Artistic Directors Talk Shakespeare

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.8 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2015

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"And by that destiny to perform an act / Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come / In yours and my discharge." (The Tempest, 2.1.288) Shakespeare's words and stories may be timeless, but what does that mean when you stage his plays for a modern American audience? That's a challenge that artistic directors relish as they explore the plays' many possibilities. This podcast looks at some of the ingenious approaches they’ve come up with, as well as the thinking behind them. "What's Past Is Prologue" features the voices of artistic directors from Oregon to Minneapolis to Washington, DC. These interviews were first conducted for the Folger's NEH-funded radio documentary series, "Shakespeare in American Life," produced in 2007 to commemorate the Folger's 75th anniversary. ------------------- From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. Written and produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is associate producer. Edited by Esther Ferington and Gail Kern Paster. The music was composed and arranged by Lenny Williams. We had help gathering material for this podcast series from Amy Arden.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:07.2	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folger's director.
0:10.1	This podcast is called What's Past is Prologue.
0:13.5	It features the leaders of American theaters talking about how they keep Shakespeare alive.
0:19.4	In 2007, the Folger presented a radio documentary series called Shakespeare in American
0:24.8	Life in honor of our 75th anniversary.
0:28.2	Though the series was three hours long, a good deal of material was left out on the
0:33.0	cutting room floor.
0:34.5	We're happy that this podcast allows us to share some of those interviews and the
0:38.7	insights and ideas they contain with you now. Still, we wanted to mention the timing since some of
0:44.9	the people have moved on to other jobs since we interviewed them. How do you take words and
0:50.1	stories written by a 16th century Englishman and make them relevant to 21st century American audiences?
0:56.8	Well, that's a problem theater directors face every season when they decide to remount Shakespeare.
1:03.0	Here's a look at some of their ingenious solutions as well as the thinking behind them.
1:13.6	I'm Gordon Edelstein.
1:15.5	I'm artistic director of Long Wharf Theater,
1:18.0	and we'll be presenting a Midsummer Night's Dream.
1:20.5	I'm Joe Darling, I'm artistic director of the Guthrie Theater,
1:23.3	and this season we will be doing Hamlet.
1:25.6	I'm PJ Paperelli.
1:27.4	I'm the artistic director of Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska, and I'm producing Shakespeare's
1:32.9	Comedy Twelfth Night this season.
	...

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