EVENING AT ANAHEIM by James Stevenson (Special Release)
From brilliant New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, and children's book author James Stevenson comes this darkly hilarious reimagining of iconic animated characters - now over the hill and waiting out their golden years at a seedy retirement community in Los Angeles.
Directed by Tony nominee Dana Ivey (The Last Night of Ballyhoo), EVENING AT ANAHEIM features Richard Kind (The Producers, "Spin City"), Karen Ziemba (Tony winner for Contact), Emily Bergl ("Gilmore Girls," Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), and Tom Alan Robbins (The Lion King). Stay tuned after the play for a high spirited conversation with the cast, director, and Playing on Air founder and consulting director Claudia Catania.
EVENING AT ANAHEIM was co-presented with Playwrights Horizons and recorded live in New York City.
This episode was given a special release in honor of James Stevenson.
Download the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting platform—or just stream below! [35 Minutes 58 Seconds]
OPEN ARMS by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
In Open Arms by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, an impending 50th birthday party sets off calamity over coffee and Kindles. Open Arms is directed by Tony Award winner John Rando and features Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed - TONY, Airline Highway - TONY nomination), and Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - TONY). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania, the playwright, director, and cast.
Download on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [20 Minutes 51 Seconds]
Gun Show by David Auburn (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
From David Auburn, Pulitzer and Tony winner for PROOF, comes a riveting, witty world-premiere commission for Playing on Air: GUN SHOW. In the aftershock of a national tragedy, a congenial double-date morphs into a battle of the sexes. As tempers blaze, two couples must reconsider the possibility of safety in a divided nation. Along with Emmy winners Bobby Cannavale (“Will & Grace,” “Boardwalk Empire”) and Martha Plimpton (triple Tony nominee, “The Real O’Neals,” “The Good Wife”), the star cast features Eisa Davis, David Furr, and Lucy DeVito. Gun Show was directed by Wendy Goldberg and performed in front of a live audience at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.
Gun Show was commissioned by Playing on Air with the support of The Gilchrist Foundation and Phyllis and Joel Ehrlich.
Download on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [31 Minutes 56 Seconds]
THANKSGIVING FOR ONE by Hamish Linklater (Re-Release)
After his hit NUDITY RIDER, OBIE winner Hamish Linklater returns for another helping of irresistible comedy: the world-premiere commission THANKSGIVING FOR ONE.
Marjorie Mumms (Jean Smart) would rather not be eating her holiday turkey alone at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. She can’t get a decent gin & tonic, her daughter is spending Thanksgiving in another state, and her crazed waiter has cast her in a festive audio play. It might just be time to flip the table – and the script.
With direction by Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Paradise Blue, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine), THANKSGIVING FOR ONE unites actor-writer Linklater (“Legion,” “The Big Short,” The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park) with Emmy winner Jean Smart (HBO’s “Watchmen”, “Fargo,” “Frasier”). After the play, join host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic chat with the artists.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 4 Seconds]
THE WAYFARER'S CODE by Brittany K. Allen
Airstreams, Winnebagos, Chevys, the blood brothers of RV circuit, take us from the shackles of modernity to the freedom of the road! Two couples who might not otherwise cross paths befriend each other in a Texas RV Park, and declare their mutual independence.
THE WAYFARER’S CODE, another world premiere James Stevenson Commission, is written by playwright Brittany K. Allen and features Frankie Faison (“The Wire,” Fences), Caitlin O'Connell (The Crucible, The Heiress), Robin de Jesús (The Boys in the Band, In the Heights), and Calvin Leon Smith (“The Underground Railroad,” “The Deuce”). THE WAYFARER’S CODE is directed by Marchánt Davis (Ain’t No’ Mo’, The Great Society) and features music by composer Tom Kochan (Almost, Maine, The Elephant Man). Graphic design is by Harrison Gale. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a behind the scenes interview.
Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below!
OWNER OCCUPY by Jonathan Spector
In Alvin and Mia’s neighborhood, property owners flip houses or parcel them out for AirBnBs. No one’s investing in the community. So they’re thrilled by the arrival of a new homeowner — a tech entrepreneur who’s rich, ambitious, charismatic, and strangely pale. And he’s an excellent drinking companion. Scotch, anyone?
A comedy about bloodsuckers of all kinds, OWNER OCCUPY stars David Patrick Kelly (Twin Peaks), David Furr (Noises Off), and Kalyne Coleman (Lessons in Survival). It’s written by Jonathan Spector (Eureka Day), and directed by Taibi Magar (Capsule).
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [43 Minutes ,16 Seconds]
DUMMY DIALOGUE by David Ives
Norman and Max may be dummies, but they’re no fools. Offstage, ventriloquist dummies are the same as anyone else — smack-talking their bosses, worrying about being behind the times — but beneath their hard wooden exteriors lurk sensitive, philosophical, funny souls.
A world premiere by a master of the short form, David Ives (The School for Lies, Venus in Fur), DUMMY DIALOGUE stars Richard Kind (A Serious Man, “The Goldbergs”) and Tony winner Gabriel Ebert (Matilda the Musical). It is directed by celebrated Tony winner Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Venus in Fur).
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 19 Seconds]
I THINK IT’S WORTH POINTING OUT THAT I’VE BEEN VERY SERIOUS THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE DISCUSSION OR, DAVE AND JULIA ARE STUCK IN A TREE by Mallory Jane Weiss
When runaway snow tubes send a dad and his grown daughter flying off a cliff, they’re left hanging on for dear life -- and testing the limits of a punchline. This winning comedy, recipient of the 2020 James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, cheerfully prods family bonds between parents and their grown children.
Written by Mallory Jane Weiss and directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God), I THINK IT’S WORTH POINTING OUT… is a world premiere starring real-life father and daughter Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”) and Lucy DeVito (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” ). It was first performed live at Playing on Air’s 2020 Digital Holiday Benefit.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 4 Seconds]
THANKSGIVING FOR ONE by Hamish Linklater
After his hit Nudity Rider, OBIE winner Hamish Linklater returns for another helping of irresistible comedy: the world-premiere commission THANKSGIVING FOR ONE.
Marjorie Mumms (Jean Smart) would rather not be eating her holiday turkey alone at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. She can’t get a decent gin & tonic, her daughter is spending Thanksgiving in another state, and her crazed waiter has cast her in a festive audio play. It might just be time to flip the table – and the script.
With direction by Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Paradise Blue, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine), THANKSGIVING FOR ONE unites actor-writer Linklater (“Legion,” “The Big Short,” The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park) with Emmy winner Jean Smart (HBO’s “Watchmen”, “Fargo,” “Frasier”). After the play, join host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic chat with the artists.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 4 Seconds]
HOW TO BE A WIDOW by Tori Keenan-Zelt
On a sweltering afternoon in 1864, two Civil War widows meet in a graveyard. Mirabelle is trying to paint a pineapple; Annaleigh needs to make sure that her husband hasn’t turned into a vampire. Together, the women begin to imagine the futures that might await them beyond corsets, lockets, and bullets.
HOW TO BE A WIDOW by Emmy nominee Tori Keenan-Zelt (Kilroys List, Bay Area Playwrights Festival) features Mary Bacon (Lost Girls, Coal Country) and Naomi Lorrain (“Orange is the New Black,” Behind the Sheet). Lucie Tiberghien (Molière in the Park) directs. After the play, Tiberghien joins the cast, the playwright, and host Claudia Catania to discuss how the rules of womanhood and widowhood have — and haven’t — changed from the Civil War to today.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [23 Minutes 58 Seconds]