About the SAC

The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity incorporated in the State of California for charitable and educational purposes. The SAC is dedicated to public education to increase awareness of long-standing doubts about the identity of William Shakespeare. The SAC does not advocate an alternative authorship candidate. We aim to establish reasonable doubt that Stratford's William Shakspere was really Shakespeare. Since there are good reasons to doubt Mr. Shakspere's authorship of the works, the issue should now be regarded as legitimate in academia, and should no longer be regarded as a taboo subject. This is the threshold issue in the authorship debate. The SAC was formed to focus on this issue.

Many Declaration signatories will favor an alternative authorship candidate, but the SAC itself is neutral about the true identity of the author, even to the extent of declining to claim that it could not possibly have been Mr. Shakspere of Stratford. Rather, the SAC's position is that there are grounds for "reasonable doubt" about the identity of the author, and the issue should, therefore, be widely regarded in academia as a legitimate subject for research, publication and instruction.

The SAC is not a membership organization, and we have no desire to compete with other non-Stratfordian organizations. On the contrary, we hope that our efforts will help them all to grow. Our only project is the promulgation and defense of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt. The purpose of this site is to make it widely available, and provide an easy way for people to sign it. We also provide links to other sites for those who wish to learn more about the authorship issue.

We operate no online forum, or blog, to discuss the Shakespeare authorship issue or Declaration. There are many online forums for discussing Shakespeare, and some of them (but, interestingly, not all) allow discussion of the authorship issue. Please try to use them to discuss the Declaration.

SAC officers and board members serve without compensation.

Contact information

Contact person: John M. Shahan, Chairman

The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition
310 North Indian Hill Blvd. #200
Claremont, California 91711

Phone: (909) 896-2006
Email: see "Contact us" page on this website

SAC Patrons

Sir Derek Jacobi
Shakespearean Actor
Associate Artist, Royal Shakespeare Company

Mark Rylance
Shakespearean actor
Former Artistic Director, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London
Associate Artist, Royal Shakespeare Company

Michael York
Actor/Author

SAC Board of Directors

Board of Academic Advisors