Shakespeare Lightning Round

Hot Shakespeare Takes, Live on Instagram

What’s your favorite Shakespeare play? Best disguise in Shakespeare? Most overrated Shakespeare play? Tune in on Instagram for a fun, fast-paced, Shakespearean chat show. We ask our guests 30 lightning-fast questions about their favorite—and least favorite—things about the Bard.

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Tom Ridgely, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Watch a recording of this episode on our website or the Folger’s Instagram.

Brian B. Crowe, Education Director and incoming Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Festival of New Jersey
Monday, June 12, 2023
Watch a recording of this episode on our website or the Folger’s Instagram.

Brittany N. Williams, author of That Self-Same Metal
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Watch a recording of this episode on our website or the Folger’s Instagram.

Malik Work, Writer, Actor, Musician, and co-author of Our Verse in Time To Come
Monday, April 3, 2023
Watch a recording of this episode on our website or the Folger’s Instagram.

Ian Gallanar, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company Founding Artistic Director
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
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Renea S. Brown, actor, writer, educator, and assistant director of The Tempest
Monday, December 5, 2022
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Jeffrey R. Wilson, teacher-scholar at Harvard University
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
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Alexander D’Agostino, artist and Folger Artistic Research Fellow
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
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Barbara Bogaev, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
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Nubia M. Monks, actor, Titania in Folger Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Monday, July 25, 2022
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Alexandra Beller, choreographer
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
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Missy Dunaway, artist and Folger Artistic Research Fellow
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
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Shirine Babb, actor
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
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Karen Ann Daniels, Folger Director of Programming and Folger Theatre Artistic Director
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
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Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
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Craig Wallace, actor
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
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Mariah Anzaldo Hale, costume designer and playwright
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
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Austin Tichenor, Reduced Shakespeare Company Co-Artistic Director and founder of The Shakespeareance
Thursday, October 21, 2021
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Mona Awad, author of All’s Well
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
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Marti Lyons, director
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
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Madeline Sayet, theater-maker and creator of Where We Belong
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
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Sean McNall, Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
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Rebecca J. Ennals, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
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Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
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L. Peter Callender, Artistic Director of the African-American Shakespeare Company
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
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Teri Ellen Cross Davis, poet and Folger Poetry Coordinator
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
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Michael Witmore, Folger Shakespeare Library Director
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
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David Sterling Brown, Assistant Professor of English at Binghamton University
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
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Rosa Joshi, director, producer, and educator
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
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John Tufts, actor and author of Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare’s Table
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
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Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Higher Education & Research at Shakespeare’s Globe
Friday, November 13, 2020
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Ken Ludwig, playwright and author of How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare
Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Debra Ann Byrd, actor and writer
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
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Peggy O’Brien, Folger Director of Education
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
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Nataki Garrett, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
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Barry Edelstein, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director of The Old Globe
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
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Carl Cofield, Associate Artistic Director of The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
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Keith Hamilton Cobb, actor and writer of American Moor
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Watch a conversation between Cobb and Folger Director Michael Witmore on the Folger’s YouTube.

Tana Wojczuk, Guernica senior nonfiction editor and author of Lady Romeo: The Radical, Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America’s First Celebrity
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
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Ian Doescher, author of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars series
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
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Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
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Ambereen Dadabhoy, Assistant Professor of Literature at Harvey Mudd College
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
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Sam White, Founding Artistic and Executive Director of Shakespeare in Detroit
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
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