“In honor of America’s big 2-3-1, we feature The Complete History of America (abridged) in all of its reverent irreverence, and some truly patriotic behind-the-scenes info about how to celebrate and needle a large world power. Featuring a special appearance by Peter Hulne, star of the Comedy Central show American Body Shop. (MP3. Length 19:55)
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Do you not "get" Shakespeare? Well, you're not alone! Improviser and "ensemble whisperer" Liz Allen returns to the podcast to explore the reasons she's never really connected with Shakespeare's plays. Allen famously coached the fictional improv team in Mike Birbiglia's film Don't Think Twice but fears missing out on both cultural and satirical opportunities, and discusses with host Austin Tichenor the ways in which she (and many others) have missed the Shakespeare boat; how to describe the appeal of Shakespeare in five words; the value of “Tools, Not Rules;” drawing inspiration from Darren Freebury-Jones’s Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers; how being haughty at dinner parties is the real goal; and the very real relationship between Shakespeare and improvisation. (Length 31:14)
Julie Hammonds's debut novel Blue Mountain Rose is a love letter to theatre and a valentine to the perfect summer Shakespeare festival we all wish we lived next to or worked at year-round. On this week's episode, Julie discusses how you create in fiction the things you can't in real life; the relief of dramatizing professionalism rather than soap-opera histrionics; investigating the perils of celebrity and the timelessness of Shakespeare; and how reading Blue Mountain Rose might just have you booking a flight to Flagstaff, Arizona. (Length 19:50)
7 Ages Theatricals is producing the world premiere of Fool, Austin Tichenor's adaptation of Christopher Moore's New York Times bestselling comic novel. Tom Berger, 7AT's executive artistic director, talks about how this theatrical collaboration came to be, and reveals how the combination of Tichenor and Moore creates "a match made in Shakespeare comedy heaven" (Broadway World). Berger discusses the pleasure of being a theatre slut; the importance of staying in one’s artistic lane; the stress of not wanting to disappoint each other (or Fool’s creator); the paradox of having written "Schrödinger’s Play;" the trick of making sure the audience catches what we’re throwing; and the fateful coincidence of being a Christopher Moore superfan and a Reduced – as well as a real – Shakespeare guy. (Length 22:46) (Logo title art by Michael Dewey.)
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