We all know the ghost in Hamlet—the murdered King of Denmark whose specter sets the tragic events of the play in motion. But actor Hiran Abeysekera and director Robert Hastie had more to contend with than just the old king’s ghost with their production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, which arrives at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 19.

Last fall, Anthony Roth Costanzo thrilled audiences at the Little Island outdoor amphitheater in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park with a delightfully bravura performance, singing all the parts in a production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. In a change of pace, Costanzo returns to Little Island this month to take on the titular role in Galas, an iconic stage work by the late Charles Ludlam, playwright, actor, director, and founder of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company.

Adil Mansoor, primarily a theater director and educator, and Shayok Mish Chowdhury, also an Obie-winning director and the author of Public Obscenities, have never had the opportunity to meet and discuss each others’ work prior to this conversation with the Brooklyn Rail.