Dec 152015
 

Untitledwith Xavier Pacheco
December 15, 2015

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More than fun and games?  Valedictorian Xavier Pacheco challenges your assumptions about STEM and the value of Arts in education.  Hear how Shakespeare and the Epic Theatre Ensemble changed one student’s life.

Nov 302015
 

Othello: Act 5, Scene 2
Othello

November 30, 2015

From Henrietta Vinton Davis to Paul Robeson to The Harlem Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare has a long rich history. Debra Ann Byrd, the delightful HSF Founding Artistic Director, continues the tradition with an all-female production of Othello that hit the stage this November. She shares with us her inspiration for taking on this most racially and sexually charged of Shakespeare’s plays, and giving it such a radical twist.

Click here to follow along with the text.

Click here for a scanned version of the text.

Contributing editor:  Lucy Freyer

Nov 052015
 

Twelfth Night: Act 2, Scene 5
Malvolio
November 5, 2015

Talk about cross-gartered!  Ted Lewis delivers a double dose of acting agility, dealing dueling versions of Malvolio’s boxtree speech.  A delightful insight into the process of a member of Eric Tucker’s Bedlam, one of the hottest theater companies in New York City.

Click here to follow along with the text.

Oct 012015
 

Untitled
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival/The Pearl Theater

Nance Williamson Scan 36 Scan 38

Rave reviews in both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal for Nance Williamson, currently appearing in the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Eric Tucker, playing at the Pearl Theater.  Click here for more information.

Contributing editor:  Lucy Freyer

Sep 102015
 

  

Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 3
Friar Laurence
September 10, 2015

Inspired by Joseph Papp, Ralf Jean Pierre, aka “The Spearbearer,” traveled over 4000 miles across the United States by bicycle.  His quest: bring Shakespeare to the people, and find out whether he could create an audience literally anyplace.  From corner auto body shops to exclusive country clubs to the halls of academe, Ralf put his populist theory to the test – and discovered something surprising along the way.

Click here to follow along with the text.

Click here for a scanned version of the text.

Aug 132015
 

The New American Shakespeare Tavern
August 13, 2015

Three is the charm!  After a cat and mouse game with three media giants, Jeff Watkins has spent the last 25 years bringing Shakespeare to Atlanta.  The New American Shakespeare Tavern is dedicated to bringing Original Practice productions of the Bard to life.  Jeff and his company of actors have a passionate desire to speak the words as written to create a communion between actor and audience.  You must hear it to believe it – his words are worth a thousand pictures.

Contributing editor:  Lucy Freyer

Jul 142015
 

Pericles

July 14, 2015

Bored aboard a boat during a tempest, a young Ray Chambers discovered Shakespeare and set sail on a lifelong journey.  Now the Head of Acting at the University of San Diego / Old Globe Graduate Acting Program, he happily talks communicating ideas (it is hard!), overcoming obstacles (boy did he!) and the unexpected beauty of Pericles (can you say reunited?).

Contributing Editor:  Lucy Freyer

Jun 162015
 

Mrs. Shakespeare

June 16, 2015

Irene Kelleher is lighting up the festival circuit with Mrs. Shakespeare, a play that critics are calling “demented, brilliant and totally necessary.”  Is it a one-woman homage to the Bard (Bard-ette?) or is it redemption for some of Shakespeare’s famously underwritten heroines?  See video below!

Click here to follow along with the text.

Mrs. Shakespeare Theatre Play from Petr Stach on Vimeo.

May 282015
 

Juliet’s Nurse

May 28, 2015

Pop quiz: to whom does Juliet speak most of her lines? Surprise – it’s not Romeo.  Hint: she’s a funny, bawdy woman with a vibrant imagination and a lust for life. If you guessed “Lois Leveen,” you’re in for a delightful interview with the award-winning author of Juliet’s Nurse, the untold history of one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters.

Click here to follow along with the Nurse’s speech from Act 1, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet.

May 152015
 

Teaching Will
May 16, 2015

Could the greatest Macbeth you’ll ever see be performed by an 8-year old? When author Mel Ryane thought she had reached “the end of the road” as an actor, she decided to widen the road.  Find out what William Shakespeare and ten kids gave Mel Ryane that Hollywood couldn’t.