POOF! by Lynn Nottage (Re-Release)

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start! 
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

Loureen is at the end of her rope. And now, she's just turned her husband into a pile of ashes.

As Lynn Nottage's funny and wrenching POOF! opens, Loureen (Audra McDonald) has inadvertently made her abusive husband (Keith Randolph Smith) disappear. Enter her friend and neighbor Florence (Tonya Pinkins) to help her pick up the pieces and begin to imagine a life post-Samuel. Directed by Seret Scott, POOF! features Tony Award winners Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill) and Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam; Caroline, or Change). Following the play, the 2-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Sweat, Ruined) joins host Claudia Catania for a conversation about POOF! 's origins - and how she almost never became a playwright.

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 15 Seconds]

MISADVENTURE by Donald Margulies (Re-Release)

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start! 
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

The police picked up teenage Ethan (Timothée Chalamet) for drunkenly wandering down the highway. Now, he's facing the real reckoning for his Misadventure: the wrath of his big sister (Zoe Kazan).

Playwright and director Donald Margulies is a Pulitzer Prize winner for Dinner with Friends and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Sight Unseen and Collected Stories.  

Best known for her leading role in The Big Sick, Zoe Kazan has also played on Broadway and off in A Behanding in Spokane and Angels in America, among others. Her film credits include It’s Complicated, happythankyoumoreplease, and Ruby Sparks. 

Timothée Chalamet has received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Call Me By Your Name.  Other screen credits include Little Women, Lady Bird, and Beautiful Boy. He won acclaim on Broadway in John Patrick Shanley’s Prodigal Son. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [12 Minutes 11 Seconds]

3:59 AM: A DRAG RACE FOR TWO ACTORS by Marco Ramirez

It's summer in the city, and Laz and Hector are both on the run from something they can't quite name. Maybe the sudden need for speed has something to do with Laz's sister, who took off two weeks ago, or with Hector's wife, who just called from the hospital. Featuring Bobby Moreno ("Homeland," Lazarus, PoA's Acorn) and Sean Carvajal (Broadway's King Lear, Jesus Hopped the A Train), Marco Ramirez's 3:59am: a drag race for two actors paints a blazing, late-night portrait of two young men tearing up the open road - and themselves.

After the play, host Claudia Catania joins director Christian Parker (New Neighborhood, Chair of Graduate Theatre at Columbia) and the cast for a behind-the-mic interview.

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 38 Seconds]

2B OR NOT 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold

Sometimes, the most seductive offers come from unexpected messengers. Heartbroken on a Friday night, Franny (Jenn Harris) finds herself confronted by a charming bee (William Jackson Harper) with a buzzy - and delicious - proposal.

Recorded live, 2B OR NOT 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold ("The Good Fight," HBO's "In Treatment) features Harper ("The Good Place," Midsommar, All the Way) and Harris ("High Maintenance," Gayby). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins director Michael Barakiva (Hangar Theatre), the playwright, and the cast for a discussion of unlikely inspiration, in love and art.

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [18 Minutes 33 Seconds]

HEDGEHOG YEARS by Lily Akerman

"Any words spoken by hedgehogs in this play are in translation. Please note that all translations are betrayals..."

Emmy winner Carol Kane (The Princess Bride, Hester Street, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos ("Better Call Saul," Clybourne Park) star in Lily Akerman's Hedgehog Years, the second place winner of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize. When he was five, Theo (Shamos) met his best friend: an excitable hedgehog (Kane) who loves leftovers and longs to go to summer camp. Now, sifting through his memories, Theo must try to make sense of the days when he ran away from home and started living like an animal. Mischievous and heartbreaking, Hedgehog Years is an adventure for anyone who's ever ached to return to childhood. After the play, Tony winner and director Judith Ivey joins the cast, Akerman, and host Claudia Catania to discuss imagination and animal instincts. 

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 50 Seconds]

THE PHILADELPHIA by David Ives

From David Ives (Venus in Fur, The Metromaniacs) comes a madcap satire of Brotherly Love and cosmic misunderstandings. Mark thought he woke up in New York City this morning, so why isn't there a cab, a copy of the Times, or a cold beer in sight? You can't always get what you want, and in this clash of the cities, you might only be able to get the complete opposite - plus a cheesesteak. Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando (Urinetown, Jerry Springer - The Opera,) The Philadelphia features Carson Elrod (Peter & the Starcatcher, The Liar), Jenn Harris (Silence! The Musical), and Matthew Saldivar (Saint Joan, JUNK).  Stay tuned after the play for a behind-the-scenes conversation with host Claudia Catania and the artists. 

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [15 Minutes 04 Seconds]

THE PRESS CONFERENCE by Jessica Dickey

In The Press Conference by Jessica Dickey, inner longing and outer reality come to a hilarious head in the form of a chaotic sheriff's press conference in small town America. Featuring Jay O. Sanders (The Day After Tomorrow, Oliver Stone’s JFK), Will Dagger, and Paul Thureen, directed by Judith Ivey (Tony Award winner for Steaming and Hurlyburly). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [28 Minutes 48 Seconds]

ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS by David Ives

In this week's podcast, two vultures have a bone to pick with Saint Francis. St. Francis Preaches To The Birds by David Ives, features Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Julie Halston (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom), Matthew Saldivar (Peter and the Starcatcher), and Lois Smith (East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces); directed by Tony Award winner, John Rando. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists, moderated by founding Artistic Director Claudia Catania.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [32 Minutes 36 Seconds]

A VERY VERY SHORT PLAY by Jacquelyn Reingold

In this week's podcast, A Very Very Short Play by Jacquelyn Reingold, two passengers of very different statures meet on a plane and take off. It features Tony Nominee Hope Davis (God of Carnage), Richard Kind (Inside Out, Spin City), and Robert Stanton directed by Jonathan Bernstein. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright, director, and founding Artistic Director, Claudia Catania.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [ 13 Minutes 38 Seconds]