”Novelist Russel McLean (right) talks about his new novel And When I Die and reveals both surprising influences and his fascination with extended families with dark secrets. Featuring Glasgow’s answer to the Corleones, shifting perspectives, early submission problems, the similarities between crime novelists and a certain criminal mastermind, and the identity of arguably the greatest Read more…
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”Thaddeus and Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure is a great new comedy by Kevin Douglas having its world premiere at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in an amazing production directed by J. Nicole Brooks and Krissy Vanderwarker. Kevin talks about the inspiration for this new work and reflects about a misspent youth Read more…
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Ken Ludwig (right) is the prolific American comic playwright responsible for such Tony- and Olivier-award winning shows as Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy For You, Moon Over Buffalo, Shakespeare In Hollywood, Baskerville, and almost two dozen more plays and musicals that have been produced in more than 30 countries in over 20 languages. For this special milestone episode, Ken talks about his work, his process, his new book How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare, future projects, the importance of being in touch with Twelfth Night, the difference between farce and muscular comedy, the contrast between prose and poetry, the power of comic engines, and the all-important value of romance. (Length 31:22)
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”James Finn Garner is the author of the classic satire Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, its various companion volumes, and the Rex Koko Private Clown series of comic mysteries, and he talks about the values of political correctness in both life and art. Featuring the evolution of inclusion, linguistic kerfuffles, the dangers of Read more…
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”On April 23, 2016, the New York Times published an obituary of William Shakespeare as it might have appeared when he actually died in 1616. The obituary was written by novelist Louis Bayard, who we had the pleasure to meet on that very same day, and who was gracious enough to Read more…
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”Mya Gosling is the creator and artist of Good Tickle Brain, the definitive three-panel stick-figure Shakespearean web comic, and we got to chat about Shakespeare and comics (and musicals and Gilbert & Sullivan) when our paths recently crossed at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Mya explains her comic’s origin story and discusses early Read more…
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”Everybody loves a detective story, and a detective story involving a genuine Shakespeare artifact is irresistible. Former DC cop and NEA fellow Quintin Peterson is a crime novelist and stage door guard at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. His novel Guarding Shakespeare imagines a Shakespearean heist set against this Read more…
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”Richard Schoch is Professor of Drama at Queen’s University in Belfast, and the author of “Not Shakespeare: Bardolatry and Burlesque in the 19th Century.” Richard was working at the Folger Shakespeare Library during our first week there and wrote a blog post about the history of Shakespearean parody. Spoiler alert: The Reduced Shakespeare Read more…
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”Long-time RSC actor John Schwab and photographer Matt Humphrey have created the beautiful new book Curtain Call, an invaluable collection of photographs and interviews celebrating the amazing variety of London theatre in the year 2015. The book is both a handsome collectible and an invaluable piece of theatre journalism, and John talks about Read more…
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”Playwright and director Aaron Posner (Stupid F*cking Bird) talks about his celebrated production of The Tempest at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, his upcoming production of Midsummer at the Folger Theatre, and his ongoing exploration of the classics using both reverence and irreverence. Featuring the importance of populism, the fun of making plays you want to see, the gift Read more…
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Playwright John Cariani (who’s also an actor from the original Broadway casts of the musicals The Band’s Visit and Something Rotten!) talks about writing his play Almost, Maine, one of the most popular and widely produced scripts in the U.S. Among many surprises, John reveals love stories for character actors, F. Read more…
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”Writer David Goodman (Enterprise, Futurama, Family Guy, Federation: The First 150 Years) discusses his fantastic new book The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, which he “edited” from the actual papers of Starfleet’s greatest captain. Featuring much dot-connecting and blank-filling, writing in voices, carrying on traditions and storylines established fifty years ago, woefully Read more…
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”Authors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor talk about the development process of their ninth stage collaboration William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), and reveal the joys and anguish of the writing process, shuffling of ideas and scenes, the five stages of writing, the pleasures of research, the discoveries of rehearsal, Read more…
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”Chicago actor and now author Samuel Taylor chronicles the origins of the Back Room Shakespeare Project in his new book My Life With The Shakespeare Cult. Part cri de coeur, part call to arms, Sam’s book is a brief and inspiring manifesto about restoring life to Shakespeare performance. Featuring the Read more…
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”Ian Tregillis has quite possibly created a new genre with his recent novel Something More Than Night, a murder mystery detective novel with an angel protagonist set in Thomas Aquinas’ vision of Heaven. Ian talks about his supportive writers group (featuring a promising newcomer named George R. R. Martin), the struggle of describing Read more…
