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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

It's the summer of 1955, and a new U.S. Army private stationed far away from his New Jersey hometown may have met his match, a very modern Southern belle, at a USO-style dance. 

Emily Bergl directs a pitch perfect cast—Eli Gelb, Erin Wilhelmi, and Vance Barton—in Cary Gitter’s THE ARMY DANCE, which also boasts a nifty-fifties-style score by composer Tom Kochan. After the play, host Claudia Catania and executive director Yvie Jones moderate a lively and poignant conversation with the playwright, director, and actors.

Hear that?

In ECHO AND NARCISSUS, playwright Amanda Quaid's newfangled take on an infamous myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a young woman falls in love with a narcissist after a vengeful wife condemns her to a unique fate.

The sprightly production is directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, stars Sarah Manton, Christian Conn, and Mia Katigbak, and features a kinetic score by composer Tom Kochan. After the play, Playing on Air (playingonair.org) founder and consulting director Claudia Catania and executive director Yvie Jones dive into conversation with the playwright, director, and actors. 

A jet-lagged Gen Z couple (Toney Goins and Kerry Warren) decides to take an old school taxicab home to Brooklyn instead of an Uber, and their kooky cabbie (Louis Mustillo) introduces them to a very different (under)side of New York City. 

Playwright Aurin Squire’s otherworldly urban comedy is a James Stevenson Commission for Short Comedic Plays, generously supported by Josie Merck, and boasts an animated score by composer Tom Kochan.

Stay tuned after the play for a spirited conversation, starting at 25:11, with Claudia Catania, Playing on Air’s founder and consulting director, executive director Yvie Jones, director Marchánt Davis, and our talented trio of actors.

Editing: Joanna Lynne Staub
Sound Design: John Kilgore of John Kilgore Sound & Recording

[Running Time: 41 minutes and 29 seconds]

From brilliant New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, and children's book author James Stevenson comes this darkly hilarious reimagining of iconic animated characters - now "over the hill" and waiting out their golden years at a seedy retirement community in Los Angeles.  

Directed by Tony nominee Dana Ivey (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, "Boardwalk Empire"), EVENING AT ANAHEIM features Richard Kind (The Producers, "Spin City", "American Dad!"), Karen Ziemba (Tony winner for Contact), Emily Bergl ("Gilmore Girls," Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), and Tom Alan Robbins (The Lion King). Stay tuned after the play for a high spirited conversation with the cast, director, and Playing on Air founder and consulting director Claudia Catania.

EVENING AT ANAHEIM was co-presented with Playwrights Horizons and recorded live in New York City.

In Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley's TENNESSEE, a wannabe musician seeking an escape plan and a glimpse at his future approaches a dissatisfied woman who's blessed, and possibly cursed, with the power of foresight. 

The audio play stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (our audio production of MISADVENTURE, Dune, Beautiful Boy, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, and Shanley's Prodigal Son on Broadway) and Caitlin FitzGerald (“Succession,” “Masters of Sex," It's Complicated). 

Stay tuned after the play for a spirited behind-the-scenes conversation with playwright/director John Patrick Shanley (BANSHEE, LAST NIGHT IN THE GARDEN I SAW YOU, Doubt, Outside Mullingar), Caitlin FitzGerald, Timothée Chalamet, and founder and consulting director Claudia Catania. TENNESSEE was recorded and co-presented in front of a live audience at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York Public Radio.

Anything can happen when you leave your window open on a warm night. Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar) wrote and directed this week's summer re-release about a curious banshee, a fantastical Irish spirit, who pays an ailing teacher a visit and makes him an otherworldly proposal.

The mystical comedy features Geraldine Hughes (THE MANDELA EFFECT, TWO CROWS APART, Jerusalem, Gran Torino) and Aidan Quinn (“Elementary,” Michael Collins, Desperately Seeking Susan).

Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright, actors, and founder and consulting director Claudia Catania that includes a few delightfully surprising responses. 

In this week's summer re-release, we're doing a bit of time travel. It’s a balmy night in the post-WWII Ozarks, and a young woman is leaving behind her life as a "lady of the evening" for an offer of marriage. Then a client shows up with some jaw-dropping news.

