The U is Silent; We Aren’t Podcast-Episode 3
A Radical Act of Community: Shakespeare in Staunton
What’s the world’s first recreation of Shakespeare’s Blackfriars Theatre doing in a small, rural city in Virginia? In Episode 3, we dive into the world of theatre with Vanessa Morosco, Executive Director of the American Shakespeare Center and Blackfriars Playhouse. Vanessa takes us behind the curtain of one of America’s most extraordinary cultural spaces, discussing everything from the reimagining of Elizabethan staging practices to the vital role theatre plays in fostering community. Discover how live, unplugged performances and innovative storytelling are breaking down barriers and inviting audiences to experience Shakespeare today.
About This Podcast
The U may be silent, but Staunton has a lot to say. Join Visit Staunton as we sit down with inspiring individuals at the top of their craft. We’re chatting about what drives their passion, the actions behind the impact, and a little about the place where they’re making it all happen.
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TRANSCRIPT
0:09
welcome back to the US silent we aren’t podcast right here in Staunton thank you
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for joining visit Stant and as we chat with just awesome people doing awesome stuff right here in our community and
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Beyond and today is no different thank you so much for joining us today we have
0:27
the executive director of American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse right here in Staunton Vanessa
0:33
Morosco I’m so happy to be here thanks for having me I’m so glad you’re here too I know it took us a hot minute to be
0:39
able to start because we just had so many things we could chat about from like shows going on to shows we like and
0:46
just statements and great things happening with Shakespeare it’s endless I agree I mean even just listening to
0:52
your introduction I was thinking I love language and the you is silent is such a wonderful way to explore how we lean
0:59
into language in so many different ways depending on where we are when we are and I feel like that’s something we
1:04
explore in the space of Shakespeare a lot it really does I mean I know this is totally getting off but it’s one of my
1:10
favorite things especially so I grew up in in central Appalachia in southeast Kentucky and the dialect everywhere you
1:16
go around the country is so different but um there’s such a special Nuance to that Appalachian sound and and there’s a
1:23
lot of studying done of of okay how’d that sound come to be and and how the the mountain range around you even G
1:30
graphically can preserve a language dating all the way back to to Shakespeare just it’s fascinating I love
1:35
that I love that I love it so we we are going to talk more about that and how
1:40
Shakespeare really does play a role in that evolution of of Art and style that we know today but before we do I would
1:46
love for you to share a little bit about yourself about the work happening at American Shakespeare Center for those
1:52
that don’t know this amazing space can you tell us a little bit about that and then also yourself absolutely so
1:58
American Shakespeare center it’s extraordinary space I love it so much the company itself is really focused on
2:04
not exclusively being a production house but also being a center a place where we explore not only plays but also um
2:12
education community community engagement this the sort of a center of discovery
2:18
where we can really come together uh and have these conversations inspired by Shakespeare uh but the the playhouse
2:24
itself is an amazing place so the Blackfriars Playhouse is a recreation of the original Blackfriars Playhouse which used
2:32
to exist in London before the Fire of London so we don’t have access to that
2:37
space anymore but here in Staunton Virginia we have the world’s first Recreation and what that allows us to do
2:43
is to really explore as um theater practitioners as Scholars we get to
2:49
explore the staging conditions and the uh rehearsal conditions and the performance conditions under which
2:56
Shakespeare’s company practiced and they seem really revolutionary to us in
3:01
modern times so an example would be practicing in shared light so if you
3:06
walk into the Blackfriars Playhouse first of all you’re walking into something that feels like it’s out of
3:12
Elizabeth in England magical right I mean when anybody walks in it it really is like an oh oh my gosh all moment it’s
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amazing yeah I mean it is it it’s a stunning space I remember the first time I walked into it um uh and so I I
3:28
probably should tell you this but the the first time I walked into the Blackfriars Playhouse was actually when I was
3:33
an actor on the stage and the playhouse opened in 2001 and prior to that the
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American Shakespeare Center was exclusively a touring troop so the goal was to bring Shakespeare to bring the
3:45
joys and accessibility of Shakespeare across the United States and that’s what we did and the company was founded in
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1988 by uh this probably won’t surprise you as a company that’s really dedicated to education by a professor and his
3:58
student Ralph Allen Cohen and Jim Warren uh not too far from Staunton in Harrisonburg at JMU James
4:05
Madison University and founded there they um they they brought the work of Shakespeare and explored his practices
4:12
with contemporary audiences um I joined the company shortly before the playhouse
4:18
was built and still touring right we were still I was touring so I started touring so I started really creating
4:23
this work in Staunton but then bringing it around the United States and being informed by what the conversations were in
4:31
our very large country our very diverse country um being able to explore what
4:36
those were and bring those back home to Staunton through the work we were doing uh and when the playhouse opened in 2001
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I was one of the first performers to come into that space and experiment with it and I remember the first time that
4:50
Ralph and Jim brought us into the space because they gave us a really fun way of
4:55
