Skip to main content

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.

Follow the Folger on Instagram.

Upcoming Episodes

Previous

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
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Renea S. Brown, actor, writer, educator, and assistant director of The Tempest
Monday, December 5, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Jeffrey R. Wilson, teacher-scholar at Harvard University
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Alexander D’Agostino, artist and Folger Artistic Research Fellow
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Barbara Bogaev, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Nubia M. Monks, actor, Titania in Folger Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Monday, July 25, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Alexandra Beller, choreographer
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Missy Dunaway, artist and Folger Artistic Research Fellow
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Shirine Babb, actor
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Karen Ann Daniels, Folger Director of Programming and Folger Theatre Artistic Director
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Craig Wallace, actor
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Mariah Anzaldo Hale, costume designer and playwright
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Austin Tichenor, Reduced Shakespeare Company Co-Artistic Director and founder of The Shakespeareance
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Mona Awad, author of All’s Well
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Marti Lyons, director
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Madeline Sayet, theater-maker and creator of Where We Belong
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Sean McNall, Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Rebecca J. Ennals, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

L. Peter Callender, Artistic Director of the African-American Shakespeare Company
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Teri Ellen Cross Davis, poet and Folger Poetry Coordinator
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Michael Witmore, Folger Shakespeare Library Director
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

David Sterling Brown, Assistant Professor of English at Binghamton University
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Rosa Joshi, director, producer, and educator
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

John Tufts, actor and author of Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare’s Table
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Higher Education & Research at Shakespeare’s Globe
Friday, November 13, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

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
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Peggy O’Brien, Folger Director of Education
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Nataki Garrett, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram

Barry Edelstein, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director of The Old Globe
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Carl Cofield, Associate Artistic Director of The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

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
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Ian Doescher, author of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars series
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Ambereen Dadabhoy, Assistant Professor of Literature at Harvey Mudd College
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Sam White, Founding Artistic and Executive Director of Shakespeare in Detroit
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Watch a recording of this episode on the Folger’s Instagram.

Shakespeare Lightning Round: Tom Ridgely

Shakespeare Lightning Round: Tom Ridgely

Tom Ridgely, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival Producing Artistic Director, answers 30 lightning-fast questions about the Bard.
Wednesday, July 26, 2023