Playwright Sara Gmitter (In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story) returns to Chicago's Tony-winning Lookingglass Theatre for the world premiere of her adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette – and returns to the Podcast to discuss how the

Reviewing London's 'Streetcar'

Jan 24th, 2023 20m 54s

Our 'London Entertainment Correspondent' (!) Elizabeth Dennehy reviews the transformative Almeida Theatre production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Rebecca Frecknall and starring Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran (above

Chicago Magic Lounge

Jan 17th, 2023 21m 20s

Part speakeasy bar, part magic theater, the Chicago Magic Lounge presents live magic shows seven nights a week in its two performance spaces, its bar, and at your own table. It's incredible immersive theater and the brainchild of Joey Cranford,

Subversive Improv Guide

Jan 10th, 2023 23m 14s

David Razowsky has written A Subversive’s Guide to Improvisation: Moving Beyond “Yes, And”, a fascinating, helpful, and inspiring new book that features incredibly insightful advice and exercises improvisers (actors!) can do on their own or in

Shakespeare And Fantasy

Jan 3rd, 2023 24m 36s

Bryan Cogman, a four-time Emmy-winning writer and co-executive producer of Game of Thrones and a consulting producer on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, discusses the rise of televised fantasy and how a grounding in Shakespeare enable

Sherlock & Scrooge

Dec 28th, 2022 18m 30s

Allen Gilmore (above, right) plays Ebenezer Scrooge in A Sherlock Carol, a holiday mashup of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle now running in both New York (where Allen is) and London. A veteran Scrooge (having played him for many year

Cabaret ZaZou's "Luminaire"

Dec 20th, 2022 20m 31s

Cabaret ZaZou's “Luminaire,” an intimate, interactive cabaret/cirque production performed inside a European spiegeltent on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel in downtown Chicago, is one of Chicago’s best-kept theatrical secrets. Frank Ferrante

Growing Up Nutcracker

Dec 14th, 2022 30m 58s

A family affair this week as host Austin Tichenor is joined by his brother John Tichenor and sister Amy Tichenor Moorhead to discuss their early years performing The Nutcracker for the Metropolitan Ballet Company in Oakland, CA, in the 1970s. T

Lamb's 20th Anniversary

Dec 6th, 2022 29m 57s

Christopher Moore returns to talk about his wise comic novel Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in this year of our Lord 2022. Chris discusses how wanted to create a tale of friends

Saluting The Understudies

Nov 28th, 2022 19m 43s

“Stand-ins of the world, stand up!” (Tom Stoppard, The Real Inspector Hound) 2022 will be remembered as the Year of the Understudy – not only did the Patron Saint of the Understudy King Charles III finally step into the leading role after waiti

Goodman's Christmas Carol

Nov 22nd, 2022 17m 43s

Jessica Thebus directs the Goodman Theatre's annual production of A Christmas Carol, and this year she's brought our own Austin Tichenor along to play Scrooge at ten designated performances. Jessica and Austin discuss how much the production ch

Happy 16th Anniversary!

Nov 14th, 2022 26m 18s

Mya Gosling, aka GoodTickleBrain, joins us to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast, new episodes of which have dropped weekly since early December, 2006. Mya interviews producer/host Austin Tichenor, who dis

Weird Al's Guitarist

Nov 7th, 2022 18m 33s

Jack Lancaster (above, left, with Daniel Radcliffe) plays Jim "Kimo" West, or at least a highly fictionalized version of him, in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, the straight-faced and factually dubious biopic now streaming on the Roku Channel. Ja

Measure For Measure

Nov 1st, 2022 17m 40s

Director Henry Godinez talks about his powerful Chicago Shakespeare Theater production of Measure For Measure, how he loves Shakespeare’s famously problem play, and how his background informed his approach to it. Set amidst the glamour, music,

Doug's Time Traveling

Oct 24th, 2022 21m 57s

RSC Actor Doug Harvey (Hamlet in Hamlet's Big Adventure! (a prequel)) performs his one-man show A Time Traveler's Guide to the Present at the United Solo Festival in New York City on November 5, 2022 (an important date in the space time continu

Shana's "Alls Well"

Oct 18th, 2022 23m 38s

Shana Cooper discusses her direction of one of Shakespeare's infamous "problem plays," All's Well That Ends Well, which ran (quite well!) at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in the spring of 2022. Shana reveals how the project came to her; how the o

Lighting The Comedy

Oct 10th, 2022 18m 29s

Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and Joseph Jefferson award-winning designer Christopher Akerlind has designed the lights for the current Goodman Theatre production of Lynn Nottage's Clyde's, a powerful comedy directed by Kate Whoriskey and featuring as

Actor/Singer David Benoit

Oct 4th, 2022 21m 33s

Broadway veteran David Benoit works all over the country, including the current Chicago Lyric Opera production of Fiddler on the Roof and the recent world premiere musical Bruce at Seattle Rep. David discusses the various paths he's taken to so

'Owning Shakespeare' Podcast

Sep 29th, 2022 26m 32s

The first season of Rob Myles' extraordinary Owning Shakespeare podcast is now available on all the usual platforms, and it's a fantastic collection of six noted Shakespeare actors tackling (in real time) a speech they've never looked at before

Tyla Abercrumbie's 'Relentless'

Sep 20th, 2022 24m 55s

Tyla Abercrumbie is an actor, director, and playwright whose play Relentless was produced by Chicago's Timeline Theatre Company, called "The best new work here in years," by the Chicago Tribune, then subsequently presented by the Goodman Theatr

Adrian's Alan Adaptation

Sep 12th, 2022 21m 38s

Two-time Olivier Award winning actor Adrian Scarborough has written The Clothes They Stood Up In, an adaptation of the novella of the same name by Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George, Talking Heads, The History Boys, and The Lady in the Va

Ron OJ Parson

Sep 7th, 2022 18m 33s

Ron OJ Parson is a multiple award-winning director and Resident Artist at the 2022 Tony-winning regional theater Court Theatre in Chicago, where his production of Arsenic and Old Lace opens this Saturday night. Ron’s extraordinary range include

Chagall In School

Aug 29th, 2022 20m 37s

James Sherman is a founding member of the Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater’s Playwrights Ensemble and his new play, Chagall in School, opens this weekend at Theater Wit in Chicago, in a production by the Grippo Stage Company, directed by Ge

Playing Henry V

Aug 23rd, 2022 24m 25s

Chicago actor Sam Hubbard just finished playing the title role in the the Michigan Shakespeare Festival production of Henry V, directed by artistic director Janice L. Blixt. Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, Sam talks about what chan

819. Mr. Javier Muñoz

Aug 15th, 2022 33m 5s

Javier Muñoz (Hamilton, In The Heights) stars in The Devil Wears Prada, the new musical based on the film and novel, with songs by Elton John and Shaina Taub. Javier plays Nigel (instantly erasing any memories of Stanley Tucci), and discusses h