John Ahlin and Christopher Patrick Mullen are the creators and stars of Chip & Gus: A Comedy with Balls, an amazing two hander in which the two title characters resolve the crisis in their relationship while playing ping-pong at the same time. John and Chris discuss how their shared expertise in table tennis and experience as actors led them to create this unique theatrical event; how the play…
Playwright John Kolvenbach has directed his own play Stand Up If You're Here Tonight in productions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Paris, and now the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and he discusses how putting the play on its feet on the stage helps complete his work of writing it on the page. John shares how directing your own play isn’t for everyone; how much of it is simply being a control freak;…
Tyler Anthony Smith’s Out, Darn Spot! is a hilarious hour-long fever dream that imagines Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth as the host of a 60’s daytime chat show (pictured above). Smith talks about the play's evolution and how they share the character's desire to be "unsex'd"; how Smith plays fair with Shakespeare's plot and characters; how we need to rethink how we introduce young people to…
August 8, 2026 is the 45th anniversary of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's first performance at the Northern California Renaissance Faire in 1981, and co-artistic directors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor discuss the RSC's legacy from their respective locations in California and Edinburgh, Scotland. Reed and Austin share the subtle nuances between being a pack-rat and an "archivist;" how it's…
A ghost story...but not. A time-travel tale...but not. Describing Austin Tichenor's new play Puritans accurately and intriguingly reveals that writing the play and describing the play are two completely different skillsets. Austin talks with Daniel Mothershed, the director of Puritans's world premiere in Greeley, CO and shares the challenges of marketing a kind of play that's never been seen…
RSC alum Dee Ryan returns to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe to perform the European premiere of Broadguess, her interactive comic Shakespeare solo show. Dee discusses the evolution of her show's script, and its roots in both Shakespeare and improvisation; how she finds the balance between the deep cuts and the funny; her favorite things to do in Edinburgh and where to find the best cream tea;…
Michael Doherty and Will Mobley return to talk about the continuing adventures of their very funny buddy comedy Dogberry & Verges Are Scared, which runs at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company through July 25, 2026, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from August 5-30, 2026 (with the RSC's own Austin Tichenor as Verges). Doherty and Mobley share how the play just keeps getting sharper and tighter; how the…
Michigan Shakespeare Festival artistic director Janice L. Blixt returns to discuss MSF’s new season, their first in several years, and their new home at Wayne State University in Detroit. Blixt reveals how MSF, like so many arts organizations, not only endured but survived “death by a thousand cuts;” the importance of having a supportive board of directors; putting their best foot forward in a new…
Reduced Shakespeare Company founder Daniel Rover Singer returns to talk about his new play Louisa At Fruitlands, about the intersection of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, when she was a little ten-year-old herself, and the Fruitlands transcendentalist community. Daniel talks about the origins of the RSC and how the landmark work The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)…
Jason King Jones, artistic director of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, shares details about PSF's current season, their plans to host the 2027 Shakespeare Theatre Association conference, and how he's retained his ability to laugh and his capacity for joy. Jason shares how he threads the needle of programming work that reaches his diverse audience; how the entire western canon of theatrical…
Carey Perloff (Pinter and Stoppard: A Director's View) discusses how she worked with Tom Stoppard to bring his last and most personal play Leopoldstadt to Chicago's Writers Theatre and shape it into a form American theaters will be able to produce more easily. Perloff, the former artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatrewhere she directed the U.S. premieres of several of…