tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226Fri, 17 Oct 2025 17:02:57 +0000featuredactorbardseyeviewHenryVIshakespeare tavernAskanActorJane Bassapprenticesded bobdouble-troublegeorgia renaissance festivalmirror mannewsshakespearespecialsstafftonybrownVoices from inside the round "O" on Peachtree Street: hear what our actors, directors and staff have to say about the work we do at America's only Shakespeare Tavern!http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)Blogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-4543547765005674775Thu, 16 Jan 2020 01:38:00 +00002020-01-15T20:47:25.215-05:00 Hello, and Happy New Year, dear reader!&nbsp; I'm your host, Rivka, and I'm tickled to bring you the January edition of the Shakespeare Tavern Blog. No doubt, at some point you have been in the theater, enjoying your delicious dinner before a Tavern show, and have become aware of the music playing in the background. Sometimes it’s recordings of period pieces by Thomas Morely or John http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2020/01/hello-and-happy-new-year-dear-reader-im.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rivka Levin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-5170996155161776438Mon, 04 Nov 2019 19:31:00 +00002019-11-15T11:56:21.224-05:00 Rivka Levin Hello, dear readers! (I like saying that; it makes me feel like Pauline Phillips.) Rivka here, coming to you from the third floor of the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, where I sit amongst a chaos of papers and too many tambourines, to tell you a little about our own dear Cindy Kearns.&nbsp; Cindy has been with the company for more than three decades, and received a Suzi Bass http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2019/11/cindy-kearns-production-stage-manager.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rivka Levin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-4259571024187607430Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:55:00 +00002019-09-09T10:25:06.147-04:00 &nbsp; Hello, Tavern blog readers!&nbsp; &nbsp; I’m Rivka, your new blog host (or “blah ghost” if you could stand to work on your diction). I’ll be offering a new blog post each month, so be sure to check back in! &nbsp; For my first foray into the land of blogging (Lord help us all – I welcome the brave among you to join me on this learning curve of discovery!), I knew exactly what I http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2019/09/intimacy-direction-at-shakespeare.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rivka Levin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-8078529031556514170Fri, 18 Aug 2017 18:06:00 +00002017-08-18T14:06:25.476-04:00 Lean in. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard those two little words in the last four weeks. My Teaching Artists used them to encourage students to embrace the final few days of SIT or to beg a teenager to take a note and run with it. I, personally, muttered them under my breath whenever I had to teach on the fly. To me, “Lean in” totally encapsulates the spirit of SIT: remain open http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/08/leaning-in-to-shakespeare-intensive-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-4722203399956788534Tue, 13 Jun 2017 16:56:00 +00002017-06-13T12:56:37.755-04:00 Before Richard, Duke of Gloucester, kills Henry VI in Henry VI, Part Three, the prescient king predicts the devastation that Richard will inflict in his relentless pursuit of the throne, saying “And thus I prophesy, that many a thousand,/Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear…Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born” (5.6.37-44). Henry’s prophecy proves true in Richard III, the final of http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/06/mixing-history-and-drama-to-create.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-1794202401843142400Thu, 18 May 2017 17:13:00 +00002017-05-18T13:13:59.192-04:00 The talented women of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company performed, directed, and produced scenes from Shakespeare on Monday for the second annual Lady Shakes, an event created by Artistic Associate and Special Events Coordinator Dani Herd.&nbsp; Think of great Shakespeare roles and you will likely think of male roles like Hamlet, King Lear, Richard III, and Romeo.&nbsp; Casting women to playhttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/05/lady-shakes-celebrating-women-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-8437021688292231324Thu, 04 May 2017 16:41:00 +00002017-05-04T12:41:07.305-04:00 Antipholus (Andrew Houchins) Shakespeare wrote The Comedy of Errors, his earliest comedy and shortest play in 1594, and he showed great skill in incorporating elements from other literary sources while making creative changes that made his play more compelling and entertaining. &nbsp; For this play, which was first performed as the final entertainment for an evening of merriment for a http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/05/shakespeare-made-no-error-in-adapting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7249037795837082107Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:40:00 +00002017-01-11T14:40:23.171-05:00 Luara Cole returns to the stage to reprise her role in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. &nbsp;Along with being the Education Director at the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, she is an actor around Atlanta and Off- Broadway! &nbsp;Check out this quick interview as she talks about being a part of this year's production. 