12
Mar

Measure for Measure at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare: Remount!

I’m back in my second-favorite state for a quick remount of Pigeon Creek Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. We initially did this production last fall, for a short run at the Sauk, in Jonesville, MI, and now we’re getting the band (mostly) back together for a couple performances at Muskegon Community College and in the Harris […]

20
Nov

Zoom will have Zoom

Tomorrow night, the online production of Measure for Measure that I put together with the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company will be available on their YouTube channel. You can check out the event here. I’m excited to have finally had the chance to dig into this text with actors. I think I proposed it a year […]

7
Oct

Antony and Cleopatra at the Rose

In August, we went back to Michigan for ten days to remount Antony and Cleopatra. People often ask me what this means, so here’s the general idea: A remount is when you get the band back together to do a production again. Often, some cast members aren’t available to return, so you sub in other […]

25
Aug

Antony and Cleopatra at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra is a play I think I will direct every 15 years (Why this play? I have several reasons). I can’t help but be fascinated by a story of a woman who burns too bright. I directed it for the first time as a 20-year-old at Hiram College Theater. My mentor told me […]

16
Jun

Awards and Irony

This morning, my social media was buzzing with posts from friends at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare reporting their nominations for the Wilde Awards (Michigan’s professional theater awards, run by Encore Michigan). Kate Bode was nominated for “Best Performance–Bard” for her performance as Margaret in Henry VI (a role she continued in Richard III), Scott Lange for […]

29
Apr

Audience Response

I have been noodling over a mystery for the past couple of weeks, and I’m curious to hear other theater makers weigh in on it. The audience response to Richard III at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare has been incredible. People are hissing and booing at Richard when he’s messing with Queen Elizabeth. High school kids at […]

25
Apr

Be Kind

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to do a play about wickedness with such fundamentally kind people. Richard, after all, isn’t the only mean-spirited or ambitious person in this play. A number of people are out for revenge. At least three are willing to take a life in exchange for a few […]