Sam Prince is joined again in part 2 of the conversation with Karen Libman! Karen shares what she learned from Shakespeare, a few things she loves about it, and her experience with it. She also gives some major pointers for aspiring actors who want to be a part of Shakespeare plays. For acting classes from your host; Sam Prince, check out his website: www.samber.productions and follow along on Instagram: www.instagram.com/samberproductions
Sam Prince 0:05
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a great actor on stage or television? Do you wish you had an acting coach to help you get to the next level? Or maybe you just have a great idea for a movie series are played but aren't quite sure where to start? Well, you are in the right place my friend. My name is Sam Prince and I am the director of a production company here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and have been an actor for over 30 years. I've directed and written plays, and screenplays and taught many acting classes. This podcast is your place to learn how to move forward with your career in acting, theater, film, playwriting, screenwriting, and much more. There will be inspiring conversations with special guests as well. So welcome to the creativitorium podcast and action.
Welcome, welcome back to the creativitorium Podcast. I'm hosting
Karen Libman 1:27
a seat you need a theme song? You know, do
Sam Prince 1:30
you know I do. I really do have a theme song Karen, but you don't hear right now actually.
Karen Libman 1:37
Okay. You'll,
Sam Prince 1:38
you'll hear Yeah, I love it. Because it's, it reminds me of the theme song to Annie. The hard knock life. It totally sounds like her life. You gotta you got to tell me if you hear that, too. Okay. Yeah. But I got to introduce you. This is Karen Lippmann again, y'all. Well. Thank you for coming back. And talking.
Karen Libman 2:02
Pleasure. So let's talk about Shakespeare. We that's what we were talking about. And then we got off on some other stuff then. Right?
Sam Prince 2:10
Yeah. Well, we kind of did you know, we got into it a little bit. You talked about how you've done it all over the world and everything. And if you didn't hear that episode, better listen to it, people. But yes, let's talk Shakespeare because we did Midsummer's together, way back when I was amazing. And you taught it all over the world. You know, but what, what I learned from Shakespeare was a bunch of things. The beauty of the language. You know, it's just like, like you said, in the previous I mean, it's like the basis for English. And I was an English and theater major in college. But like I said, I didn't really do a lot of Shakespeare until you but in college, I read so much experience, just as an English major. Yeah. So let's talk to you like as if someone wants to be do some Shakespeare, and they want to, they want to, you know, travel the world like you go for being one of those Shakespeare festivals or, you know, whatever. What kind of tips would you give to them as far as just to be a great actor?
Karen Libman 3:33
Well, I'm, the biggest thing I learned about Shakespeare about doing Shakespeare is playing Shakespeare is something interesting that you just said, so there's, there's sort of two sides to how people think about Shakespeare. There's the literature side, when you read it, and you appreciated for, you know, all of the figurative language and all of that stuff. And then there's the theater part of it, you know, and the, the thing that I think is really important to remember is that Shakespeare never wrote for people to read his plays. He wrote for people to play his plays. I mean, that's why we call them plays. And the, you know, the fact that when you see, you know, the works of William Shakespeare, I want to be like William Shakespeare, and I know that, you know, I'm, I'm just teasing and it's, it's just, you know, I'm just, I'm splitting hairs over semantics, but, but actually, it's really true. And I think that this idea of the works of Shakespeare and the fact that he's been put up on this, you know, pedestal in from school, from a school perspective is made it seem boring and stuffy and to a lot of people undoable hard. People think it's hard. And the thing that I would tell people is, oh, no, no, no. No, be afraid of Shakespeare. Right? Did you get a chance? I don't know, if you got a chance to meet Chris Hayes, he might have been gone. By the time you came into rehearsal process.