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What is your name and who do you play inhttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-sneaky-interview-with-laura-cole-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-1967652741284424207Wed, 11 Jan 2017 18:41:00 +00002017-01-11T13:41:51.214-05:00 We at the Atlanta Shakespeare Company are proud to have Chris Kayser with us in the title role in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. &nbsp;His previous Tavern credits include As You Like It, Coriolanus, Murder in the Cathedral and Salome. &nbsp;Chris spent 25 years as a Resident Artist at Georgia Shakespeare. &nbsp;He has also been seen for many years as Scrooge at the Alliance Theatre in Ahttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2017/01/an-interview-with-chris-kayser-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-3684300457072815118Mon, 19 Dec 2016 19:46:00 +00002016-12-19T14:46:18.507-05:00 This December, our theatre has been filled with the sounds of Christmas music as our actors perform ASC’s version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.&nbsp; Our production illustrates the Cratchit family having Christmas dinner, and you might wonder, as you sit in the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, how people in Shakespeare’s day celebrated Christmas.&nbsp; French scholar Francois Laroque wrotehttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/12/celebrating-christmas-in-shakespeares.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-3535304619034574896Mon, 28 Nov 2016 16:09:00 +00002016-11-28T11:09:33.313-05:00 In Henry VI, Part One, the Earl of Warwick responds to the scene in which nobles picked roses in the Temple Garden to represent their allegiance to the House of Lancaster or the House of York with this prescient prediction: “And here I prophesy: this brawl today,/Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden,/Shall send, between the red rose and the white,/A thousand souls to death and deadlyhttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/11/an-introduction-to-wars-of-roses-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7376643468622201315Fri, 18 Nov 2016 18:13:00 +00002016-11-18T13:13:45.726-05:00 The three plays that comprise Henry VI are classified as histories, but they were never intended to be precise accounts of historical events.&nbsp; These plays were not historically accurate biopics but large-scale entertainment meant to amuse, captivate, and inspire audiences with scenes of valor, cunning, passion, humor, and English patriotism.&nbsp; Shakespeare drew heavily on the historical http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/11/shakespeare-dramatist-not-historian-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-5833571515254857059Tue, 15 Nov 2016 15:54:00 +00002016-11-15T10:54:53.221-05:00 For the past several months, our theatre has been filled with the sound of words that are about 425 years old as our company worked to rehearse and perform all three parts of Henry VI.&nbsp; I have looked on with admiration as the director, Jeff Watkins, and the cast worked ever diligently, filling the building with the sounds of their efforts.&nbsp; York’s railings against the crown greetedhttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/11/come-see-henry-vi-by-samantha-smith.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-1291628245755418023Tue, 25 Oct 2016 16:13:00 +00002016-10-25T12:13:53.454-04:00 Like so many admonitions given to young writers, “write for your audience” held true long before the phrase gained popularity in freshman composition classrooms.&nbsp; Writers have always known that for a work to be moving, let alone commercially successful, the syntax, word choice, and subject of the piece should appeal to the particular audience for which it is intended.&nbsp; Shakespeare http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/10/how-shakespeare-wrote-for-royal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-2291298371361161035Fri, 30 Sep 2016 15:51:00 +00002016-09-30T11:51:43.416-04:00 I’ve spent the last several days muddling over what I want to say about Shakespeare’s Henry VI and the experience of playing him. There’s a lot to talk about. Although the play isn’t wall-to-wall earth-shaking verse like some of Shakespeare’s later works, it’s full to the gills with complex characters, nuanced political intrigue, and a haunting sense of national soul-searching. This story http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/09/thoughts-on-henry-vi-by-mary-ruth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7436701358619901657Thu, 04 Aug 2016 15:15:00 +00002016-08-04T11:15:01.038-04:00 At the Shakespeare Tavern, it’s trial by fire. I am a teaching intern this year for the Summer Intensive for Teens, or SIT. SIT lasts three weeks; in that time the group of teenagers that were chosen from auditions held in the spring prepare a full-length Shakespeare play and take master classes in theatrical skills like mask work and combat. This particular group of fifteen students http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/08/summer-intensive-for-teens-with-jojo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-865262204755288106Mon, 01 Aug 2016 16:35:00 +00002016-08-01T12:35:58.636-04:00 Hey there! My name is Payton Briggs Anderson and I’m the Shakespeare Intensive for Teens (SIT) Remix intern for the Summer of 2016 here at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. So what exactly is SIT Remix? After three weeks of rehearsals that culminate with multiple performances of a Shakespearean play, the participants of SIT launch into a fourth week devoted to devised theatre.