As You Mic It

The 2026 PA Shakespeare Festival's Summer Theatre Series means weekly drops As You Mic It: In the Spotlight! PSF welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and director James Ijames and actor Akeem Davis for a conversation about August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, the production opening the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 season.

Host Connie Behringer explores the power of Wilson’s work, the joy in this presentation, and the questions that continue to make The Piano Lesson resonate with audiences today. James reflects on his approach to directing the play, its place within Wilson’s Century Cycle, and the balance between honoring a celebrated text and discovering something new within it. Akeem shares his experience stepping into the world of the Charles family, the challenges and rewards of the role, and what makes this story such a vital piece of American theatre.

Together, they discuss memory, legacy, family, and the ways the past continues to shape the choices we make in the present. Whether you are preparing to see the production or revisiting Wilson’s masterpiece, this episode offers a closer look at the artists bringing The Piano Lesson to life at PSF.

Hosted by: Connie Behringer

Guests: Akeem Davis and James Ijames

• August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at PSF
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• James Ijames

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we step into Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, a gripping portrait of power, pride, and political conflict. Presented as part of PSF’s Extreme Shakespeare series, this production embraces original practices: no director, no designers, and an ensemble of actors working at full speed with only the text and each other to guide the way. Raw, immediate, and charged with momentum, Coriolanus examines the uneasy relationship between leadership and public opinion as one celebrated military hero struggles to navigate the demands of politics and the will of the people. Join us for a closer look at one of Shakespeare’s most urgent and fiercely debated tragedies.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• Coriolanus at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we unravel the mystery of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure, a fast-moving theatrical whodunit filled with danger, disguises, and razor-sharp wit. Directed by Matt Pfeiffer and performed in repertory with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this thrilling adventure follows Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they race to outsmart their legendary enemy. Packed with suspense, comedy, and clever twists, Moriarty celebrates the enduring legacy of one of literature’s greatest detectives while delivering all the excitement of a classic detective story brought to life onstage.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• Moriarty at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we enter the world of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the timeless story of young love caught between loyalty, violence, and fate. Directed by Jason King Jones and performed in repertory with Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure, this production places two iconic stories side by side, inviting audiences to experience the thrill of repertory theatre as actors transform between worlds night after night. Filled with poetry, urgency, and emotional intensity, Romeo and Juliet continues to resonate across generations as one of Shakespeare’s most enduring plays.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• Romeo & Juliet at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we introduce The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged, a fast-paced comedy that affectionately celebrates Austen’s beloved novels with wit, chaos, and a healthy dose of theatrical mischief. Directed by Jessica Bedford, this clever adaptation races through Austen’s iconic heroines, sharp social commentary, and swooning romances with an ensemble determined to tackle the entire Austen canon in one unforgettable evening. Whether you’re a lifelong Austen devotee or meeting these characters for the first time, this joyful comedy embraces the enduring appeal of stories that continue to shape generations of readers and audiences.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we step into the electrifying world of Million Dollar Quartet, the hit musical inspired by the legendary night when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins came together at Sun Records. Packed with iconic rock ’n’ roll hits and fueled by the energy of a changing musical landscape, the show captures a moment when four artists on the edge of superstardom crossed paths for one unforgettable jam session. Directed by Jim Helsinger, Million Dollar Quartet celebrates the music, ambition, and creative spark that helped shape American music history.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• Million Dollar Quartet at PA Shakespeare Festival

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we journey into Shakespeare’s As You Like It, a joyful comedy of reinvention, romance, and self-discovery. Co-directed by Jason King Jones and Kim Carson, this fresh take on Shakespeare’s beloved comedy follows a group of exiles into the Forest of Arden, where old rivalries soften, identities shift, and unexpected connections begin to bloom. Filled with wit, music, and some of Shakespeare’s most beloved characters, As You Like It invites audiences into a world where freedom, community, and love can flourish in unexpected ways.

As part of PSF’s free Play On! Community Tour, As You Like It will travel throughout the region this summer, bringing Shakespeare directly into parks, public spaces, and communities across the Lehigh Valley. The full performance schedule is available at pashakespeare.org/as-you-like-it.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• "Play On!" Community Tour - As You Like It

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Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues. In this mini-episode, we introduce August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed by James Ijames. It's a powerful story of family, memory, and the legacies we inherit. Set against the backdrop of 1930s Pittsburgh, the play centers on a brother and sister divided over an heirloom piano carved with the history of their family. As they wrestle with questions of heritage, ambition, and obligation, Wilson asks what we owe to the past and what we carry forward into the future. Join us for a closer look at one of the great works of the American stage and the stories etched into every generation.

Single tickets are now on sale at pashakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (610) 282-9455.

Hosted by: Kim Carson

• August Wilson's The Piano Lesson - Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

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PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about comedy, craft, and a life spent reimagining Shakespeare for contemporary audiences.

In this one-act episode, Jason King Jones sits down with Austin Tichenor, co-artistic director of Reduced Shakespeare Company. Their conversation traces Austin’s career as a writer, actor, and adapter, exploring how comedic storytelling can illuminate even the most familiar texts.

From the origins and evolution of the Reduced Shakespeare Company to the ongoing challenge of making classical work immediate, Austin reflects on collaboration, precision, and the discipline behind great comedy. Along the way, they discuss the role of adaptation, the balance between honoring and reinventing source material, and why Shakespeare continues to invite bold, playful interpretation.

Hosted by: Jason King Jones

• The Shakespeareance – by Austin Tichenor
• Reduced Shakespeare Company
• Single tickets are now on sale!
• @pashakespeare - Follow us on Instagram!

Mentioned in this episode:

Single Tickets on Sale Now

Become an Underwriter Today!

Contact [email protected] for more information.

Collaboration makes great theatre!

Become a supporter, today! https://pashakespeare.org/support/

Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series

pashakespeare.org/tickets/

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about exile, belonging, and why stories of banishment continue to resonate across time.

In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable exploring characters who find themselves cast out, displaced, or searching for a place to belong. From Coriolanus to As You Like It, and The Piano Lesson to Romeo and Juliet, they consider how exile reveals identity, tests loyalty, and invites the possibility of transformation, and why these stories continue to speak to contemporary audiences.

Later in the episode, Jason sits down with Guy Roberts, Founder and Artistic Director of the Prague Shakespeare Company, to discuss building an English-language classical theatre abroad, repertory theatre, and what it means to create Shakespeare for a global audience.

In A Peek Behind the Curtain, the team reflects on the rhythms of a summer festival, examining how it differs from a traditional theatre season, and how that unique structure shapes the work, the artists, and the experience for audiences.

Hosted by: Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, Connie Behringer

Featuring: Guy Roberts

• Single tickets are now on sale!
• Prague Shakespeare Company
• Guy Roberts
• @pashakespeare - Follow us on Instagram!

Mentioned in this episode:

Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series

pashakespeare.org/tickets/

Collaboration makes great theatre!

Become a supporter, today! https://pashakespeare.org/support/

Single Tickets on Sale Now

Become an Underwriter Today!

Contact [email protected] for more information.