The former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he also has a celebrated career in the commercial theater, having staged both Cats and Les Mis. We spoke in a dressing room at Theatre for a New Audience, right after he led a rehearsal of Pericles, where he asserted that Shakespeare is like Picasso in a way I found not entirely convincing but thoroughly engaging.

•  PERSON: Roger Rees
•  PLACE: Picasso Museum, Paris
•  THING: his iPhone
•  RANDY’S PLACE: All Hallows High School, the Bronx