Asides

Dr. Sara B.T. Thiel explores how the musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s EMMA makes us love the story’s heroine—despite ourselves. Today you’ll hear clips from the musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, written by Paul Gordon and directed by CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines in 2020. Sara Thiel is the Public Humanities Manager at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and a scholar of Shakespeare in performance. Her book, PERFORMING PREGNANCY ON THE EARLY MODERN ENGLISH STAGE, 1603-1642, is under contract with Routledge’s Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama series. She holds a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. To see photos and video from EMMA, or to learn more about the cast, crew, and creative team visit www.chicagoshakes.com/emma. Have a question about something you heard in this episode? Want to tell us about your favorite moments at CST? Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312-667-5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Forrest Williams, and additional support from Joe Disbrow and Krissi McEachern. Special thanks to Erin Hunter for her help transcribing this episode. You can find our episode transcriptions at www.chicagoshakes.com/asides. As you enjoy this episode, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.

Dr. Regina Buccola takes a closer look at the true stories of Henry VIII’s six wives, the subjects of the pop-musical sensation SIX by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. In this final episode of ASIDES season one, you’ll hear clips from the North American premiere of SIX at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2019. This talk was recorded on May 21, 2019 as the Theater’s annual Scholar Luncheon. Gina Buccola is Chicago Shakespeare’s Scholar-in-Residence and Professor of English and Chair of Humanities at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she specializes in Shakespeare, non-Shakespearean early modern drama, and Women's and Gender Studies. She is a published poet and a scholar who has written several works on early modern English drama and culture, most recently Haunting History on Stage: Shakespeare in the USA and Canada. To see photos and video from CST’s production of SIX, or to learn more about the cast, crew, and creative team visit www.chicagoshakes.com/six. Have a question about something you heard in this episode? Want to tell us about your favorite moments at CST? Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312-667-5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Joe Disbrow and additional support from Krissi McEachern. You can find our episode transcriptions at www.chicagoshakes.com/asides. As you enjoy this episode, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.

Katie Blankenau illuminates important sound cues in MACBETH to reveal how they reflect characters’ own struggles with good and evil. Katie dives into CST’s 2018 MACBETH, directed by Aaron Posner and Teller (of Penn & Teller). Throughout this episode of ASIDES, you’ll also hear the Musical Instruments of Darkness designed and constructed by Kenny Wollesen, performed live onstage by Ronnie Malley. Pre•Amble scholar Katie Blankenau is a PhD candidate in English literature at Northwestern University specializing in early modern drama and poetry. Her research explores how early modern English writers used the language of hospitality to characterize newly commercial, but nevertheless hospitable, relations with their audiences. She holds a Masters in English from Southern Methodist University. To learn more about the cast, crew, and creative team behind MACBETH, or see photos and video from the production visit: www.chicagoshakes.com/macbeth. Have a question about something you heard in this episode? Want to tell us about your favorite moments at CST? Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312.667.5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Forrest Williams, and additional support from Joe Disbrow and Krissi McEachern. Special thanks to Erin Hunter for her help transcribing this episode. You can find our episode transcriptions at www.chicagoshakes.com/asides. As you enjoy this episode, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.

Dr. Stephen Bennett examines the complex relationships in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM—and tells us what the prairie vole has in common with Shakespeare's comedy. Today we’ll hear Steve introduce Joe Dowling’s DREAM, performed at CST during our 2018-2019 season. Steve Bennett earned his PhD at New York University. After a nearly 20-year career teaching literature and writing at the college level, he is now a special education teacher at Pickard Elementary, a Chicago Public School in the Pilsen neighborhood. He’s also taught at Roosevelt University in Chicago, New York University, and the University of Utah. To learn more about the cast, crew, and creative team behind A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM—or to see videos and photos of this production—visit https://www.chicagoshakes.com/midsummer. Have a question about something you heard in this episode? Want to tell us about your favorite moments at CST? Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312-667-5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Aaron Roberts, and additional support from Joe Disbrow and Krissi McEachern. You can find our episode transcriptions at www.chicagoshakes.com/asides. As you enjoy this episode, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.

Dr. Elizabeth Charlebois explores the "convergence of firsts" in Shakespeare's HENRY V and she'll dive deep into how Harry performs his role as King. You'll hear Beth introduce CST’s production of HENRY V, directed by Christopher Luscombe in 2014. Beth Charlebois is an Associate Professor of English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she specializes in English Renaissance drama and Shakespeare in performance pedagogy. If you want to see photos and video from this production of HENRY V, or learn more about the cast and creative team, check out https://www.chicagoshakes.com/henryv. Have a question about something you heard in this episode? Want to tell us about your favorite moments at CST? Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312-667-5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Forrest Williams and additional support from Krissi McEachern. Special thanks to Paige Whitson-Martini for her help transcribing this episode. You can find our episode transcriptions at www.chicagoshakes.com/asides. As you enjoy this episode, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s "asides"—moments when characters speak directly to the audience and pull them into the story—this podcast shares the world of theater making from our home on Chicago’s Navy Pier. ASIDES shares valuable insights from our team of scholars, conversations with artists, and questions from our listeners to dive deeper into work happening at Chicago Shakespeare. Send us your questions, comments, and favorite memories from CST. Email us at asides@chicagoshakes.com or call us at 312-667-5631 and we’ll respond in a future episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all of the latest updates from ASIDES. This episode was produced by Sara B.T. Thiel, Margaret McCall, Forrest Williams, and Aaron Roberts, with editing by Forrest Williams. As you enjoy this podcast, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to support other programs like this through our Brave New World Campaign. Together, we can serve artists, audiences, students, and our community in this time of great need. Please visit www.chicagoshakes.com/BraveNewWorld.