Shakespeare Anyone?

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this episode, we are joined by Mya Lixian Gosling, the creator, author, and artist of the internet's favorite stick-figure Shakespeare webcomic, Good Tickle Brain. We chat with Mia about how Good Tickle Brain came to be and her creative process. Join us as we get to know the brain behind Good Tickle Brain. You can find Mya's comics and merchandise at goodticklebrain.com. About Mya Lixian Gosling Mya Lixian Gosling (she/her) is the author and artist of Good Tickle Brain, the world's foremost (and possibly only) stick-figure Shakespeare webcomic. Since 2013, Good Tickle Brain has been entertaining and subversively educating people with Shakespeare-related comics, including full-length play adaptations, extremely short and reductive summaries, song parodies, pop culture mash-ups, infographics, and much more. Mya thinks Shakespeare is super fun, and wants other people to also think that Shakespeare is super fun. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this episode, we are joined by author and Shakespeare scholar, Caroline Bicks, to discuss her latest book, Monsters in the Archive: My Year of Fear with Stephen King. Caroline will share with us how Shakespeare some of Stephen King's most famous works, and the surprising similarities she discovered between Shakespeare's writing and King's. Monsters in the Archive: My Year of Fear with Stephen King is out now. About Caroline Bicks Caroline Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, where she teaches courses in Shakespeare, early modern culture, and horror fiction. She is the author of Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare's World and Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare's England; co-author of Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas; and co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast. Her essays and humor pieces have appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and the show Afterbirth. She lives in Blue Hill, Maine, with her family. About Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King After Caroline Bicks was named the University of Maineʼs inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary writerʼs creative process—most of them never before studied or published. The year she spent exploring King's early drafts and hand-written revisions was guided by one question millions of Kingʼs enthralled and terrified readers (including her) have asked themselves: What makes Stephen King's writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we've closed the book? Bicks focuses on five of his most iconic early works—The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, ʼSalemʼs Lot, and Night Shift—to reveal how he crafted his language, story lines, and characters to cast his enduring literary spells. While tracking King's margin notes and editorial changes, she discovered scenes and alternative endings that never made it to print but that King is allowing her to publish now. The book also includes interviews Bicks had with King along the way that reveal new insights into his writing process and personal history. Part literary master class, part biography, part memoir and investigation into our deepest anxieties, Monsters in the Archives—authorized by Stephen King himself—is unlike anything ever published about the master of horror. It chronicles what Bicks found when she set out to unearth how King crafted some of his scariest, most iconic moments. But it's also a story about a grown-up English professor facing her childhood fears and getting to know the man whose monsters helped unleash them. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In anticipation of Earth Day and Shakespeare's birthday later this month, in this episode, we are joined by Katherine (Katie) Steele Brokaw to discuss how Shakespeare can be used as a tool to create conversations around ecological issues that impact our communities. We discuss how Shakespeare is already well-positioned to be used as an eco-playwright, why it is important to utilize his plays to speak to our current moment, and how theatremakers and educators can incorporate ecological practices into their productions and readings of Shakespeare's plays. About Katherine Steele Brokaw Katherine Steele Brokaw is a Professor of English at University of Texas at Austin and the Director of Shakespeare at Winedale at UT. Her work focuses primarily on the production and study of Shakespearean performance, with a special interest in how modern productions can be used to highlight ecological issues. She is the author of Staging Harmony: Music and Religious Change in Late Medieval and Early English Drama and Shakespeare and Community Performance and she is co-author, with Elizabeth Freestone, of Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet. She was the co-founding artistic director of Shakespeare in Yosemite, where she adapted and directed eight productions. Resources mentioned in the episode: The EarthShakes Alliance Shakespeare in Yosemite's Romeo and Juliet Globe4Globe presentations via EarthShakes Alliance's Youtube Want to hear more about how Shakespeare's world was impacted by climate issues? Check our our episode A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare & Climate Change with Sydney Schwindt. