From mid-2003 to late 2007 the branch of the English-Speaking Union that represents the District of Columbia and its neighboring communities in Maryland and Virginia occupied an office at 1604 New Hampshire Avenue NW, just off Q Street NW and only two blocks east of the north exit of the Dupont Circle station on Metro's Red Line. We're enormously grateful to the landlord from whom we were renting during that time, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and we're delighted that its genial Secretary, Dr. John Churchill, has remained associated with ESU Washington as a member of our Advisory Board.

For several months in late 2002 and early 2003 we occupied space that had been graciously provided by Klemm Analysis Group in the building at 1785 Massachusetts Avenue NW that houses the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Immediately prior to that, we rented facilities at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW from the Woman's National Democratic Club (pictured below), an organization with which we continued to collaborate on cultural and educational programs until quite recently. We also schedule a number of each season's activities in additional venues, among them the Arts Club of Washington, the British Embassy, the Cosmos Club, DACOR Bacon House, the Historical Society of Washington DC, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and the University Club.

In December 2007 a new Executive Director, author and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, succeeded John F. Andrews in that post. After a little more than six years at the helm, Mr. Andrews moved with his wife, Jan Denton, to the Land of Enchantment, where she is pursuing a new career as an artist and he is returning to some long-dormant publishing projects. Mr. Andrews and Ms. Denton can be reached by telephone at 505 988 9560, by e-mail at esuwdc@msn.com, shakesguild@msn.com, or jandenton@q.com, or by post at 5B Calle San Martin, Santa Fe, NM 87506. Mr. Andrews remains active in ESU initiatives, both in New York and in Washington, through collaborative programs arranged by the Shakespeare Guild; for more detail, see www.shakesguild.org.

Mr. Olshaker is a prolific writer who has graced our libraries with five novels and with a number of nonfiction titles, including several bestselling volumes with John Douglas, a former FBI agent who helped pioneer the science of criminal profiling. We're also in Mr. Olshaker's debt for some of the finest programs in the annals of public television, not least among them several that he has produced in collaboration with David Macaulay. Theatrelovers cherish him for Discovering Hamlet, a 1990 PBS Video documentary about Kenneth Branagh's first professional production as the Prince of Denmark.

Since Mr. Olshaker became Executive Director, ESU Washington has endeavored to reduce its overhead costs by forgoing rented quarters and relying upon donated facilities. Meanwhile the branch has replaced its former mailing address with a post-office box. Our e-mail designation has altered too, from esuwdc@msn.com to esuwdc@verizon.net, but our Web, phone, and fax details remain unchanged.

President	Robert A. Fratkin
Treasurer	Sandra Schlicker
First Vice-President	D. Elizabeth Crompton
Vice-President	A. Graham Down
Vice-President	George Farr
Vice-President	William L. Renfro
Vice-President	Marjorie J. Williams
Director	E. R. Braithwaite
Director	Germaine Broussard
Director	Daisy P. Crowley
Director	Donald H. Dewey
Director	William J. Doody
Director	Richard Hall
Director	William F. Huneke
Director	Gerald B. Kauvar
Director	Willee Lewis
Director	Aimee Meher-Homji
Director	C. Braxton Moncure

Executive Director

Mark Olshaker

Advisory Council Members

Robert A. Brand

John Churchill

Armida Colt

Gilbert M. Grosvenor

Priscilla Liggett

Jane P. Plakias

Frederic W. Schwartz Jr.