going in which I would love to invite patrons to do sometime which is that we came up through the backstage area so
5:03
when we first entered the space we entered from the stage door on the stage
5:08
and that meant your first steps were onto the into the space itself right 50,000 square fet of white oak locally
5:15
sourced in Virginia it was um it’s an extraordinary space it really is can I
5:21
ask you real quick I am curious I don’t think I’ve ever asked you what was it like taking Shakespeare around the
5:27
country and I’m assuming you you’ve performed all different size communities and areas and I don’t know if you guys
5:33
perform more at um educational facilities or theaters or where you normally went but what was what was that
5:38
touring experience like so it was a mix of venues that we performed at but I would say the majority were universities
5:44
and colleges so a lot of it was and it intersected with education so as an as a
5:50
performer we were skilled and and trained not only to perform Shakespeare
5:55
but also to teach it and to teach it in a way that is not about the way we tend to receive Shakespeare in a traditional
6:01
English class right where you’re reading it which of course I mean I imagine if Shakespeare were here today he would ask
6:07
why are you reading my play at a desk like yeah why are you printing it right because we’re even talking about like
6:12
right moments before just you know just as the printing press is even um arriving so so you’re you’re talking
6:19
about a time where you’re the plays are not meant to read which is true of Shakespeare but I think is true of a lot
6:24
of plays so some plays read more easily than others but ultimately a play is
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designed for practitioners to bring to an audience whereas a novel is is
6:35
designed by a writer to bring to a reader so when you become a reader of plays you really have to imagine
6:42
yourself as an audience member or as a practitioner it’s almost like being an extraordinary chef and if you read a
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recipe you can almost taste and see and imagine the experience of eating what
6:55
you’ve created but if you don’t know anything about cooking it if you read a recipe that you cannot imagine the
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delicious experience you’re going to have it just looks like a bunch of
7:07
terrifying instructions yeah that’s a great way something you don’t understand or you feel like you don’t understand it
7:13
even though you know all the words for some reason we tell ourselves they’re like it doesn’t it doesn’t line up
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that’s right I love that U so so I think a play is a lot like that and a Shakespeare play is a lot like that so
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bringing it to the country to like throughout the country really um there’s a few things that I there’s a few
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amazing things about it one is it it helps explore how Shakespeare really can
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speak to everybody that it’s a highly flexible art form I think as a playwright he was highly collaborative
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and that comes through in the way that we’re able to access his work now um I
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also think it’s really important because Shakespeare has taken up a lot of space in our Academia and in our scholarship
7:55
and there’s a way in which it can feel in contemporary times that if you don’t understand it you’re somehow lacking in
8:01
some way or you’re sitting outside a conversation that others seem to be able to be inside and making it more
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accessible right by performing it by performing it under the conditions that he worked in meant that to to help like
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have our audiences experience what his audience has experienced I think helps break down
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those barriers so that you can feel uh if you are you know if you are speaking
8:29
the English language and it’s being performed in English and we can talk about that more later um then you have
8:35
access right you can understand this this is for you and you can claim Shakespeare as your own yeah yeah I love
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how how you’ve said that too and even I think I think the very fact that this
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facility is in Staunton which is an incredible Community but we’re a town of 25,000 people we’re we’re you know we’re
8:55
located in in what we describe as a rural area um and even though the Arts are extremely important here like the
9:03
fact that this type of space is here and not in a large metropolitan area I think
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speaks to that very notion in many many ways because a lot of times there is all of a sudden this fear that um you can’t
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be a part of Shakespeare or see it or enjoy it or or in digest it even correctly um if you don’t have a certain
9:25
education level or there’s just there’s just whether it be education or economic status or whatever it might
9:32
be just a lot of times there’s this perception of that and what I love so
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much about Blackfriars being right here is that really turns it up on its head
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and and you guys really have approached it of of it’s not just we love people coming in and visiting and they come
9:48
from all across the world to visit this space but it also is very much a heart
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point of the city itself of Staunton and and I think the way you explain that is just it really faces that head on too
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when I first um uh came to came returned to Staunton to take the position I’m in now I was really struck by The Narrative
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that I heard in so many places about how Staunton really opened themselves up and
10:16
supported the American Shakespeare Center to find its home here so that would have been before I was in a