Sam Prince 5:23
I think I might have missed him. Yeah,
Karen Libman 5:25
yeah, we, um, for years, we worked with this group out of London called the London Theatre exchange. And this amazing teacher, his name was Chris Hayes, may his memory be for a blessing, he has harassed would come to Grand Valley, little Grand Valley. And he would do workshop with our students and the students, I think they would come into this just before we would even have rehearsal. And it would have nothing to do with whatever play we were doing. And they would, they would think, Oh, we're going to be talking about the language and the, you know, I am big pentameter and all of the different things. And he didn't, he didn't deal with that. Particularly. I mean, he would talk about it if you wanted, but he used to tell the students in his, you know, inimitable British accent. He would he, he would use the F word, he would say, Don't f with Shakespeare. Net Shakespeare F with you. First of all, our students love that because, you know, the here says, you know, like, middle aged to really older, you know, British white guy with this very, you know, area, no accent, you know, saying that, but what he meant was, you know, you know, speak the speech, I pray you trippingly on the tongue, you know, don't be afraid. Do it. Lead your trip up over the language. Ask those questions, figure out what you're saying all of that good stuff. But then ultimately, remember, if Shakespeare were alive right now, he would probably be doing television sitcoms. He was. Yeah, he was writing for the people. He needed to. I mean, the reason he wrote so many plays, yeah, yeah, it was a genius. But he was, it was also like, he needed to eat. You know, they were doing theater. You know, there was no TV people came to the theater for entertainment. And in you know, they weren't like, Oh, I'm lit again. They were they, their response was seen Hamlet What else you got to go here to keep writing stuff. And, you know, all of his plays are in you know, people will get at me for this because I do not worship Shakespeare. I am not a Shakespeare file. I you know, I really, I have a lot of respect for those people who know Shakespeare in and out. But that is not me. I'm a theatre person who does in love Shakespeare. I'm not a Shakespeare person. I would never say that about myself. But, um, to that end, you know, not every play was great. I mean, no one really wants to well, and here you go. No, I would say no one wants to see Richard the second. I mean, yeah. A few years ago, I saw this amazing. richer, this
Sam Prince 8:52
kids, no way.
Karen Libman 8:55
Was just astonishing. So I, the director, and the players came to it by, um, by they did a deep cut. So it was only 90 minutes. And they, they did it as an ensemble piece. So people were playing multiple roles. But it just was astonishing. And you know, the thing about Richard the second, like, I couldn't even tell you what it was about, except there's a kid named Richard the second, and a lot of people die at the end of that play. I just was, I mean, they found all kinds of humor in it and things so not afraid of the play. And I think that Shakespeare, you know, far from like, being reverential. When we deal with Shakespeare. I think what we need to be as passionate and enthusiastic. To remember that their plays, and we need to play them. So that would be the first thing that I would tell people is, it seems like their heart and they are heart. I'm not saying they're not floor. Right. But they're their heart in the same way that anything that is new to you more than is in a foreign language because even though it is an English, honestly, it's kind of a foreign language. It is
Sam Prince 10:27
I got to speak to that cam, because that is so true. I mean, like, when I when you catch me in midsummer, and I saw the talent that was in that play. I was very intimidated, you know, and only had a little small role, but I was like, oh my goodness, in the words, I gotta get the words, right. I was so scared. But like you said, you have to step it up. Shakespeare almost makes you have to step up your game, to, you know, and say, Okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna learn it. I'm gonna, it's foreign language. But I'm dogged on, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna nail it. And I'm gonna be just like everybody else and bring it like they're bringing it
Karen Libman 11:15
in. I gotta say, you know, there is a reason why actors love to do Shakespeare. I mean, you have to look at that it. Shakespeare is the most produced play right? In the English language. There are more plays by William Shakespeare happening globally are talking about the United States In the United States right now than any other playwright. Why? Because they still work. You still work I was in, um, in they're just, they're fun. I mean, he deals with the topics are, are, are crazy, amazing. And universal? Oh, yeah. And in the language can just be you know, if you don't know what the words mean, I was thinking about. So I was in India, and I wanted to do, I was doing a Shakespeare thing with them. And we were working on an exercise. And one of the plays I really love is Richard the Third. And that opening speech, you know, the Now Is The winter of our discontent. We did it. It's kind of a choral piece. And so just, and these are non English speakers as their first language. Okay, but they all well, not all but a lot. Most of them spoke English fluently, much more fluently than I spoke any of their mother tongues for sure. But if you look at it, the play the language in the opening line, you know, now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of yours. And, you know, I said look at those Ss they're glorious summer sun. Um, think about that, you know, even if you don't know what, what those words mean, and all the clouds that Lauer upon our house. So who knows what Lauer means? I don't know. I mean, yes. Wait, matter because you've got the plow. clouds that Lowry upon our house. Oh, that. Oh, so you've got so okay. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Richard the Third. He is a scary, scary, dude. Oh, I mean, yeah. And like, the genius of Shakespeare, like, you can just listen to it, even if you don't know what it means.