&nbsp; http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/08/shakespeare-with-twist-payton-anderson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-790750334157945994Wed, 13 Jul 2016 20:40:00 +00002016-07-13T16:40:23.475-04:00 It is a little bit surreal to look back on the first half of my summer at the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. I spent June working with the Shakespeare Intensive for Teens program, and I feel like I have just stepped off of a rollercoaster. Sure, I’m winded but I also can’t stop smiling. This three-week program has been incredibly informative for me as an artist, as an intern, and as a person. http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/07/summer-interns-and-shakespeare.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7107734382772279138Thu, 30 Jun 2016 18:36:00 +00002016-06-30T14:37:55.985-04:00 Hi everyone!&nbsp; I’m Sidney, and this summer I am the Superheroes intern for the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. This first June session, I worked with Katie Wine and Kathryn Lawson as teaching artists at our Decatur location of Shakespeare Superheroes.&nbsp; We had nineteen phenomenal kids who in just two weeks learned the epic, intricate stories of both King Lear and The Taming of the http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/06/interning-with-atlanta-shakespeare.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7192335020442297045Fri, 13 May 2016 17:34:00 +00002016-05-13T13:34:27.199-04:00 The Atlanta Shakespeare Company has been selected as one of the 21 venues for the Cultural Experience Project offered by the Office of Cultural Affairs.&nbsp; This project will serve the Atlanta Public School students in the 2016-2017 school year. The Cultural Experience Project was launched during the 2005-2006 school year to give every Atlanta Public School (APS) student the opportunity to http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/05/atlanta-shakespeare-company-selected-as.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-1771796356000325245Thu, 14 Apr 2016 20:40:00 +00002016-04-14T16:40:00.019-04:00We had to take a moment and talk to the ladies of the show. &nbsp;By the way, there are seven women performing in this production! &nbsp;Check out this interview with Amee Vyas and Katherine Lawson! Who are you and what are your characters? AV:&nbsp;Amee Vyas and I play the Jailer’s Daughter. It’s really listed as Daughter in the dramatis personae and in the script. It’s in thehttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-two-noble-women-of-two-noble-kinsmen.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-2464331494661515468Wed, 13 Apr 2016 18:54:00 +00002016-04-13T14:54:38.067-04:00We took some time with Matt Nitchie and Daniel Parvis to get the scoop on this year's production of The Two Noble Kinsmen. &nbsp;Check it out! Who are you and who are you playing? MN:&nbsp;My name's Matt Nitchie.&nbsp; I play Arcite DP:&nbsp;Hey, my name is Daniel Parvis and I play Palamon, a noble kinsman! How long have you performed at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse? MN:I've been with thehttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-two-noble-kinsmen-and-two-noble.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-7908495456235994114Tue, 23 Feb 2016 16:03:00 +00002016-02-23T11:03:28.052-05:00 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Have you seen Romeo and Juliet yet?&nbsp; If not, be sure to come to the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse before the play closes next weekend.&nbsp; And if you are sad that our Romeo and Juliet is coming to an end, perhaps you should take Benvolio’s advice to a doleful Romeo and “examine http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/02/finding-romeo-and-juliet-beyond.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-881565806898648405Wed, 10 Feb 2016 22:20:00 +00002016-02-10T17:20:56.967-05:00 <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--> What is your name and character? Stephen Ruffin and I am playing Romeo Montague&nbsp; &nbsp;Where did you go to college? The University of Florida....GO GATORS!! <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--> &nbsp;How long have you been acting at the Tavern?&nbsp; Since August 2014 when I was in the Apprentice Company alonghttp://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-quick-chat-with-romeo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905568624190913226.post-4464387950127944168Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +00002016-02-03T12:00:21.827-05:00 What is your name and character? &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;My name is Hayley Platt and I am playing Juliet (and Gregory too, so I get to have a swashing blow!). Where did you go to college? &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I went to the University of Georgia and received a B.A. in Theatre Performance and Classical Culture. How long have you been acting with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company? &http://shakespearetavern.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-quaint-interview-with-young-juliet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0