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this episode, we dig into one of the most dramatic scandals of Shakespeare's time: the rise and catastrophic fall of Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex. Court favorite, military hero, and ultimately, traitor, Essex had everything and managed to lose it spectacularly. We break down who Essex was, his relationship with Elizabeth, and what finally led him to march on London with a small bnad of followers and an extremely bad plan. And of course, we're a Shakespeare podcast, so we touch on the wild connection between Essex's Rebellion and Shakespeare. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Bate, Jonathan. Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare. Viking, 2008. pp. 256–286. BBC Bitesize. "The Rebellion of the Earl of Essex - Queen Elizabeth I and Government - OCR B - GCSE History Revision - OCR B - BBC Bitesize." BBC News, BBC, 6 Feb. 2025, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z88fk7h/revision/3. Hammer, Paul E. J. (2004). "Devereux, Robert, second earl of Essex (1565–1601)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2020. Mr Keir History Teacher. " Essex Rebellion - Causes and Consequences #Education #AQA #ElizabethanEngland." YouTube, 2022, youtu.be/7VPKqvINtz8. Shanette, Heather. "Essex Rebellion (1601)". Elizabeth R : The Life and Times of Queen Elizabeth I. Published 1998-2026. https://www.elizabethi.org/contents/rebellions/essex/ Teysko, Heather. "Episode 201: Robert Devereaux the Earl of Essex - Renaissance English History Podcast." Renaissance English History Podcast - The Original Tudor History Podcast, 22 Nov. 2024, www.englandcast.com/2024/11/episode-201-robert-devereaux-the-earl-of-essex/.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Cassius argues that "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." In this week's episode, we are exploring early modern ideas of fate and the stars and the practices and beliefs of astrology in Shakespeare's time. We'll discuss the difference between the early modern concepts of natural and judicial astrology, the popularity and influence of astrology and astrologers in Early Modern England, and how it found its way into plays like Shakespeare's. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Bragg, Melvin, host. "Renaissance Astrology." In Our Time: Science, BBC Radio, 14 Jun 2007. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nmym Cash, Cassidy, host, and Barbara Traister, guest. "Episode #13: Interview with Barbara Traister exploring astrology, doctors, herbs, and witches in Shakespeare's England." That Shakespeare Life, episode 13, Cassidy Cash, 16 July 2018. https://cassidycash.libsyn.com/episode-13-interview-with-barbara-traister-exploring-astrology-doctors-herbs-and-witches-in-shakespeares-england Kassell, Lauren, host. "Simon Forman: astrology, Medicine and Quackery in Elizabethan England." University of Oxford Podcasts, University of Oxford, 26 Oct 2011. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/simon-forman-astrology-medicine-and-quackery-elizabethan-england Lipscomb, Suzannah, host, and Benjamin Woolley, guest. "Elizabeth I's Conjuror: John Dee." Not Just the Tudors, episode 364, History Hit, 9 Oct 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elizabeth-is-conjuror-john-dee/id1564113869?i=1000670531385 Oxford English Dicitionary. "Astrology, N. Meanings, Etymology and More | Oxford English Dictionary." Oxford English Dictionary, 2026, www.oed.com/dictionary/astrology_n. Oxford English Dicitionary. "Astronomy, N. Meanings, Etymology and More | Oxford English Dictionary." Oxford English Dictionary, 2026, www.oed.com/dictionary/astronomy_n. Schifini, Julia and Amanda McLoughlin, hosts, and Kelly Downes, guest. "Episode 361: Astrology and Shakespeare (with Kelly Downes)." Spirits Podcast, episode 361, Multitude Productions, 8 Nov 2023. https://spiritspodcast.com/episodes/shakespeare-and-astrology Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, or What You Will , edited by Keir Elam, ARDEN SHAKESPEARE, LONDON, UK, 2008, pp. 180n1.3.132-5. Third. Walker, Katherine. "Almanacs as Underdogs: Folger Shakespeare Library." Folger Shakespeare Library Almanacs as Underdogs Comments, Folger Shakespeare Library, 19 Mar. 2019, www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/almanacs-as-underdogs/. Smith, William Bruce, "Shakespeare and astrology" (1989). Chapter 2. Master's Theses. Paper 1083

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. As we start off another one of Shakespeare's plays, we will first take a look at the themes, motifs, and production history of Julius Caesar in this Stuff to Chew On episode. This will provide a basis for future conversations as we dive deeper in later episodes. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone -- get 50% off of your first month with code HBD5 until February 1, 2026 Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Mowat, Barbara, and Paul Werstine. "About Shakespeare's Julius Caesar." Folger Shakespeare Library, 2025, www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/julius-caesar/about-shakespeares-julius-caesar/. Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Edited by Andrew James Hartley, Arden Shakespeare, 2024. SparkNotes Editors. "Julius Caesar" SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005, https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/juliuscaesar/

