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]
TWO DADS by David Auburn
Content warning: this play deals with themes of domestic violence.
"You can’t really influence them. You can maybe adjust the trajectory a little bit, you can try to guide, but after a certain point? No."
Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale ("Will & Grace," Broadway's The Lifespan of a Fact, PoA's Gun Show) and Tony nominee Peter Gallagher ("Grace and Frankie," "The O.C.") star in a live recording of TWO DADS by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner David Auburn (Proof, PoA's An Upset), When two fathers meet at a resort and start swapping stories from the front lines of parenting, their poolside banter takes an unexpected, heartbreaking turn. In turns bitingly funny & disquieting, TWO DADS is directed by Claudia Weill (Girlfriends, PoA's Hate Baby). After the play, the artists join host Claudia Catania for an onstage conversation.
TWO DADS was recorded live at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York.
Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 24 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]
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]
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]
TWO CROWS APART by Max Baker
Unwanted house guests. A murder of crows. Is something brewing in the raw, early morning?
In TWO CROWS APART, Ciarán Hinds (Mance Rayder in "Game of Thrones,"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Geraldine Hughes (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jerusalem, Playing on Air's The Mandela Effect) paint a virtuosic, unfiltered portrait of marriage. After the play, director and playwright Max Baker (Broadway's 1984, The Mandela Effect) and the cast join host Claudia Catania for a discussion of haters, lovers, and animal instincts.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 12 Seconds]
THE HELPERS by Cusi Cram
What do you do when your former therapist starts talking to a cat that isn't there?
When Nate meets his longtime psychiatrist in the park, he realizes that she may be losing it. With tenderness and humor, Cusi Cram's THE HELPERS asks if we can reconnect with the life-altering figures who were never exactly our friends to begin with. THE HELPERS stars Tony & Emmy winner Jane Alexander (Warm Springs,The Great White Hope) and Peter Jacobson (Dr. Chris Taub on “House,” "The Americans"). After the episode, director Mimi O’Donnell (Executive Director, Scripted at Gimlet), Cram, and the cast join host Claudia Catania to discuss pet loyalty, funding for theater, and the art of costume design.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [29 Minutes 21 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]
BEYOND GLORY: CLARENCE SASSER by Stephen Lang
BEYOND GLORY "allows the voices of servicemen to be heard without the filter of the conventions of drama or the prerogatives of deadline-driven journalism" (NY Times).
Since 2004, Tony-nominated actor Stephen Lang (The Speed of Darkness, Avatar) has traveled the nation - and the world - performing BEYOND GLORY, a gripping look into the lives of Medal of Honor-decorated veterans, both on and off the battlefield. A candid, vivid, and unsparing journey behind the front lines, CLARENCE SASSER tells the true story of a young Texan medic on a tour of duty in South Vietnam.
After the play, Lang discusses his adaptation of BEYOND GLORY from Larry Smith's book of the same title, as well as his experiences performing the show for service members and veterans.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [15 Minutes 13 Seconds]
52ND TO BOWERY TO COBBLE HILL, IN BROOKLYN by Chiara Atik
"I just don't like you very much... Just. Middle of the road not liking you, I think."
In Chiara Atik's 52nd to Bowery to Cobble Hill, in Brooklyn, Halle is taking a late-night cab ride through Manhattan with her bubbly acquaintance Alison. Halle didn't mean to blurt out how she really feels about their "friendship," but now they're stuck in traffic on Broadway and 4th, dealing with it. Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Colt Coeur), Atik's modern comedy features Molly Bernard ("Transparent," "Younger") and Sue Jean Kim (Bachelorette, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater).
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [24 Minutes 7 Seconds]