Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays Playing on Air
-
- Arts
-
Hear short, contemporary stage plays with first-rate casts. Playing on Air brings together award winners and emerging young talent, and each play is followed by a conversation with the playwrights and cast. Tune in for great American plays with great American actors, hosted and produced by Claudia Catania.
-
BONNET by John Patrick Shanley
In BONNET, the incredibly talented John Patrick Shanley’s marital (and sometimes martial) comedy of manners, Dan (John Turturro) has a few questions for his wife Ava (Debra Messing) when she appears at the breakfast table with a meaningful new accessory.
BONNET, written and directed by the Tony Award, Academy Award, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Shanley himself, was recorded live at Playing on Air’s 10th anniversary benefit celebration at 54 Below and features a feisty score by composer Tom Kochan—plus a bit of adult language! Stay tuned after the play for a rollicking conversation with Shanley, Messing, and Turturro. -
SECOND SIGHT by David Ives
In SECOND SIGHT, a world premiere written and directed by renowned playwright David Ives, a retired historian’s (Danny Burstein) minor surgery brings up major questions that his affable surgeon (Steven Boyer), bemused wife (Susie Essman) and brother (Lee Wilkof) can’t seem to answer. Or is he, with the help of an otherworldly stranger (Brittany K. Allen), just seeing things clearly for the first time?
SECOND SIGHT is directed by Ives and features music by Dan Moses Schreier, musical direction and piano by Alan Johnson, and special guest vocals by Chloe Holgate, Hai-Ting Chinn, Gregory Purnhagen, and Barbara Rearick. Stay tuned after the play for an insightful conversation with Ives, the actors, Founder and Consulting Director Claudia Catania, and Executive Director Yvie Jones. -
MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY by Rehana Lew Mirza
It’s 1907 and a typhoid fever outbreak among New York City’s elite families has led zealous sanitation engineer George Soper (Matt Park) to the home of the haughty Mr. Winthrop (Michael Chernus) and a face-off with Winthrop’s proud, though not very hygienic cook, “Typhoid Mary" Mallon (Catherine Curtin).
Playwright Rehana Lew Mirza’s history-inspired comedy, a 2021 Wordsmith Duo Commission supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and features music by composer Tom Kochan. Stay tuned after the play for a lively conversation with Playing on Air Executive Director Yvie Jones and all the featured artists. -
TYPHOID MARY by Mike Lew
It’s 1915 and another typhoid fever outbreak, this one in a bustling hospital run by an officious Supervisor (Cindy Cheung), has once again led dogged sanitation engineer George Soper (Matt Park) to the hospital’s newest cook, “Typhoid Mary" Mallon (Catherine Curtin). It’s been years since Soper reluctantly released her from a forced quarantine on an inhospitable island. Can Mary finally wash her hands of him for good?
Playwright Mike Lew’s history-inspired comedy TYPHOID MARY, a 2021 Wordsmith Duo Commission supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and features music by composer Tom Kochan. Stay tuned after the play for a lively conversation with Executive Director Yvie Jones and all the featured artists. -
I DON'T KNOW by James McLindon
An old school drill sergeant under fire from his very modern and diverse new recruits desperately longs for simpler times.
Directed by John Giampietro, James McLindon’s short satire I DON’T KNOW features stage and screen favorite Jay O. Sanders as the Drill Sergeant and an ensemble cast of Broadway, off-Broadway, and TV regulars as his new recruits: Bobby Moreno, Sue Jean Kim, Jeff Biehl, and Brittany K. Allen.
After the play, Producing Artistic Director Claudia Catania moderates a conversation with the creative team. -
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. ABERNATHY by Lloyd Suh
In Lloyd Suh’s HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. ABERNATHY, a shared story, formerly repressed, begins to bridge the racial and generational distance between a white American centenarian of the Greatest Generation (Len Cariou) and his Asian American great-grandson (Ken Leung).
Stay tuned after the play for a poignant conversation between the playwright and Founder and Consulting Director Claudia Catania.
Customer Reviews
Grateful! I Love Dominique Morisseau’s works
Thank you so much for sharing these, especially during the covid times I love to be able to escape into a play. Externally grateful for you to have Dominique’s work featured as she is a truly incredible woman.
I Really Enjoy This Podcast
The quality of the productions is outstanding, the discussions with cast, director and authors after the play is a real bonus. And, the plays are original and great fun.
Thank you!
love it!
i'm surprised there are no other reviews for this podcast! i only found it because i'm a fan of timothée chalamet but i was hooked after listening to his episodes. diverse selection of plays that are well-read by the actors, and the discussions afterward always prove to be interesting. highly recommend!