I was inspired to create this podcast by two, well three, main influences. One is, of course, my co-teacher, Drew Haston, who last year introduced me to the world of podcasting. The second, older influence was my college professor, Dr. Kurt Eisen at Tennessee Tech, who taught literature classes through the lens of plays. It was in his class that I first read this week’s play, and it stuck with me ever since. The third inspiration is my own selfish self. During the summer, when I’m driving or mowing for long periods of time, I want to listen to content that helps me learn and teach new works of literature in my upcoming classes. It can be hard to find recordings that walk you through the content in a real-world, intelligent way, let alone providing you angles for how to teach the work. I wanted to create a podcast for others (and myself) that would hit that angle.

This week, we’re covering Fences. It’s not an unknown play, but I would be surprised to learn it was taught in a majority of high school classes nationwide. But it’s a celebrated play with award-winning actors! Why doesn’t this play reach more classrooms? Why should it? And what would you do to teach this play?

Second Stage is a Free Zone Radio production. You can find our show on Spotify alongside our other podcast, With Honors

on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0881bUWWdgkBdGzHlPNToi?si=1HS8tQGXRyOgn1h5bs2pTg

on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/with-honors/id1797115480

on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCweufFHJbylu4tR598SDj5w

Also, throw some love at our brotherly podcast with Coach Haston, A Deadman's Books. He's on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/4HtulwbO10pOjV5hbdWOty?si=I5Tt07unQJWVhaFVsInP8A and Apple Podcasts at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-deadmans-books/id1795582942

as well as Haston Curation, on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/3O8GDUtqshbxFF7gU2FMwM?si=b38ac16d08374671

This episode features excerpts from stage performances of Fences with James Earl Jones and Denzel Washington. You can view the recordings on YouTube at

This episode also features "Caught in the Middle" by Amarent and "Flea Bop" by Mr. Smith, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secondstagepodcast.substack.com