Oscar-winner Chris Cooper (A Doll’s House, Part 2, Adaptation, American Beauty), Emmy-winner Margo Martindale (“The Good Wife”, "The Americans," "Justified") and Broadway’s Liv Rooth (SURE THING, To Kill a Mockingbird, Venus in Fur) star in BITE THE HAND, Ara Watson’s (A Different Moon) potent classic, directed by Tony Award-winner Doug Hughes (SOMETHING I'LL TELL YOU TUESDAY, Doubt). Stay tuned after the performance for an animated conversation with Watson and the cast moderated by Playing On Air founder and consulting director Claudia Catania.

This week's summer re-release features Daniel Reitz's (NAPOLEON IN EXILE) affecting one-act YOU BELONG TO ME, featuring Amy Ryan (Oscar nominated for Gone, Baby, Gone, "The Office," "Only Murders in the Building," and a five-time Playing On Air MVP) and Michael Stuhlbarg (a recent Emmy nominee for "Dopesick," "The Staircase," "Boardwalk Empire," A Serious Man, and four-time Playing On Air veteran), as former lovers--who've gone very separate ways in the intervening 18 years--having a chance meeting on a New York City subway car.

Stay tuned after the performance for a spirited conversation between Reitz and the play’s director, Playing on Air founder and consulting director Claudia Catania. 

The curtain is up. The show is in progress. But for a production stage manager and a sound and light board operator calling the cues behind the scenes, the night's most dazzling romance isn't playing out onstage.

Written and directed by Jonathan Bernstein (RULES OF COMEDY and A VERY VERY SHORT PLAY), AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET stars Callie Thorne ("Necessary Roughness," "Rescue Me," "The Wire") and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos (Broadway's Clybourne Park, "Better Call Saul," HEDGEHOG YEARS). Stay tuned after the performance for an in-studio conversation with the artists, moderated by founder and consulting director Claudia Catania.

This week's summer re-release features RELATIVE STRANGERS, a bubbly comedic short from playwright Sheri Wilner (The Miracle of Chanukah, Cake Off, Kingdom City) about a young woman who, during a flight to South Carolina, decides the woman next to her just might be the mother she never had. She finds an ally in a wacky stewardess who, unlike the reluctant mother figure, thinks these two passengers are a match made in heaven.

Directed by founder, consulting director, and host Claudia Catania, RELATIVE STRANGERS features Tony and Emmy Award winner Debra Monk (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, "The Gilded Age," "New Amsterdam"), Merritt Wever ("Unbelievable," "Run," "Nurse Jackie"), Tony Award recipient Julie Halston (You Can't Take It With You, Anything Goes, "Sex and the City"), and actor, playwright, and composer Michael Keck (Fences, Voices in the Rain, Hollywood Scheherazade).

In Open Arms by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, an impending 50th birthday party sets off calamity over coffee and Kindles. 

Open Arms is directed by Tony Award winner John Rando and features Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed, Airline Highway, POTUS: Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive), and Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Waiting for Godot, King Lear). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Founder and Consulting Director, Claudia Catania, the playwright, director, and cast.

Tony winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last Jam, “Fear the Walking Dead,” PoA’s Poof!), Tony nominee Condola Rashad (Saint Joan, “Billions”), and Melanie Nicholls-King ("The Wire," "Little Fires Everywhere”) star in Cassandra Medley’s CELL. When a jaded supervisor at an immigrant detention center finds jobs there for her sister and niece, family tensions erupt into a battle over home and homeland security.

Directed by Diverse City Theater Company founder Victor Lirio, CELL by Cassandra Medley (Relativity, Coming Up for Air) “deftly explores the dirty antidemocratic secret of institutionalized racism” (New York Times). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins Pulitzer Prize-winning immigration journalist Julia Preston, Broadway producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld, and playwright Medley to move beyond headlines and explore the real lives that inspired CELL.

From David Auburn (Pulitzer and Tony winner for PROOF) comes a riveting, witty world-premiere commission for Playing on Air: GUN SHOW. In the aftershock of a national tragedy, a congenial double-date morphs into a battle of the sexes. As tempers blaze, two couples must reconsider the possibility of safety in a divided nation. 