Sam Prince 14:03
I am looking for two types of creative cats looking for people who want to learn how to act, or want to improve their acting skills, or provide acting, audition coaching for every level. But I'm also looking for all those creative cats out there who have a play or screenplay idea. Or maybe you're just stuck and need help writing your masterpiece. I can help you with that. Just go to Sambre dot productions. That's sa m b e r dot productions and click coaching. All your options are right there. And we will achieve your goals together. It's never too late. Alright, let's go.
Karen Libman 14:52
And we've got you know, there's stage combat and there's you know, there's So much body body humor in Shakespeare. Oh, you know, midsummer is just, you know, it's just full of jokes that are that are filthy and every now and then we, you know, take Shakespeare to high schools are weak. You know, we had like 1500 high school students came in saw mid summer, the mid summer you were in? And they would say, yeah, oh, I can't, I can't believe you did that. And we would say, you know, what we, we write this like
turns into a donkey right in Shakespeare turns him into an ass and you in, in, in, he's an ass. And we all know what that means. Now, and it meant that then, and then they're all of those donkey jokes, because, you know, she falls in love with a donkey. And then there's all the like, woman and the horse stalking, you know. And then there's, you know, so much stuff about love and betrayal. In the reason why people love Shakespeare are is because when you you can still, you know, I've seen midsummer a million times, you know, not not really million, but a lot. So why go again, you are not going for the plot. If you're going to see Romeo and Juliet. You know, they die. Oh God, spoiler alert, they die. You're not going to a Shakespeare play to find out what happens. You're going to a Shakespeare to play to find out how not why, how are they going to do this? And I was just in Chicago Ay, ay, ay, during that brief respite from, you know, when we thought COVID might be licked if we were vaccinated. I went to Chicago to see Othello. Now, I've seen that the last several times, I've never seen a success a completely successful fella, I have to say, it's just, it's God, man is a problematic play. Yeah, you know, um, but this production of it got really interesting review. And instead of, you know, trying to, I don't know, make it a play about love gone wrong. The director in the cast, which was a primarily multi ethnic cast, decided to go all in on the idea of, of why a fellow feels like an outsider, really took on the racism in a way that I hadn't seen a production. I mean, they just they really went all in on it. And, and they did a lot of really interesting things. And some of them work. Some of them didn't, but it was a, it was really fresh and really new. And they had people. It they had people sitting on sort of in a triangular shape. So and they put, you know, we've had audience on stage before, I mean, that, that, that's not an uncommon thing. But they basically had, there was no stage space, they had the audience, most of the audience was on stage, there was sort of an X on the stage that the all that the actors walked on, and then the act then there was a catwalk above that they walked on, and the audience was in swivel chairs, because you know, they would go, the audience was swiveling around. When you were swiveling to look, you ended up looking right at another audience member. So you are confronting the they really wanted you to play with this idea. What does it mean to confront the other? End? And are you going to move your chair in order to see so um, it was interesting, super interesting. And, and
Sam Prince 19:35
that goes to your point, you can do Shakespeare's 100 million different ways.
