SKIN by Naveen Bahar Choudhury (Re-Release)
Nobody comes to the campus health clinic looking for love. But as he waits for the nurse to call him in, Robby (Vandit Bhatt) finds himself drawn to Angie (Nitya Vidyasagar), a disenchanted writer with problems of her own. Can two strangers find unexpected poetry in each other? And do they even want to?
SKIN by Naveen Bahar Choudhury (My Name is Yusuf, Ma-Yi Writers Lab) features Bhatt (“Quantico,” Indian Ink, “New Amsterdam”) and Vidyasagar (“Sesame Street,” The Glorious Ones) in a rom-com for cynics. Playwright Naveen Bahar Choudhury joins the play’s director, host Claudia Catania, for a post-performance conversation.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [15 Minutes 36 Seconds]
THE FINAL INTERROGATION OF CEAUȘESCU’S DOG by Warren Leight (Re-Release)
In the wake of the 1989 Romanian Revolution, a dictator’s beloved pet must answer for the crimes of his owner. What’s the cost of staying loyal to the hand that feeds you — especially if that hand belongs to a tyrant?
Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Happy Talk, PoA’s The Blizzard) and Golden Globe winner Ed Asner (Elf, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” PoA’s New York Story) open the 2021 Winter Mini-Season with a sly satire: THE FINAL INTERROGATION OF CEAUȘESCU’S DOG by Tony winner Warren Leight (“In Treatment”, Side Man, “Law & Order: SVU”). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins Asner and the playwright for a behind-the-mic interview.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [11 Minutes 49 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]
THIRD GRADE by Dominique Morisseau
THIRD GRADE 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).
Elementary school teacher Kai is dedicated to helping her students thrive. But when one of her third-graders is brutally bullied, Kai must unexpectedly go to battle with the boy’s father over how best to protect his son.
J. Alphonse Nicholson (Starz’s “P-Valley”, A Soldier’s Play) stars alongside playwright-performer Morisseau. Directed by Stori Ayers (The Last O.G., Chautauqua Theater Company), THIRD GRADE is a searing look at the impossible choices that parents and public school educators are making to protect America’s kids. Later in the episode, the artists join host Claudia Catania to discuss their own third grade experiences and the need to ”go deep.”
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 52 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]
THANKSGIVING FOR ONE by Hamish Linklater
After his hit Nudity Rider, OBIE winner Hamish Linklater returns for another helping of irresistible comedy: the world-premiere commission THANKSGIVING FOR ONE.
Marjorie Mumms (Jean Smart) would rather not be eating her holiday turkey alone at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. She can’t get a decent gin & tonic, her daughter is spending Thanksgiving in another state, and her crazed waiter has cast her in a festive audio play. It might just be time to flip the table – and the script.
With direction by Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Paradise Blue, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine), THANKSGIVING FOR ONE unites actor-writer Linklater (“Legion,” “The Big Short,” The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park) with Emmy winner Jean Smart (HBO’s “Watchmen”, “Fargo,” “Frasier”). After the play, join host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic chat with the artists.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [30 Minutes 4 Seconds]
SCRAPS AND THINGS by Melis Aker
At a laundromat in Istanbul, a chatty seamstress (Carol Kane) and a guarded, young academic (Melis Aker) discover that they're linked, and haunted, by the myth of the same man.
Written by, starring, and featuring original music by Melis Aker (Kilroys List, Ars Nova Play Group), SCRAPS AND THINGS also marks the PoA return of legendary Oscar nominee Carol Kane (The Princess Bride, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” PoA’s Hedgehog Years) and is directed by Neil Pepe, Artistic Director of the Atlantic Theater Company. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the artistic team to discuss personal legacies and how artists divulge their deepest secrets through their work.
SCRAPS AND THINGS was originally commissioned by Atlantic Theater Company as part of their 2018 Middle Eastern MixFest.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [31 Minutes 31 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]
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]