PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a conversation about language, time, and how stories from the past find meaning in the present.

In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones and Connie Behringer begin with a roundtable on how the 2026 season lives in two moments at once. From Shakespeare to Million Dollar Quartet to The Piano Lesson, they examine how inherited words carry history and how performance determines what those words mean now. What do we preserve? What do we clarify? And how do we help audiences hear both?

Later in the episode, Jason sits with Ben Crystal to discuss original pronunciation, rhythm, and why hearing Shakespeare as it once sounded can sharpen clarity rather than obscure it.

In A Peek Behind the Curtain, we turn to our Shakespeare Competition, where young performers are doing this work firsthand — finding voice, intention, and meaning as they prepare to step onstage.

Hosted by: Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, Connie Behringer

Featuring: Ben Crystal

As You Mic It is produced by Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

• PSF's Annual Shakespeare Competition - For more information, contact education@pashakespeare.org
• Ben Crystal - Actor, author, original pronunciation pioneer
• Shakespeare Theatre Association

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us at the Bard and Beyond Book Club

For more details, visit pashakespeare.org/bookclub

Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series

pashakespeare.org/tickets/

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Collaboration makes great theatre!

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PA Shakespeare Festival continues its second season of As You Mic It with a compelling conversation about what love demands when it challenges tradition, authority, and expectation.

In this episode, hosts Jason King Jones and Connie Behringer open with a roundtable exploring love as both obligation and choice across the 2026 season. Drawing connections between Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, and Million Dollar Quartet, they examine how love can bind, liberate, or defy the systems that shape our lives, and why those tensions still resonate today.

Later in the episode, Jason sits down with Suzanne O’Donnell, who returns to Romeo and Juliet this summer as the Nurse after originating Juliet in PSF’s inaugural season. Their conversation reflects on artistic growth, shifting perspective, and what it means to revisit a story of love and defiance from a new vantage point.

In A Peek Behind the Curtain, PSF’s new Director of Production, Kevin White, offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring this ambitious season to life, from repertory logistics to the unseen work that supports every performance.

Hosted by: Jason King Jones, Connie Behringer

Featuring: Suzanne O’Donnell, Kevin White

As You Mic It is produced by Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Mentioned in this episode:

Become an Underwriter Today!

Contact podcast@pashakespeare.org for more information.

Join us at the Bard and Beyond Book Club

For more details, visit pashakespeare.org/bookclub

Collaboration makes great theatre!

Become a supporter, today! https://pashakespeare.org/support/

Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series

pashakespeare.org/tickets/

As You Mic It heads north for a special two-act episode recorded at the annual conference of the Shakespeare Theatre Association in St. John's.

Act One opens with a roundtable conversation as hosts Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, and Connie Behringer reflect on why PSF participates in the STA conference, what conversations are shaping the field, and what ideas they’re bringing back to the Festival. It’s a candid look at how artists and leaders learn from one another and why national exchange matters.

In Act Two, the hosts sit down with Scott Jackson, Mary Irene Ryan Family Executive Artistic Director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame and President of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. Jackson discusses leadership, applied Shakespeare, and his work co-founding the Shakespeare in Prisons Network, exploring how theatre can expand access, restore agency, and create connection far beyond the stage.

Hosted by: Jason King Jones, Kim Carson, Connie Behringer

Featuring: Scott Jackson

As You Mic It is produced by Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Mentioned in this episode:

Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series

pashakespeare.org/tickets/

Become an Underwriter Today!

Contact podcast@pashakespeare.org for more information.