Along with Emmy winners Bobby Cannavale (“Will & Grace,” “Boardwalk Empire”) and Martha Plimpton (triple Tony nominee, “The Real O’Neals,” “The Good Wife”), the star cast features Eisa Davis, David Furr, and Lucy DeVito! Gun Show was directed by Wendy Goldberg and performed in front of a live audience at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.

Gun Show was commissioned by Playing on Air with the support of The Gilchrist Foundation and Phyllis and Joel Ehrlich.

In this holiday dazzler written, directed and produced by Arian Moayed, Santa keeps a closer eye on the naughty and nice lists than we think, especially during "unprecedented times." But maybe Mrs. Claus, the hardworking team at the North Pole, and one melancholy little girl might keep the man in the red suit from singing the blues.

THE MAN IN RED, our first musical, features music by Butch Phelps and performances by Brian Cox, Jayne Houdyshell, Phylicia Rashad, Brandon Dirden, Javier Muñoz, Lily Santiago, Cecilia Suárez, Sue Jean Kim, Brendan Donaldson, Rodney Gardiner, and Lauren Sharpe.

In the cool, otherworldly confines of a Zoom room, a controversial president's ethereal daughter and hands-on son-in-law surf the choppy waters of chiseled memories, personal responsibility...and elementary school.

JARED AND IVANKA’S PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE AT MAURICE J. FELDMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL, our third James Stevenson Commission for Short Comedic Plays, was written by playwright and screenwriter Jonathan Spector (Eureka Day, This Much I Know, The Flats) and directed by Daniel Aukin. It stars Paul Sparks (“Physical,” “Sweetbitter,” “House of Cards”), Cindy Cheung (“13 Reasons Why,” “New Amsterdam”), Tracee Chimo Pallero (“People of Earth,” “Difficult People,” “Genius”), and Thomas Jay Ryan (West Side Story, The Crucible, The Little Foxes, Henry Fool). 

On the precipice of making a world changing medical breakthrough, Amal visits an old lover and they contend with the uncertain future through the light of a shared, tumultuous past.

JACOB AND AMAL, our second Wordsmith Duo play this season supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, was written by Dipika Guha (Blown Youth, “Sneaky Pete,” “Black Monday”) and directed by Jo Bonney (Cost of Living, Father Comes Home from the War, Anna in the Tropics). It stars Rita Wolf (What Happened? The Michaels Abroad, Homeboy/Kabul) and Keith Randolph Smith (Jitney, American Psycho, Fences), and features music by composer Dan Moses Schreier (A Soldier’s Play, Carmen Jones, American Psycho). Graphic design is by Harrison Gale.

Amal would like to spend the night hiding from, well, everything. But when her bestie has other ideas - ideas that include a world renowned research university, high heels, and lowered expectations - she agrees to a not-so-scientific exercise that could take her, well, anywhere. All right. Just this once.

THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT, a Wordsmith Duo play supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, was written by playwright Mfoniso Udofia (Sojourners, “13 Reasons Why,” “Little America”) and directed by Logan Vaughn. It features actors Adepero Oduye (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” Pariah), Alex Ubokudom (Seeds of Abraham, Macbeth, Adult Ed), and Kalyne Coleman (What to Send Up When It Goes Down, Black Odyssey, Julius Caesar). Original music by composer Jimmy Keys (Skeleton Crew, Night Visions, Revelations). Graphic design is by Harrison Gale.

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.

The proud owner of a gun shop in a small American city has a peculiar visitor one day - a celebrity of sorts who wants to buy a weapon but can't say exactly why.

LOCKED AND LOADED. CAN I HELP YOU?, a world premiere from celebrated playwright David Ives (Venus in Fur, The Heir Apparent, White Christmas) is directed by Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Venus in Fur, White Christmas)) and features Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” Monty Python’s Spamalot, “Brockmire”) and Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Spring Awakening, “Mindhunter”), music by Dan Moses Schreier (A Soldier’s Play, Carmen Jones, American Psycho), and a special guest musical appearance by Adam Kantor (The Band’s Visit, Next to Normal, Fiddler on the Roof, Rent). Graphic design is by Harrison Gale.

