Episode 629. 2018’s Top Podcasts

Happy New Year! We kick off 2019 with excerpts of the Top Ten Most Downloaded Episodes of the RSC Podcast from 2018. Featuring novel excerpts from novelist Christopher Moore; testimonials regarding the efficacy of prison theatre programs; reviews of our favorite Broadway shows; the challenges of working on a new play about Mikhail Gorbachev; love for and from retired National Public Radio broadcaster Robert Siegel; actors from the Prague Shakespeare Festival; affection for Slings and Arrows; new plays inspired by Shakespeare’s plays and practices; confessions from an actual Lady Macbeth; and — finally! — an answer to the question, “What is Shakespeare’s greatest play?” Listen to the excerpts then click through to hear the entire episodes! (Length 23:03) 

Episode 577. Thanks, Robert Siegel

Long-time journalist and host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered Robert Siegel retired last week. Robert was the man who first brought the Reduced Shakespeare Company on to the NPR airwaves in 1994 and introduced us to the largest American audience we’d ever had up to that point. To celebrate his retirement, we offer the very first interview we did with Robert on All Things Considered, from June 23, 1994, during which we talk about and perform excerpts from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), followed by our second interview with Robert, from July 31, 1995, in which we discuss and perform bits from what was then our brand-new show The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged). Featuring impossibly young voices, zippy tempos, wobbly-sounding keyboards, brief excerpts from our BBC World Service program The Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show, unaired outtakes from a piece we produced for NPR’s “In Character” series, and gratitude to a great journalist, network-builder, and friend. #ThanksRobert (Length 27:07)

Episode 434. NPR After Dark

”We’ve appeared on National Public Radio many times over the years, and this week we hear a few of the pieces we created for NPR, as well as outtakes that never made it to air. Featuring our reduction of NPR’s “In Character” series, a special appearance by Susan Stamberg, passionate and possibly Read more…

Episode 414. Bob Mondello Talkback

” National Public Radio film critic Bob Mondello joined us onstage at the Reston Center Stage on the final night of our ten-day seven-show Complete Works of the Reduced Shakespeare Company (abridged) Extravaganza. Appropriately enough, our closing performance was Completely Hollywood (abridged), and Bob squandered some of his credibility by discussing Read more…

Episode 325. Sentiment and Manipulation

”The season three finale of Downton Abbey and last night’s Academy Awards prompt this conversation with NPR film critic Bob Mondello, with whom we have long wanted to discuss S&M. We discuss whether “sentimental” is an appropriate critical term, and look at tropes that affect even jaded hard-boiled critics, things that break Read more…

Episode 265. Feast Or Famine

”Reed and Austin talk about what a busy, hectic, and productive two years it’s been, and how weirdly similar 2012 will be. Featuring insight into the cyclical nature of theatre, tips on regeneration, a special appearance from Jon Weber, host of NPR’s Piano Jazz Rising Stars, and frustratingly vague references Read more…

RSC on NPR

While performing The Complete World of Sports (abridged) at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC this summer the RSC boys spoke with Neil Conan on National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation.” Comic hijinx ensued. Listen and you just might be amused. Listen >

Episode 243. Meet Scott Simon

”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…

Episode 209. Broadway Play Publishing

”Broadway Play Publishing publishes and licenses the scripts of such playwrights as Tony Kushner, Eric Overmyer, Neil LaBute, Constance Congdon, and the entire Complete (abridged) oeuvre, and Kip Gould, its founder and publisher, raves about the exciting and lucrative field of script publishing (Note: Engage sarcasm filter). Featuring the pros and Read more…

Episode 200. Interviewing The Interviewer

”The tables get turned in this week’s landmark episode! Reed Martin and Matt Rippy interview podcast host Austin Tichenor, who reveals the history, the mystery, the highlights, and the lowlights of our first 200 weeks of RSC podcasting. Featuring intimate connections, backstage geekery, a celebrity montage, and the reasons why we haven’t Read more…

Episode 191. Folger Shakespeare Library

We touched a Folio…and we liked it! Join us for this rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the largest collection of Shakespearean treasures in the world. Gail Paster, the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library and Head of Reference Georgianna Ziegler take us on a guided tour and bust myths while showing off Read more…

Episode 189. Kennedy Center Tour

”Our good friend Bill Matson, theatre manager of the Terrace Theatre, our home at the Kennedy Center whenever we perform there, gives us a behind-the-scenes backstage tour at this prestigious arts institution and national presidential memorial. Featuring the controversial bust of President John F. Kennedy, a special appearance by Neal Read more…

