Let's Talk
About...

A series of lively and informative panel conversations

In the Spring of 2024, SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz and Artistic Director Carla Pantoja began hosting an online series of panel discussions with Shakespeare scholars, directors, performers, and designers.

Use the buttons below to register for upcoming sessions or to view recordings of previous ‘Let’s Talk About…’ discussions!

Components from any of the programs below can be combined for a fully customized educational experience.
Don’t miss our Shakespeare on Tour program, which centers around a live performance but also offers optional educational playshop programs as well.
Check out our Current and Past Partnerships.
Meet our current roster of Teaching Artists, or if you’re interested in becoming one, Join Us!
For pricing and any other education questions, contact us at education@sfshakes.org or 415-558-0888.

let's talk about....

DR. WILL TOSH
LET’S TALK ABOUT…THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
The July 7, 2025, noon PDT, panel conversation will feature Dr. Will Tosh. Dr. Tosh is Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe, where he is responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate course, events for adult learners, and the Globe’s scholarly research programme. He researches and writes about the literature and culture of Shakespeare’s England, and his work at the Globe includes dramaturgy, new writing development, and public engagement in person, in the media and online. His deep expertise brings unique insight to our next panel discussion!
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DR. KATIE BROKAW
LET’S TALK ABOUT…SHAKESPEARE AND ECOLOGY
The June 2, 2025 panel conversation featured Dr. Katie Brokaw. Dr. Brokaw specializes in community performance; Shakespearean, medieval, and early modern drama; eco-theatre; and practice-based performance research. She is co-founder, producer, and artistic director of Shakespeare in Yosemite, which produces free Shakespeare in Yosemite National Park every April, and of the EarthShakes Alliance, which brings together eco-minded theatres from around the world. Her extensive experience and innovative approach offer a rich and insightful perspective to this fascinating panel discussion!
WATCH SESSION

DR. ANITA RAYCHAWDHURI
LET’S TALK ABOUT…ROMEO AND JULIET
The May 19 , 2025 panel conversation featured Dr. Anita Raychawdhuri, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Houston, presently on leave as an Investigadora Visitant at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. She has previously served as a Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, DC. Her research focuses on early modern literature, queer theory, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, the global early modern, and Shakespearean adaptation. Her interest in how queerness and race interacted and informed each other in early modern drama provided a rich and well informed perspective for this fascinating panel discussion!
WATCH SESSION

DR. ROLAND GREENE
LET’S TALK ABOUT…ROMEO AND JULIET
The April 7, 2025 panel conversation featured the return of Stanford’s Dr. Roland Greene, in conversation with SF Shakes Board member Dan Rabinowitz, Artistic Director Carla Pantoja, and Katja Rivera who directed the 2025 Shakespeare on Tour production of of Romeo and Juliet. Dr. Greene brought his keen insight to this dynamic discussion on Romeo and Juliet, examining its language, historical context, and enduring impact.
WATCH SESSION

DIRECTORS ELY SONNY ORQUIZA and KATJA RIVERA
LET’S TALK ABOUT…SF SHAKES’ 2025 SEASON
The December 16, 2024 panel conversation featured 2025 Directors Ely Sonny Orquiza and Katja Rivera in conversation with Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and SF Shakes Board member Dan Rabinowitz. They offered the first glimpse of what they’re looking forward to for Festival programs in 2025!
WATCH SESSION

DR. ROLAND GREENE
LET’S TALK ABOUT…THE TEMPEST
The September 9, 2024 panel conversation featured Stanford’s Dr. Roland Greene in conversation about The Tempest with SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz and Artistic Director Carla Pantoja. Dr. Greene’s research and teaching are concerned with the early modern literatures of England, Latin Europe, and the transatlantic world, and with poetry and poetics from the Renaissance to the present.
WATCH SESSION

CAST AND COMPANY MEMBERS
LET’S TALK ABOUT…THE TEMPEST
The August 19, 2024 panel conversation featured cast and company members from this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest in conversation with SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz and Artistic Director Carla Pantoja. Behind-the-scenes perspectives were presented by actors David Everett Moore and Nic Moore and Music Director/Composer Jen Coogan and Costume Designer Bethany Deal.
WATCH SESSION

DR. FARAH KARIM-COOPER
LET’S TALK ABOUT…THE TEMPEST
The July 8, 2024 conversation featured Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, the incoming Director of The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC. Board Member Dan Rabinowitz hosted this third discussion, in which he and SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja engaged in conversation about The Tempest with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper. The discussion explored and examined her deeply thoughtful analysis of race, gender and otherness in The Tempest, along with a radical reappraisal of society in Elizabethan London, the backdrop from which Shakespeare’s plays emerged and against which they were presented.
WATCH SESSION

DIRECTOR ROTIMI AGBABIAKA
LET’S TALK ABOUT…THE TEMPEST
The June 17, 2024 conversation featured 2024 Free Shakes in the Park Director Rotimi Agbabiaka in conversation with SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and was hosted by SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz. Dan and Carla engaged in lively and insightful discussion with Rotimi, who shared his directorial perspectives on this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest and his intent to highlight the themes of forgiveness and recovering from loss.
WATCH SESSION