Airstreams, Winnebagos, Chevys, the blood brothers of RV circuit, take us from the shackles of modernity to the freedom of the road! Two couples who might not otherwise cross paths befriend each other in a Texas RV Park, and declare their mutual independence.

THE WAYFARER’S CODE, another world premiere James Stevenson Commission, is written by playwright Brittany Allen and features Frankie Faison (“The Wire,” Fences), Caitlin O'Connell (The Crucible, The Heiress), Robin de Jesús (The Boys in the Band, In the Heights), and Calvin Leon Smith (“The Underground Railroad,” “The Deuce”). THE WAYFARER’S CODE is directed by Marchánt Davis (Ain’t No’ Mo’, The Great Society) and features music by composer Tom Kochan (Almost, Maine, The Elephant Man). Graphic design is by Harrison Gale. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a behind the scenes interview.

An aspiring writer (Isaac Oliver) who dreams of learning the secrets of the human heart summons an ancient demon (Vera Beren). Good thing he’s got tech support (Jay O. Sanders).

TECH DEMONS, a world premiere James Stevenson Commission by Sarah Gancher, is directed by Marc Bruni (Broadway’s Beautiful: The Carole King Story) and also features Vera Beren and music by composer Dan Moses Schreier. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a behind the scenes interview.

Husband-wife team Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller play former Yiddish theater stars who steal the show at a memorial service in the THE BURIAL SOCIETY, a comic play by Susan Sandler. Also featuring George Morfogen* (“Oz”) and David Margulies (Ghostbusters). Directed by Playing on Air Producing Artistic Director Claudia Catania.

Playing on Air is honored to share the work of this all-star cast, the members of whom have passed away since BURIAL SOCIETY’s recording in 2011.

Playing on Air presents 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.

This play features Lynnette Freeman and Amy Staats. Conversation between host, Claudia Catania, and playwright, Cori Thomas, follows the play.

When a conservative father and his young gay son (stage legend Len Cariou and ”Ugly Betty’s” Michael Urie) reconnect in the most unlikely of places - an airport terminal - they find that love can transcend a family's baggage. This witty, heartfelt short by Andy Reynolds is directed by Broadway’s Michael Wilson.

After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a behind the scenes interview.

In PLAYING GOD, a divine comedy from SNL's Alan Zweibel (Playing on Air's HAPPY), a self-involved OB-GYN (Scott Adsit of 30 Rock) creates chaos for his pregnant patient (Emily Bergl). Over the objections of a heavenly assistant (Susie Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm), God himself (Bill Buell) challenges the doctor to an outrageous squash match for his faith.

Following the play, director Fred Berner and host Claudia Catania join the cast and playwright to talk about their roots in comedy.

Single mom Suzanne needs an actor for a discreet personal favor. It should be simple. But when she casts Mike, she grossly underestimates the lengths an out-of-work actor will go to to make an impact. 

Written by Avery Deutsch and a winner of the 2020 James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, THE DONOR stars Sakina Jaffrey (Timeless) and Hamish Linklater (The Big Short, “Legion”). It is directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Bernhardt/Hamlet).

In Alvin and Mia’s neighborhood, property owners flip houses or parcel them out for AirBnBs. No one’s investing in the community. So they’re thrilled by the arrival of a new homeowner — a tech entrepreneur who’s rich, ambitious, charismatic, and strangely pale. And he’s an excellent drinking companion. Scotch, anyone?

A comedy about bloodsuckers of all kinds, OWNER OCCUPY stars David Patrick Kelly (Twin Peaks), David Furr (Noises Off), and Kalyne Coleman (Lessons in Survival). It’s written by Jonathan Spector (Eureka Day), and directed by Taibi Magar (Capsule).

Mahalia, a Black trans woman, returns to her hometown of Minneapolis during the tumultuous summer of 2020. Against a backdrop of fire and protest, she and her father tentatively rekindle a long-dormant bond.

REVELATIONS is written by JuCoby Johnson (How It’s Gon’ Be) and directed by Goldie E. Patrick (Paradise Blue). It stars Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem), John Douglas Thompson (Public Theater’s Julius Caesar), and Lynnette R. Freeman (Ensemble Studio Theatre).

