger context rather than just extracting the one phrase that supports his conclusions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 15, 2005, Shana C. Fair, review of The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question, p. 86.

Times Literary Supplement, August 19, 2005, Brian Vickers, "Idle Worship," review of The Case for Shakespeare.