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]
BIRD by Rachel Bonds
The year is 2030. On the snowy outskirts of DC, an underground musician (Tony winner Julie White) and her pragmatic teenage daughter (Erin Wilhelmi) battle the forces, seen and unseen, that threaten their survival.
Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Colt Coeur, PoA’s 52nd to Bowery…), Bird is a world-premiere recording and, in partnership with the Axe-Houghton Foundation, a Wordsmith Duo commission.
After their previous run as mother and daughter in Broadway’s A Doll’s House, Part 2, White (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, “Alpha House”) and Wilhelmi (To Kill A Mockingbird, The Crucible) reunite in this final episode of the 2020 Fall Season. After the play, they join Rachel Bonds, Campbell-Holt, and host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic interview.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 32 Seconds]
JEZELLE THE GAZELLE by Dominique Morisseau
JEZELLE THE GAZELLE continues Playing on Air’s yearlong celebration of MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ winner Dominique Morisseau (The Detroit Project, Pipeline, Ain't Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations).
Jezelle is ready to prove that she’s the best runner on her block: young, fierce, and definitely faster than any boy. But is she fast enough to outrun grief and claim her greatness? Starring Mirirai Sithole (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, “Black Mirror”), JEZELLE THE GAZELLE by Dominique Morisseau is directed by Goldie E. Patrick (Detroit Public Theatre, Kennedy Center).
This clear-eyed coming of age story — originally created for the 10 x 10 Festival at American Theater Company — was recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center in November 2019. Stay tuned after the performance for an onstage conversation between the artists and host Claudia Catania.
Playing on Air is honored to help middle schoolers across the country learn the power of great theater! We are proud to freely share short, engaging plays, made by America’s best theater artists, that are appropriate for younger students everywhere. JEZELLE THE GAZELLE is one of several recommended episodes for middle school classrooms, chosen for teachers, by teachers! A middle school curriculum [PDF], created by Dan Rubins, is available for use in onsite and virtual classrooms.
If you’re an educator interested in additional resources, please reach out via Information for Educators or email us at: education@playingonair.org.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 7 Seconds]
THE COURTSHIP OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH by Lucas Hnath
“Back when I was a kid my mother took me to see a fortune teller for my 12th birthday…
She said that when I am in my 20’s I will reach two paths.
Two paths J. And I don’t know which one to pick.”
In the parking lot behind a Houston strip club, a young dancer considers a proposal from an octogenarian billionaire. Before the world devours her story, she has to choose it.
Written and directed by OBIE winner Lucas Hnath (Broadway’s Hillary and Clinton, A Doll’s House, Part 2), THE COURTSHIP OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH features Quincy Tyler Bernstine (“Power,” Marys Seacole) and David Patrick Kelly (“Twin Peaks,” Thérèse Raquin). After the performance, the artists join host Claudia Catania to discuss theater in the age of Quarantine, directing your own plays, and the double-edged sword of celebrity.
THE COURTSHIP OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH was first produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of The Tens, presented by the Professional Training Company.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [27 Minutes 56 Seconds]
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]
LA TRAVIATA by Lisa D'Amour
Debra Monk, Johanna Day, Katie Finneran, and Zach Appelman star in the world-premiere audio production of LA TRAVIATA by Lisa D’Amour (Pulitzer Prize finalist for Detroit, Airline Highway).
Outside of New Orleans, three sisters have gathered to celebrate Mother's Day and lament the scandalous fate of their poor, wayward nephew. But beneath their breezy porch gossip, there are family secrets of operatic proportions waiting to be uncovered. Tony & Emmy winner Monk ("Mozart in the Jungle," "NYPD Blue"), OBIE winner Day (Sweat, Proof), double Tony winner Finneran (Noises Off & Promises, Promises), and Appelman ("Sleepy Hollow," War Horse) are directed by Michael Wilson (Broadway's The Trip To Bountiful, PoA's An Upset).
After the episode, join the artists & host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic discussion about Southern storytellers and family dynamics.
LA TRAVIATA was commissioned by Playing on Air with the support of the Pearson Family Foundation.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [28 Minutes 48 Seconds]
THE GOODNESS OF YOUR HEART by David Ives
What would you sacrifice for a lifelong pal? A kidney? Your safety? $900 -- for a very specific television?
From acclaimed wordsmith David Ives (Venus in Fur, PoA's The Blizzard), THE GOODNESS OF YOUR HEART asks what the limits of friendship really are. Directed by Tony winner John Rando (Broadway's On the Town, PoA's The Philadelphia), the cast features comedic favorites Arnie Burton (Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher, PoA's The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage) and Rick Holmes (Broadway's Cabaret, "Fosse/Verdon"). After the play, the artists join host Claudia Catania to discuss morality, childishness, and the fruits of generosity.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [27 Minutes 55 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]
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]
AN UPSET by David Auburn
Content advisory: this episode contains explicit language and sexual references.
When a cocky, jaded tennis star (David Harbour) loses a pivotal match to an inexperienced Romanian player (Steven Boyer), the two men lock into an unlikely battle for dominance on and off the court. Over the course of three encounters on the Grand Slam circuit, AN UPSET by David Auburn (Tony & Pulitzer winner for Proof) peers irreverently, and explosively, behind the locker room door.
After the play, Tony nominees Harbour ("Stranger Things," Hellboy, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Boyer (Hand to God, "Trial & Error") join director Michael Wilson (PoA's Wildwood Park, Broadway's The Trip To Bountiful) and host Claudia Catania for an exclusive talk-back about working with your idols and what it means to be an amateur.
AN UPSET 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! [29 Minutes 02 Seconds]