YBY ep 249: Rebecca Bernstein and building community through Zoom Shakespeare!

This week on Yes But Why, we chat with Rebecca Bernstein, producer of Zoom Shakespeare Productions.

Rebecca Bernstein is a Houston based actor/director/producer. She grew up doing theater classes for kids and worked several summers as a camp counselor at various theater camps around the city. After graduating with a theater degree from St Edward’s University in 2011, she spent a summer as the theater specialist at the Chicago JCC’s CAMP CHI. Since then, she has been acting and directing with several companies in Houston. Some of her recent acting credits include Theresa De Lamballe in Sankofa Collective’s Marie Antoinette, Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie at Pasadena Little Theater, and Actor in 154 Sonnets with Boiling Point Players. Her directing credits include Angel Street and Alice in Wonderland at The Company Onstage, The Betrothal at The Landing Theater and The Grapes of Wrath at Houston Theater Company. She has appeared in several short films, has appeared in Pronoia Theater’s Magical Lying Hour and is a cast member in Houston’s murder mystery show; The Dinner Detective.

Rebecca was set to open “The Glass Menagerie” at Pasadena Little Theatre when the coronavirus pandemic hit and her plans were halted. In March of 2020, she got a few friends together to do a Zoom reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and put it on YouTube. Since then, Zoom Shakespeare Productions has done over 45 virtual performances with actors from around the world!

In our conversation, we talk about teaching theater to kids and the emotional journey of a child actor. We talk about how early Rebecca’s love for Shakespeare began – she was 12 when she performed in her first Shakespeare play! (What?! Amazing!) We talk about covid’s effect on our creative drive. Rebecca talks about building a worldwide community of performers online with Zoom Shakespeare Productions. This is a great conversation about creating art and pulling something positive out of the darkness.

Support Rebecca Bernstein and Zoom Shakespeare Productions by checking out Zoom Shakespeare’s upcoming shows:
*February 26th, 27th and 28th at 8pm central
Zoom Shakespeare Productions: Othello (the second collab with past guest Alric Davis’s theater, The Sankofa Collective)
*February 13th at 8pm central
Zoom Shakespeare Productions: SECOND MISCAST MONOLOGUES

You can also watch the most recent performance, Zoom Shakespeare’s 50th show – The Taming of the Shrew!

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