‘Shakespeare on the Road’ is the story of Shakespeare in contemporary North America told through an epic road trip in the summer of 2014.

In July and August, our team visited a range of Shakespeare festivals across the length and breadth of the US (with one notable Canadian incursion). We touched down on the 4^th July at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City and ended in Washington DC in early September. Over 63 days, we traveled over 10,000 miles (mostly by road), saw 42 Shakespeare productions and interviewed hundreds of the people who – year in, year out – make Shakespeare happen across the continent.

The material we gathered will be used for multiple outcomes: podcasts, radio and online documentaries, a co-authored book and solo-authored chapters and case studies. The road trip was mapped on this digital platform with roughly one hundred interviews, photos and short blogs to give a sense of the journey as it unfolded.

The easiest way to get an overview of the website’s content is to CLICK HERE or on ‘Shakespeare Festivals’ in the bottom right box below; on each company or festival’s page you will see hyperlinks to all the postings pertaining to the visit and a small selection of photographs.

LISTEN TO OUR RECENTLY MADE AUDIO TRAILER ON SOUNDCLOUD! This is a soundscape of some of the Shakespearean voices we heard during our 2-month trip. In order of speaking: Antoni Cimolino from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival; Clare Moncrief from New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane; Barbara Gaines from Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Tina Packer from Shakespeare & Co.; Ellen Geer from Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum; Fred Adams from Utah Shakespeare Festival; Kevin Asselin from Montana Shakespeare in the Parks; Debra Ann Byrd from Harlem Shakespeare Festival; Cynthia Rider from Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Aaron Scott from Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, New York City; Diane Fraher from Amerinda Inc.; Earnestine Phillips from Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum; E. Brooke Flanagan from Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Many thanks to Nick Jewers of Quidem for producing the soundscape of voices.

The traveling team included: Dr Paul Edmondson (Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon), AJ Leon (Founder and Chief Maker of Trouble at Misfit) and Melissa Leon (Chief of Staff at Misfit) and Dr Paul Prescott (Reader in English at the University of Warwick, UK), upon whose original idea the project is based.

The project has been made possible by generous support from the University of Warwick, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Misfit, Inc, and by in-kind contributions from our festival partners.

Dr Paul Edmondson

Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Paul Edmondson is General Editor of BloggingShakespeare.com and Co-General Editor of ReviewingShakespeare.com. He teaches and publishes widely on Shakespeare and is a Priest in the Church of England.

AJ Leon

Founder and Chief Maker of Trouble at Misfit Incorporated

AJ is the author of The Life and Times of a Remarkable Misfit and publishes articles at Pursuit of Everything about living with intention, doing work that matters and changing the world. He is also an Honorary Fellow at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Melissa Leon

Chief of Staff at Misfit Incorporated

Melissa is the Chief of Staff at Misfit Incorporated. She is a foodie, adventurer & humanitarian. She is also an Honorary Fellow at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Dr Paul Prescott

Reader in English at the University of Warwick

Paul Prescott has taught and published widely on Shakespeare and performance and his book Reviewing Shakespeare was published by Cambridge University Press in late 2013. He is the co-General Editor of www.ReviewingShakespeare.com.

Shakespeare on the Road is proud to be a member of The Shakespeare Theatre Association.