POOF! by Lynn Nottage
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]
CARRY THE ZERO by Christopher Sullivan
CARRY THE ZERO "gets the awkwardness of teenage hookup culture squeamishly right" (NY Times).
Mark and Nicole just had sex for the first time, and now they're facing the long, embarrassing drive back to Nicole's house. Directed by John Giampietro, Christopher Sullivan's short play stars David Gelles (Graceland at LCT3, NBC's "Deception") and Arielle Goldman ("The Knick," "The Marvelous Ms. Maisel") in an intimate and brutally funny look back at sexual awakening in the age of instant messenger and indie rock.
This episode contains adult themes that may not be suitable for some younger listeners.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 25 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]
RULES OF COMEDY by Patricia Cotter
Caroline can't find anything funny -- not her awkward love life, not her jaded standup coach Guy, and definitely not the punchlines she's been reading in 101 Dirty Jokes.
Originally produced at the Humana Festival at the Actors Theater of Louisville, Patricia Cotter's RULES OF COMEDY is a playful, wry look at the lives of comedians when they dare to go offstage and off script. Directed by Jonathan Bernstein, Cotter's short comedy stars Louisa Krause (The Flick, Billions, PoA's Winter Games) and Michael Esper (Trust, The Last Ship, PoA's Anniversary). After the play, stay tuned for an artist interview about the playwright's background in comedy, avoiding the pull towards bitterness, and toeing the line with your material.
"Cotter's script is lush with the knowledge of standup comedy... this play is a scream" - Todd Zeigler, Broadway World Reviews
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes 41 Seconds]
DRUNK CHRISTMAS by James McLindon
In James McLindon’s DRUNK CHRISTMAS, a teenage runaway and a swerving mom crash into each other on Christmas Eve; the night ahead is anything but silent. An unorthodox holiday parable, DRUNK CHRISTMAS stars Tony winner Elizabeth Ashley (Ocean’s 8, The Carpetbaggers) and Susannah Perkins (Network, The Wolves). After the play, director Michael Wilson (The Trip to Bountiful, The Best Man) and the creative team join host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-scenes interview.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [20 Minutes 50 Seconds]
PLAYING GOD by Alan Zweibel
In PLAYING GOD, a divine comedy from SNL's Alan Zweibel (Playing on Air's HAPPY), a self-involved OB-GYN (Scott Adsit of "30 Rock") creates chaos for his pregnant patient (Emily Bergl). Over the objections of a heavenly assistant (Susie Essman of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), God himself (Bill Buell) challenges the doctor to an outrageous squash match for his faith. Following the play, director Fred Berner and host Claudia Catania join the cast and playwright to talk about their roots in comedy.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [23 Minutes 46 Seconds]
I LOVE YOU by Lynn Rosen
Fathers and sons might forgive, but they never forget.
Hear two of Broadway's greatest comedians tackle family drama. A sarcastic alcoholic man in recovery (Steven Boyer) tries to prove himself to his father (Bill Irwin), searching for his own way to say I LOVE YOU.
Directed by David Auburn (Proof, Playing on Air's Gun Show & An Upset) and written by Lynn Rosen (co-founder of The Pool, Resident Playwright at New Dramatists), I LOVE YOU features comedic legend Bill Irwin (Tony winner for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Waiting for Godot, co-creator and star of Old Hats) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, NBC’s "Trial & Error," Time and the Conways). In the after-play discussion with host Claudia Catania, Boyer shares some surprising anecdotes about preshow rituals & his co-star’s past performances.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes 11 Seconds]
THE MYSTERY AT TWICKNAM VICARAGE by David Ives
From the beloved narrator of the Harry Potter audiobooks and the playwright of Venus in Fur comes a wickedly clever whodunit.
In THE MYSTERY AT TWICKNAM VICARAGE, by David Ives, Scotland Yard's Inspector Dexter (Jim Dale) arrives at a country parsonage to investigate the murder of Jeremy Thumpington-Fffienes (David Furr). As Jeremy's wife (Kelly Hutchinson), two lovers (Scarlett Strallen and Arnie Burton), and a suspiciously attractive sofa aid in the investigation, the crime crescendos into an uproarious parody of Masterpiece Theater, Sherlock Holmes, and all things British. After the play, Tony-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, On the Town), Ives, and the cast join host Claudia Catania in a behind-the-scenes interview.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [29 Minutes 30 Seconds]
THE MANDELA EFFECT by Max Baker
Are the Berenstain Bears, Nelson Mandela's death, and Darth Vader's most famous line evidence of a parallel universe?
During lunch with a friend, an actress works herself into a cosmic tizzy about the unsettling MANDELA EFFECT, the collective misremembering of names, news stories, and cultural artifacts. Written and directed by Max Baker (Revolutionary Road, Broadway's 1984, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest), THE MANDELA EFFECT features Geraldine Hughes (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jerusalem, Rocky Balboa), Kelly Hutchinson (Catch Me If You Can, Broadway’s Macbeth) and Bill Buell (Cyrano, Equus, “Boardwalk Empire”). In the post-show discussion, Baker and his cast delve into the bizarre, fascinating phenomenon that inspired the play.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [29 Minutes 11 Seconds]
WOKE by Leland Frankel
In Leland Frankel's modern comedy WOKE, an aspiring Pakistani-American rapper named Sunny crashes into Rebecca, a misguided activist, and the cop pursuing her across Queens. As Rebecca and Sunny are forced to reckon with race, privilege, and art, WOKE questions whose job it is to change the world - and who gets to.
Recorded live at Playwrights Horizons and directed by Mimi O'Donnell (Labyrinth Theater, Gimlet Media), WOKE features Craig muMs Grant ("She's Gotta Have It," HBO’s “Oz”), Tracee Chimo (Bad Jews, “Orange is the New Black,” "People of Earth"), and Debargo Sanyal (Venus, Pearl Theatre's Vanity Fair). After the play, stay tuned for an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with the artists and host Claudia Catania.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 26 Seconds]