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decision-making uh position therefore I didn’t necessarily have the same access to the conversation but being able to
10:28
sort of inherit that narrative and really feel supported through that that it was Staunton that said come here
10:34
because we could have gone some other places but Staunton said no do it here and it’s amazing because I think that
10:40
that means like you said that that there are people who come from all over the country and all over the world because
10:45
it is a world famous space uh to see it and therefore also get to experience Staunton and the culture that is so
10:53
exciting and thriving here but it also means that those who are in Staunton and in the regional area, Augusta, Waynesboro as
11:01
well can say this is my Playhouse and that’s a huge part of being a nonprofit
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right that we’re also Mission oriented and that we are serving our community so
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that’s local Regional national International but still local yeah service by Shakespeare yeah I love that
11:20
now I want to go all the way back can you talk to me about like how did you first get involved in in theater I know
11:28
I mean I know we talked about your journey from performing in a troop to now executive director but but your
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history goes back even further than that like what what first got you involved in theater well I would say that my early
11:39
access to experiencing what it was like to perform and have an audience receive
11:45
that which is ultimately I think what really inspires me is the space between the space between an actor in an
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audience or a performer in an audience member where we’re creating Community inside a space um and my first
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experience with that was actually as a ballet dancer so uh So Silent right no no sound but highly expressive right I
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mean if you think about it it’s all it’s uh gesture right it’s gestural behavior in communication and there’s also a
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culture in in Classical Ballet there’s a culture of inheriting stories and inheriting choreography and figuring out
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what does that mean in my body right now for these people and my mother was a ballet teacher so it’s perhaps not a um
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plush upbringing but does give you a lot of access if you sort of grow up in the corner of a ballet studio but I’ll tell
12:34
you what it influenced me more and I don’t know that I ever really knew this until I found myself in this position as
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executive director is I think that was when I first learned that I was deeply
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dedicated to the nonprofit work oh and is that something that you just you kind
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of learned from your mom or just saw her passion what do you think think I probably saw her passion so um and saw
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how how everything that informed what she did was for a purpose and was for you know the human beings there as
13:04
opposed to for a capitalist goal right so um and and the goal is not to be political here just like what is the
13:11
what is the focus of a business right and how how do you how do you focus the work that you do and what drives you
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especially like on a really tired day like what’s the thing that like grounds you and Carries you through and you know
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I think that nonprofit work it is often the mission the heartbeat of what we do that that carries us through that
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motivates us that inspires us that expands what we do yeah and it is and
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and I feel like nonprofit especially especially nonprofit performance space
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as ingrained in a community as as anything else because it’s not just the ticket sales where where we are looking
13:49
at you guys as being a a a large tourism driver for us but it’s also I mean I love when I get to come through town and
13:55
I see school buses from the area and I always think cuz I think back to the first time I I remember the first time I
14:02
got to go to a theater performance and I remember the first time somebody came to me and said hey you can take theater
14:07
classes and it changed literally changed the trajectory of My Life um and I I always think about these students like
14:13
gosh I wonder how many are going to be sitting in this space for the first time not only getting this art but also
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realizing today like they are worth the space and the time and and the energy
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that they’re receiving in that space what they get to give um and I know that’s very in-depth on it but I I just think it’s so powerful and
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you said a statement once that I thought was just so spot on and I hope I remember
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it correctly you said um theater is a radical Act of community I do stand by
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that statement theater is yeah theater is a radical Act of community I think to be able to gather together is um an
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extraordinary act so theater brings us together in shared space and in the case
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of the Blackfriars Playhouse in shared light right where the lights never go down on the audience so not only can the
15:02
audience see the performers but the performers can see the audience and because we’re in a Thrust space which is
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three quarters as though the stage were thrust into the audience um the audience can see each other which means we’re
