Top of the Pods
This week on the (virtual) air, the focus was on L.A. and New York.
American Theatre‘s podcasts feature timely and timeless conversations and interviews in and about the theatre field.
A podcast where playwrights talk to playwrights about the things usually left unsaid: what irks, agitates, motivates, inspires, and makes writers tick. Brian James Polak hosts. Guests have included David Adjmi, Antoinette Nwandu, Jen Silverman, Will Arbery, Korde Arrington Tuttle, Clare Barron, Chisa Hutchinson, Rebecca Gilman, Isaac Gomez, Ike Holter, and many more.
This independently produced podcast from actor-writer-activist Woodzick brings listeners interviews with unbridled talent and cultural trailblazers from across the country, including Sara Porkalob, Jill Sobule, jaamil olawale kosoko, John Jarboe, Mykai Eastman, and more.
This occasional podcast features the editors of American Theatre in conversation with each other and with special guests.
A monthly (or sometimes more) podcast from New York about theatre in America, featuring drama critics Peter Marks, Terry Teachout, and Elisabeth Vincentelli. Guests have included Tracy Letts, Conor McPherson, Lila Neugebauer, Samira Wiley, Kate Hamill, Sam Hunter, Soraya Nadia McDonald, Helen Shaw, Diep Tran, Lily Janiak, Tamilla Woodard, and more.
This podcast from Diep Tran and Jose Solís (discontinued in June 2020; new independent site here) brought a person-of-color perspective to reviews of and interviews with theatre artists in New York City.
This week on the (virtual) air, the focus was on L.A. and New York.
It’s the all-Public-Theater edition of Offscript! Senior editor Eliza Bent joins us to discuss Young Jean Lee’s newest show “Straight White Men” at the Public Theater. Then Suzy, Rob and Eliza sound off on “Fortress of Solitude,” also at the Public, and why some musical conventions work sometimes but not others. (We promise next edition of Offscript will be a little less NY-centric.)
Brass tacks and emotional outbursts highlight this week on the nation’s theatre podcasts.
Gender parity, theatre awards, the mystery of QR codes and our robot future are some of the themes hit by this week’s top podcasts.
This episode of OffScript features an interview with James McNeel, managing director of Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia. He was in town/New York City for the Off-Broadway premiere of CATF’s “Uncanny Valley,” by Thomas Gibbons. Assistant editor Diep Tran talks with him about new plays and robots.
Also, the editors of AMERICAN THEATRE discuss succession of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and Suzy and Diep get into a heated debate over a “Jacuzzi.” Come on in, the water’s warm!
Theatre podcasts worth listening to this week.
“It’s the bitch of living.” Except not really. In this episode of Offscript, we talk to arts reporter Linda Buchwald about “Spring Awakening” at Deaf West Theatre, which uses deaf actors and sign language to add a new dimension to the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater musical about teenage desires in 19th-century Germany. Plus our editors argue over gender parity and the politics of representation.
Let’s Durang it up! In this revamp of our Offscript podcast, we talk to Christopher Durang, whose play ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ is the most-produced play of the 2014-15 season.
AMERICAN THEATRE looks back on the 38th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, which featured new plays by Kimber Lee, Lucas Hnath and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. AMERICAN THEATRE’s senior editor Rob Weinert-Kendt sat down over Skype for a podcast conversation with two theatre critics: Erin Keane—arts reporter and theatre critic from Louisville’s NPR station WFPL—and Bill Hirschman, editor and critic of Florida Theater On Stage. They discussed the festival’s offerings, if art for art’s sake is a good idea and the critic’s obligation to the playwright.
Episode 9 of OffScript celebrates the 30th birthday of the magazine, and features AMERICAN THEATRE editor-in-chief Jim O’Quinn and publisher Terry Nemeth, who have been with the magazine since its birth in 1984. They reminisce with senior editor Eliza Bent about early mishaps, their favorite articles and the future of the magazine.