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”You may not have heard of them but TJ & Dave are the gods of improvisation, and they’ve written a book about what they do called Improvisation at the Speed of Life. Dave Pasquesi (who you may recognize from the films Groundhog Day and Angels and Demons, or as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’s ex-husband on Veep), talks Read more…
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”No, not Santa — Satan. For this most festive time of year, we present news of RSC founding member Adam Long‘s most recent project, Satan Sings Mostly Sondheim, the script of which has just been published by The Sondheim Review. At the Review’s request, Austin Tichenor interviews Adam and they discuss Read more…
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”Novelists Alexandra Sokoloff (American) and Craig Robertson (Scot) discuss how living in Scotland inspires their work. Featuring thin boundary issues, chasing markets, how art imitates life, so-called “monster-boning”, the differences between Glasgow and Edinburgh, shout-outs to novelists Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, and Christopher Moore, and how a successful career Read more…
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”Yisrael Campbell is just your run-of-the-mill Irish, Italian, Catholic, American, Reform, Conservative, and now Orthodox Jew, and he tells the story of his fascinating journey in “Circumcise Me”, his funny and poignant one-man show currently playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Featuring journeys both spiritual and theatrical, stereotypes both confounded and embodied, Read more…
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”From the box office to the Vatican to drag queens (oh my)! Jacques Lamarre has not had a typical journey to becoming a playwright, yet his most recent work I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti is being produced around the country, including at one of our favorite places Cincinnati Read more…
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”Author David Carlyon talks about his book Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You’ve Never Heard Of and its subject, one of the richest entertainers of the 19th century and the Jon Stewart of his day. Featuring “Hits on the Times”, an examination of 19th century performance and politics, the Read more…
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”Playwright Sara Gmitter talks about her new play In The Garden: A Darwinian Love Story (now getting its world premiere at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago), which explores the long and successful romance between Charles and Emma Darwin: A woman who believed in God and heaven and salvation — Read more…
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”Playwright, director, and comedy nerd/scholar/author Gary Rudoren discusses his very funny book Comedy By The Numbers: The 169 Secrets of Humor and Popularity (co-written with Eric Hoffman). Featuring more talking in pubs, parental influences, the road to publication (by McSweeney’s), cool Mr. Show and Saul Goodman connections, the truth about Read more…
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”Pocket of Dog Snogging returns! New York Times Best-Selling author Christopher Moore discusses his Shakespeare-inspired comic novels Fool (a retelling of King Lear from the jester’s point of view) and his latest The Serpent of Venice, which combines Othello, Merchant of Venice, Edgar Allan Poe, and a sea monster. Featuring Read more…
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Austin Tichenor’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is getting new life, with a new production and published acting edition. Austin talks to director Rob Richards about the current production and consider the ideal interpreters of 19th-century Romantic authors, some genius casting notions, the dangers of polite acting, the close relationship between laughter and screams, a special appearance by newly elected Senator Cory Booker, dodgy Jeff Goldblum impressions, and the nature of monstrosity. (Length 19:15) (Pictured: Matthew Geary as The Creature in the 2013 Phillips Exeter Academy production. Photo by Cheryl Semter. Used by permission.)
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”Anthony Clarvoe‘s plays (Pick Up Ax, Ambition Facing West, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, etc) have been produced all over the US in many of the same theaters we play, yet despite us having many friends and colleagues in common, our paths have never crossed until now. Anthony talks about his life as a Read more…
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”On the opening weekend of The Complete History of Comedy (abridged), authors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor reflect on how their early comic influences have inspired the writing of the show. Featuring favorite movies, formative stand-ups, fundamental lessons, a celebration of Blackhawk Films, and the importance of parents with excellent Read more…
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”Journalist and author Robin Wright talks about her book Rock The Casbah: Rage and Rebellion in the Muslim World, which chronicles youth-inspired Islamic revolts against autocrats and extremism using such pop-cultural weapons as music, comedy, and theatre, plus even comic books and theme parks. Featuring pop-culture political flash points , hip-hop Islam, Read more…
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”Just in time for summer comes Bill Ryan‘s “Serving Celebrities: Stories of Your Favorite Celebrities From One Who Served Them” and it’s the perfect beach read, filled with funny, revealing, unabashedly gossipy, and mildly bitchy tales of greatness and the people who serve them. Featuring behind the scenes dish, interactions with Read more…
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”Finally! We return to Australia, with RSC veterans Michael Faulkner, Jerry Kernion, Mick Orfe, and Dominic Conti performing The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, and Sydney. This week, playwrights and directors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor chat with original cast member Matt Croke about putting together the original Read more…
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“Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor discuss their new e-book How The Bible Changed Our Lives (Mostly For The Better), their irreverent comic memoir (originally published in paperback as The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Westminster/John Knox Press) and talk about how, while writing their whimsical look at the Bible, they find their friendship Read more…
