”Lar DeSouza (known as @lartist on Twitter) is the cartoonist and caricaturist who created the poster art for our last three stage shows: The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged), The Complete History of Comedy (abridged), and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). We talk about our shared cultural sensibilities, the Read more…
Podcast: Download (22.7MB)
”The long awaited and briefly-banned performances of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) went ahead as scheduled this week at Theatre at the Mill in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, and we hosted a public Q&A session afterwards to talk about the international “Kerfuffles” that surrounded the production. Featuring the Read more…
Podcast: Download (25.0MB)
”Our old friend Scott Bushnell, designer of not only our logo but many of our show posters, is the Advertising Creative Manager for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and shares with us the challenges of marketing 3500 individual performances a year and eight different subscription series. Scott’s advice features Read more…
Podcast: Download (18.3MB)
”We begin our 7th year of podcasting by doing a little late-fall cleaning, explaining some of the changes we’ve made to how our podcasts are posted, walking you through what’s changed over on iTunes, pointing out some interesting bells and whistles, showing off some cool new features, revealing how many Read more…
Podcast: Download (11.0MB)
”You can’t really call us “publicity whores” because we don’t charge for it, we give it away! (We will answer, however, to “publicity sluts“.) But there’s a handful of things we’d prefer to avoid and/or not do, so this week Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor outline a series of thoughts and Read more…
Podcast: Download (11.4MB)
”Noted theatrical pundit, blogger, and arts marketing consultant Howard Sherman discusses the art and tricky nature of self-promotion. Featuring the importance of performers making themselves a ‘product’, the ideal ways to use social media to promote the best version of yourself, staying ‘on message’, the dangers of judging cupcakes, and Read more…
Podcast: Download (8.7MB)
”Theatre pundit and arts blogger Howard Sherman discusses the powers of social media, the value of backstage access, and the evolving nature of arts communications. Featuring behind-the-scenes tidbits from the American Theatre Wing‘s Downstage Center Podcast and suggested tag lines for self-branding. (Length 22:02)
Podcast: Download (20.3MB)
Current RSC members Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor are joined by founding members Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield – and original props goddess Sa Winfield – as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the very first performance by those upstarts from California, the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Join in Monday August Read more…
In 2010, the Reduced Shakespeare Company won the prestigious Shorty Award, which honors “the best producers of short (140 characters or less) real-time content.” Translated, that means the award is given to the person or company who uses and exploits the social network Twitter to its maximum effect. The Shorty Awards have been called “the Oscars of Twitter” by CNN and USA Today.
We were honored and thrilled — and we’d like to win again.
Here are the two main reasons:
”It was a week right out of Planes, Trains, & Automobiles as we attempted to dodge winter storms. Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor, Matt Rippy, and stage manager Elaine Randolph regale us with tales of canceled flights and performances, lost luggage and personnel, impromptu trains, rescheduled hotels, and rerouted trunks. Featuring Read more…
Podcast: Download (20.8MB)
(This offer’s now expired, but take a look and see what you missed!)
”Dick Costolo, the C.O.O. of Twitter, talks about his sordid past as an improv comedian in such shows as Modern Problems in Science, and answers all (one) of your tech support questions. Featuring scandalous fourth-grade revelations, dirty secrets about stand-up and computer science, the value of improv training in the business Read more…
Podcast: Download (21.9MB)
”“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…
Podcast: Download (17.2MB)
The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a finalist in the second annual Shorty Awards, which honors “the best producers of short
(140 characters or less) real-time content.” Translated, that means the award is given to the person or company who uses and exploits the social network Twitter to its maximum effect. The Shorty Awards have been called “the Oscars of Twitter” by CNN and USA Today.
Well, who else should win a Shorty Award but a Reduced Shakespeare Company?! We’ve been producers of reduced content for years.
We Tweet mostly ‘cuz it’s fun. Twitter’s a great way to mini-blog about what we’re up to, to dialogue with our fans, and to spread the love about other things and people we see and love and want to proselytize about. But to get an award for it? That’d be awesome.
Shorty Awards are given in a number of categories (each designated by a hashtag), from #advertising, #apps, and #art to #tech, #travel, and #weird. We’re a finalist in the #culturalinstitution category, primarily because there is no #theatre category.
Final voting ends Friday February 5 at noon EST. Anybody with an active Twitter account can vote (you can’t just create a Twitter account to vote, they’re too clever to allow that). Finalists are judged not only on the quality of their Tweets, but also the number and quality of your votes! So when you go to the Shorty Awards website and fill in the vote box (“I vote for @reduced for a Shorty Award in #culturalinstitution because…”), please make the reason cool and brief!
Numbers count too. As of today, we have almost 2500 Followers! If only ten percent of you vote, we’ll win.
”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…
Podcast: Download (20.7MB)
”A live Q&A at the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, during which we reveal our favorite Shakespeare plays, touring information for 2010, when the script for Completely Hollywood (abridged) will be published, a very special blurb from some RSC pilgrims, answers to questions from our Twitter followers, and the shocking Read more…
Podcast: Download (20.4MB)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare achieved another level of ultimate reduction when we compressed each of Shakespeare’s plays via our Twitter account into Tweets of less than 140 characters. (This was probably one of the reasons we won the 2010 Shorty Award in the “Cultural Institution” category.) Check the Read more…
”The comedy music duo of Paul And Storm brings their brand of GeekRock(tm) to the RSC Podcast. Featuring excerpts from their enormous canon, the ticket-selling power of Twitter, talk about their roots in DaVinci’s Notebook, hints about the future of w00tstock, a special appearance by Wil Wheaton, and an actual Read more…
Podcast: Download (23.5MB)
”Memorial Day Weekend in the U.S. prompts memories and tributes to fallen warriors of a (sometimes) non-military kind. Featuring suggestions for our new stage show, excerpts from The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged), and a catty exchange between two RSC fans. Rowr! (MP3. Length 18:01)
Podcast: Download (8.3MB)
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…