Shakespeare & Company (S&Co.) artistic director Tina Packer begins the third season of her eight-part lecture series, "Tina Talks" at the Wharton Theatre at The Mount, beginning July 5 and running through Aug. 23. The lectures take place Wednesday evenings at 6 PM.

Designed to "enhance the audience's theatre experience," Packer's talks are geared to the company's season. Packer will be joined by directors, actors and scholars in the series.

Topics for the summer series include an exploration of self knowledge through disguise and concealment entitled "What I Am And What I Would, Are As Secret As Maidenhead"; "Edith Wharton and Her 'View Beyond'"; "The Story Behind the Sonnets"; an essay on the cycle of revenge entitled "O Sweet Juliet, Thy Beauty Hath Made Me Effeminate"; a look at violence as an extension of the unequal power between men and women entitled "We Are The Only Love Gods"; a discussion of the relationship between the spoken word and the lyrical note entitled "The Isle Is Full Of Noises, Sounds, And Sweet Airs, That Give Delight And Hurt Not"; a discussion of The Winter's Tale entitled "It Is An Heretic That Makes The Fire, Not She Which Burns In't"; and finally, an exploration of the themes of Coriolanus entitled "A Thing Made By Some Other Deity Than Nature."

Limited tickets to "Tina Talks" are $12.50. Shakespeare & Company is located in the Berkshires in Lenox, Mass., at 70 Kemble St. and the Wharton Theatre is located at The Mount, Edith Wharton's former residence on Route 7 just north of Lenox. For tickets call the box office at (413) 637 3353 or visit www.shakespeare.org.

-- By Murdoch McBride