This is a Classic: The Expand the Canon Theatre Podcast

If you thought LGBTQ+ culture was invented in the 1960s, think again… Witty, tragic, and vibrant, The Drag is an exquisite portrait of the existing LGBTQ+ community of the 1920s. Mae West crafts an eloquent history lesson mixed with joyful celebration. The Drag shows the perils of “conversion therapy” and the criminalization of homosexuality, while simultaneously presenting in delightful clarity t...

If you’re looking to engage a white audience in Black Lives Matter conversations… consider this heartbreaking yet love-filled family portrait. This play was “the first attempt to use the stage for race propaganda in order to enlighten the [white] American people relative to the lamentable condition of the millions of Colored citizens in this free republic,” according to the program for the first p...

If you put The Seagull , A Doll’s House , and Mrs. Warren’s Profession in a blender… you get this thoughtful dramedy about a woman’s true value. Our charming protagonist, Olga, is a successful painter, a wit, and, it turns out, a victim of sexual assault. Revelations of her past subvert her romantic future and ultimately lead her to end up with a kind man who values her soul rather than her body....

If you’re thinking of producing The Taming of the Shrew … consider this play, featuring five bold women with strength and agency instead. While Olivia takes on various unattractive qualities to un-suit her various suitors (despite her frustrated father’s attempts to marry her off), Laura and Victoria are wooing each other – yet competing with each other – both in an effort to best Don Carlos. Bold...

If you’re looking for a restoration play that tackles the patriarchy (comedically, of course)… you’ve met your match. A star vehicle for a charismatic actor, this 1700's Moliere-esque comedy by Susanna Centlivre deftly ridicules hypocrisy, greed, hubris, and the absurdity of women’s position as property. Anne Lovely has not one but four bizarre male guardians who must give consent to her marri...

If you wish Twelfth Night ’s love triangle was a love octagon… meet this passionate and thrilling comedy. House of Desires is a 1600's romantic farce about two siblings involved in a variety of romantic entanglements. Originally written in Spanish, it is a wonderfully witty comedy of errors full of clear-sighted female protagonists, clever servants, and the folly of ambitious men. Emily and Sh...

Meet your hosts – Mary, Emily, Skye, and Shannon – as they take you through why Expand the Canon came to be, how they each ended up in this conversation, and what you can expect from future episodes!