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Novelist and former theatre dramaturg Nicole Galland has written I, Iago, a novel which tells the story of Shakespeare’s famous villain and the events of the play Othello, but from Iago’s point of view. Nicole talks about her tragic, comic, and crazily compelling riff on both the familiar story and Shakespeare’s famous villain, and Read more…
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In honor of Groundhog Day last week, we swap favorite time travel stories with fellow nerd AJ Mass that run the gamut from Ray Bradbury, Jack Finney, and Stephen Fry to Eliza Dushku and Ashton Kucher. Featuring nods to precision, romance, 12 monkeys, gateway drugs, literary detectives, time-traveling Irish playwrights, open and closed Read more…
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”Broadcaster, journalist, novelist, inveterate tweeter, and now (gasp) playwright, National Public Radio’s Scott Simon discusses his recent novels, upcoming projects, and the degree to which his Chicago background informs his work. Featuring Scott’s tribute to the Windy City, insight into the intriguing differences between his various jobs, a special appearance Read more…
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”Jennifer Lee Carell‘s new mystery Haunt Me Still (aka The Shakespeare Curse outside the US) deals with the legends surrounding the manuscript and supposed curse of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, or as it’s known euphemistically in the theatre world, “the Scottish Play”. Featuring the difference between knowledge and superstition, Shakespeare’s fascination Read more…
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Kay Tichenor (Austin’s mom!) talks about her 1976 book Ballet (Troubador Press/Price Stern Sloan) and how a casual family interest became an activity and reference book that’s still in print after thirty-five years. Featuring a reduced history of this ‘history of the dance’, advice for aspiring writers, the power of movement, and a special appearance by a man of a certain age. (UPDATE: Kay passed away on May 29, 2010, less than a month after this was recorded. She is and will be missed.) (MP3. Length 20:47)
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”LIVE! From the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, we read excerpts from Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide For The Attention-Impaired (abridged), The Complete History of America (abridged), The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), and All The Great Books (abridged). Featuring RSC bits as you’ve never heard them, a Read more…
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”In his book The DeVere Code, actor Jonathan Bond explains the startling discovery he made that reveals Shakespeare’s sonnets were written by the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere. Featuring impertinent pop-culture comparisons, Eureka moments, a special appearance by a genuine Nutter, and a first-hand account of what it’s Read more…
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”A series of mini-reunions this week! New York Times bestselling novelist Jasper Fforde (the Thursday Next series, the Nursery Crime series) has written Shades of Grey and was good enough to chat about it. Then we reconnected with several RSC UK members, several of whom have gone on to much Read more…
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”“Let’s face it, we’d all love to topple a government or stage a full-scale rebellion, but who’s got the time or energy these days? Never fear, Tiny Acts of Rebellion can help.” Thus begins the funny new book by Rich Fulcher of The Mighty Boosh, who reveals how – and Read more…
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”This week we discuss what it’s like to perform the revisions to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). Featuring cast changes, Singapore changes, and a special appearance by RSC founding member Jess Winfield, author of My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare. (MP3. Length 20:03)
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”The RSC is strapping on the tights again for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) — and this time it’s revised. Authors Jess Winfield and Daniel Singer talk about what prompted them to update the script, what references they wanted to update, and – thankfully for us – how Read more…
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”Founding RSC member Jess Winfield discusses his first novel My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare, and why politics, artistic growth, and the occasional naughty word fuel his recent work. Featuring RenFaire and RSC memories, hints about a possible sequel, a desperate cry for minions, and Read more…
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”A new Shakespeare thriller! Published in America as Interred With Their Bones, and around the world as The Shakespeare Secret, Jennifer Lee Carrell‘s new book is a page-turning treasure hunt adventure about one woman’s global search for a lost Shakespeare manuscript. The author herself talks about her luck as a Read more…
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”Bestselling author Jasper Fforde talks about First Among Sequels, the latest in his Thursday Next series. Jasper shares the RSC’s reverential irreverence for sacred literature, reveals some eerie insight concerning Jane Austen, and outlines his Schrodinger Night Fever Principle of Literary Analysis. Featuring a special appearance by The Word Nerds. Read more…
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Character actor/comedian David Koechner (Anchorman, Thank You For Smoking, Snakes on a Plane) tells tales of typecasting and creating comic characters, and deconstructs his short-lived Comedy Central TV show, The Naked Trucker & T-Bones Show. Featuring a special appearance by Gerald ‘T-Bones’ Tibbons (left). Boop! (MP3. Length 26:20)
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”A Very Special “Where Are They Now?” (or rather, a “Who Are They Again?”) episode. David Letwin, an original member of the Criterion Theatre cast in London, tells outrageous tales of Royals in the stalls, Adventures in Lecturing, and an audience with Moses Himself. Special appearance by Gary Rudoren, co-author Read more…
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