Comedy of Errors 201

It’s been sooooooo long since we did a Comedy of Errors episode we nearly forgot it existed. We’re here to fix that today. Today we’re talking about early performances of the play and the great source text mystery! We also bring back another feature we forgot about for a long time: How 2 Grad School! And instead of choosing the topics for that ourselves, this week we answered the questions of a fan and prospective grad student, Austin. (Good luck, Austin! We’re rooting for you!) Then we gossip a little bit and GTFO. Happy Halloween!

Here’s what we recommended in our Happy Hour segment:

• Happy end-of-October birthdays to Jess and Aubrey!

• Read these plays: WHITE by James Ijames and We Are Proud to Present […] by Jackie Sibblies Drury

• Get your vote on at Vote.org!

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• Washington Post article about ASC Fall cancellation

Arden of Faversham 201

This week we bring in guest Sheila Coursey, Assistant Professor of English at Saint Louis University who works on late medieval and early modern theater and narratives of crime, to talk to us about how she uses Arden of Faversham to engage students in conversations about contemporary true crime narratives. We rabbit hole (just a little) into which early modern married couples ever get to be alone together on stage (hint: it’s NOT the Ardens), investigate what’s with all the white girls and their tears?, and try to delineate what constitutes a “true crime” or “domestic tragedy” story. It’s not as -ahem- clean cut as you might think (see what we did there?)

Here’s what we recommended in our Happy Hour segment:

• Some Instagram accounts to follow: @notquitebeyonce and @antiracisteducationnow

• Vim’s Shakespeare lectures

• Maintenance Phase podcast

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• That Amanda Knox documentary we talked about a lot

The Old Wife's Tale 101

SURPRISE! It’s been a hell of a 6-month hiatus and we have sooooooooo much to catch up on (hence the MEGA-EPISODE 2-hour special)! For our Season 5 Premiere, we gathered some brilliant friends to read George Peele’s The Old Wife’s Tale, in full, for your enjoyment. We skipped a few of the usual 101 features to allow time for the reading, but we still bring you the high points of Peele’s life and career in our Meet the Contemporary segment; we also catch you up on the early modern haps that passed by over the summer. Thank you so much to Patrick Harris, Aley O’Mara, Yasmine Hachimi, Sawyer Kemp, Merlyn Sell, Elizabeth Tavares, and Joey Gamble for lending your voices, your laughter, and your smokin’ hot takes to our first episode of the season.

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• Check out the kerfuffle Stanley Wells started on twitter…white dudes gonna white…

1. RIP Rebecca Munson. <3

Friar Bacon & Friar Bungay 101

The votes are in: The Queen’s Men play the fans wanted for our Season 4 finale is Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay! We Meet the Contemporary, Robert Green, and give you all of the underwhelming details of his life and career; we summarize this very strange play and give you a Taste of Text with the iconic Brazen Head scene; we discuss the many staging challenges presented in the text; our ShakesBubble Gossip segment is hot off the presses! And then it’s time to bid you all adieu (until Season 5, that is). Have a great summer, friends!

Here’s what we recommended in this week’s Happy Hour feature:

• Jess is now Dr. Hamlet and Dr. Hamlet loves Becky (her cat). The end.

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• Want to read more about the recent changes at ASC? Go here:

  • Nothing For the Group blog post by Lauren Halvorsen

  • This in-depth article in American Theatre Magazine

• Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare & Race is out now, AND it’s affordable!

Othello 202: American Moor

This is our inaugural 202-style episode, reserved for plays adjacent to or adapted from one of Shakespeare’s, and what better play to start with than Keith Hamilton Cobb’s American Moor! Since it is a “new” play (i.e. one we’ve never discussed before in depth on the pod), we give you some key 101-style features like a dramatis personae, a brief summary, and a taste of text; however, we also assume you’re already familiar with Othello (a source text for Moor) and launch into a deeper discussion of the play the way we would for a standard 201-style episode. Ergo, a “202.” We hope exploring American Moor enhances your understanding of Othello and vice versa. Go add it to your bookshelves now!

Here’s what we recommended in this week’s Happy Hour feature:

• The incandescent Nandi Bushell, drumming wonder-child

• The Ally Nudge with Akilah Cadet

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• This NPR story about the Romeo and Juliet we all misremember

• These 2 reviews about us in the latest Borrowers and Lenders!

• Also, for more on American Moor, visit its website!