Episode 186. The Conti Beat

”This week we dig that crazy Conti beat and go behind the scenes to deconstruct Dominic Conti‘s lengthy and show-stopping “dorkalogue” at the end of Completely Hollywood (abridged). Featuring the power and limitations of snorting as a character choice, the trust of an actor’s instinct, funky frank appearances by NPR‘s Read more…

Episode 182. The Scottish Play

”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…

Episode 162. Why We Tweet

”We’ve been using the micro-blogging service Twitter for almost a year, and we’ve seen its use rise among other theatre companies. We compare notes with Mary Kathryn Durr, E-Commerce and Social Media Manager for the Blumenthal Center of the Performing Arts, and learn about viral marketing, creating connections, and the Read more…

FOLLOW Us on Twitter!

Yes, Twitter is a time-sucking distraction from your real life. We don’t disagree. But it’s also the fastest and easiest way to keep up with Reduced Shakespeare Company activities in anything approaching real-time. Some RSC fans have families, jobs, other interests and demands on their time. We’re not happy about Read more…

Episode 120. White House Insider

”Mike Burton, former special assistant to the Chief of Staff of Vice-President Al Gore, explains how a lowly position as coffee boy led him to working in the Clinton White House. Featuring special appearances by Amanda Painting at Ceredigion FM in Wales and Madeleine Brand from National Public Radio (um, Read more…

RSC Attacks NPR’s “Character”

Not only did we reduce NPR’s “In Character” series, we hacked onto National Public Radio’s website, posting both an “unauthorized” blog entry and an exclusive web-only interview with NPR’s Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. Read the blog, or listen to the Scott Simon interview, or hear what unsupervised reduction has Read more…

Episode 85. A Theatre Company

”Are we a comedy troupe? A rock band? A floor wax? A dessert topping? We try to define once and for all What We Are, and examine the various places we find our actors, reveal once and for all whether our audience “volunteers” are plants, outline the advantages of actors Read more…

Episode 84. Opening Night Crowds

”The classic opening night audience is dissected and examined, and several actual audience members are pinned to the wall and forced to speak. Featuring sweeping generalizations, very strong if completely uninformed opinions, feedback from podcast listeners, and a classic theatre story! Plus, a special guest appearance from Peter Overby from Read more…

Episode 83. Notes For Dustin

”Poor Dustin Sullivan. After performing All The Great Books (abridged) in St. Louis, Ireland, and Ithaca (New York), he’s now performing in San Jose, California with the script’s two authors as his co-stars. Featuring insight into a reduced rehearsal process, the difference between acting and vaudeville, Dustin’s role-winning joke, and Read more…

Episode 82. Meet Bob Mondello

”A fun chat with Bob Mondello, film critic for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, who makes a powerful case that critics are people too. Listen as he reveals trade secrets, shares his favorite reviews, divulges the difference between criticism and reviewing, uncovers even more words you can’t say on Read more…

Episode 81. Great Books (abridged)

”Co-authors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor reveal the birth pangs (and leg pains) of the RSC’s fifth stage show All The Great Books (abridged). Featuring excerpts from live performances, adaptation tips, performance advice, semi-obscure Curt Schilling references, a special and scornful appearance from Scott Simon of National Public Radio, and Read more…

Episode 79. We’re Always On

”Is it always a laugh a minute with RSC members offstage? Not hardly, yet many people are surprised to discover comedians aren’t always as energetic offstage as they are on. Featuring the perils and pitfalls of being constantly ‘on’, the difference between choosing to perform and chasing demons, some tiny Read more…

Episode 76. Nerd vs. Geek

”Shakespeare nerds. Drama geeks. We’ve been called worse, but to help us understand the difference we rely on guest expertise from Dave and Barbara Shepherd, 120/240ths of The Word Nerds. Featuring much splitting of linguistic hairs, a special appearance by Nina Totenberg from National Public Radio, and the important distinction Read more…

Episode 73. Mick and Jerry

”Mick Orfe and Jerry Kernion — old friends and RSC actors who share the same roles — overlapped recently in DC and caught up on old times. Featuring conflicting stories on how they met, the value of RenFaire training, unnecessary digs at innocent bystander Brent Tubbs, and special appearances by Read more…

Episode 65. At The Movies II

”It’s a sequel! Our 2nd annual Oscar® Podcast, featuring startling insights from two RSC actors who’ve been too busy to see many of the nominated films, and a special and embarrassed appearance by NPR’s film critic Bob Mondello. Hello, gorgeous! (MP3. Length 21:57)