Karen Libman 19:39
Yeah. And, um, I watched we were talking about how, how, earlier just when we were talking about streaming theater, and you know, what's been happening with virtual theater and there's been a lot of innovation just with with filming theater and National Theatre Live, you know, the Met, the opera has been doing a lot of really good filming. PBS did a film of Much Ado About Nothing that was in Shakespeare in the Park this summer. I don't know if you saw it, or it's still there, you should take a look at it. It was really interesting production, it was directed by Kenny Leon, and all. All African American cast. And it was set right now in Atlanta. So the whole Black Lives Matter movement was huge. And the house where it takes place in has it's right before the election. And so there's this huge banner on the house. And this is, you know, a state house, right? Yes, that says, Stacey Abrams, you know, 2020 as there's all kinds of really contemporary music, and in dancing, and, um, and, again, you know, this idea of, we're not just going to cast this as an all black cast and then pretend like they're not black, you know, which, which I definitely have been guilty of, like, okay, you know, we're just going to be, you know, colorblind, or whatever we just like, because, you know, of course, we're not colorblind, so that's just ridiculous notion. But, you know, we did embrace that for a while. But this production from over the summer was just like, we're gonna just take this on as a given. And then and then go with it. And in a lot of ways, some people love Much Ado, because it has to be a trust Benedict thing. It's never been my favorite not because of Beatrice and Benedick. But because of the other characters who now I'm forgetting their name. Uh, the the young ingenue somebody starts a rumor that she was with another man. And so her fiance, who's she's supposed to marry totally believes some doesn't even ask her and totally leaves her and I just that the misogyny, the misogyny of that always really bothered me. But, again, they took it on in such an interesting way, and had line readings that were completely different than anything I've ever seen. So I made my students watch it and talk about it. It was it got really, really great reviews, and if it's still on great performances on PBS. So it's a film of the play. So it's a it's not a it's not like the film that just came out of Macbeth, with Denzel, which is a film of Shakespeare, right? This was a film of play in production. I haven't seen that. Have
Sam Prince 23:17
you seen that yet? No, no.
Karen Libman 23:19
It's supposed to be it has gotten the Macbeth has gotten amazing reviews. It's Denzel and oh, what?
Sam Prince 23:28
Yep, I just I just learned to hear it. I did start it. Yeah, it's the the girlfriend Fargo
Karen Libman 23:37
right right. I had an and I can't remember her name. But apparently the person who likes steals the show there of course I'm sure they're wonderful. Is some British actor to plays all three witches and apparently she is just like,
Sam Prince 23:53
I've seen her that freaky crazy free
Karen Libman 23:57
totally. Yeah. Can do like thing
Sam Prince 24:00
like contort her body. Yeah, whoever it is. It's a man. Or woman. It's a woman. Okay, right. Yeah, yeah. So
Karen Libman 24:09
it you know, it's, it's some famous British actress, you know it in this is something interesting, you know, that is that we, the people we know who are actors tend to be people who are movie stars. But you,
Sam Prince 24:24
McDermott, yes.
Karen Libman 24:27
Francis, Francis. Um, she's, you know, she, she has done a lot of stage work, but she didn't become well known until she did a film, you know, but there are people who have long and storied, beautiful, amazing theater careers who who acting careers who are really really proficient and and have made wonderful careers that You know, you've never heard of
Sam Prince 25:02
him. Right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Want to say one thing and when you see tragedy, I want to get your feedback too. But when when it comes to Denzel. I was. And the reason why I stopped watching it because I was I wanted to see him be more Shakespearean. And I just always didn't know and even his accent is Dinsdale. It's not it's it's thins out. Yeah. And he's got the words. Yeah, I think I'll give him that. But I wanted to see him not be done. You know, I wanted to see him just really command a Shakespearean. You know what I mean?
