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Flatwater Shakespeare Company is hosting its first (and hopefully annual) “Unshaken Festival,” five solo pieces that engage with Shakespeare comically, poignantly, and powerfully (including Dee Ryan’s Broadguess, featuring actor Fred Vogel). Summer Lukasiewicz is Flatwater’s outgoing executive artistic director, and she shares how these new pieces were selected; how the festival came to be, and how it’s a reaction to the pandemic; the importance of getting changes to the tech crew; the differences between working with living playwrights (as opposed to dead ones), including why the royalty line-item suddenly has numbers in it bigger than zero; whether (and how) the “Unhaken Festival” will continue; and why seeing Shakespeare through difference lenses and from different perspectives is one reason why Shakespeare continues to live. (Length 20:25)
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John Mayer – actor, director, and chair of the Theatre Department at Cal State Stanislaus – has written Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago: In Their Own Words, the (so far) definitive chronicle of Chicago’s groundbreaking theatre ensemble. A high school friend of two of the company’s founders – Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry – John interviewed dozens of artists and administrators who were instrumental in Steppenwolf’s evolution, and reveals such tidbits as Sinise’s early fundraising efforts (which involve a hubcap); the greatest summation of Steppenwolf ever; shout-outs to amazing influential teachers; what an MFA really gives you; tensions between art and commerce; memories of John Malkovich’s landmark production of Balm In Gilead; and, most importantly, how passion, chutzpah, drive, and the ability to adapt and change creates long-term artistry. (Length 21:31)
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Barbara Wallace, who, along with her writing partner Thomas R. Wolfe created the TV series Welcome To New York (starring Christine Baranski and Rocky Carroll), talks about one of her biggest pet peeves, an almost indefinable bit of stage business that always feels forced (and is not to be confused with an actual exit). Barb also discusses her creative journey from sketch comedy in Chicago to writing and creating TV series in both Hollywood and New York. Featuring: whether or not actors should be allowed to breathe; conflicting definitions of “hugely successful;” the importance of writing the best thing you can, not what you think people will like; fighting for gender parity at Second City in the early 1990s; the mixed benefits of multiple streaming platforms; getting close enough to the glass ceiling to fog it up but not break it; the joys of working with TV legend Christine Baranski; and finally, the ABCs of surviving in showbiz – Always Be Creating your own content. (Length 21:15)
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