Recorded live on June 6, 2025
Production runs through August 2, 2025
Blackfriars Playhouse – Staunton, VA

As part of the Lights ON Blackfriars series, the American Shakespeare Center welcomed audiences behind the scenes of The Winter’s Tale. Director Raphael Emmanuel and Arden Edition editor Dr. Peter Kirwan explored how jazz, scholarship, and the Harlem Renaissance bring Shakespeare’s late play to life in Staunton, Virginia.

Inside The Winter’s Tale: Harlem Renaissance Inspiration and Editing Shakespeare for Today

From Acting to Directing: Finding Shakespeare’s Rhythm

Raphael Emmanuel discovered Shakespeare as an actor:

“I never feel like I have enough words or the right words to always express myself as an individual. And then when I encountered Shakespeare, finally I felt like I had enough words to really share the capacity that was inside of me.”

Directing began when he realized:

“It reached a point as an actor where I would be in rehearsal and I found myself internally commenting on the entire rehearsal process and the choices that the director was making or not making and thinking about what I would do with the lights or the sound.”

Why The Winter’s Tale? Discovering Complexity and Humanity

Emmanuel recalled his first experience performing the play:

“I actually didn’t fully understand what happens in the second half of the play during that whole process. And after it was over, I still didn’t fully understand what was going on.”

Returning as a director revealed new depth:

“It’s more complicated than it looks at face value. But it looks so complicated anyway, right? … Every time I navigated a hurdle, there was this thing that I didn’t see, that I couldn’t see, until I navigated the previous hurdle.”

The Harlem Renaissance Meets Shakespeare’s Sicily

This production reimagines Bohemia through the lens of Black Bohemia and the Harlem Renaissance:

“It always starts with a spark, an idea, and rather than dismiss it or move on from it, I just pick at it … to discover whether it is actually viable and whether it marries well with the story of the play.”

Emmanuel said the era’s themes felt strikingly relevant:

“This play was written during the Renaissance, the European Renaissance. And then we have this other completely different renaissance at a completely different period in time … There are just elements of the period in terms of theme that really overlapped for me.”

Jazz, Improvisation, and the Sound of The Winter’s Tale

Music shaped the world of the play:

“I always think about music very intently and sound in general very intently. I’m probably more of an auditory director than I am a visual director … The jazz music and its improvisational quality allowed us to play in such a way where the jazz music is flexible enough that we can kind of modulate it to fit the world of the play.”

Kirwan noted Leontes’ speech feels like jazz itself:

“He’s free-forming, right? He’s got a theme, but he’s riffing on it.”

Editing The Winter’s Tale: Rethinking What Counts as Shakespeare

Kirwan described the experience that launched his career:

“I was one of three people who went to see every single production in that festival (The World Shakespeare Festival) … I got so excited that this one word Shakespeare could mean so many different things, so many different political beliefs, aesthetics, and so on.”

He shared the challenge of creating a new Arden Edition:

“Most of the editions of the play are very literary … but very rarely very theatrically astute. And most interestingly, most editions believe Leontes.”

Instead of flattening meaning, he asks:

“Editors traditionally say this means that. I’m trying to work with the subjunctive. What may this mean? What options might be possible here?”

Forgiveness, Grace, and Unanswerable Questions

Both guests spoke about the play’s central mystery:

“How do we have grace when mistakes are made? … For me, that is a more compelling question … understanding that our own humanity … the grace that we would desire in ourselves, if we were to make some kind of monumental mistake.”

Kirwan added:

“One of the central most profound mysteries in Christianity is that idea of forgiveness, even when someone doesn’t deserve it.”

One Scene You Shouldn’t Miss

When asked about underrated moments, Kirwan singled out Paulina:

“Paulina’s speech heranging Leontes after her (Hermione) death is so extraordinary … one of the most theatrically phenomenal and potent moments of a woman resting back the rhetorical framework from a man.”

Emmanuel highlighted Camillo’s quiet importance:

“Camilo is really the catalyst for a lot of what happens in the play. And I don’t think that gets recognized enough.”

About Lights On Blackfriars

Lights On Blackfriars is the American Shakespeare Center’s monthly pre-show talk series, offering behind-the-scenes conversations with artists, scholars, and creators working on each production. Held live at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, VA, these events are ticketed and open to all audience members.

Join us for the next live conversation:

• August 1 – The Music Behind The Winter’s Tale with Dr. Stacey Jocoy & Music Director & Composer Jordan Friend

• September 5 – A conversation with Costume Designer Elizabeth Wislar

• October 3 – Dr. Ralph on Romeo & Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona

• October 24 – A conversation with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper

Tickets are required and available through the ASC Box Office.
Learn More about Lights ON Blackfriars Events

Watch the Lights ON Blackfriars Archive

• Bringing Jane Austen to Life at the Blackfriars PlayhousewithSense & SensibilityDirector Jemma Alix Levy
• Madness and Meaning in King Lear – Dr. Susan Anderson
  
• Behind the Blade: Fight Choreography in King Lear and Comedy of Errors
  
• King Lear & Little Women – Lights ON Blackfriars featuring Constance Swain, Erin Riley, & Paul Barnes from the ASC Spring 2025
• Little Women – Behind the Seams with Costume Designer Amy Monsalve

Want to be part of the next conversation?
Join us at the Blackfriars Playhouse, where the lights stay on—and the audience is part of the story.