A tale of old age, murder and gingernut biscuits.

CAMBERWELL HOUSE, a darkly comic one-woman play by Amelia Roper ("The Great"), stars five-time Tony nominee Dana Ivey (The School for Scandal, “Sex and the City”).

Norman and Max may be dummies, but they’re no fools. Offstage, ventriloquist dummies are the same as anyone else — smack-talking their bosses, worrying about being behind the times — but beneath their hard wooden exteriors lurk sensitive, philosophical, funny souls.

A world premiere by a master of the short form, David Ives (The School for Lies, Venus in Fur), DUMMY DIALOGUE stars Richard Kind (A Serious Man, “The Goldbergs”) and Tony winner Gabriel Ebert (Matilda the Musical). It is directed by celebrated Tony winner Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Venus in Fur).

Sometimes you lose your keys, sometimes you lose your temper, and sometimes you lose the most unexpected of things. When Marcy and her difficult boyfriend come for a visit, what we know about ourselves can change in the blink of an eye...

REAL AMERICAN DINNER PARTY is written by Jen Silverman (Witch, novel We Play Ourselves) and directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown). It features April Matthis (Toni Stone), Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Marys Seacole), Sean Carvajal (King Lear on Broadway), and Matthew Rauch (The Wolf of Wall Street). After the performance, host Claudia Catania discusses family dynamics with the artistic team. 

Why support this play? 

You love watching simmering family tensions boil over into absurdity, and you’re willing to expand your horizons when it comes to the definition of a ‘happy ending.’ 

When runaway snow tubes send a dad and his grown daughter flying off a cliff, they’re left hanging on for dear life -- and testing the limits of a punchline. This winning comedy, recipient of the 2020 James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, cheerfully prods family bonds between parents and their grown children.

Written by Mallory Jane Weiss and directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God), I THINK IT’S WORTH POINTING OUT…  is a world premiere starring real-life father and daughter Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”) and Lucy DeVito (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” ). It was first performed live at Playing on Air’s 2020 Digital Holiday Benefit.

“A gorgeous high note...a Jewish screwball romance… uproarious and beautifully cast, with tone-perfect direction by Colette Robert." 
— The New York Times 

It's 1933, and a young Jewish immigrant has returned to his Polish hometown in search of a wife. On a snowy afternoon, he sets his sights on Chava, a savvy, sarcastic shopgirl in a local hat store.  

Directed by Colette Robert (STEW, Behind the Sheet), HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE by Cary Gitter (EST’s Youngblood, The Sabbath Girl) features a sparkling cast: Eli Gelb (Skintight, Indignation) and Lucy DeVito (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” PoA’s Gun Show). After the play, host Claudia Catania moderates a conversation with the artists.

“I felt I really had given birth ... rebirth ... to Napoleon.”

“So wait. Am I Napoleon? Or do I need to look for a job?”

Everyday life is a battlefield for single mother Evelyn and her adult son Corey, who has ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). But underneath their sparring over Minecraft and job applications, a game-changing crisis is bubbling.

Directed by Golden Globe winner Marsha Mason (“Grace and Frankie,” The Goodbye Girl), NAPOLEON IN EXILE by Daniel Reitz (New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre) is a moving, unexpectedly funny portrait of a family on the brink. Emmy nominee Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle,” Good People) and Will Dagger (HBO’s “I Know This Much Is True,” PoA’s The Press Conference) star as mother and son. After the performance, the artists join host Claudia Catania to discuss writing for actors and bringing theater chops to the world of sitcom TV.

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 host Claudia Catania for a post-performance conversation.

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. 

Throughout February, Playing on Air returns with four episodes from our back catalog starting Sunday, February 7th.

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 Bonds, Campbell-Holt, and host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic interview.

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.”

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

“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. 

In the middle of the desert, two vultures find their lunch interrupted by a man of faith. Now, they have a bone to pick with Saint Francis of Assisi. 

