Sun, 24 December 2017
A meet-cute in a coffee shop contains multitudes, in this entertaining, experimental short, now a classic, from David Ives (Venus in Fur). It is from his collection of shorts called IT'S ALL IN THE TIMING and it couldn't be more about how everything in life is indeed all in the timing. But it takes you to another dimension first. Fun. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: SURE_THING_for_iTunes_RERELEASE.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 10 December 2017
Presents are wrapped, carols are playing - and the department store Santa is asking some awkward questions. In the comedy If We're Using A Surrogate, How Come I'm The One With Morning Sickness? by Marco Pennette ("Ugly Betty", "Desperate Housewives"). In Motherhood Out Loud, conceived by Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein, a gay dad rants and reminisces about having a baby. Performed by James Lecesne (winner of the Academy Award for Trevor, founder of The Trevor Project, writer and star of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, Word of Mouth) the episode also includes a behind-the-scenes artist interview with host Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: If_Were_Using_a_Surrogate_Podcast.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:00am EDT |
Sun, 12 November 2017
For Veterans Day, Memorial Day or any day, NICK BACON is a powerful tribute to military valor, written and performed by stage and screen star Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch in Avatar). In this excerpt from his full-length play Beyond Glory, Stephen portrays Nick Bacon, a Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Medal Of Honor. Listen as the soldier recounts, in his own words, the incident that earned him America’s highest military honor for valor beyond the call of duty. Based on Larry Smith’s book of the same title, the segment is followed by conversation between Mr. Lang and Playing on Air's host, Claudia Catania.
Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: Nick_Bacon_CORRECTED_Single-Remaster.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 6:30am EDT |
Tue, 24 October 2017
In Happy by Alan Zweibel (“SNL,” Curb Your Enthusiasm,” 700 Sundays with Billy Crystal) a baseball fan (Scott Adsit of “30 Rock” and “Veep”) makes a pilgrimage to the home of a former baseball star who is now a janitor in Delray Beach, Florida (Frankie Faison of “The Wire”) and asks him to sign a very special ball. After a fair amount of humor and misunderstanding, the power of baseball to bond fathers, sons and men emerges. Directed by Fred Berner (Executive Producer/Director, "Law & Order"). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by Host Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 8 October 2017
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month, please listen to Waking Up, an insightful short by Cori Thomas. It juxtaposes the experiences of an American urbanite's and an African villager's struggle with breast cancer. Although the details from diagnosis to ultimate triumph are vastly different, their stories underscore the universality of the human spirit. It features Lynnette Freeman and Amy Staats. Conversation between host, Claudia Catania, and playwright, Cori Thomas, follows the play. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 24 September 2017
In the comic TASHA WALKS by Kim Merrill, a young man (Steven Boyer, Tony nominee for Hand to God) returns dejected from his bomb of a vacation with his fiancee who has called the wedding off, to find his neighbor (4 time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason) has lost his fiancee's cherished cat. Directed by Brian Mertes and recorded live at BRIC Arts Media House in Downtown Brooklyn. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by Host Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: Teaming_Up_-_Tasha_Walks_Single.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 10 September 2017
In the autobiographical GETTING IN by Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner Frank Gilroy (The Subject Was Roses), a scrappy GI, gleefully recalls how he went from truancy, almost flunking high school, the trenches of WWII, to Dartmouth College, on the GI Bill that changed his life. Getting In by Frank Gilroy (Tony, Pulitzer Prize) featuring eleven! - David Beach, Kim Benheim, Matthew Cowles, Caroline Gilroy, Michael Godere, Carter Hudson, Lillian Laserson, Thomas Lyons, David Margulies, Fiana Toibin and Jack Wetherall! Short play, long cast. Interview with Pulitzer and Tony winner, Frank Gilroy, follows the play.
Direct download: Getting_In_by_Frank_Gilroy_Podcast_Rerelease.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 20 August 2017
The curtain is up. The play is in progress. We hear two stage managers. Calling the show. A man and a woman. At The Water’s Edge, Wet is written and directed by Jonathan Bernstein, whose plays and musicals have been produced throughout the country. His cast today includes Callie Thorne (“Necessary Roughness,” "Rescue Me," “The Wire,”) and Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park, Birdman, Noises Off). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: At_The_Waters_Edge_Single-Remaster.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 6 August 2017
For a grammar school assignment a grand-daughter interviews her great-grandma on motherhood. She gets more than she bargained for. Way more. The illustrious Lois Smith (Five Easy Pieces, “True Blood,” The Nice Guys) plays great-grandmother to her real life grand-daughter, Eliana Saxe-Smith. Written by the inimitable Beth Henley (Pulitzer Prize for Crimes of the Heart), stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 23 July 2017
A young woman ‘of ill repute' is grabbing a chance at marriage when a client shows up with some jaw-dropping news. Oscar-winner Chris Cooper, Emmy-winner Margo Martindale and Broadway's Liv Rooth (Venus in Fur) star in Bite the Hand, Ara Watson's potent classic, directed by Tony-winner Doug Hughes. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 9 July 2017
A BETROTHAL brings you into the cutthroat world of iris breeding, where delicacy meets domination. Lanford Wilson's classic brings us two competitors, two irises--and one ingenious chance to win. Performed by Lisa Emery (Broadway - Casa Valentina) and Frank Wood (Tony for Side-Man); directed by Bruce McCarty. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Recorded live at BRIC Arts Media House in Downtown Brooklyn. Original music by Tom Kochan. And thank you, Tanya Berezin! Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 25 June 2017
In 24 Years by Leslie Ayvazian (Nine Armenians), a couple celebrates their 24th anniversary. Champagne in hand, and huge cast on leg (from an overly enthusiastic soccer mishap), this immobilized husband still manages to stay one step ahead of his exasperated wife and to declare his vows again. Leslie's play features Jessica Hecht (catch her this summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House directed by PoA vet Rebecca Taichman! July 19-29) and Dominic Fumusa (Edie Falco's ex on "Nurse Jackie"). 24 Years is directed by novelist/playwright/filmmaker/director Peter Hedges (What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Baby Anger, About a Boy, Dan in Real Life). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. And happy anniversaries! Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 11 June 2017
