Mark Larson discusses his wonderful new book Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater, a magnificent (and massive!) collection of first-person narratives from such theatre legends as Alan Arkin, Brian Dennehy, Andre DeShields, Laurie Metcalf,

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on and sadly, we're not there! So we've dug into the archives to find some of our favorite Edinburgh moments. Thrill to tales of discovery; amazing performing experiences; reconnecting with old friends and meeting new o...

Elizabeth Schrader, a doctoral student at Duke University, is doing some pioneering work clarifying the narrative handed down to us about Mary Magdalene and her role in the story of Jesus. Libbie discusses her discoveries and how they may lead to some ...

Our friend Michael Roth has composed the music for, and produced the film of, The Web Opera, a form-shattering short film dealing with the unintended consequences of people living life online. Michael talks about his amazing collaborators (librettist K...

Peter Marks, theatre critic of the Washington Post and co-host of American Theatre magazine's Three on the Aisle Podcast, famously loathes the song "Shipoopi" in Meredith Willson's The Music Man and this week we try to convince him just how wrong he is...

Charlie Christmas’s new album, Weird Old Man, is your perfect summertime jam! A veteran of many bands over the years (from Urge Overkill to The Mobile Homeboys), “Charlie Christmas” is the nom du rock of music journalist Chuck Chrisafulli, who,

To paraphrase Ken Burns, the story of Vaudeville is the story of America. And as we head into the 4th of July holiday weekend, it's the perfect time to talk with performer and author Trav S.D. about his fun and highly readable book No Applause,

Chicago is lousy with Hamlets this spring/summer of 2019! Friend of the pod Samuel Taylor was involved with two of them - at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and with the Back Room Shakespeare Project, the latter of which Sam co-founded - and he discusses h...

Mya Gosling is the creator and artist behind GoodTickleBrain, the world’s greatest (and possibly only) three-panel stick-figure Shakespeare web comic. The issue of writers block is something we all deal with,

Louis Bayard is the author of such novels as Mr. Timothy, Roosevelt’s Beast, and The Pale Blue Eye, the former recapper of Downton Abbey for the New York Times, and the author of the New York Times obituary for William Shakespeare which appeared on the...