Austin Tichenor
Austin Tichenor is an actor, playwright, director, and co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, for whom he’s written ten stage comedies that include William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) and Hamlet’s Big Adventure! (a prequel), (all co-written with his RSC Partner Reed Martin). He's also the co-author (with Reed) of Pop-Up Shakespeare (illustrated by Jennie Maizels), and Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired (abridged).
Austin has acted and directed off-Broadway, in the West End, and on stages around the world, including the Kennedy Center; the Folger Shakespeare Theater; Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; the Tony-winning Lookingglass in Chicago and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; and London's Gielgud, Criterion, and Arts Theatres. His many TV credits include recurring and guest-starring roles on The West Wing, 24, Alias, Ally McBeal, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Gilmore Girls, Felicity, The X-Files, Chicago Med, and ER.
Austin has played Claudius in both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Richard Burbage in the midwest premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre; the Prince of Aragon in The Merchant of Venice for the Back Room Shakespeare Project; and Hamlet, Sir Toby Belch, Cleopatra, Juliet, and Shakespeare himself in William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). He also played Cardinal Pandulph, Duke Senior, and Pandarus in Robert Myles’ productions of King John, As You Like It, and Troilus and Cressida for The Show Must Go Online in 2020. Recent directorial credits include Twelfth Night at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Much Ado About Nothing at Pacific University.
Austin writes about the intersection of Shakespeare and popular culture for the Folger Shakespeare Library, and has contributed to the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Shakespeare; co-created and co-starred in the six-part BBC World Service comedy series The Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show; and produces and hosts the long-running (every week since 2006) Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast.
Acting and Heightened Text
Education: MFA, Boston University
Office: SB 238
E-mail: atichenor@niu.edu