DR. WILL TOSH
LET’S TALK ABOUT…AS YOU LIKE IT
The March 25, 2024 discussion featured Dr. Will Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe, London in conversation with SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and hosted by SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz. Dan, Carla, and Will touched on a wide variety of the remarkable features and the artistic and historical context of this wonderful comedy. They see it as a remarkable social commentary that is just as relevant today as it was in 1599, as Shakespeare’s great implicit feminist statement, and as a play that touches on and implicates gender issues more broadly in ways that resonate with our audiences.
WATCH SESSION

LET'S TALK ABOUT
SHAKESPEARE AND ECOLOGY
June 2 on zoom

Join us on June 2, 2025 @ noon PDT for our next panel conversation featuring Dr. Katie Brokaw. Dr. Brokaw specializes in community performance; Shakespearean, medieval, and early modern drama; eco-theatre; and practice-based performance research. She is co-founder, producer, and artistic director of Shakespeare in Yosemite, which produces free Shakespeare in Yosemite National Park every April, and of the EarthShakes Alliance, which brings together eco-minded theatres from around the world. Her extensive experience and innovative approach offer a rich and insightful perspective to this fascinating panel discussion!

LET'S TALK ABOUT
ROMEO AND JULIET
recorded panel discussion

The May 19 , 2025 panel conversation featured Dr. Anita Raychawdhuri, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Houston, presently on leave as an Investigadora Visitant at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. She has previously served as a Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, DC.

Her research focuses on early modern literature, queer theory, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, the global early modern, and Shakespearean adaptation. Her interest in how queerness and race interacted and informed each other in early modern drama provided a rich and well informed perspective for this fascinating panel discussion!

LET'S TALK ABOUT
ROMEO AND JULIET
recorded panel discussion

The April 7, 2025 panel conversation featured the return of Stanford’s Dr. Roland Greene, in conversation with SF Shakes Board member Dan Rabinowitz, Artistic Director Carla Pantoja, and Katja Rivera who directed the 2025 Shakespeare on Tour production of of Romeo and Juliet.

Dr. Greene brought his keen insight to this dynamic discussion on Romeo and Juliet, examining its language, historical context, and enduring impact.

LET'S TALK ABOUT
SF Shakes 2025 season
Recorded PAnel Discussion

The December 16, 2024 panel conversation featured 2025 Directors Ely Sonny Orquiza and Katja Rivera in conversation with Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and SF Shakes Board member Dan Rabinowitz. They offered the first glimpse of what they’re looking forward to for Festival programs in 2025!

LET'S TALK ABOUT
The Tempest
recorded panel discussion

The September 9, 2024 panel conversation featured Stanford’s Dr. Roland Greene in conversation about The Tempest with SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz and Artistic Director Carla Pantoja.

Dr. Greene’s research and teaching are concerned with the early modern literatures of England, Latin Europe, and the transatlantic world, and with poetry and poetics from the Renaissance to the present.

LET'S TALK ABOUT
The Tempest
Recorded Panel Discussion

The August 19, 2024 panel conversation featured cast and company members from this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest in conversation with SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz and Artistic Director Carla Pantoja.

Behind-the-scenes perspectives were presented by actors David Everett Moore and Nic Moore and Music Director/Composer Jen Coogan and Costume Designer Bethany Deal.

Let's talk about
The Tempest
recorded panel discussion

The July 8, 2024 conversation featured Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, the incoming Director of The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC.

Board Member Dan Rabinowitz hosted this third discussion, in which he and SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja engaged in conversation about The Tempest with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper. The discussion explored and examined her deeply thoughtful analysis of race, gender and otherness in The Tempest, along with a radical reappraisal of society in Elizabethan London, the backdrop from which Shakespeare’s plays emerged and against which they were presented.

Let's talk about
The Tempest
Recorded Panel discussion

The June 17, 2024 conversation featured 2024 Free Shakes in the Park Director Rotimi Agbabiaka in conversation with SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and was hosted by SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz.

Dan and Carla engaged in lively and insightful discussion with Rotimi, who shared his directorial perspectives on this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest and his intent to highlight the themes of forgiveness and recovering from loss.

Let's talk about
As You Like It
recorded Panel discussion

The March 25, 2024 discussion featured Dr. Will Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe, London in conversation with SF Shakes Artistic Director Carla Pantoja and hosted by SF Shakes Board Member Dan Rabinowitz.

Dan, Carla, and Will touched on a wide variety of the remarkable features and the artistic and historical context of this wonderful comedy. They see it as a remarkable social commentary that is just as relevant today as it was in 1599, as Shakespeare’s great implicit feminist statement, and as a play that touches on and implicates gender issues more broadly in ways that resonate with our audiences.

specialty shakes

We offer interactive instruction in a variety of additional specialty subjects such as history, voice, movement, clowning, comedy, and stage combat, which can be offered individually or in combination with our other programs.