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really having a shared experience of a story and there’s nothing more radical I
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think than sitting next to someone who perhaps doesn’t share the same uh identity that you share whether those
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are visible aspects of difference or invisible aspects of difference perhaps as a different generation a different
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political belief a different life experience and to sit side by side and
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breathe together and laugh together to share a story to share Joy together I mean that strikes me as an incredibly
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radical act and it’s something I think we’re really responsible for as theater makers that we’re curating a space where
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people can come together and explore ideas explore imagination yeah it is one of my
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favorite aspects the first time I saw a show at at Shakespeare and cuz I was
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ready for the lights to be up and I was you know ready for the performers to see me me to see them it was so cool but one
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of my favorite aspects excuse me is being able to see other audience members
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I love it I love it so much and and because it really does enhance the
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overall experience getting to see others digest something I’m like is it the same
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way I am is it different and like how did they it’s just it’s one of my favorite aspects and I think it just it
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it it brings an experience that is often not had simply because of that Dynamic
16:38
yeah we often I think in conventional contemporary theater we turn the lights off on the audience right which is a later invention than Shakespeare right
16:45
it comes with the invention of lighting uh and so in doing that now we create a
16:50
lot of things out of that right there’s uh in contemporary conventional theater there’s lighting designers which you
16:56
know help tell the story through the visual aspect there’s usually a premium theater where something’s experienced in
17:02
two Dimensions but as we have an increased experience to be audience even in the comfort our of our own homes if
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we’re watching something on a streaming channel right that sort of a thing we can experience this on a regular basis
17:16
and the more we have access to that the more special I think it is to come together and see and share the
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experience with others yeah let me ask you how do you guys approach you know Staunton is a very
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um historic and artistic town but there there’s already even within our community I think a great Dynamic I mean
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if you walk through town the the architecture is so incredibly
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captivating because of its historic nature but then what I love is like within this historic nature I mean just
17:46
walking from um one end of Beverly and and where Blackfriars is at to the other end of Beverly Street you’ll pass
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four galleries you’ll pass four bookstores you’ll pass shops you’ll pass literally performers on the Street and
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so there there’s even within our community this great balance of historic
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and modern how do you guys approach that that the nature of Shakespeare with the
18:13
continuing development and modernization of art how do you guys approach that I feel like Shakespeare is a container for
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the conversations that we want to have a container for the experiences we want to have so when we’re approaching
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Shakespeare we’re looking to make a play inspired by Shakespeare and you will
18:31
hear Shakespeare’s words but it’s for a contemporary experience right so when
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we’re looking you know I think that when we talk about original practices or practicing inspired by some of
18:42
Shakespeare’s staging or Playhouse conditions it’s really tempting to think about Museum Theater and that’s
18:49
definitely not what we do we’re not trying to recreate something that shakes Bear’s audience would have appreciated
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we’re trying to recreate an experience for our audience that maybe is similar to the joys that
19:02
the that his audience had so part of that is is really enhancing accessibility so an example would be um
19:09
we use live music all live and unplugged which is kind of amazing right because I think in our modern world we have very
19:16
limited access to acoustic music and there’s something really special about AC acoustic music right so obviously
19:22
Shakespeare so during Shakespeare’s time there were musicians that played um frequently often you know lots of
19:28
research that says maybe it was between acts there’s certainly music written in his shows where you have a character
19:34
that’s playing and singing so music was a huge part of the oral experience in Shakespeare’s plays for his audience so
19:42
we want it to be for our audience um when it’s live and unplugged it has a special impact because you not only hear
19:50
the music you actually feel the vibrations so you’re you’re having this
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extra impact of um it’s almost like as an actor if I’m playing the guitar and
20:01
I’m playing you an audience member as part of my instrument right you’re part of the extension of what I’m doing and
20:08
our music is not um trying to recreate what was contemporary for Shakespeare’s
20:13
audience it’s trying to recreate the experience of contemporary music for an
20:19
audience and so we intersect right the contemporary music with our audience so