In A Man of His Time by Kate T. Billingsley, a descendant of Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney (who handed down the disastrous 1857 Dred Scott decision) invites a descendant of Dred Scott to meet him at a highway diner halfway between Virginia and Vermont. Scott shows up. It stars Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields, “Law and Order,” “The Newsroom,” “Grace and Frankie”) as the contemporary Taney and the acclaimed stage star John Douglas Thompson (Satchmo at the Waldorf, The Emperor Jones, Othello) as the contemporary Scott. Estelle Parsons (Oscar win for Bonnie and Clyde, “Roseanne,” August, Osage County) directs. It is written by Kate T. Billingsley and recorded and co-presented at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York Public Radio. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 28 May 2017
"As starkly moving as taps at dusk" says the Washington Post about Beyond Glory, a powerful tribute to military valor written and performed by stage and screen star Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch in Avatar). This piece features Stephen Lang portraying Private First Class, 1st Marine Division, Hector Cafferata, Korea, based on his own words. It is a portrait from Stephen Lang's one-man show, Beyond Glory, based on the book by Larry Smith of the same title. Stay tuned for a conversation between Mr. Lang and Playing on Air's producer and host, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: Hector_Cafferata_CORRECTED_Single-Remaster.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 14 May 2017
In Goodbye, Howard, a rich comedy by Romulus Linney, three North Carolinian sisters in a total tizzy about their esteemed 85-year-old kid brother's imminent death, avoid an embarrassment worse than death. Three virtuosos: Lois Smith (2 time Obie Winner and 2 time Oscar nominee), Frances Sternhagen (2 time Tony winner), and Dana Ivey (5 time Tony nominee) play Howard's three adoring sisters. They are joined by T. Cat Ford, Jacob Callie Moore, and Scott Sowers. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 23 April 2017
In IT'S ALL GOOD, a short play by a master of the form, David Ives (Venus In Fur, All in the Timing), a Chicago native visits his hometown and encounters his past. Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando, IT'S ALL GOOD features Carson Elrod, Rick Holmes and Kelly Hutchinson. As you'll hear, this is a four character play, but at the last minute, one stellar actress was struck down by extreme flu and Kelly valiantly assumed both roles! Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 9 April 2017
In Two Jewish Men In Their Seventies, by pulitzer nominated playwright Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, comedians Jerry Stiller ("Seinfeld", "The King of Queens") and Bob Dishy (Sly Fox, Along Came Polly) carry on as they play two old friends visiting a new holocaust museum. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with with the playwright, moderated by our Host, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 26 March 2017
In Closing Costs by Arlene Hutton, a real estate broker hits her threshold when a client reveals her listing is the 396th co-op he’s seen. It features Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone;Bridge of Spies,Birdman) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man,"Boardwalk Empire"). Playwright Arlene Hutton is an alumna of New Dramatists and author of The Nibroc Trilogy and Gulf View Drive. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Director: Bethany with America Ferrara for The Women's Project, Harper Regan for The Atlantic Theater Company and Stay for Rattlestick Theater). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with with the cast and playwright, moderated by our Host, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 12 March 2017
Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar) writes and directs this short play about a banshee, a fantastical Irish spirit. In it, she pays an ailing teacher a visit and makes him an otherworldly proposal. It features Geraldine Hughes (Jerusalem, Gran Torino, Rocky Balboa) and Aidan Quinn (“Elementary,” Michael Collins, Desperately Seeking Susan). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with playwright and actors, and catch some surprising answers from this Irish cast. Interview moderated by Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
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Sun, 26 February 2017
First Lieutenant Vernon Baker and Captain Daniel Inouye (who later became the long-serving US Senator from Hawaii) both experienced racism in the armed forces during WWII and recount that as well as the incidents that earned them the Medal of Honor many years later. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with Stephen Lang and Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience.
Direct download: BG_2_Baker_Inoyue_Podcast_-_G.mp3
Category:Performing Arts -- posted at: 4:30am EDT |
Sun, 12 February 2017
In The Other Woman by David Ives, an insomniac writer experiences a different side of his wife after darkness falls. It features Laila Robins ("Homeland"; Planes, Trains & Automobiles) and Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll and Hyde, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). Directed by Tony Award winner, John Rando. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright, David Ives, and Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |
Sun, 22 January 2017
In the comic Damage Control, a political operative has a public relations nightmare on his hands as he preps a scandal-plagued politician to meet the press. Damage Control by Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn (Proof), features Jay O. Sanders ("True Detective") and Joey Slotnick ("Nip/Tuck"). It was recorded live at BRIC Arts Media House in downtown Brooklyn. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with with the cast and playwright, moderated by our Producing Artistic Director, Claudia Catania. |
Sun, 8 January 2017
In You Belong To Me by Daniel Reitz, two old friends from graduate school meet in a subway car 18 years later under vastly different circumstances. Featuring Amy Ryan (Oscar nomination for Gone, Baby, Gone; Birdman) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, "Boardwalk Empire"). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright. Playing on Air is a public radio show and podcast featuring great American short plays with great American actors. We distribute audio productions of contemporary short plays, translating stage works into enduring modern radio theater. We aim to redefine radio drama for today's digital, mobile audience. |