BEYOND GLORY: JOHN WILLIAM FINN by Stephen Lang
Content advisory: this episode contains language and themes that may not be appropriate for younger listeners.
"One of the richest, most complex pieces of acting I've seen in my theater going life."
- The Wall Street Journal, on Stephen Lang's Beyond Glory
A special release for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, BEYOND GLORY: JOHN WILLIAM FINN is part of the longer work Beyond Glory, by Stephen Lang. On the morning of December 7, 1941, when the attack on Pearl Harbor began, Medal of Honor recipient John William Finn was in bed with his wife. This is the sailor's own account of that day - and the life that came before and after - as adapted and performed across the world by Lang (Avatar, "Salem"). This installment also features Jeremy Davidson (Netflix's "Seven Seconds," "Army Wives").
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [18 Minutes 44 Seconds]
AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET by Jonathan Bernstein
The curtain is up. The show is in progress. But for two stage managers calling the cues behind the scenes, the night's most dazzling romance isn't playing out onstage. Written and directed by Jonathan Bernstein (PoA's Rules of Comedy & A Very Very Short Play), AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET stars Callie Thorne (“Necessary Roughness,” “Rescue Me,” “The Wire”) and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos (Broadway's Clybourne Park, "Better Call Saul," PoA's Hedgehog Years). Stay tuned after the performance for an in-studio conversation with the artists, moderated by host Claudia Catania.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [20 Minutes 13 Seconds]
MY HUSBAND by Paul Rudnick
A wedding isn't a competition - until the mothers get involved.
After gay marriage is legalized in New York, one meddling matriarch will stop at nothing to get her son to the altar. Starring Michael Urie (Broadway's Torch Song, "Ugly Betty," PoA's A Departure) and Tony winner Harriet Harris ("Frasier," "Desperate Housewives," Phantom Thread), MY HUSBAND by Paul Rudnick (The New Yorker, the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada) is directed by Claudia Weill (Girlfriends, HBO's "Girls," PoA's Hate Baby). After the short comedy, host Claudia Catania joins the artists for a behind-the-scenes discussion.
MY HUSBAND was recorded live at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [19 Minutes 58 Seconds]
NEW YORK STORY by Mike Reiss
"It's not luck, it's fate. You, me - a couple of old showbiz pros. At the same place, at the same time..."
When a slick comedian (Ed Asner) and leading lady (Elizabeth Ashley), now both in their seventies, meet by chance in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the retired performers catch a glimmer of the magic they've been missing in their daily lives.
Also featuring Daphne Rubin-Vega and Peter Jacobson and directed by Michael Wilson, "The Simpsons" writer Mike Reiss's NEW YORK STORY is a wryly funny answer to the question, "Whatever happened to that guy?" After the play, the cast joins host Claudia Catania to chat about Vaudevillians and the tenacity showbiz requires.
New York Story was supported by Don and Linda Silpe.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [31 Minutes 27 Seconds]
HATE BABY by Gracie Gardner
Content advisory: this episode contains themes that may not be appropriate for younger listeners.
Sigrid has a new little bundle of joy, and she's worried that he might be... evil. Today, she's tagging out: this baby is her neighbor Darla's problem now. Just in time for Mother's Day, Gracie Gardner's HATE BABY, the winner of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize for Comedic Short Plays, delves into the often-gross, ever-changing world of new parenthood. HATE BABY features Emily Bergl (Broadway's The Ferryman, PoA's Evening at Anaheim), OBIE winner April Matthis (Elevator Repair Service, PoA's Wanting North), and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA's An Upset). After the play, the artists join host Claudia Catania and director Claudia Weill for an onstage interview.
HATE BABY was recorded live at the 52nd Street Project in New York City.
Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [19 Minutes 37 Seconds]
MILTON BRADLEY by Peter Sagal
How do you eulogize a woman who everybody hated?
In Peter Sagal's MILTON BRADLEY, Rabbi Schoenberg (Michael Stuhlbarg), faced with this dilemma, turns to a metaphor: the game of Life (the board game, that is).
Featuring Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name, The Shape of Water) and Bob Balaban (Gosford Park, Christopher Guest & Wes Anderson ensemble regular), MILTON BRADLEY is a darkly funny exploration of where we're all headed one day. Stay tuned after the play for a conversation with playwright Peter Sagal (of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! fame) and the play’s director, host Claudia Catania.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 51 Seconds]
THE BLIZZARD by David Ives
With a storm raging outside, a horror screenwriter (Jesse Eisenberg) and his wife (Heidi Schreck) are cozying up for a romantic weekend in the middle of nowhere. The weather outside is frightful -- and so is the mysterious couple that just arrived on their doorstep.
Directed by John Rando and starring Eisenberg (The Social Network, Playing on Air's A Little Part of All of Us), Schreck (What the Constitution Means to Me), Alfredo Narciso (Time and the Conways, PoA's West of Stupid and Mere Mortals), and Sarah Sokolovic ("Homeland," PoA's Anniversary), David Ives's THE BLIZZARD will send a shiver down your spine.
Stay tuned after this special bonus episode for a conversation with host Claudia Catania and the artists about Agatha Christie fandom and what makes art creepy.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [19 Minutes 54 Seconds]
HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE by Cary Gitter
In Cary Gitter’s romantic comedy HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE, it's 1933, and a young Jewish immigrant returns to his Polish hometown in search of a wife. He sets his sights on Chava, a savvy, sarcastic shopgirl in a local hat store.
The New York Times calls the play "a gorgeous high note...a Jewish screwball romance set in Poland in 1933. Unlikely, yes, but also uproarious and beautifully cast, with tone-perfect direction by Colette Robert."
The sparkling cast features Eli Gelb (Indignation, The Squid and the Whale) and Lucy DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Girls,” Hulu’s “DeadBeat”). After the play, host Claudia Catania moderates a conversation with 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! [18 Minutes 18 Seconds]
Winter Games by Rachel Bonds
As stray cats prowl and dough rises, two sardonic twenty-somethings flirt with dreams of Olympic glory - or maybe just escape from the small town bakery where they work. Penned by Rachel Bonds, a recipient of the prestigious Tow Foundation Playwriting Residency grant, it features Louisa Krause (lead of STARZ’s “The Girlfriend Experience,” Annie Baker’s The Flick) and Blake DeLong (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Public’s Illyria). Winter Games is directed by Portia Krieger. 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! [15 Minutes 26 Seconds]
Hate the Loser Inside by Jon Kern
In Jon Kern's short comedy Hate the Loser Inside, a college football coach is tackling a local television commercial and fumbling more than his team ever did - until he finally scores. Kern has written for "The Simpsons" and “Son of Zorn, and his plays include Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them. Director R.J. Tolan heads EST's Youngblood program and co-directed the off-Broadway revival of Godspell.
The cast features off-Broadway and regional favorite Brad Bellamy (Dallas Theater Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Theater Center), seen onscreen in “30 Rock" and “Law & Order: SVU.” Graeme Gillis, the co-Artistic Director of Youngblood, is a member of The Actor’s Studio and Ensemble Studio Theater. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the whole 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! [19 Minutes 01 Seconds]