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we think about like what is our audience experence experiencing what is the what is the play about what songs Inspire us
20:33
that sort of fit into that world of the story of the play or how maybe we want to kind of create this community to
20:39
experience the story but we also think about like the different Generations that are in our audience and maybe like
20:45
what are songs that take you to a moment where you feel a certain way and then we play with those so all the music is
20:51
contemporary and it’s our actors are extraordinary they’re all actor musicians they’re they’re really there
20:56
to well that’s something I was going to ask like in the casting process cuz it really is I mean the performances thes are amazing but it’s such like an extra
21:04
treat is this musical side of it that’s often woven through the performances but
21:09
you have it at the beginning of the shows an intermission nobody Miss intermission it is just it is so
21:15
captivating and just so much fun but I I I am always curious when you guys are casting are you looking to cast actor
21:23
musicians or is that something they learn when they get here like does do most of them already know those
21:29
instruments or do they learn it as they’re here I would say it’s a combination right so so like um uh I
21:35
think like any casting right you you’re looking for um a diverse set of skills and they’re you’re looking for diverse
21:41
expertise right so that you have a multiplicity of talents that you’re forming a team with uh so some may come
21:48
with extraordinary musicianship and uh skills and experience others may need to
21:53
fill a large role on stage and that feels like the right position for them
21:58
but they may they may be learning as they go but generally speaking all of our performers at least have some basic
22:05
comfort with with singing with an instrument with something like that and some are excellent and the whole range
22:11
in between but what we’re really looking to do I would say what makes us even more unique is that we are a true
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reparatory company which is increasingly rare in the United States there’s very few left and what that means even though
22:23
there’s the word Repertory in many theaters names that practice has um uh we we’ve diverted a little bit in the
22:29
theater industry from that practice and it’s an amazing experience because you basically get the same team of emotional
22:36
and creative athletes playing a different play every night and the result is you get to watch them play
22:44
different positions so imagine imagine this team where you can see them play different positions every night or
22:49
different roles um but in the in the case of positions not only are they um playing out different stories and
22:56
different characters and you know different behaviors or narratives but they’re also sometimes needing to lead
23:03
as in a leading role and sometimes needing to support as in a supporting role and they’re so incredibly fasile at
23:09
doing that yeah can you talk because it’s just um and and I’ve been in theater for so much of my life and even
23:15
I cannot wrap my head around as a performer like wow how how do they
23:21
capture all this every night for the length of the season um not only
23:26
sometimes multiple characters and one performance but but multiple characters throughout the season cuz you guys are
23:32
rotating numerous shows at the same same time what is that like what would what
23:39
would a typical day be like in in this theater for either your end of things or
23:45
the performance end like how does that what does that look like pull behind the curtain a little bit what does that look like so in the for a performer what it
23:52
looks like and we work with all professional performers so that’s um so the actor’s Equity Union helps guide us
23:58
um uh and I think that’s really important because it means it’s protecting the workers’s rights and making sure that we sort of have a you
24:04
know a a set of boundaries and Rules of Engagement that help us work in a really healthy way and in a sustainable way
24:12
what it means for rotating rep is that um the performers will be rehearsing one show and then they’ll open it but as
24:19
soon as they open it they’ll be rehearsing the next show so it’s not an uncommon experience to say be rehearsing
24:25
I don’t know A Midsummer Night’s Dream while you’re performing Julie a Caesar at night so you may be playing the fairy
24:31
queen during rehearsal but then suddenly be playing I don’t know cases in the evening talk about range it is it is a
24:38
huge range uh it is and I think it’s one of the things that makes it really exciting now it’s not for every
24:43
performer but there are a lot of performers that really seek it out because it helps sort of eliminate that
24:49
sense of being siloed which I think we talk about it in a lot of Industries you know what is it what is the sort of stay
24:55
in your lane aspect and what is it to be a generalist right so in the US I think
25:00
and culturally we’ve celebrated the specialist for quite a long time in the recent past but in Shakespeare’s day we
25:06
have this expression the Renaissance Man and it doesn’t have to be a man right it can be anyone right a Renaissance human
25:12
let’s say um but I think that there’s something about rotating rep that really celebrates the generalist celebrates the
25:18
Renaissance human the Renaissance uh practitioner because they’re getting to express themselves uh across their
25:26
multiple skill sets I mean from a workplace perspective especially in my role what I see is it relieves a lot of
25:33
burnout that you’re not doing the same thing all the time you’re getting to exercise different parts of you and some
25:39
may be more within your comfort zone and your experience some may stretch you a little but all of those things
25:45
ultimately if we’re doing our job at the American Shakespeare Center and supporting people to do that it becomes
25:50
a really joyful practice Yeah I am curious about your personal experience because you know you’re talking about
25:57
the aspect of taking care of the performers and and you really do get that Essence here of so many
26:03
people stay or return um and so even yourself what has it been like going
26:10