Karen Libman 25:46
Yeah. Yeah. And, and in I think that, you know, the actors, it's interesting. I, I, I think a lot and I try to make the students that I've worked with think a lot about, like, Who do you love as an actor? And why do you love their work. And one of the things that comes out for some people is the the ability of an actor to be able to basically transmute themselves, so that they are different in every role, that when you see them in this, that they have, so that they have such a command over their instrument, their body, their voice, and how they use your imagination to embody a character, that that they're not like, you forget their Denzel. Right? And, um, right. And what Denzel has, it's really amazing, is he just has that presence. Just a brief, you know, and, and in, and I don't know, like, has he ever done stage work? Or is he just a film person?
Sam Prince 27:00
Yeah, no, he did some stage work. Yeah.
Karen Libman 27:03
I mean, I don't know his whole on his Oh, yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. His his whole you know, his
Sam Prince 27:12
is definitely mostly filmed, but he's he's dabbled in the theater. And I think he's, he said some training with it a little bit.
Karen Libman 27:18
Yeah. Um, I I've been listening to John Lithgow just came out with an autobiography. He he, a lot of people know him from he was in third rock from the soul. Yeah. And then he was a really creepy guy. He had that really creepy. Dexter. Yeah, man. But before he did any of that he was a, an amazing Broadway actor for years and years. And he comes from a big theater family. It gets it's an interesting book, but he talks about, you know, he's worked with hundreds and hundreds of actors, right. And so he he talks a little bit about like three people that he's worked with, that were just so amazing. And he he tells this great story about how he was doing a staged reading in New York for some play for somebody that I mean, the play never got done, but because it was a reading, and it was something that took place in the south. And it was like sort of like, like, white trash kind of family. And there was this girl he'd never seen before reading. And she was kind of skinny and had like, blankie, blond hair and the southern accent. She gave this reading. And she was really, really good. But she was so much like the character that he said he was thinking, they just go down there and like, get somebody from Appalachia to do the roll and write, you know, he didn't know who it was. And then he said, about a year later, he was doing a show at Lincoln Center. And they were looking in this woman, this young woman, somebody in her 20s walked in. And she was it was a totally different character. Totally different things. She was like a leading lady kind of. And he realized as they were starting the rehearsal process, that it was the same person. Wow. And yeah, she was like, he couldn't he couldn't he he just he couldn't believe it. And then he said, and then you know, he gave another example. Of course, it's Meryl Streep. He worked with Meryl Streep before she was famous. And, you know, he was saying that even before she was famous. It was just so clear that she had something that was so profound, some kind of gift that was was so profound that allowed her to, to really change for the character. So I'll be interested to see, you know, Macbeth is not my favorite place. So,
Sam Prince 30:14
yeah, right. It's definitely a super duper dark. Terrible, but it's why it's called a trilogy. But Meryl Streep is a perfect example. She is a woman who can be different. There's roles where I'm like, what? That's Meryl Streep. Yeah. Who? Do you see the latest one where she's like the president united states? No, I
Karen Libman 30:36
have to see that. Oh,
Sam Prince 30:38
my gosh, she just don't look up. Go look up. Look up. She oh my gosh, she's so nails it she looks so beautiful. I mean, it. Yeah. See, she is She is an actress who can recreate herself again and again.
Karen Libman 30:55
Okay, so quick before time again. Yes, here's what I would tell any actor, it's really true for Shakespeare, you have your self as your instrument, I'm sure you when you teach. And when you work with actors, you probably this is this is this is what you got. So you should try and get as much out of your instrument as you can. So that means, you know, see what your body can do. Take ballet, take, you know, it take tap, you know, learn to like, it doesn't mean you need to like one of the things that's really nice. Now that's happening in the theatre world, or at least on stage, is that we're, we're we're embracing all different types of people before. Before. I mean, now, before we used to be like, if you when I went to acting school, if you gain too much weight, and you were a girl, you got kicked out?
Sam Prince 31:59
Oh, my goodness, seriously? Yeah. Wow.
