Tennessee by John Patrick Shanley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
In Tennessee by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Outside Mullingar), a small-town, wannabe musician seeks an escape plan from the town's resident psychic. The audio play stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (our audio production of Misadventure, Dune, Beautiful Boy, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, and Shanley's Prodigal Son on Broadway) and Caitlin FitzGerald (“Succession,” “Masters of Sex," It's Complicated).
Stay tuned after the play for a behind-the-scenes conversation with playwright/director John Patrick Shanley, Caitlin FitzGerald, Timothée Chalamet, and founder and consulting director Claudia Catania. Tennessee was recorded and co-presented in front of a live audience at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York Public Radio.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or just stream below! [24 Minutes 18 Seconds]
BANSHEE by John Patrick Shanley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar) wrote and directed this short play about a banshee, a fantastical Irish spirit, who pays an ailing teacher a visit and makes him an otherworldly proposal. The mystical comedy features Geraldine Hughes (THE MANDELA EFFECT, TWO CROWS APART, Jerusalem, Gran Torino) and Aidan Quinn (“Elementary,” Michael Collins, Desperately Seeking Susan). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright, actors, and founder and consulting director Claudia Catania that includes a few delightfully surprising responses.
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! [ 25 Minutes 46 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]
THE THOMPSONS by Andrew Massey
Ah, the holiday season! The wine is flowing. In-laws are gossiping in the kitchen. And the Thompson family is indulging in their most bizarre Thanksgiving ritual: the Turkey Trot. Mischievous and tender, THE THOMPSONS by Andrew Massey (EST’s Youngblood) is a comedy about the wacky families we love, break, and remake.
Arin Arbus (TFANA, Broadway’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) directs an all-star cast of PoA regulars: William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place,” PoA’s 2B Or Not 2B), Sue Jean Kim (Office Hour, PoA’s 52nd to Bowery…), April Matthis (Toni Stone, PoA’s G.O.A.T.), and Amy Ryan (“The Office,” PoA’s Clean Slate). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the cast, director, and playwright to discuss Thanksgiving traditions and family dynamics.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes 30 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]
G.O.A.T. by Ngozi Anyanwu
Jay, Bonita, and Row have gathered on the rooftop to burn the sage and drink the sacred Gatorade. To pray to the goddess Nike, and the power of Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. To summon victory for their beloved champion: Serena Williams, the Greatest Of All Time.
Directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord) and featuring original music by Jeremy Lloyd (Marian Hill, clear eyes), G.O.A.T. is an electric celebration of Black Girl Magic, on and off the court. Denise Manning (Daddy, PoA's Wild and Precious Life), Obie winner April Matthis (Toni Stone, PoA's Hate Baby), and playwright/performer Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen) star - and Drama Desk nominee Bobby Moreno cameos - in the final episode of Playing on Air’s Spring 2020 season. After the episode, stay tuned for host Claudia Catania’s conversation with the artists, about ritual, their multi-hyphenate talents, and the G.O.A.T. herself, Serena Williams.
G.O.A.T was nominated for a 2021 Drama League Award for Outstanding Audio Theater Production.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [22 Minutes 18 Seconds]
IF YOU WIN by Emily Chadick Weiss
John Lithgow ("The Crown," "3rd Rock from the Sun," Hillary and Clinton) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA's An Upset) star in Emily Chadick Weiss's IF YOU WIN.
On the eve of a local election, candidate Hal Wheelwright (Lithgow) receives an unexpected offer from his opponent's son (Boyer). Is this an act of political sabotage or a blessing in disguise?
After the play, director Giovanna Sardelli (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Atlantic's Describe the Night) joins Chadick Weiss (Ensemble Studio Theatre, “The Share”) and the cast for a behind-the-scenes interview moderated by host Claudia Catania.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [22 Minutes 27 Seconds]
HUMAN RESOURCES by Jason Gray Platt
Playing on Air is proud to present the winner of our 2019 James Stevenson Prize: Jason Gray Platt’s HUMAN RESOURCES.
Tech start-up Diddly has a problem: their staff is whiter than a Coldplay concert in Vermont. Fortunately, Human Resources has a plan to “improve” Diddly’s corporate culture —at least in theory.
A biting satire about virtue signaling and elephant milk, HUMAN RESOURCES features Tony winner Julie White (Airline Highway, A Doll’s House, Part 2) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand To God, PoA’s An Upset). Jade King Carroll (Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth, Proof of Love) directs the world premiere, recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the ensemble for a discussion about comedy, identity, and the absurd.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes]
CLEAN SLATE by Rajiv Joseph
CLEAN SLATE by Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Guards at the Taj) is Part Two of a thriller that begins with last week’s episode, Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS. Listen to Part One here.
Special Agents Angie Mallinson and Vince Lazar just want to assure you that nothing horrible has happened at the KLWP News Hour. You may have heard rumors about a band of Kabuki-masked killers. You may have heard whispers about a mysterious vigilante group. Ignore them — no matter what you think you saw.
Oscar nominee Amy Ryan ("The Office," PoA’s Fifth Planet) and Eden Marryshow (Broadway's Ink, PoA’s Night Vision) join Jeremy Shamos, Eisa Davis, and director Mark Brokaw from last week’s FAKE NEWS. After the show, host Claudia Catania joins the artists to talk about what gives them hope and how they think this story really ends.
CLEAN SLATE by Pulitzer finalist and Obie winner Rajiv Joseph is a world premiere through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes 41 Seconds]
FAKE NEWS by Doug Wright
Content Warning: Violence
Anchors Bob Tunley and Fran Mercer are the iconic voices behind radio’s KLWP News Hour — but today, they’ve become the story. As bizarre and menacing soundbites interrupt their live broadcast, the studio crew begins to fear that they’re under attack.
Mark Brokaw (Broadway’s How I Learned to Drive, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella) directs Obie winner Eisa Davis (Passing Strange, PoA’s Gun Show), Tony nominees Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park, PoA’s Hedgehog Years) and Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA’s Human Resources), and Tony winner Katie Finneran (Noises Off, PoA’s La Traviata) in FAKE NEWS by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, PoA’s Wildwood Park). After the episode, host Claudia Catania talks with the artists about writing plays specifically for audio and how these genius actors were able to play around with different accents and impressions on such short notice.
Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS is Part One of a two-part thriller that continues next week with Rajiv Joseph’s CLEAN SLATE. Both pieces are world premieres through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [23 Minutes 15 Seconds]