Full of miraculous and mischievous wit, ST. FRANCIS PREACHES TO THE BIRDS by David Ives (Venus in Fur, PoA’s The Blizzard) features Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher, PoA’s Evening at Anaheim), Julie Halston (Tootsie, PoA’s Relative Strangers), Matthew Saldivar (Bernhardt/Hamlet, PoA’s The Philadelphia), an appearance by the legendary Lois Smith, and a surprise cameo from the playwright. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with Tony Award-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, PoA’s The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage), the cast, and host Claudia Catania.

Help us get to know you a bit better; go to playingonair.org/survey to fill out our listener survey. 

Tony winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last Jam, “Fear the Walking Dead,” PoA’s Poof!), Tony nominee Condola Rashad (Saint Joan, “Billions”), and Melanie Nicholls-King ("The Wire," "Little Fires Everywhere”) star in Cassandra Medley’s CELL. When a jaded supervisor at an immigrant detention center finds jobs there for her sister and niece, family tensions erupt into a battle over home and homeland security.

Directed by Diverse City Theater Company founder Victor Lirio, CELL by Cassandra Medley (Relativity, Coming Up for Air) “deftly explores the dirty antidemocratic secret of institutionalized racism” (New York Times). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins Pulitzer Prize-winning immigration journalist Julia Preston, Broadway producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld, and playwright Medley to move beyond headlines and explore the real lives that inspired CELL.

Help us get to know you a bit better; go to playingonair.org/survey to fill out our listener survey. 

“This doesn’t seem like your kind of place -
     Why?
I dunno. You don’t look like you eat a lot of crappy deli meat.”

Through a haze of gin, mediocre roast beef, and horrible apartment parties, a grieving New Yorker finds herself drawn to a quirky, flirtatious friend-of-a-friend. Hurtling through time, ANNIVERSARY by Rachel Bonds (PoA’s Winter Games, Goodnight Nobody) follows a journey back to love.

Ensemble Studio Theater’s Linsay Firman directs Sarah Sokolovic (“Big Little Lies,” PoA’s The Blizzard), Michael Esper (Lazarus, PoA’s Rules of Comedy), Sue Jean Kim (Office Hour, PoA’s 52nd to Bowery…), and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA’s If You Win). After the play, playwright Bonds joins host Claudia Catania to discuss her roots as a writer.

Help us get to know you a bit better; go to playingonair.org/survey to fill out our listener survey. 

Never underestimate the persistence of a Mets fan.

In HAPPY by Alan Zweibel (“SNL,” 700 Sundays with Billy Crystal), a baseball fan shows up at the home of his childhood hero, George "Happy" Halliday. Has the stranger come to pay his respects or to throw a curveball?

A comedy for anyone who’s ever wished for an extra inning, HAPPY stars Frankie Faison (“The Wire”) and Scott Adsit (“30 Rock,” PoA’s Wild and Precious Life), directed by Fred Berner. After the live recording, join the artists and host Claudia Catania for an onstage interview.

Help us get to know you a bit better; go to playingonair.org/survey to fill out our listener survey. 

Hi Playing on Air listeners! We hope you're all safe and well. If you're willing to give us around 10 minutes of your time, we'd like to get to know you a bit better; it'll help us to program episodes of Playing on Air that you'll love. 

Go to playingonair.org/survey to fill out our listener survey. And, as a thank-you, you'll be treated to a message from a very special guest. 

Jay, Bonita, and Row have gathered on the rooftop to burn the sage and drink the sacred Gatorade. To pray to the goddess Nike, and the ghosts of Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. To summon victory for their beloved champion: Serena Williams, the Greatest Of All Time. 

Directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord) and featuring original music by Jeremy Lloyd (Marian Hill, clear eyes), G.O.A.T. is an electric celebration of Black Girl Magic, on and off the court. Denise Manning (Daddy, PoA's Wild and Precious Life), Obie winner April Matthis (Toni Stone, PoA's Hate Baby), and playwright/performer Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen) star - and Drama Desk nominee Bobby Moreno cameos -  in the final episode of Playing on Air’s Spring 2020 season. After the episode, stay tuned for host Claudia Catania’s conversation with the artists, about ritual, their multi-hyphenate talents, and the G.O.A.T. herself, Serena Williams.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

John Lithgow ("The Crown," "3rd Rock from the Sun," Hillary and Clinton) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA's An Upset) star in Emily Chadick Weiss's IF YOU WIN.