from I mean you’ve kind of seen every side of it now from at one point in your career you were touring and then you
26:15
were with the very first team that opened up the physical space and and
26:20
going on and having a long career and now returning back in this executive role what’s that been like going from a
26:29
perform at performer here at one stage of your career to then coming back and
26:35
choosing to come I know you you relocated from New York where you really created a base and in a home place right
26:41
there for for a while what what was that process kind of like you know it’s so interesting when when uh when you
26:47
describe my journey it sounds like a really clear line like I had a plan all along but it never felt like that that’s
26:54
how I always SP too about myself I mean it felt like a bumpy road or like there lot of twists and turns and unexpected
27:00
ups and downs and whatever it is um but uh but I it’s not a it’s it’s quite
27:06
accurate right so I started as a as a performer you’re right touring and then in in Residence in Residence in Staunton
27:13
um uh and then I also transitioned in my career to being mostly a director right so sort of being responsible for telling
27:19
the whole story not just one position in the story even if I was doubling and tripling um as we do at the American
27:25
Shakespeare Center inspired by Shakespeare um but but uh but I really you know when when I was asked to come
27:32
and take this position as the executive director it I did have to think about it a lot I mean it was a big lifestyle
27:38
change I’ve been living in New York City um and now I’m in Staunton which is a population of 25,000 right so I have no
27:45
anonymity which I think is the most shocking thing um uh I think when I was in New York I I had this experience all
27:52
the time where I I could just well first of all I could walk to the store like anytime right like I don’t think my my
27:59
husband Peter and I never asked between ourselves um what time do the store closed until we came to Staunton so it
28:06
was like a new idea of like time boundaries but it was also a new idea of community so I I mean I love living in
28:13
New York it’s and I had a great Community there but in Staunton I found
28:18
for like the first month I was here I was late for everything because I would calculate it would take me I don’t know
28:25
2 minutes to walk the block but it didn’t it would take me like 20 because along the way so many people would want
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to have a conversation and those conversations were genuine and I realized that I needed to make space for
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those that that was actually the really beautiful experience about being here was having that so I had to recalculate
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time never kind of traffic here it is but I mean like when you move somewhere and you’re like I have to totally
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rethink time I mean that’s a that’s a big thing to do um but I I do think that
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one of the ways that I one of the reasons I really wanted to lead the
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American Shakespeare Center is because it is a center that it really is a center that is serving a community and
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is um attracting and you know a national and international attention that it is
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uh celebrating the question rather than the answer if that makes sense that we’re always intersecting I mean
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Shakespeare sort of in our world seems to straddle equally scholarship or
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Academia and performance and he takes up space in both worlds it is interesting a lot of
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times it’s like segmented out and people are like well this is how I focus on it or this is how I yeah and we do both
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right and that and that is ultimately what I’m overseeing but one of the things I do love about my position is
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I’m often inspired by the Vaudeville days so in Vaudeville you of course have this famous Duo right you have the
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comedian who’s usually really famous gets all the glory and the laughs and then you have the proverbial straight
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man let’s call them the setup artist so their their responsibility is to set up
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the comic with like just the right music so that they can really land their punchline and I feel that’s what my role
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as executive director is is I’m partnering all these comics and they’re very different it’s not just the actors
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on stage it’s our director of Education it’s our Founders it’s our director of marketing and development it’s everyone
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in between and my goal is to partner all of them to success whether trying to
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land the laugh create the exciting moment take a risk and be successful
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yeah I’ve never heard it kind of describe that way of of comparing it to
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a Vaudeville performance but it’s so right it’s so true well maybe it just inspires me because the performance
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aspect of it but I love the idea of really supporting you know I mean we often have I was saying earlier about
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like our our performers need to transition or switch between this leading position and supporting position
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and I think it’s fascinating because we often in modern times associate the idea of a leading role with being a a star
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right with having the proverbial Spotlight but I often think it’s actually about leading a company and
