Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.

In this mini episode, we’re joined by Mike and Steph Crugnola of Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project to talk about their mission to make Shakespeare more accessible—for both audiences and artists.

We dive into the company’s flexible and innovative production models—including one rehearsal performances, collaborative directing, site-specific stagings, and immersive experiences—and how these approaches open up new ways of engaging with Shakespeare’s work. Steph and Mike also share how they intentionally build accessibility into every level of their process, from casting and rehearsals to performance format and audience experience.

Whether you're a theatremaker looking for inspiration or a Shakespeare fan curious about inclusive practices in classical performance, this conversation offers a thoughtful look at what it means to make Shakespeare’s work truly for everyone.

To learn more about Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project, visit www.walkingshadowshakespeare.com or follow them on Instagram @wsshakes.

More about Mike and Steph Crugnola

Mike and Steph Crugnola are on the board of Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project, a nonprofit theatre company based in Austin TX, committed to breaking down the barriers of accessibility to Shakespeare for artists and audiences alike. They're focused on creating Shakespeare for the Austin community that more accurately reflects the Austin community, so actors of all races, abilities, genders, ages, and sexual orientations can see themselves in Shakespeare's work.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org).

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.

Did Shakespeare write The Tempest in response to a shipwreck, or was something bigger at play? In this episode, we explore the early modern travel narratives that many scholars believe inspired Shakespeare’s final solo play.

We begin with lesser-known travel accounts that focus on cultural encounters in Russia, Southwest Asia, Central America, and India—narratives that shaped how early modern England imagined the world beyond Europe. Then we turn to one of the most famous stories of the time: the 1609 Sea Venture shipwreck on the coast of Bermuda, often cited as a direct influence on The Tempest.

Along the way, we examine how these texts reflect English perceptions of unfamiliar peoples and cultures—from fascination and admiration to fear and misunderstanding—and how those attitudes echo throughout the world of The Tempest.

If you’d like to explore more about Shakespeare’s engagement with proto-colonialism and early travel writing, check out these past episodes from our archive:

• Mini: Shakespeare and the Colonial Imagination

• Mini: Shakespeare's World: Immigrants, Others, and Foreign Commodities

Whether you're encountering The Tempest for the first time or revisiting it with a global lens, this episode offers rich context on how Shakespeare’s world was shaped by the stories of travelers, survivors, and empire-builders.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org).

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Works referenced:

Judkins, David C. “Travel Literature of the Early Modern Period.” CEA Critic, vol. 64, no. 1, 2001, pp. 47–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44378330. Accessed 3 July 2025.

Vaughan, Alden T. "William Strachey's "True Reportory" and Shakespeare: A Closer Look at the Evidence." Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 59 no. 3, 2008, p. 245-273. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/shq.0.0017.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.

To kick off our series on Shakespeare's The Tempest, we are (as always) starting with an overview of basic facts and history about the play and an introduction to the major themes and motifs of the play.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org).

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Works referenced:

Shakespeare, William, et al. The Tempest. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.

SparkNotes Editors. “The Tempest” SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005, https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/