The National Endowment for the Arts’ ambitious new Shakespeare tour begins. “It is the launch of something that could change the political fortunes of the once-embattled, now-neglected national arts agency. NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, at a reception Saturday evening, called the high-profile Shakespeare initiative ‘a Hail Mary pass.’ Dana Gioia’s approach is to try to bring a lot of positive attention, a lot of positive play to the NEA.”