Karen Libman 32:03
Because you weren't going to be marketable. And I think that that that potentially used to be true, even though you know, it's such a Yeah, it's so hurtful. But now I would say like, you don't have to be anybody else, you don't have to have a certain type of body or certain have to have a certain kind of voice or a certain, you know, what you need to do though, is you need to be able to use what you have. And that means, you know, if if you can't sing, well take voice lessons or for sing some, if you if you find Shakespeare hard that which everybody does, and spend 15 minutes a day, reading plays out loud, so that eventually, it doesn't sound so foreign. But you're you know, starting to, to, you know, talk in iambic pentameter yourself. Um, and what I would say is, you know, Shakespeare requires a really dexterous voice, a really dexterous body, and a heck of an imagination. And if you want to be an amazing Shakespearean actor, you need that. You need to be able to access all of that. And I think that's true for any kind of character. Any kind of performing, get, makes sure that you are taking what you've got. And you are you you are able to work with it in in the best way possible. And
Sam Prince 33:47
that's such great advice. Yeah. Yeah.
Karen Libman 33:51
So, um, yeah, in the end, yeah, you're not going to be right. For some roles, you're going to be too tall, too short to this to that. I'm in and, you know, yes, it is still, you know, theater is still so white centric, it's still so like, there's still many more say male roles and female roles. Things are changing. And, um, you want to be there with the the, the ability to perform the character in the best way that you can.
Sam Prince 34:35
Yep. There it is. I mean, that's the best advice. Yeah. And Shakespeare. Yeah, it's kind of but you can you can, it is a brilliant
Karen Libman 34:49
and in you can be employed. If you can do Shakespeare, you can. Particularly for young people. I think that you know, The ability to be able to, to do Shakespeare to not be afraid of Shakespeare is going to put you a leg up on a lot of other people. I mean, again, look at look at. So here we have Denzel who could literally do anything. I mean, the man, the man could take on any project. Right? Right. You Shakespeare, Shakespeare. Why? Because it's fun.
Sam Prince 35:28
Yeah.
Karen Libman 35:31
It's hard and it's fun. And, you know, that's why actors do it. So if, if. And that was that's, that's why I've loved it. It's hard.
Sam Prince 35:43
Yeah, for sure. Let's play a quick game real fast. Okay. Okay. So a game where we take like four of your favorite whatever's we put them up against each other, and we were going to find out your favorite play today. All right. All right. Course it may change tomorrow. All right, but. So you gave me Richard the Third. Yep. Let's put him against
Karen Libman 36:18
Midsummer Night's Dream. Oh my god. I don't know. I can't Oh. Oh, my God. Oh my god. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go mid summer. I'm gonna go mid, sir. Okay. Final Four and college. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Sam Prince 36:44
And midsummer one just because? Oh, um,
Karen Libman 36:51
because I don't think there's anything you want to lose in that play. And there are huge hulking parts of Richard the Third that I think can go.
Sam Prince 37:03
Okay. Gotcha. Right. Yeah. I mean, there's some great bars written if they're amazing.
Karen Libman 37:10
Yeah, yeah. But there's, there's there's some stuff in there that that is really very contemporary to you know, the the 15th century. And in order to do things success that successfully in the 21st century, if you leave it in there, I think people find it hard to deal with and most times people cut it. There is there is hardly anything I would cut in mid summer. All of it good. i And yeah, but oh, golly. I mean, the language of Richard is just amazing. And the character of Richard Okay, here also, there are just so many more good parts of midsummer than there is in return. There's Richard. And there's the three women in RICHARD Yeah, and yeah,
Sam Prince 38:05
yeah. Exactly.
Karen Libman 38:08
And, you know, they keep killing people in that play. And, and a lot of times they kill somebody, Richard kill somebody and you're like, wait, wait, who was that? Like, you don't even know who that was there. He people. And, you know, if it was if he were a 16th century British person watching it, you would know who he killed because that's actually your history. Sure. As we're just like, who was was that somebody important that died? I don't know. Well, that don't get me wrong. I do like a good bloodbath. So you know?
