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Shakespeare

Content in this section focuses on the Bard’s work and contemporary responses to and interpretations of it. There’s a broad range of topics to explore here, from Madeline Sayet’s interrogation of the Shakespeare system, to Lavina Jadhwani’s conversation about dismantling the plays’ anti-Black language, to a panel about Shakespeare and new work.

The Latest

Essay
How to Embrace the Dramaturgy of Creative Caption Design
by McClain Leong
14 April 2026
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The Tempest Crashes Ashore at Point Montara
by Nicole Gluckstern
18 February 2026
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Island Shakespeare Festival’s Sustainability in Action
by Erin Murray
18 February 2025
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30 November 2016

Director and educator Jessica Bauman writes about her experience teaching theatre in a refugee camp in Kenya.

Essay
18 November 2016

Playwright Mia McCullough discusses how teaching classic plays in high school alienates future young audiences, and advocates for contemporary playwrights to craft comprehensive anthologies of their work. 

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Shakespeare’s Monopoly on the Magic of Free Outdoor Theatre

4 October 2016

Shari Caplan on Love’s Labour's Lost as performed by The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston, Massachusetts.

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1 October 2016

Josh Platt on The Merchant of Venice directed by Tina Packer in Lenox, Massachusetts. 

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29 August 2016

Maegan Clearwood on the all-male production of Taming of the Shrew, directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.

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Dallas, Texas

13 August 2016

Shelby-Allison Hibbs collects thoughts from Dallas theatremakers about the sustainability of the city’s theatre scene.

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An Interview with the Museum of London Archaeology Team Digging Up One of Shakespeare’s Theatres

10 August 2016

An interview between Michael Lueger and MOLA archeologists Heather Knight and Julian Bowsher about the recent excavation of the Curtain Theatre in London.

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A Healthy Dose of #Shakespeare400 Skepticism

11 July 2016

Renaissance scholar Nora J. Williams discusses the #Shakespeare400 celebrations, and the myth that Shakespeare is the “greatest playwright” in the English language.

Video
Tuesday 7 June 2016
Moscow, Russia

Stanislavsky Electrotheatre and Boris Yukhananov's MIR-5 Studio of Individual Directing in Moscow presented a masterclass conducted by British director Tim Supple on space and the creation of atmosphere livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Tuesday 7 June at 18:00-22:00 MSK/EEST (Moscow) / 17:00-21:00 CEST (Berlin) / 4pm-8pm BST (London) / 15:00-19:00 GMT / 11 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT (New York) / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 8 a.m.-12 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles). Share your thoughts and media using #howlround.

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31 May 2016

Director Cristy Andrea Altamirano seeks thoughts on an upcoming production of The Tempest.

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Shakespeare, Space Suits, and the Power of the Human

31 May 2016

Shari Caplan on Sans Everything by Strange Attractor Theatre at the Charlestown Working Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Video
Friday 13 May 2016
Austin, TX, United States

The VORTEX in Austin, Texas presented The Tempest: An Aerial Tale, a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic by Lorella Loftus, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at HowlRound.TV on Friday 13 May at 6 p.m. PDT (Vancouver) / 8 p.m. CDT (Austin) / 9 p.m. EDT (New York). Use Twitter hashtag #howlround and direct comments @VORTEXonManor.

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29 April 2016

In this installment, Matthew Minnicino discusses gender politics in Shakespeare’s work, and productions of King Lear with women starring in the title role.

Video
Thursday 3 March 2016
Carmarthen, Wales, UK

University of Wales Trinity Saint David's School of Performing Arts in Carmarthen, Wales, United Kingdom presented a performance of Macbeth livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 3 March at 19:00 GMT (London) / 2 p.m. EST (New York) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 11 a.m. PST (Los Angeles). In Twitter, follow @UWTSD_Perf_Arts@HowlRoundTV and use #howlround.

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Theatre in 4D (No glasses required)

24 February 2016

In the final installment of our series on Cornerstone’s California Bridge Tour, actor Page Leong writes about her personal connection to two of the communities the company visited.

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What Three Playwrights Learned Making a Web Series

18 February 2016

Playwright Seamus Sullivan writes about the process of remaking Hamlet as a noir-infused web series.

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7 February 2016

Patrick Walsh discusses his work within the prison Two Rivers Correctional Facility and how it revived him and his commitment to theatre.

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Working with Local Casts and Advancing Cornerstone’s California: The Tempest Tour

21 January 2016

Daniel Penilla, Assistant Director for Cornerstone’s California: The Tempest tour, describes the process of bringing the show to life in different communities every few weeks.

Essay
9 November 2015

Erin Butcher writes about the difficult experiences she faced producing a show in a public park with an all-female cast and crew. 

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25 October 2015

Actor and writer Eli Keel reflects on his introduction to Shakespeare and advocates translation for new audiences.

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30 September 2015

Lue Douthit, director of literary development at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, discusses the history and rationale of the Play on! Project with OSF to translate 39 of Shakespeare’s plays.

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An Exploration of Shakespeare’s Mark Antony

5 September 2015

Isaac Jacobs does an in-depth analysis of the backbone of Mark Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

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Lisa Wolpe, and the Art of Empathy

16 August 2015

Director Emma Went interviews international arts activist Lisa Wolpe about the origins and ethos of TranShakespeare.

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2 August 2015

Dana Sayre illuminates the parallels between popular television series Scandal and Empire and the works of Shakespeare, arguing that their popularity shows television embracing a more theatrical style. 

Essay
31 July 2015

Blair Ruble addresses the recent criticism of Synetic Theater’s artistic adaptations of Shakespeare. 

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