The Shakespearean Shrew

Do you ever get distracted? You sit down to write the next great novel, and suddenly, you have spent hours on social media and written three words on a page–three half-assed words. So what do you do? How do you get back on track? Enter Steven Puri, CEO of The Sukha Company , a company that works to keep you focused with reminders, tips, and tunes to get you into the illusive flow state. Don’t know...

What are you scared of? More importantly, why? In this episode actor Paxton Kliewer and I will discuss monsters and the societies (and their prejudices and fears) that gave birth to them. We will discuss the disconnect that seems to exist between our ability to look at fictional monsters and ourselves. We will discuss a society that fears the sexuality of the “other” and how that was made manifest...

Have you ever wondered how a production goes from concept to performance? Join me as I speak to actor, writer, professor, and director David Weber about the difficulties of choosing a show, casting a show, funding a show, and directing a show. There is so much we, the audience, don’t see and we’ll get a peak behind the curtain! We’ll also discuss the encompassing nature of theater and the importan...

Did Shakespeare actually write a couple that isn’t a dumpster fire? Miriam Worley and Dalten Hall are very convincing in their depiction of opposites-attract lovers Miranda and Ferdinand in OSP’s upcoming production of The Tempest. We dig into how to build chemistry on the stage and how, sometimes, bonding is as easy as complimenting a water bottle. Join us as we get amazing insights into these ch...

Romance is having a moment – and OSP is joining the ranks. Join the Brew Shrew, Michelle Coffman, as she returns to OSP to talk with Erin, Charli, and Jimmy about a brand new production How To Write A Regency Romance . They will be talking about what it means for the cast and audience  to “choose your own journey” and how this play will tell a story of a story. The actors talk about how this play...

What do you do when your superpower is writing sadness? Lean in! I had the delightful opportunity to talk with Chicagoan Mark Benson after reading his debut YA novel Isaac and the Sky . This novel is an exploration of the stars and grief, bridging together two worlds with the  telescope of Isaac’s murdered mother. It’s a novel full of authentic and imperfect characters that will keep you wondering...

Today I am joined by two amazing women: Margaret Upchurch and Naomi Love as they prepare for their upcoming performance of Aphra Behn’s The Rover . What’s it like to be the first professional female playwright? To have to make up a husband in order to have some kind of social standing? To kill off said fictional husband in the plague? Meet Aphra Behn. There are many mights and maybes surrounding t...

Spoiler Alert! This week we are once more talking to fabulous director and professor Lance Marsh as he takes on a performed reading of Aphra Behn’s The Rover with a limited showing April 10th-12th. We will talk about what the reading will entail,  the maybes and possibilities of Aphra Behn, her position as the first professional female playwright, and the women she wrote in The Rover , and the sim...

Do you ever wonder what it takes to be an author? Do you want to find out? Join me this week as I talk with author Luke Swanson about a few of his books and what it has taken to get his work from the idea to the published page. We’ll talk about how social media and AI impact writers and the hidden  cost of writing. We also get to discuss metatextuality, so be prepared to throw that term at some un...

**Clarification: these ladies are not cousins and nor do they kiss. Today we get to talk to Amanda Kohutek and Ella Martin about their experiences as best friends being double cast as Gwedolen in The Importance of Being Earnest , their concerns with the current obstacles confronting the arts, and their way of overcoming those obstacles. And what happens when you end up kissing your cousin?! We’ll...

Let’s get Wilde – Oscar Wilde! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) This episode allows me the opportunity to talk to amazing director, actor, and human Lance Marsh as we delve into directing not one cast but TWO in the co-production of The Importance of Being Earnest. We discuss the difference between directing and acting in a production, why Marsh is directing The Importance of Being Earnest once ag...

Welcome back! Season three is under way and we are starting out with a bang with British author Kestral Gaian, novelist, playwright, poet and professional over thinker. Join us as we discuss Gaian’s new book The Boy From Elsewhere and their poetry from their collection, Tubelines , along with genre, the politics of language, time (and how the construct almost changed completely), and authentic LGB...

Why bother saying something if it’s impossible to understand? Join me as I talk to Mitch Laman, poet and academic, as he explains mediums, language, and genre and why we should push boundaries in the disciplines we work in and perhaps even the spaces in society that we inhabit. Find out how the conditions and creation of our language impacts our everyday lives. So let’s take a look at the edge of...