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. Back in 2021, we recorded our second ever wrap-up episode for our second play series: Twelfth Night. We both watched two versions of Twelfth Night: Trevor Nunn's 1996 film and She's the Man, then we also each watched an additional version. Kourtney watched the The Globe's 2012 production starring Mark Rylance, and Elyse watched National Theatre's 2017 production featuring Tamsin Greig. But then, tragedy struck when Kourtney went to edit the episode! The audio files for the majority of the episode were corrupted and could not be used. The only usable audio was the portion of our conversation about She's the Man. So, we released what we could as our "Twelfth Night: Wrap Up" episode. Since that day, we've dreamed about going back and revisiting the three productions that were lost to technological issues. Today, we are so excited to revisit those productions and share our 2025 thoughts with you. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Sound effects obtained by ZapSplat.com. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Carroll, Tim, director. Twelfth Night: Live from Shakespeare's Globe. Performance by Stephen Fry, and Mark Rylance, Electric Sky, 2012. Godwin, Simon, director. Twelfth Night. Performance by Tamsin Grieg, et al., National Theatre at Home, 2017, https://www.ntathome.com/products/twelfth-night. Accessed 2025. Nunn, Trevor, director. Twelfth Night; or What You Will. Performance by Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ben Kingsley. Entertainment in Video, 1996.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare. Over the past four years, we explored this topic through close reading of Jyotsna Singh's Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory. After completing our episodes on Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, we wanted to turn to highlighting and amplifying the work of artists, activists, and scholars who are working in decolonial Shakespeares. In this year's episode, we are joined by Dr. Katherine Gillen and Ruben Ramirez of the Borderlands Shakespeare Collectiva to discuss how artists, activists, scholars, and educators in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands engage with Shakespeare in ways that reflect their lived realities. We discuss the plays from this region that adapt or appropriate Shakespeare and how these texts can be used in the classroom or in production alongside Shakespeare's text to illuminate themes and engage new audiences. We also learn more about the work of Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva and how they uplift and amplify this work, connecting scholarship with theatrical performance. For more on the work of Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, or to get involved, visit their website at https://borderlandsshakespeare.org/. For more on Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, check out our previous episodes from this series: Mini: Shakespeare and the Colonial Imagination Mini: Shakespeare's World: Immigrants, Others, and Foreign Commodities Mini: "Decolonize the Mind" through Shakespeare Mini: Intercultural and Global Shakespeare in a Postcolonial World Katherine Gillen is Professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas A&M University–San Antonio. With Kathryn Vomero Santos and Adrianna M. Santos, she co-founded the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva and is co-editing the three-volume anthology, The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera. She is also working on a monograph titled The Renaissance of Whiteness: The Classical Foundations of Shakespeare's Racial Politics, which examines Shakespeare's use of classical sources within the context of emerging racial capitalism. Ruben Ramirez is an MA student at Texas A&M- San Antonio and currently serving in a Graduate Assistantship Research position with the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva. His research interests include Latino/a/x literature, Ecocriticism, Environmental Justice, and Decolonial Theory. Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva is an award-winning group of scholars, educators, artists, and activists who engage with Shakespeare in ways that reflect the lived realities of the U.S.–Mexico Borderlands. We aim not only to change the way Shakespeare is taught and performed but also to promote the socially just futures envisioned en el arte de La Frontera. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: Join our email list Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this episode, we sit down with Ana Davis to discuss her debut novel, My Keen Knife. Set in a Portugal-inspired country, My Keen Knife follows three teenagers as they strive to achieve their foretold fates. We discuss Ana's inspirations for My Keen Knife, her writing process, and how her background in International Affairs influenced the world of her novel. We also discuss how Shakespeare's Macbeth weaves throughout the plot and the Macbeth Easter eggs she's hidden for Shakespeare fans like us. My Keen Knife is out now at a bookseller near you! Support Shakespeare Anyone? by purchasing your copy through this link. About My Keen Knife Fair is foul and foul is fair in a country ravaged by the lies of its monarchy. To claim the crown, Adelina, Seba, and Jasibin must learn to be a little wicked…even if it means betraying each other. All hail Malves, who shall wear crowns. On the night of her brother's murder, Adelina Malves holds him as he dies, inheriting both his title and the prophecy that spelled out his doom. If she's to avenge him and avoid a similar death, she must claim the crown of Jumaral by ruthlessly cutting down every family member ahead of her in the line of succession and uncover the secret that got her brother killed. Hail! Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. Ghost-whispering Jasibin holds the key to Adelina's plan to contact her dead brother—if only his strange magic wasn't killing him slowly. To fulfill his own prophecy and protect his brother Seba, he must discover the source of his magic before he's lost to the land of the dead. All hail, Sebastião, that shall be king hereafter. Seba is desperate for a way out of Jumaral and the substantial financial debt his dead mother left him. When a witch sees the riches of a king in his future, Adelina's offer of coin in exchange for help feels like fate, pulling Seba into a fake dating plot with Adelina that hides their sinister plans. In this stunning, innovative retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in a Portugal-inspired country, three teenagers will stop at nothing to fulfill their destinies. About Ana Davis Ana Davis is a Portuguese-American fantasy writer, currently pursuing double master's degrees in what amount to Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (the actual names are a mouthful). She recently graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in International Affairs. Ana was a mentee for round nine of Author Mentor Match, and she remains far too invested in the books she read in high school English class. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com Support the podcast: Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone Buy us a coffee Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Davis, Ana. My Keen Knife. Turner Publishing Company, 2025.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this mini-episode, we sit down with actor ML Roberts and co-playwrights Sean Patrick Nill and Elyse Sharp to talk about NEVER FEAR, SHAKESPEARE—a brand new Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) play premiering at Sacramento's B Street Theatre. B Street is well known for its Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) programming, which brings high-quality, professional productions to children, families, and schools, making theatre accessible to the next generation. We dive into B Street's philosophy of theatre for young audiences and how NEVER FEAR, SHAKESPEARE fits into that mission. Along the way, we discuss the theatre's history with Shakespeare, what makes this new play different from other Shakespeare-for-kids or Shakespeare-adjacent productions, and why introducing Shakespeare to young people matters in today's cultural landscape. ML Roberts shares his perspective on embodying a central role in the play, while Nill and Sharp reflect on the process of adapting Shakespeare's world for youth audiences—balancing humor, clarity, and creativity to keep the material engaging. At Shakespeare Anyone?, we strive to contextualize Shakespeare and make his works accessible. This episode highlights how NEVER FEAR, SHAKESPEARE carries that same mission into the world of young audiences. ML Roberts is the son of a Navy veteran and descendant of the Gullah Geechee of the Carolinas. As a member of Actor's Equity Association, he has performed with Seattle Children's Theater, Folger Shakespeare, Unicorn Theatre (UK), The Williams Project, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare, among others. As a playwright, his debut production Riverside premiered at Indy Shakes. His work has been developed with New Harmony Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and GTG's Speaker's Corner. As a screenwriter, he co-wrote a Lifetime movie and has developed work with Hulu. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a Broadway Advocacy Coalition Fellow, Co-Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret Season 57: Phoenix, and inaugural Core Company Member at ACT Theatre (Seattle). MFA Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama; BFA Acting from North Carolina School of the Arts marceselorenzo.com Sean Patrick Nill is Artistic and General Manager at the B Street Theatre. B Street Writing Credits include: Tiny Trailblazers: Kids Who Changed the World, Winnie-the-Pooh, 'Tis the Season, Fantasy Festival XXXI-XXXVI, Mind Boggling Mysteries of the World, and Mathematical Madness. Directing Credits include: Tiny Trailblazers: Kids Who Changed the World, Cosmo St. Charles is Dead and Someone in This Room Killed Him, The Prince of Lightning, The Play That Goes Wrong, The Last Wide Open, A Year with Frog & Toad, Proclivity for Kiting, and Fantasy Festival XXXI-XXXVI. His plays have been produced by the Sacramento Theatre Company, B Street Theatre, Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine, Rover Dramawerks, Theatre InspiraTO festival, Watermelon One Act Festival, M.T. Pockets Theatre, Torent Theatre, and the Manhattan Repertory Theatre. His play Kings of America was a finalist for the Davey Foundation Theatre Grant given by the Salt Lake Acting Company, his play An Ordinary Woman was published in Stage It! Ten Minute Plays: 2017 Edition, and his play Brynlee & the Bull won the Audience Choice Award at the InspiroTO 10 Minute Play Festival in Canada. His adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, which premiered here at the B Street Theatre, is now published and can be purchased through Theatrical Rights Worldwide (https://www.theatricalrights.com/). And, you know her as one half of Shakespeare Anyone?