Featuring dramaturg, critic, producer, and playwright, Linnea Valdivia | she/her :
Will starts with the question we all want to know: what is a dramaturg??? After we listen with bated breath, Will and Linnea discuss her Howlround article, “Queering Theatre Criticism” which placed responsibility on the critic to understand queerness in order to inform the audience. Then the pair discusses working on the 2018 gender-bending production of OKLAHOMA! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the mindfulness required when queering classics, and the cultural costs of losing small theatres due to COVID closures.

In Teacakes and Tarot: Conversations with Queer Futurists, host Will Wilhelm (they/them) welcomes an artistic crush for an intimate chat and a reading. Each episode features a new queer guest discussing art, life in our industry, and their dreams and intentions while the world of performance waits in the wings. Together, they hold space to summon more inclusive, exciting, and queer-friendly ways to create. As the candle burns low,  Will offers their guest a unique tarot reading to give them greater insight on a personal journey. It's one part cocktail party and one part slumber party that will leave you stirred but never shaken. 

Teacakes & Tarot: Conversations with Queer Futurists is produced by Island Shakespeare Festival as part of the Shakespeare Playground Series. The series presents socially distanced programming that upholds ISF’s mission of accessible Shakespeare that embraces intersectional storytelling and artistic excellence. Find out more at islandshakespearefest.org!

Co-Created by Will Wilhelm (they/them) and Erin Murray (she/her)
Graphic Design by Ray Kathryn Morgen (they/them)
Theme Song: Raro Bueno by Chuzausen, licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
Audio & Mixing: Orion Schwalm (he/him)