This is a Classic: The Expand the Canon Theatre Podcast

This season, we have 8 partner companies diving into our 2023 list with us and producing readings. We were honored to have 4 of our New York partners represented –– Jessie Austrian from Fiasco Theater, Nicola Murphy Dubey from Irish Repertory Theatre, Lou Moreno from INTAR Theater, and Devin Brain from The Acting Company. Director of Outreach and Development Triza Cox lead the panel, digging into the state of classic theatre and why this work is important. Recorded live at Caveat NYC on January 22, 2024, this is Part 2 of 2.

If you’re looking for a dramedy about reframing your life and learning to fall in love (with yourself) again… consider this powerful Chinese play about love, loss, and artistic identity. Taking place in West China during the Sino-Japanese War, Heaven Challenges centers around Shih Kun-Yi, a housewife who has given up her love of painting to serve her husband. When he divorces her in an attempt to climb the social ladder, Shih Kun-Yi must discover how to fall in love all over again: with herself, her art, and her friends who are just as lost as she is. If the confrontation of gender roles in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House speaks to you, dive into this striking tale.

Hosted by Kalina Ko and Shannon Corenthin

Now that we've released our 4th list and have 36 featured plays by historic women playwrights, our curators get together to dish about our favorite plays. Recorded live at Caveat NYC on January 22, 2024, this is Part 1 of 2.

If you always wished you could see Lady Macbeth take on Don Juan… consider this reimagining of the Don Juan myth from a celebrated Ukrainian author. Donna Anna is looking to transcend her position in society, and an ineffectual Don Juan might just be her ticket out – inciting an impassioned game of cat and mouse. Told in the Spanish Golden Age tradition, this play’s masquerade balls, moody cemeteries, and sword fights will keep an audience in joyful suspense until its surprising conclusion. With complexity, romance, and modern-sounding verse, Ukrainka examines the power struggles that still hold sway in our relationships today.

Hosted by Gagarin and Skye Pagon

If you’re looking for an atmospheric romance where the truest love story is one with home and community… consider this heartfelt struggle between new and old. After 30 years in the Big City, Antonio Lozano returns with his adult children to his village in Mexico, focused on innovating farming practices in his rural home. The cosmopolitan meets the pastoral, conflict abounds, and the entire valley must decide whether to adapt to a modernized future or to stick with traditions steeped in history. Addressing globalization, romanticized change, and our relationship to the environment, this sensitive story asks us what it truly means to return home.

Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels of Folger Theatre joined us for a panel last year after we released our 2022 list. Enjoy this replay of her conversation with Artistic Director Emily Lyon on what makes a classic, what their value is today, and how to use them going forward.

If you’re looking to blend the political intrigue of Shakespeare’s histories with the visceral drama of a Greek tragedy… consider Catherine Bernard’s tight verse play featuring a moral yet conflicted Queen trapped in a tragic love quadrangle. Caught between her heart and her sense of place, Laodamia, the Queen of Epirus, has always lived a life of self sacrifice– until she falls in love with her sister’s betrothed. Set against the backdrop of an impending revolution, this tragic love story is as much about deep sisterly bonds as it is about political intrigue. As her feelings conflict with the world’s expectations and the whole court is thrown into chaos, Laodamia must decide whether to follow her heart or her sense of duty. Tense, vibrant, and a true vehicle for a powerhouse female actor, this play will keep you in suspense until the last climactic second.

Hosted by Emily Lyon and Shannon Corenthin.

If you’re looking for a live-wire take on fossil fuel and the American labor system… consider this incendiary drama exploring the intersection of racism, capitalism and environmentalism. Set against the backdrop of a rural coal mine, a young Black man struggles to confront his heritage when his white father arrives to survey the mine his white daughter is set to inherit. A tack-sharp look at systemic violence and ultimately a plea towards empathy, it is a perfect drama for the Miller or O’Neil slot in your season.

Hosted by Mary Candler and Shannon Corenthin

Thanks to Greg Phelps for editing this episode!

Island Shakespeare Festival, off the coast of Seattle, has committed to produce THREE YEARS of Expand the Canon plays! ISF Artistic Director Olena Hodges chats with Hedgepig's Artistic Director Emily Lyon –– who is directing the first ISF partnership play, A Bold Stroke for a Husband –– about the 'bold' move to partner with us and produce these titles.

If you’re looking for a farcical skewering of the aristocracy that evokes an Arrested Development for the 18th century… consider this contemporary roast of old-money values. The notable Von Ahnensoltz family deigns to allow a bourgeois gentleman to marry their noble daughter… and pay off all their debts, of course. However, their daughter isn’t sold, instead creating delicious chaos with her formerly affianced… and delicately, sort of, sticking it to the man. Dusty heraldry, fashionable hypochondria, and, of course, debt abound in this frothy class commentary that would elevate the Tartuffe or Imaginary Invalid slot of any season.

Hosted by Emily Lyon and Skye Pagon.

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