Sam Prince 38:45
Yeah, right. Of course. Of course. Then we'll, um, Alright, so now we got the other two Comedy of Errors. Taming of the Shrew. Oh, oh, God.
Karen Libman 39:01
I'd have to go shrew. And here's why shuru is so much more difficult to deal with. Yours is just, you know, again, comedy virus is so funny, but it is it is a lot of fluff and stuff. You really have to, you really have to in order to make true work in my mind in the 21st century. Um, you have to you have to figure out you gotta to code Gypsy, you got to get a gimmick. And you got to figure out how to do it. And I I've done it a couple of times, and I think I figured I've done some really interesting stuff. Um, but, but again, that for me, it's just like, it's so interesting. It's more interesting than comedy bears.
Sam Prince 39:59
You Yeah, all right. Okay, so now we got the championship. Oh god. Yeah. mid summer against true.
Karen Libman 40:08
Oh, it's gotta be mid summer, man. Yeah. Yeah. It just has to, you know, the whole the whole the the three worlds mid summer you know the world of the the love families at the fairy world and the lovers world. I you know, you just you just can't you just can't beat it. No
Sam Prince 40:38
that's one of my favorites. I mean, I think he He put all his He put all his marbles into that one.
Karen Libman 40:43
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And in you know. He was having a great time.
Sam Prince 40:50
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. midsummer.
Karen Libman 40:55
All right. I'm like, Oh, my God, people are gonna be like, it should have been Lear. It should have been 10. Tempest is problematic. I do love. We're all those women. Um, yeah, you know, we're not even getting into the histories or the like, you know, I want to thank you, Sam, this has been a real pleasure. I know. I'm just so you know, when I see all the cool work that you're doing, and I'm just so happy that you're going to be recording for Frederick, because we're going to be out of the country, and I'm not going to be able to come and see it. And I missed it before, I think it was probably a COVID thing before and yeah, I, I just, I really have a lot of admiration for people who are out there doing it and bring it in the work you're doing with young people, because they are the future. Like if they don't love theater. I'm not to say anything bad about any of the community theaters around here. But some of the larger community theaters, if you go and you look around in the audience, the median age is nearly dead. And we got to, we got to get young people out there. And if you love Shakespeare, speaking of which, all all all promote. Shakespeare and love is I think about to open. Yeah. And so, um, so that's kind of they're trying to, you know, get appeal to, to. Yeah, in and that's important and, and helping them to develop their, their, their skills and their tastes and their sense of aesthetics. I mean, you're out there doing that and working in multiple media. Congratulations, and
Sam Prince 42:49
Thanks, Karen. I mean, of course, and I mean, I really am honest, when I say that, you know, I'm just all inspired by you. You know, like, you are definitely one of my mentors, you know, and, and you taught young, how many young people have you taught around the world? You know, well, I'm just, yeah, I'm just got my little pocket here in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Karen Libman 43:14
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I'm really lucky. I am I. Yeah, I'm super lucky. What uh, what it's been to be able to to do something I love. Yeah. Yeah. pretty lucky. So they helped me stay sane.
Sam Prince 43:35
So much. I will You alright, well, thank you so much, Karen. And thank you for being a guest twice for me. So appreciate it.
Hey, thank you for listening to the creativititorium podcast. Again, my name is Sam Prince. And it is my honor to be your host and thank you so much for listening. I'd also be honored if you could leave a review on Apple podcasts and say some nice things about what you just heard. And definitely please listen every week. We come out every Tuesday. Also, for more information about coaching classes, workshops, and upcoming productions, please check out our website Samber dot productions. That's s a m b e r dot productions, and you can also subscribe to our newsletter. And remember all the worlds a stage
Production and Transcription Provided By:
Opulence Multi Media Management, LLC
www.theamywilliams.com