About Travels with Willie

We are on an adventure!

We are searching for Shakespeare in 21st Century across the United States.

Is it possible to visit each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in the USA over a continuous period, attend a performance of at least one of Shakespeare plays in each state, and see the complete canon of Shakespeare’s works?

Travels with Willie is a research project/adventure designed to combine a love for travel, theatre, and literature. It is inspired by Steinbeck’s book “Travels with Charley.” The adventure is framed around a continuous journey, primarily facilitated in our Thor Challenger 37FH, covering all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The primary aim of this project is to explore and share the fun and significance of Shakespearean performance in the 21st century.

During our travels, we will attend multiple Shakespearean performances in each state, with the ambitious goal of experiencing the complete canon of the Bard’s works. At each performance site, I will conduct interviews with Artistic Directors, Theatre Artists, Community Stakeholders, and Audience Members to gain insights into what Shakespeare means to them today. These interviews will serve as the foundation for a diverse range of deliverables, including podcasts, video blogs, magazine articles, and books, which will highlight the experiences of the journey and present our findings on the relevance of Shakespeare in performance in the 21st century.

There are more Shakespeare performances in the U.S. today than any other type of theatre. More Shakespeare Theatres, Companies, Performances (Professional, Community, College, High School, Middle School, Summer Camp, etc), training academies, etc., in the U.S. than any other type of theatre. Some are institutions. Some are folks simply acting in a park. These theatres/performances have audiences. They sell out and have capacity houses. Artists are remaking Shakespeare over in their own image. All Women Companies, all Black or Hispanic productions, modernized and revolutionary retellings of the Bard’s works.

Why? That is our question.

Why are the plays of a white Elizabethan male playwright who has been dead for over 400 years one of the most produced works in the US today?

There are several audiences for this project from Theatre Professionals to Literary Tourists but most important for me is reaching out to RV Community Members who may be inspired to undertake and enjoy similar performance experiences. There is a lot more going at night near most of our greatest national parks than many folks realize.
 

When the sun goes down on the horizon, the lights come up in the theatre.

You can enjoy the vistas in the Shenandoah Valley and then see a live theatre performance at the only replica of an indoor Elizabethan Theatre in Staunton, VA. After visiting Bryce Canyon, you can attend one of several performances at the Utah Shakespeare Festival as you are traveling onto Zion. Here in the Smoky Mountains, after a day of hiking or kayaking, you can pop into Asheville’s Montford Park Players, North Carolina’s longest running Shakespeare theatre company, to enjoy a free performance in their outdoor amphitheatre. (I recently co-directed their production of Henry IV and played Falstaff this past July.) I know sharing unique experiences like this can excite folks to have their own adventure with Shakespeare. I hope to excite fellow travelers to get out and enjoy the theatre and the Bard’s work.
 
As a career educator, I know that to achieve that level of excitement I will need to edutain folks, so the posts and videos will be a mix of experiences that are aimed at entertaining the traveling audience. So in addition to content focused on the RV lifestyle, our journey, and the interviews I already mentioned, I am looking to create content on topics such as the following :
  • What is Travels with Willie?
  • How to go to the Theatre and Theatre Conventions
  • Why Shakespeare?
  • Willie Shakespeare Bio (Who the hell is Willie Shakespeare and why should I care?)
  •  The Elizabethan Theatre (How the Machine functions.)
  • Verse/Prose (Don’t fear the language!)
  • Shakespeare Trivia
  • Famous Battles or Historical Moments
  • The individual plays (5 or 10 minute synopsis to familiarize folks with a play they may see.)
  • Destination Information
    • Restaurants
    • Breweries
    • Tourist spots and activities for Families, Senior Travelers, Outdoor enthusiasts, and others.
These are topics to entertain and educate the RV Life Audience. 

Eventually, we hope to create Meet-ups of RV’s at Shakespeare Festivals where we can share the experience of seeing the Bard come alive. Perhaps we may even be able to create a RV Caravan Performance Troop. The possibilities are as endless as our creativity!

And you will be able to follow our adventure and find out “Where is Willie Now?”

Travels with Willie  is a passion project that I am excited to realize.

Follow us and Join our Adventure!

 

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare - Attributed to John Taylor (1600-1610)