OLD FRIENDS: Gioia, right, urged Bridges to join the NEA project. Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

michael richards's face is half hidden in shadow as he begins his monologue from The Tempest. Playing the tormented Caliban, his face contorts in anguish. “That’s Kramer! From Seinfeld!” exclaims Larry Bridges, still excited about the actor’s transformation even after seeing the performance dozens of times.

Bridges, ’71, filmed Richards’s vignette as part of Why Skakespeare?, a DVD he produced for the National Endowment for the Arts. The disc is part of the Shakespeare in American Communities program that will bring professional theater productions and educational activities to small and mid-sized towns throughout the United States. Dana Gioia, ’73, MBA ’77, NEA chairman and a friend from their days at Stanford, invited Bridges to get involved. “They needed an inspirational film to be a rallying force for an event that would kick off the initiative,” says Bridges, best known for his trendsetting TV ads for American Express, Honda motorcycles and others.

Bridges’s documentary blends Shakespeare performances from students across the country with monologues by professional actors—including Christina Applegate, Martin Sheen, William Shatner and Tom Hanks—who explain how theater has made a difference in their lives.

Bridges, who was awarded the NEA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004 for Why Shakespeare?, also enlisted some young Stanford alumni to work on the project. “I was mentoring a group of Stanford grads I’d met through my 30th reunion,” he recalls. “Zach Kinney, [’01], Danny Jacobs, [’01] and a couple of their friends had come to L.A. and rented a big house in Hollywood. I got them together, tossed ideas around, discussed the structure.” Their contributions included performances on the DVD.