Shakespeare Decoded

Hosted by Interim Artistic Director, Jenni Stewart, this episode explores Dramaturgy and Translation as the Gateway to Shakespeare Engagement with Taylor Bailey, Producing Director of Play On Shakespeare, Alex Vermillion, Dramaturg and Digital Content Writer for Play On Shakespeare, and Yvette Nolan, Playwright and Translator of Henry IV Part 1 & 2. For more information, visit https://playonshakespeare.org/

Hosted by Hamlet director, Christie Vela, this episode explores why Hamlet is still relevant to our modern world. Featured guests, Nicole Berastequi, Victoria Cruz, and Katie Ibrahim, discuss the various themes and characters that mean the most to us in present times, as well as the challenges and opportunities that creating an all-woman Hamlet has given them as artists. Hamlet is running now through October 15, 2022. Learn more at shakespearedallas.org 

Timon of Athens is Shakespeare’s most explicit tragic take on the role of money.

Its importance for modern capitalism is evidenced by the fact that it is one of Shakespeare's plays that Karl Marx explicitly references in his writings. Predictably, it has received increased attention in scholarship and has witnessed a rising number of stage performances in recent years in the wake of global financial crises.

Michael Johnson (Actor, Director, Educator) and Montgomery Sutton (Rude Grooms, This Wooden O Podcast) are welcomed by our host, Jenni Stewart (Artistic Associate) in a discussion on money, reality, trust, and economic symbols. Readings from the script performed by Shawn Gann.

Learn more about us at shakespearedallas.org 

What does Shakespeare have to teach us about the veteran experience? Join host Brian Wilson (Founder, combatandclassics.org) and guest Stephan Wolfert (Founder, decruit.org) as they discuss their transition from active duty US Military to civilian life, trauma, breath, community and Macbeth. This episode contains discussions of trauma, suicide, and addiction. please take care while listening. 

Stephan Wolfert (US Army, ’86-’93, Medic & Infantry Officer) left a career in the military for a life in the theatre after seeing Shakespeare’s Richard III. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He has written four original plays and four adaptations of Shakespeare from a military Veteran’s perspective. He also has ten scientific journals published, has contributed to two book chapters in the scientific field, and is currently completing two books. He frequently writes, lectures and is interviewed for his work known as DE-CRUIT®: a program to reintegrate military Veterans using Shakespeare and science. The organization he runs and the performances of his Shakespeare adaptations combine to share his passion for the idea that while we are very good at recruiting people into the military, we are far less skilled at de-cruiting them back into civilian life.

Recommended Readings: 

Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay

Odysseus in America, Jonathan Shay

The Body Keeps Score, Bessel van der Kolk

The Wisdom of Trauma, Gabor Maté

Hosted by Production Manager, Adrian Churchill, this episode explores the diverse ways that Shakespeare’s plays can be explored politically. Featured guests, Maryam Baig, Whitney Holotik, and Dennis Raveneau, discuss the numerous styles of political action and role evident in a variety of Shakespeare’s works, from statesmanship and the competition for state office or for sovereignty, to the everyday relations of kinship and friendship, to the individuals’ struggles against politically established power – patriarchy, class, law – that constrains or oppresses them. They also discuss the politics of their own Shakespearean careers.

The typical Shakespeare production follows an odd convention: a contemporary setting with Elizabethan language. What if we flipped that? Contemporary language with an Elizabethan setting. What might we learn about the plays from putting them through that lens?

Hosted by Associate Artistic Director, Jenni Stewart, this episode explores Shakespeare in Modern Translation with Lue Douthit, Founder and Creative Director of Play On Shakespeare. In the fall of 2015, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced a new commissioning program called Play on! 36 playwrights translate Shakespeare. The project was simple yet enthusiastically ambitious in its original conception: to commission 36 playwrights (with one lucky playwright taking on all three Henry VIs) to translate 39 plays attributed to Shakespeare (including Two Noble Kinsmen and Edward III) into contemporary, modern English over the course of three years. At the end of Play On!’s three-year tenure at OSF, energized by its overwhelming scope and success, the project’s producing team secured funding to form their own, new not-for-profit company. On January 1, 2019, they established Play On Shakespeare, an organization funded by the Hitz Foundation that seeks to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays for theater professionals, students and audiences by engaging with contemporary translations and adaptations

*Please note the originally scheduled production of Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Dallas in January 2022 was canceled due to Covid-19.

Join us as we explore the journey King Lear goes through from beginning the of play as a self absorbed tyrant to his family, to a man full of love and compassion at the end. Panelists bring both deep context to the play through Shakespeare’s writing and relevant contemporary issues with older adults that relate to the play. This episode is hosted by Raphael Parry (Executive and Artistic Director of Shakespeare Dallas) and features Erik Ehn (Professor at the University of New Mexico, Playwright, Guide at Still Write Silent Retreats) and Aubrey Ferguson (Actor, Musician, Activities Director at a senior housing facility).

Featured Voice Actors: 

Dennis Raveneau (as King Lear)

Meagan Harris (as Cordelia)

Raphael Parry ( as Fool and Doctor)

Hosted by Jenni Stewart (Associate Artistic Director, Shakespeare Dallas) with guest panelists Daniel Kemper (Master of Casting & Company Management at Rude Grooms and Co-Host of This Wooden O) and Montgomery Sutton (Master of Revels at Rude Grooms and Co-Host of This Wooden O). William Shakespeare lived his entire life in the shadow of the bubonic plague. Much of his work was composed, if not in lockdown, then in the shadow of a highly infectious disease without a known cure. This episode discusses how the plague affected some of Shakespeare's greatest works as well as how our current pandemic of Covid-19 is affecting artists right now.

Hosted by Meagan Harris (Programs Associate, Shakespeare Dallas), this episode dives in to the mental health in the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia. Panelists also discuss the actor’s process for portraying roles where mental health is a central focus of the character. This group explores what Shakespeare's most famous protagonist can teach us about trauma and caring for our mental health.

Guest speakers:

Emily Faith (Teaching Artist + Masters Candidate in Drama Therapy)

Seth Magill (Actor + Educator)

Stormi Demerson (Actor + Artist)

What forms of colonization of thought and language do we encounter in our theatrical practices today? This episode explores themes of colonialism and the resulting subjugation in The Tempest. Panelists bring a unique point of view to the discussion as art-practitioners in/from colonized nations.

This episode is hosted by Maryam O. Baig. Our guests are David Lozano, Jose Garay Boszeta, and Carlos A. Drocchi.

Shakespeare Dallas is a non-profit theater company located in Dallas, Texas. To keep this podcast and other educational programming free and accessible, donate here: https://www.shakespearedallas.org/give/