Mini: Ecological Shakespeare with Katherine Steele Brokaw

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 anticipation of Earth Day and Shakespeare's birthday later this month, in this episode, we are joined by Katherine (Katie) Steele Brokaw to discuss how Shakespeare can be used as a tool to create conversations around ecological issues that impact our communities. We discuss how Shakespeare is already well-positioned to be used as an eco-playwright, why it is important to utilize his plays to speak to our current moment, and how theatremakers and educators can incorporate ecological practices into their productions and readings of Shakespeare's plays.

About Katherine Steele Brokaw

Katherine Steele Brokaw is a Professor of English at University of Texas at Austin and the Director of Shakespeare at Winedale at UT. Her work focuses primarily on the production and study of Shakespearean performance, with a special interest in how modern productions can be used to highlight ecological issues. She is the author of Staging Harmony: Music and Religious Change in Late Medieval and Early English Drama and Shakespeare and Community Performance and she is co-author, with Elizabeth Freestone, of Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet. She was the co-founding artistic director of Shakespeare in Yosemite, where she adapted and directed eight productions.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• The EarthShakes Alliance
• Shakespeare in Yosemite's Romeo and Juliet
• Globe4Globe presentations via EarthShakes Alliance's Youtube

Want to hear more about how Shakespeare's world was impacted by climate issues? Check our our episode A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare & Climate Change with Sydney Schwindt.

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
• Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

Support the podcast:

• Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
• Buy us a coffee
• Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
• Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.