Richard III (play) "Hamlet" is shorter than its Quarto counterpart. The play is often abridged; for example, certain peripheral characters are removed entirely. In such instances, extra lines are often invented or added from elsewhere in the sequence to establish the nature of characters' relationships. A further reason for abridgment is that Shakespeare assumed that his audiences would be familiar with his "Henry VI" plays and frequently made indirect references to events in them, such as Richard's murder of Henry VI or the defeat of Henry's wife, Margaret. "House of York" "House of Lancaster" "Woodville family" "Richard III's group" "Earl of Richmond's group"
American Shakespeare Center company, then called the Blackfriars Stage Company. The performances incorporated acoustic music, a piano, and a three-sided thrust stage, all of which were selected to maximize audience engagement. The American Shakespeare Center celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2013. In April 2017, the American Shakespeare Center launched an international playwrighting competition to develop a canon of new plays that are inspired by and in conversation with the work of William Shakespeare. Each new play will be performed in rotating repertory with the Shakespeare play it corresponds with. The first round of submissions are for "The Merry Wives of Windsor"; "Henry IV,