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therefore when you play a supporting role you’re supporting a company and I try to do both yeah yeah absolutely and
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and I think the way you’ve kind of explained it too really leans at Stu because I know we’ve talked about this before is it’s it’s I think partially a
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testament to the American sh Shakespeare Center partially a testament to the community and also just the people is um
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how many people that have come as guest artists of the theater and then are now
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I mean major investors in our community and business owners I mean yourself Remy
31:43
Burger is owned by alumni of of Shakespeare Silver Line yeah I mean it’s
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fascinating right I mean I find a lot of you know I mean there’s just so much joy in that maybe the American Shakespeare
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Center brought people here initially or that was their entry point but then people stayed in Staunton because they
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loved Staunton right they wanted to build in Staunton and make their home here and express themselves across Staunton beyond
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the the the walls of the playhouse and so yeah so it’s myself absolutely have
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come and you know now I reside in Staunton and I call it my home um you’re right remedy Burger is owned by a former
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performer of ours and current you know these are people who still collaborate with us um uh they may not spend all
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their time on stage in a visible way but they’re still active home um yeah silver Lin so an
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educational theater um I I was on stage with Jeremy West you know in the early days of the playhouse um uh Joanne Sako
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Jeter who is now on our school board she and I were on tour together and then in
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the playhouse together I watched her have a huge influence on student mattin
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audiences and now she is you know helping to shepher how the school board
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is going to you know uh yeah take the Next Generation forward and I guarantee those were never in the plans when you
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guys first signed your contract I don’t think so I don’t think so performers isn’t it incredible though just how
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trusting the process and the place leads and so now you guys are coming up
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on on closing in on 25 years in in the space 26 we’re very excited people stay
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tuned for plans but we’re we’re very excited where where do you see like the
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next 5 10 15 years like what would you like to see not only from the space but
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also the world of theater the world of Shakespeare within our region what do you hope to see I’d like to see us
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evolve at the pace of the cultural conversation so I think one of the one of the things I see is that when we sort
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of arrive at something that feels like it’s right it’s easy to find stasis there right um but I think when we’re
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really doing our work it is doing our work well it is being highly responsive
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so as a current cultural conversation changes as the need of community changes are we able to adapt and evolve um and
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so I would say that that what I mean by that is very confidently to say I don’t know where we’ll be in 15 years but I
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hope that we’re still serving our community and that we’re still practicing the radical active Community
34:20
yeah well that’s mic drop yeah that’s beautiful and and I am curious too from
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a personal standpoint you know you’ve You’ you’ve had such a wide- ranging career are there any lessons along your
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journey that have really just stood out and stay um that you feel like have
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helped shaped how you approach your work or share with others in your work I
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think one that I return to a lot is to always seek out the best idea in the room no matter where it comes from so
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sort of getting rid of any kind of personal expect or bias about where good ideas come from
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and having confidence that one’s own vision and artistic taste is actually
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maybe what’s defining in and the idea that fulfills that may come from a
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surprising place and if we’re really listening and we’re able to curate those
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and then ultimately that leads to a diversity of thought which will hope hopefully speak
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to many people yeah to the best idea in the room that’s what I’m always looking for yeah it
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doesn’t have to come from me right anywhere anywhere all right one of uh
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I’m going to go ahead and plug my random coffee mug I brought this I I love it I keep it on my desk but I brought it just
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for this meeting this is my Shakespeare insult mug I love it kind of contradicts
