The Folger Spotlight

Danny Scheie as Grumio. © Jeff Malet The Taming of the Shrew was my first Shakespeare as an actor. I played Gremio during my junior year in high school in Libertyville, Illinois. My brother Tim played the tailor. I’m pretty…

Danny Scheie from The Taming of the Shrew here. Remember back in my first blog, when I talked about the Folger being a mythic realm in Shakespeare’s cosmos, or something like that? Well, somewhere twixt the little nerd and the old…

Thomas Keegan here, Lucentio in Folger Theatre’s current production of The Taming of the Shrew. Lights, sound, costumes, and… an AUDIENCE?!?! Yes, that’s right. We just finished our preview week for The Taming of the Shrew! There were many tasks…

Danny Scheie here, Grumio in Folger Theatre’s upcoming production of The Taming of the Shrew. As I write this, I am backstage at the Folger during our first dress rehearsal. It is exquisite to see the costumes on the actors on…

Recently, we are rehearsing in the basement of a Protestant church. Church basements are positively Proustian for me. I have spent a lot of time in them, and have theorized about them, not so much in relation to Shakespeare, but…

I know what happiness brings It brings a brand new view I know what happens to me When I meet someone like you —”Someone Like You” by Cliff Eberhardt We are halfway through the rehearsal process for Folger Theatre’s The…

I met director Aaron Posner in a Las Vegas casino. I honked out bits of Bottom and pieces of Puck alone on a 3000 seat Vegas showroom stage to Aaron Posner and Aaron Posner alone. We had both been working on…

Faith, sirrah, an you’ll knock, I’ll ring it. / I’ll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it! -Grumio We’re in the midst of week two of rehearsal and things are going well. We’ve blocked nearly the entire play,…

I’m Danny Scheie, and I play Grumio in Folger Theatre’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. As a tiny Shakespeare nerd in the wilds of the Prairie State, I repeatedly encountered mention of the faraway Folger Shakespeare…

Was ever match clapped up so suddenly? –Gremio And, just like that, the first week of rehearsals for Folger Theatre’s 2012 production of The Taming of the Shrew is in the books. And what a fast, furious, and productive week…

Here let us breathe and haply institute / A course of learning and ingenious studies. Hello and welcome, one and all, to the Folger Theatre Production Diary. I’m Thomas Keegan, and I play Lucentio in Folger Theatre’s upcoming production of…

The Taming of the Shrew is a great story. And while it is funny, surprising, playful, and political, too, a great deal of it swirls around issues of gender roles, identity, money, and power. Last year, while I was thinking…