…Elyse Sharp is a member of Actor's Equity Association and the Shakespeare Association of America, as well as a director, podcaster, dramaturg, and teaching artist. At the age of 9, and inspired by an episode of the PBS series Wishbone, she rewrote Romeo and Juliet for a fourth grade class assignment, and she's been passionate about Shakespeare (and helping others understand his work) ever since. Previously with B Street Theatre, she has been an Associate Producer of the New Comedies Festival, an actor in Prince of Lightning, Mind-Boggling Mysteries of the World, and Fantasy Festivals 32 & 33, an understudy for Dance Nation and Winnie the Pooh. As an actor, she has performed in 17 of Shakespeare's plays. Keep up with her at @elysesharp on all social media or at elysesharp.com B Street Theatre is Sacramento's premiere new works theatre for both children and adults. Founded in 1986 as Fantasy Theatre, a traveling children's theatre troupe, B Street has premiered more than 135 plays across its School Tour, Family Series, and Mainstage Series. Located at the Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts in Midtown Sacramento, B Street is California's only year-round professional theatre for young audiences. Known for championing bold new voices and creating theatre that is both accessible and adventurous, B Street has been named Sacramento Magazine's Top Sacramento Theatre numerous times. In 2025, it was honored with the National Theatre Conference's Theatre of the Year Award, recognizing its outstanding contributions to American theatre. To learn more, visit B Street Theatre's website, bstreettheatre.org. NEVER FEAR, SHAKESPEARE follows one shoemaker's son on his journey to become an actor alongside The Lord Chamberlain's Men, stepping right into some of Shakespeare's greatest hits. From Romeo and Juliet's balcony to the witches of Macbeth and the drama of Hamlet, it's Shakespeare reimagined with a wink and a laugh. For fans of Shakespeare in Love and Book of Will, this family-friendly comedy isn't just a history lesson—it's pure theatre magic, showing kids (and grown-ups!) that the Bard's words are still buzzing with life, laughter, and big imagination. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org). Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this mini-episode, we explore the world of the Court Masque, a form of entertainment that flourished in the Tudor and Stuart courts. From its roots in medieval pageantry and music to its height as a vehicle for royal celebration and political display of wealth, the masque became a defining cultural event during Shakespeare's time. While Shakespeare never wrote a Court Masque, we will explore how Ben Jonson's Hymenaei may have influenced Shakespeare's choices for the masques that appear in As You Like It and The Tempest. For more on some of the topics we've previously covered that also mention the Court Masque, check out: Mini: Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's Colleague and Competitor Twelfth Night: Plays for the Court Stuff You Should Know Part 2: Elizabethan and Jacobean England & Theatre (Revised) Mini: Traveling Theatre Companies Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Special thanks to Nat Yonce for editing this episode. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org). Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Butler, Martin. "The Court Masque | The Cambridge Works of Ben Jonson." The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson Online, 2014, universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/benjonson/k/essays/court_msq_essay/1/. "History of the Masque Genre." Edited by Helen L Hull et al., Reformations of A Mask, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, 2000, archive.mith.umd.edu/comus/cegenre.htm#expand. Shapiro, James. The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2016.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this mini episode, we're joined by Mike and Steph Crugnola of Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project to talk about their mission to make Shakespeare more accessible—for both audiences and artists. We dive into the company's flexible and innovative production models—including one rehearsal performances, collaborative directing, site-specific stagings, and immersive experiences—and how these approaches open up new ways of engaging with Shakespeare's work. Steph and Mike also share how they intentionally build accessibility into every level of their process, from casting and rehearsals to performance format and audience experience. Whether you're a theatremaker looking for inspiration or a Shakespeare fan curious about inclusive practices in classical performance, this conversation offers a thoughtful look at what it means to make Shakespeare's work truly for everyone. To learn more about Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project, visit www.walkingshadowshakespeare.com or follow them on Instagram @wsshakes. More about Mike and Steph Crugnola Mike and Steph Crugnola are on the board of Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project, a nonprofit theatre company based in Austin TX, committed to breaking down the barriers of accessibility to Shakespeare for artists and audiences alike. They're focused on creating Shakespeare for the Austin community that more accurately reflects the Austin community, so actors of all races, abilities, genders, ages, and sexual orientations can see themselves in Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org). Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.