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the idea that we are the nicest place in the world so we won’t say it but we love reading it sometimes I am curious do you
35:55
have a favorite doesn’t have to be an insult but a favorite Shakespeare line in general that that you always love or
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kind of is a little brainworm for you I think your worm I guess is a c brainworm
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I like both I mean Shakespeare Shakespeare was constantly playing with language I don’t see why you shouldn’t
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and also I love how language evolves we could call it a brain warm why not we’re just going to start it now start it now
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um gosh it’s it’s so hard to choose one but I would say one that sort of keeps
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going through my head is be not a feared the is full of noises sounds and sweet
36:30
airs that give delight and hurt not and I love the Curiosity of that I love that
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I love the sort of idea of exploring the world and listening yeah and how much we
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find when we do and we also encourage traveling the world here as business St
36:48
but yeah I love that one what do you guys have coming up that that you hope more people know about or put on their
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radar anything in particular you’re looking forward to well I’m really looking forward to uh uh all of our
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Seasons so we we do perform in uh Four Seasons we have a spring season uh
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summer fall and a holiday season um and so our spring season is again in
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rotating rep we’ve got King leer uh Little Women adapted by Aaron Riley who’s a regional playwright right uh
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who’s adapted this play for our space World premier fantastic friers so I mean
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she’s a Shakespeare in our time right writing for the for the stage about a famous story for our audience so King
37:29
leer Little Women and Comedy of Errors so there’s something for everyone in that season and this summer we’re really
37:35
looking forward to sense insensibility adapted by Emma whip day uh also written for our space and uh the Winter’s Tale
37:43
nice you’ve got a good season coming up so people can pick up season passes individual passes I also highly highly
37:50
encourage um as people are visiting Staunton to take the tour and and enjoy
37:55
their’s uh talk back moment on on certain dates and times but it is one of the most incredible tours and and
38:03
your educational leaders do such a great job of oh my goodness it is it is an incredible time so I highly I highly
38:11
suggest that I love that you mentioned that because sometimes people come to Staunton and their many experiences they want to have and maybe can’t stay for a
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whole show or maybe they feel like that’s not the right timing for them or the right length of time but we do have Playhouse tours where you can come in
38:24
and see the playhouse hear about how we do what we do and and really have a true experience there and some people come
38:30
and take the tour and see a show um but if you only have time to take the tour I’d say don’t miss it yeah absolutely
38:38
thank you so much and I I’ll share this too before we go I debate it on or not but um I know I’ve shared this with you
38:44
so when when uh we first moved to Staunton and um it was just so
38:49
encouraging to hear how many of our partners when I say Partners I mean all of our attractions and businesses and
38:54
stakeholders and just people that care about what what we do here in Staunton they’re they’re our partners um
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everybody was just so eager and excited to come to the table and and and share
39:06
what we’re doing here in Staunton with the world but also to take a step back and say how can we take our product as a
39:12
community and lift it and make it better um and I was just so captivated by the
39:17
engagement that we have here internally from from an office and department and I
39:23
I always say you can really measure um how ious people are on that when when
39:28
challenges come and when problem solving comes and uh several months ago we were
39:34
we were filming a new project and we were super excited and you know a million different moving parts and 30
39:40
hours before shoot time we had a major conflict of scheduling with um with our
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performers our actors for for that and it was one of those I’m like I can’t solve this one on my own I think it was
39:52
like closing in on 10 p.m. I’m like I know who can though and I immediately
39:57
reached out to our theaters and I said I can’t solve this I I need help on this one and I am not kidding within like 45
40:04
minutes we had an entire family put together and not a one was related and you would have never known it and it was
40:11
just it was such a great day a filming and shooting two days um and and I’m
40:16
like man we’re in a good place it was such a great aha moment especially for for me um that that when it comes to
40:24
problem solving like how quickly it was done how how much joy came with it um and it was it worked out so well so
40:31
thank you because you you brought it home on that one so thank you for being
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such a great partner to us thank you for the work you guys are doing at American Shakespeare Center and I just I can’t
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wait for for all that’s to come thank you thanks for having me thank you thank
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you guys so much for tuning in as always make sure uh if you like what you hear
40:53
give us a great rating hit that five stars give us a thumbs up um share with everybody you know and continue to tune
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in every two weeks to the you is silent we aren’t podcast we’ll see you guys next
41:05
time here in Staunton
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