The State of Shakespeare

Kevin Rich

Jun 202017

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Illinois Shakespeare Festival
I Heart Juliet
June 20, 2017

Kevin Rich is on the move. As the Artistic Director of The Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Kevin’s commitment to Applied Shakespeare has inspired him to seek out new and bold voices, including the Q Brothers Collective. The Q’s will be premiering I Heart Juliet at the ISF this summer. What surprises are in store? Kevin has the answers.

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Curt L. Tofteland

May 242017

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Richard II; Act 5, Scene 5
Richard II
May 24, 2017

Is there a message of hope in the words that King Richard II speaks to us from his prison cell in the Tower of London? Our guest, Curt Tofteland, is the Founder of the internationally acclaimed Shakespeare Behind Bars program. In 22 years at the helm of SBB, Curt has discovered three noble truths: Humans need a Tribe, Humans need a Story and Humans need to Reflect. Using Shakespeare, Curt teaches the prisoners these truths and the question arises: did Shakespeare do any time?

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original drawing by Michael Arthur

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Valerie Clayman Pye

Mar 312017

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Unearthing Shakespeare
March 31, 2017

Dig it. Valerie Clayman Pye discovered the Globe as a student in London. Years later, she has unearthed a way of playing Shakespeare that is fit for the ages. From the stage to the audience and back again in her elliptical training and direct address techniques.

Valerie Clayman Pye will be holding a discussion and signing at the Drama Book Shop in New York City on Wednesday, May 17^th at 5pm.

Her book is available at Amazon.

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Vilma Silva

Feb 082017

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Timon of Athens; Act 4, Scene 3
Apemantus
February 8, 2017

Claim it. It’s yours. If Timon of Athens is a perfect play for these frighteningly uncertain times, who would you cast to play Apemantus? In a world where cynics and flatterers seem to rule the day, Vilma Silva sends a message of hope.

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Contributing Editor: Andres Montejo

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

James Shapiro

Dec 232016

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Macbeth; Act 5, Scene 5
Macbeth
December 23, 2016

James Shapiro had no interest in Shakespeare in high school and never took a Shakespeare course at college. Today, the author of 1606: William Shakespeare in the Year of Lear, has a legitimate claim to be recognized as one of world’s foremost Shakespeare scholars.

Shakespeare’s heroes almost always get a last great speech. Not so with Macbeth. When Equivocation rules the land, nothing is as it seems. In our interview, Professor Shapiro explores the details of Macbeth, the world in which it was written and we discover how Mr. Shapiro came to devote his life to helping people understand Shakespeare’s plays – and why they matter today.

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Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Ty Jones

Nov 292016

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Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 7
Macbeth
November 11, 2016

“Unsexy” and “middle-class” are not words you would naturally associate with Ty Jones, the actor and Producing Artistic Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem. But when it comes to his vision for the future of the American Theatre, Mr. Jones makes no bones about what it will take for both actors and theatre companies to survive and thrive. We get a taste of his critically-acclaimed turn as the lead in CTH’s record-breaking production of Macbeth, and learn why our foreign policy leaders should listen carefully to Shakespeare.

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Contributing Editor: Andres Montejo

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Jacopo Della Quercia

Oct 072016

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License to Quill
Novel
October 6, 2016

Shaken, not Stirred. Was Shakespeare involved in a treasonous conspiracy to bring down the British monarch? Our guest, author and historian Jacopo Della Quercia, spins a fantastical yarn that places Shakespeare at the center of the real-life Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Della Quercia’s latest novel, License to Quill, is a James Bond-esque Spy thriller set in a Elizabethan England where the truth may indeed be stranger than fiction.

Click here to see more from Jacopo and how to get the book!

Contributing Editor: Andres Montejo

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Hamilton Clancy

Aug 152016

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Henry VI, Part III: Act 3, Scene 2
Richard of Gloucester
August 15, 2016

The pursuit of…. Hamilton Clancy, Artistic Director of The Drilling Company and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot relates Richard of Gloucester’s pursuit of the crown with, among other things, the current election and a petulant teenager. Hear the speech and his fascinating take on the character everyone loves to hate.

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Click here to listen to Hamilton talk about Shakespeare in the Parking Lot!

Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Maria-Christina Oliveras and Nance Williamson

Jul 202016

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Macbeth; Act 1, Scene 7
Macbeth
July 20, 2016

Photograph © T Charles Erickson tcepix@comcast.net

Something wicked this way comes! Maria-Christina Oliveras and Nance Williamson are two-thirds of a three woman Macbeth playing at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. They explore how Macbeth’s “vaulting ambition” resonates today, the challenges of doing a three woman play and how the weather changes everything!

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Artists, Interviews, Podcasts

Valorie Curry and Sam Underwood

Jun 092016

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Titus Andronicus; Act 3, Scene 1
Titus
Initiative / 26
June 9, 2016

What if you threw a party and sh!t got a little crazy and then you decided to read Shakespeare’s entire canon? You might be Valorie Curry and Sam Underwood, two hot young actor/producers with a healthy appetite for wine, wordplay and Bardolatry. Listen as they finish each others sentences, reveal discoveries they have made and bring Titus Andronicus to a whole new place.

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