Apr 202026
 

As You Like It

Folger Theatre
April 20, 2026

How should an actor approach Shakespeare’s language? Is the focus on rehearsing delivery, or on cultivating presence in the moment? Director Timothy Douglas credits the teachings of Tina Packer and Kristin Linklater for shaping his approach to helping actors “own” Shakespeare. His latest collaboration, As You Like It, at the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC runs through April 19.

The quote we talk about in the interview:

As You Like It; Act 4, Scene 1: (spoken by Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede to Jacques in Act 4, scene 1)

24.  I fear you have sold your own lands to see other men's; then 
25. to have seen much and to have nothing is to have rich eyes
26. and poor hands.

Click here to go to the Folger Website.

Apr 022026
 

The Merry Wives of Windsor; Act 2 Scene 2 Mistress Quickly
April 2, 202
6

Which female character became such a fan favorite that Shakespeare featured her in four different plays? Award-winning actor Nancy Voigts brings this famously bawdy mischief-maker and mistress of misinformation to life in a vibrant new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

Click here for more information about the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Click here to follow along with the text.

Click here for the First Folio version of the text.

Mar 052026
 

A Truant Dispostion: Hamlet and Horatio
March 4, 2025

Is Horatio the villain?  A literary stand-in for the murderously opportunistic “friends” who stalked the halls of power in Elizabethan England?  Carol Grieb imagines a Hamlet in which Hamlet’s so-called best friend is anything but.

Click here to go to the book website.

Click here to purchase the book.

Nov 102025
 

The Merchant of Venice; Act 3, Scene 1
Shylock
November 10, 2025

The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” Actor and storyteller Saul Rubinek takes us inside his one-man show Playing Shylock, now on stage at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in New York City. Rubinek explores Shylock’s confounding genesis and reveals why one of Shakespeare’s so-called “minor” roles continues to be one of the most groundbreaking, misunderstood and controversial characters in theater history.

Click here to see the Folio Version.

Click here for a Modern Version of the Text.

Click here for more information about Playing Shylock.

Click here for Saul’s book, All in the Telling.

Click here for a transcript of “The Stranger’s Case” by Thomas More.

Oct 222025
 

Measure for Measure; Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo
October 20, 2025

If the goal is to be a working actor, is training optional? Terry Knickerbocker offers his perspective on the purpose of actor training. And in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, we confront a timeless dilemma: is it better to perish for the sake of principle, or debase yourself and survive?

Click here to follow along with the text.

Click here to see the Folio Version.

Click here for a scanned version of the text.

Sep 022025
 

Romeo & Juliet; Act 1, Scene 4
Romeo
September 3, 2025

From forth the fatal loins of civil strife springs a bold new Romeo and Juliet. The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey presents this re-envisioned classic, starring Isaac Hickox-Young and directed by Bonnie J. Monte. Is it love, lust, or something more sinister that propels the star-crossed lovers to their untimely end?

Romeo and Juliet runs from September 10th to October 5th at the Shakespeare Theater of NJ.

Click here to follow along with the text.

Click here to see the Folio Version.

Click here for a scanned version of the text.

Click here for information about Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey.

Aug 052025
 

https://media.blubrry.com/stateofshakespeare/www.stateofshakespeare.com/TSS/Media/TracyMicheleArnold.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Youtube Music | RSS King John; Act 3, Scene 1 ConstanceAugust 5, 2025 Words, words, words. A love of words makes Tracy Michelle Arnold the perfect candidate to run the Language Project at American Player’s Theater. With the focus

[...]
Jun 182025
 

https://media.blubrry.com/stateofshakespeare/www.stateofshakespeare.com/TSS/Media/MeiAnnTeo.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Youtube Music | RSS Twelfth Night Folger TheaterJune 18, 2025 “Most wonderful!” Olivia’s (ahem) climactic outburst isn’t just a line, it’s the line that catches the spirit of director Mei Ann Teo’s current production of Twelfth Night at the

[...]
May 292025
 

https://media.blubrry.com/stateofshakespeare/www.stateofshakespeare.com/TSS/Media/GideonRappaport.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Youtube Music | RSS Shakespeare, Appreciated Hamlet; Act 5, Scene 2May 29, 2025 Gideon Rappaport, author of Appreciating Shakespeare, has released a newly annotated edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Can modern readers and actors truly grasp Shakespeare’s work as he

[...]
Mar 312025
 

https://media.blubrry.com/stateofshakespeare/www.stateofshakespeare.com/TSS/Media/DerekHunter.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Youtube Music | RSS Anonymous Agnostic Antichrists March 31, 2025 The Authorship Question may ebb and flow in popularity, but the mystery behind the origins of the Bard’s works remains endlessly intriguing. What better way to explore the rich

[...]