As You Mic It

As You Mic It: In the Spotlight welcomes two longtime Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival friends, Karen Peakes and Ian Merrill Peakes, for a conversation about theatre, family, and a Festival they have helped shape for decades. Jason King Jones sits down with Karen and Ian to discuss performing together in this season's rotating repertory productions of Romeo and Juliet and Moriarty , the unique ex...

As You Mic It: In the Spotlight celebrates Community Day at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival with a special episode highlighting the people, stories, and traditions that have shaped PSF for 35 seasons. Artistic Director Jason King Jones sits down with longtime festival, Suzanne O'Donnell, to reflect on her history with PSF, raising a family alongside the company, and watching the Festival grow in...

As You Mic It: In the Spotlight turns its attention to Romeo and Juliet , Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of young love, family conflict, and lives changed in an instant. In this episode, Artistic Director Jason King Jones sits down with Maya Jean and Austin Nedrow, the actors portraying Juliet and Romeo in this summer’s production. Their conversation explores the experience of stepping into two of...

As You Mic It: In the Spotlight heads into the witty, whirlwind world of The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged , a fast-paced celebration of one of literature’s most beloved authors. In this episode, we sit down with actors Madeleine Garcia and David Pica to talk about bringing Austen's characters, themes, and enduring appeal to life in a production that is equal parts tribute, comedy, and t...

As You Mic It: In the Spotlight turns its attention to Million Dollar Quartet, the electrifying musical inspired by the legendary night when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered at Sun Records and made music history. In this episode, Artistic Director Jason King Jones sits down with Jeremy Sevelovitz (Carl Perkins) and John Gardiner (Sam Phillips) to explore the p...

The 2026 PA Shakespeare Festival's Summer Theatre Series means weekly drops As You Mic It: In the Spotlight! PSF welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and director James Ijames and actor Akeem Davis for a conversation about August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson , the production opening the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 season. Host Connie Behringer explores the power of Wilson’s work, t...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we step into Shakespeare’s Coriolanus , a gripping portrait of power, pride, and political conflict. Presented as part of PSF’s Extreme Shakespeare series, this production embraces original practices: no director, no designers, and an ensemble of actors working...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we unravel the mystery of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure , a fast-moving theatrical whodunit filled with danger, disguises, and razor-sharp wit. Directed by Matt Pfeiffer and performed in repertory with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , t...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we enter the world of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , the timeless story of young love caught between loyalty, violence, and fate. Directed by Jason King Jones and performed in repertory with Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure , this produc...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we introduce The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged , a fast-paced comedy that affectionately celebrates Austen’s beloved novels with wit, chaos, and a healthy dose of theatrical mischief. Directed by Jessica Bedford, this clever adaptation races through A...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we step into the electrifying world of Million Dollar Quartet , the hit musical inspired by the legendary night when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins came together at Sun Records. Packed with iconic rock ’n’ roll hits and fueled by...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we journey into Shakespeare’s As You Like It , a joyful comedy of reinvention, romance, and self-discovery. Co-directed by Jason King Jones and Kim Carson, this fresh take on Shakespeare’s beloved comedy follows a group of exiles into the Forest of Arden, where...

Get ready for Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Legends and Legacy Season with As You Mic It: The Prologues . In this mini-episode, we introduce August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson , directed by James Ijames. It's a powerful story of family, memory, and the legacies we inherit. Set against the backdrop of 1930s Pittsburgh, the play centers on a brother and sister divided over an heirloom piano...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about comedy, craft, and a life spent reimagining Shakespeare for contemporary audiences. In this one-act episode, Jason King Jones sits down with Austin Tichenor , co-artistic director of Reduced Shakespeare Company. Their conversation traces Austin’s career as a writer, actor, and adapter, exploring how come...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about exile, belonging, and why stories of banishment continue to resonate across time. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable exploring characters who find themselves cast out, displaced, or searching for a place to belong. From Coriolanus to As You Li...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about legacy, mentorship, and how theatre traditions continue through the artists and audiences who encounter them. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable exploring how legacy moves from one generation to the next, both through the stories we produce an...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a special one-act conversation focused on leadership, stewardship, and the responsibility of carrying performance traditions forward. In this episode, Artistic Director Jason King Jones sits down with Vanessa Morosco , Executive Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center, for a conversation about what it means to l...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about community, legacy, and the ways theatre brings people together. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer begin with a roundtable exploring how the 2026 season reflects different visions of community. From the spontaneous gathering of musicians in Million Dollar Quartet to...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about language, time, and how stories from the past find meaning in the present. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones and Connie Behringer begin with a roundtable on how the 2026 season lives in two moments at once. From Shakespeare to Million Dollar Quartet to The Piano Lesson , they examine how inherited...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a compelling conversation about what love demands when it challenges tradition, authority, and expectation. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable exploring love as both obligation and choice across the 2026 season. Drawing connections between Romeo and Juliet , Coriolanus , and M...

As You Mic It heads north for a special two-act episode recorded at the annual conference of the Shakespeare Theatre Association in St. John's. Act One opens with a roundtable conversation as hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer reflect on why PSF participates in the STA conference, what conversations are shaping the field, and what ideas they’re bringing back to the Festival....

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation spotlighting the women of the season and the artists shaping PSF’s work on stage and behind the scenes. Hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable conversation on the women of the season, considering how these characters drive story and perspective across the Festival’s lin...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues the conversation on As You Mic It through the stories we tell and the service that upholds them. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a fast-moving roundtable that introduces the 2026 season. They share quick synopses, first impressions, and what they are most eager for audiences to experience this summer. Later, JKJ...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation centered on this year’s theme, Legends and Legacy. In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable on what defines a “legend” and how legacy takes shape within an artistic community. Later in the episode, we turn to the next generation of theatre-makers through...

PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation that explores Shakespeare as "America's Playwright." In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones , Kim Carson , and Connie Behringer reflect on the role of theatre in the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary and how Shakespeare’s work continues to shape our understanding of democracy, identity, and community. Later...