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Daniel Jose Molina brilliantly played Hal in both parts of Henry IV and the title role of Henry V At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2017 & 2018. Now quarantining in the Chicago area with his wife Alejandra Escalante (who fiercely played Hotspur opposite him in Henry IV Part 1), Daniel discusses how the roles came to him, and shares how Hal’s fear of becoming king matches the actor’s fear of playing him; the importance of knowing that Hal belongs in Eastcheap and isn’t just a tourist; how to best fight imposter syndrome; passing the baton to your fellow actors; the challenge of translating Shakespeare back into English; having multiple versions of the same conversation; the value of discovering new dream roles; devising the elevator pitch of Hal’s journey; and the flattering presence of the Reduced Shakespeare Company in his actor origin story. (Length 28:56)
Podcast: Download (33.5MB)
Paul Edmondson is the Head of Research and Knowledge and Director of the Stratford-Upon-Avon Poetry Festival for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and, together with Professor Sir Stanley Wells, has just published All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, which collects Shakespeare’s 154 standalone sonnets along with most of the other sonnets Shakespeare included in his plays, and arranges them all for the very first time in the order in which they were probably written. Paul discusses how he and Sir Stanley had a desire to counter the damaging (and reductive) narrative of a so-called Fair Youth and Dark Lady, and includes revelations of a lifetime of writing; recitations by request; unexpected wisdom from a relatively young poet; recognizing the difficulty of reading the sonnets; schoolboy exercises; how sonnets 50 and 51 suggest that Shakespeare wrote them while on horseback; and the possibility (probably the certainty) of leaving a lasting impact on how we understand Shakespeare’s biography. (Length 28:48)
Podcast: Download (33.3MB)
Award-winning playwright, audio dramatist, and now screenwriter Madhuri Shekar is an alum of Julliard’s playwriting program and has an MFA from USC in Dramatic Writing and a dual Master’s degree in Global Media and Communications from USC and the London School of Economics. Madhuri was awarded the 2020 Lanford Wilson Playwriting Award and her audio drama Evil Eye won the 2020 Audie Award for Best Original Work, and now Evil Eye has been turned into a movie for Amazon Prime. Madhuri talks about how she first started writing stories as a child and discusses our shared Bay Area roots; how she felt seen at a performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged); the gift of parental encouragement; the perfection of a scary movie directed by identical twins; the marvel of accurate trailers; huge love for (and the difficulty of achieving) genre tonal shifts; the challenge of performing in empty space; a time to slow down; and the power of theatre and the importance of artist safety. ALSO FEATURING: Our unabridged joy at being a reduced part of Madhuri’s origin story! (Length 22:06)
Podcast: Download (25.6MB)