

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Claiming Williams 2026 Morning Keynote: Betty Shamieh
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 05 Feb, 2026 at 11:00 am – Thu, 05 Feb, 2026 at 12:15 pm
- **Event Description**: The morning keynote, “Reinvention: On the Importance of Reimagining Your World,” will feature an on-stage conversation with Betty Shamieh, author of this year’s Williams Reads selection, "Too Soon." Samieh will explore how the challenge of reinvention always involves confronting preconceptions, the importance of representation, and how her transition from theatre to fiction enabled her to grow as an artist in both media. A Q&amp;A with Dr. Samer Al-Saber will follow the keynote.

This free and public event takes place in Chapin Hall and will be live-streamed on the Claiming Williams website. The theme of Claiming Williams 2026 is Transforming Futures Through Dialogue.

https://claiming.williams.edu
-------------

Betty Shamieh (she/her) is the author of sixteen plays. Shamieh’s debut novel, Too Soon, was published by Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster, on January 28, 2025. It has been named PEOPLE Magazine’s BOOK OF THE WEEK, the “must-read book of 2025” by the SF CHRONICLE, and a “great book to start of a great year” in OPRAH DAILY. Too Soon was featured as NPR’s BOOK OF THE DAY. and ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. It was selected for the February 2025 INDIE NEXT LIST and Book Passage’s SIGNED FIRST EDITION BOOK CLUB. A profile of Shamieh’s work was published in THE ATLANTIC (February 2025).

Shamieh’s theatre work has been the subject of features in the New York Times, Time Out, American Theatre magazine, Theater Bay Area, the Brooklyn Rail, San Francisco Chronicle, Svenska Dagbladet, Teaterstockholm, der Standard, Aramco Magazine, Kathimeiri, and the International Herald Tribune among others. A cartoon of Roar appeared in the New Yorker’s “Goings on about Town” section. 

A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, Shamieh was awarded an NEA/TCG grant to be a playwright-in-residence at the Magic Theatre. Shamieh was selected as a Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard and named as a Playwriting Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. Shamieh has taught playwriting at Columbia/Barnard, Denison College, and Marymount Manhattan College. She is a alumni member of New Dramatists, an affiliated artist at the New Group, and a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. 

Recently, she was named the Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at the Classical Theatre of Harlem and a Denning Visiting Artist at Stanford. She was commissioned by Noor Theatre with support from Pop Culture Collab to develop a comic TV pilot, inspired by her play Roar. Her works have been translated into seven languages. 
https://www.bettyshamieh.com/
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/williamstown/claiming-williams-2026-morning-keynote-betty-shamieh/200029618389206
- **Event Categories**: art, theatre, literary-art, contests, performances, workshops, entertainment, virtual
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 5

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029618389206?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=williamstown-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Williamstown
- **state**: MA
- **country**: United States
- **location**: Chapin Hall
- **lat**: 42.714367
- **long**: -73.20387
- **full address**: Chapin Hall, 62 Chapin Hall Dr, Williamstown, MA 01267-2568, United States

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Williams College (https://allevents.in/org/williams-college/23668196)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/18e0b53444f9afa2bad42bb4ece93c7d25684044a8d45e07043c0563d357b937-rimg-w1200-h675-dc4f0082-gmir?v=1770143225
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/5142b5903e25db12bdba3a345cb11b1a437d033956feea19513556c29a3ccc64-rimg-w300-h300-dc4e0180-gmir?v=1770143226

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Thu, 05 Feb, 2026 at 11:00 am
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Chapin Hall, 62 Chapin Hall Dr, Williamstown, MA 01267-2568, United States
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Williams College
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, theatre, literary-art, contests, performances, workshops, entertainment, virtual
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Claiming Williams 2026 Morning Keynote: Betty Shamieh ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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