Join writer and director Erin Woods and improv and music director Amanda Lee along with Brew Shrew Michelle Coffman as we talk coffee, ice cream, improv, and holiday traditions. This conversation is quite the romp so come frolic through the conversations with us and join us at OSP from the Jane Austen Christmas Cracker from December 4th through the 21st. There is also a Brunch with Jane Austen and...

Join David Weber, friend, clown, professor, director, and amazing human, and the Shrew as we talk about not only the stages of a play but the stages of recovery in terms of sobriety and surgery. What does it take to heal? What does it take to push past our own boundaries? Can we even push the boundaries when we are in debt to our jobs, to the economy, and socially indebted? What happens to our com...

Are you an author? Do you want to be? Listen up for tips and how to find a writer community as we talk with Charles Martin about his new book and the foundation and future of Literati Press.  With a dismal education ranking, Oklahoma can feel like a literary desert but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Oklahoma City has become a bookstore oasis for book lovers with many independent bookstor...

Keeping it all in the family, yeah, always a creepy aspect of royal families, but how does a fraternal relationship off stage impact a familial relationship on stage? Is the competition real, an act, or something in between? How do actors find camaraderie and community in spite of, or perhaps because of, the fierce competition for roles? Find out in this episode as we sit down to talk with fan (an...

Two husband and wife duos in a row! This episode we talk to actor Tiffany Tuggle and Wil Rogers, actor and writer of MacDeath. (Yes, those are their real names - I asked.) We talk about balancing family and acting, relationships on and off the stage, superstition on the stage. Warning: Do not say Macbeth in front of Wil in the theatre or you’ll be spinning outside the theatre, spitting, cursing, a...

Is acting like riding a bike? Like doing yoga after not stretching for a few years? In this episode, I get the opportunity to talk with Alissa Branch and Tim Grimm, two amazing actors, artists, and humans who haven’t tread the boards in a few years and see what their comeback really feels like as they prepare for The Lion in Winter opening October 9th at OSP. We also discuss collaborative efforts...

In a political war rife with ugly rhetoric, Alix Golden brings a “new” weapon to the table: song. In this episode, we are talking to actor and writer of the new show Belters –where the broads of Broadway take on Fascism. Join us as we talk about the importance of theater, music, immigrants, religion, and divorce. Listen to how Alix wrote this production from the inside out - being part of the prod...

When we think “women gone wild,” we tend to think of wet t-shirt contests. That is not these women. These women (and one man, sorry, Caylor Peterson - they love you and spoke of your glory) have gone off the beaten track (this play is being performed in Yellow Dog Coffee Company), co-produced by three individuals, directed as a company, and are performing a play that pushes the boundaries of actor...

S2 Ep 19: You had questions; we have answers! Cast Q&A: Love’s Labour’s Lost  Hello all! You came up with some amazing questions so, in the shortest introduction ever, here are the cast and director’s answers! Thank you all for your questions - on to the roll call!   Erin Woods : PLAY DIRECTOR AND MARKETING Ben Kahre : BEROWNE Olivia Akers : KATHERINE / ASST. DIRECTOR / PROPS DESIGN Teegin Hac...

When everyone else has gone mad, the fool alone is left with reason. Welcome to a look at Costard in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Denton Meehan, the actor who is taking him on in OSP’s upcoming production. (It opens tomorrow, August 7th, get your tickets - go, go, go!)  In this episode, Denton and I discuss the history of the fool, the balance fools bring to the world (and why we cannot afford to get...

In this episode we will be talking to Alleese Eldridge and Paxton Kliewer about the challenges and rewards of teaching OSP’s summer camp, what theater does for us as actors and audience, the importance of play, and how yo-yos are the ultimate Brooklyn ice-breaker. Hear about their final productions in OKC (for now) before this dynamic duo heads off to NYC to pursue greatness (even though we would...

What role does music play on the stage? Can music make theater more accessible? Can it change the roles of players? Find out the answers to these questions and more as we talk to Ella Howard and Lily Marsh who are both performing in OSP’s upcoming production of Love’s Labour’s Lost . We discuss the different music that director Erin Woods has brought into the production and listen all the way to t...