Well, we’re back in Stratford-upon-Avon after our Shakespeare road-trip adventure. But in some ways it feels as though the project is starting afresh. We have several more blogs we shall be posting here over the next week or so from Nashville, Stanton, and elsewhere. It was never the intention that the project would suddenly stop, as we always knew it would be greater than the sum of it parts.

Two weeks ago, we were treated to a wonderful lunch in the home of Rickey Chick Marquand, where around thirty of us gathered, all cast, colleagues, and friends of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival

Among them were the famous American Football player Eddie George (pictured above) who has played Julius Caesar and Othello at for the festival.

Also present was Country-music star, David Olney (pictured above) who composed songs for this year’s production of As You Like It.

I’ve extrapolated moments from our hour and a half discussion and in it you’ll hear several voices which include (in order of appearance):
Don Capparella (the founder of the festival), Rickey Chick (Director of Development), Eddie George, Nettie Kraft (Education Director), myself, David Olney, Denice Hicks (Artistic Director), Emily Landham (Rosalind), Amanda Card (Celia), and Houston Mahoney (Orlando).

It was a wide-ranging discussion and we all of us were ready to be open-hearted, open-minded and open with our laughter.

I hope you enjoy listening to these snippets as much as we all enjoyed listening and speaking with each other.