On the eve of a local election, candidate Hal Wheelwright (Lithgow) receives an unexpected offer from his opponent's son (Boyer). Is this an act of political sabotage or a blessing in disguise?

After the play, director Giovanna Sardelli (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Atlantic's Describe the Night) joins Chadick Weiss (Ensemble Studio Theatre, “The Share”) and the cast for a behind-the-scenes interview moderated by host Claudia Catania.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

One summer morning, in a cool and dusty bar, two strangers seek refuge from the past. RJ is a single father, on a break from his only son’s wedding. The mysterious Sonja is patient and sympathetic, but may have her own priorities. Two strangers meeting is an old story, but the possibility of a true connection always feels new.

Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei ("My Cousin Vinny," Broadway’s The Rose Tattoo) stars with Michael C. Hall (“Dexter,” Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and Alfredo Narciso (Broadway’s Time and the Conways, PoA’s The Blizzard) in JUNE WEDDINGS by Barbara Hammond (Terra Firma). Directed by Jenn Thompson (Abundance, Lost in Yonkers). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the artists to talk about romance, parenting, and people-watching in New York City.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

Playing on Air is proud to present the winner of our 2019 James Stevenson Prize: Jason Gray Platt’s HUMAN RESOURCES.

Tech start-up Diddly has a problem: their staff is whiter than a Coldplay concert in Vermont. Fortunately, Human Resources has a plan to “improve” Diddly’s corporate culture —at least in theory.

A biting satire about virtue signaling and elephant milk, HUMAN RESOURCES features Tony winner Julie White (Airline Highway, A Doll’s House, Part 2) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Broadway’s Hand To God). Jade King Carroll (Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth, Proof of Love) directs the world premiere, recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the ensemble for a discussion about comedy, identity, and the absurd.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

CLEAN SLATE by Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Guards at the Taj) is Part Two of a thriller that begins with last week’s episode, Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS.

Special Agents Angie Mallinson and Vince Lazar just want to assure you that nothing horrible has happened at the KLWP News Hour. You may have heard rumors about a band of Kabuki-masked killers. You may have heard whispers about a mysterious vigilante group.  Ignore them — no matter what you think you saw. 

Oscar nominee Amy Ryan ("The Office," PoA’s Fifth Planet) and Eden Marryshow (Broadway's Ink, PoA’s Night Vision) join Jeremy Shamos, Eisa Davis, and director Mark Brokaw from last week’s FAKE NEWS. After the show, host Claudia Catania joins the artists to talk about what gives them hope and how they think this story really ends.

CLEAN SLATE by Pulitzer finalist and Obie winner Rajiv Joseph is a world premiere through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays. 

Content Warning: Violence

Anchors Bob Tunley and Fran Mercer are the iconic voices behind radio’s KLWP News Hour — but today, they’ve become the story. As bizarre and menacing soundbites interrupt their live broadcast, the studio crew begins to fear that they’re under attack. 

Mark Brokaw (Broadway’s How I Learned to Drive, Cinderella) directs Obie winner Eisa Davis (Passing Strange, PoA’s Gun Show), Tony nominees Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park, PoA’s Hedgehog Years) and Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA’s Human Resources), and Tony winner Katie Finneran (Noises Off, PoA’s La Traviata) in FAKE NEWS by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, PoA’s Wildwood Park). After the episode, host Claudia Catania talks with the artists about writing plays specifically for audio and how these genius actors were able to play around with different accents and impressions on such short notice.

Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS is Part One of a two-part thriller that continues next week with Rajiv Joseph’s CLEAN SLATE. Both pieces are world premieres through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

There's a lot of money to be made at this funeral. 

Friends and flames have gathered to celebrate and remember the WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE of the charismatic, outrageous Sheila (Tony & Emmy winner Debra Monk)  — but the dearly departed still has one more trick up her sleeve. 

WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE by Emmy winner Patricia Cotter (PoA's Rules of Comedy, The Daughters) features an ensemble cast of Playing on Air favorites — Monk, Scott Adsit, Lucy DeVito, Denise Manning, Lisa Emery, and Jeff Biehl — and original music by folk-rock duo Misner & Smith, produced and recorded by John Kilgore, arranged and performed by Charlie Rosen. Associate Producer Michele O’Brien directs. Stay tuned after the episode, as host Claudia Catania chats with the artists about celebrating life and how they’d like to be remembered.

Content Warning: Violence

“I don’t want you hunting anyone. What if you become the prey?”

On a night walk in Brooklyn, pregnant Ayanna and her husband Ezra witness a sudden, violent attack. But when they call the police, doubts arise. Did they get a good look at the attacker’s face? What color was his sweatshirt? And — why do their memories differ so drastically? 

Originally commissioned as part of New Black Fest’s “Facing Our Truth: Ten-Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege,” NIGHT VISION launches Playing on Air’s yearlong celebration of MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ winner Dominique Morisseau (The Detroit Projects, Pipeline, Ain't Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations). Directed by Stori Ayers (Chautauqua Theater Company, "The Last O.G.”), NIGHT VISION stars OBIE winner April Matthis (Toni Stone, Elevator Repair Service, PoA’s Hate Baby) and Eden Marryshow (“Jessica Jones,” Broadway’s Ink) and features music by guest composer Jimmy Keys.

Tony Shalhoub and Kristine Nielsen star in Amanda Quaid’s THE CLAM, the Second Place winner of Playing on Air’s 2019 James Stevenson Prize competition. 

After a lifetime of playing it safe , a wistful clam (Shalhoub) decides to come out of his shell with help from a therapist (Nielsen). His friends are disappearing without a trace, he’s lost touch with thousands of his children, and he’s desperate for a pearl to call his own. Alternately tongue-in-cheek and deeply identifiable, THE CLAM is a comedy for anyone who’s ever felt adrift in their search for happiness. 

Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway’s Bernhardt/Hamlet, Hand to God) directs Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” The Band’s Visit, “Monk”) and Tony nominee Nielsen (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Androninus, PoA’s Wildwood Park). The opening episode of PoA’s 2020 Spring Season, THE CLAM was recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center. 

Starting next Sunday and continuing every Sunday throughout April and May, we’ll be releasing a new short play. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to share our artists' beautiful work with you, even in these uncertain times.

We're announcing some exciting changes to Playing on Air's release calendar! Listen to find out more.

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start! 
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

Michael C. Hall ("Dexter," Hedwig and The Angry Inch), Martha Plimpton ("The Good Wife," PoA's Gun Show), and actor-playwright Hamish Linklater (The Big Short, "Legion") star in NUDITY RIDER, a world-premiere comedy by Linklater.

The cameras are ready to roll on the set of a New Orleans basic cable show, but the high-strung leading man, Keith Saturday, has a problem: his most up-close-and-personal scene has been unexpectedly rescheduled for today. And he's been eating. A lot. Now, an incisive production assistant (Hall) and no-nonsense makeup artist (Plimpton) must battle the clock - and assuage Saturday's ego - to save the shoot. After the episode, host Claudia Catania joins the cast and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway's Hand to God, Bernhardt/Hamlet) for an in-studio interview about writing for radio and what it takes to be a successful actor.

NUDITY RIDER is presented with the support of Fred Wistow.

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start!
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

Caroline can't find anything funny -- not her awkward love life, not her jaded standup coach Guy, and definitely not the punchlines she's been reading in 101 Dirty Jokes. 

Originally produced at the Humana Festival at the Actors Theater of Louisville, Patricia Cotter's RULES OF COMEDY is a playful, wry look at the lives of comedians when they dare to go offstage and off script. Directed by Jonathan Bernstein, Cotter's short comedy stars Louisa Krause (The Flick, Billions, PoA's Winter Games) and Michael Esper (Trust, The Last Ship, PoA's Anniversary). After the play, stay tuned for an artist interview about the playwright's background in comedy, avoiding the pull towards bitterness, and toeing the line with your material. 

"Cotter's script is lush with the knowledge of standup comedy... this play is a scream" - Todd Zeigler, Broadway World Reviews

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start!
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

Two recovering addicts (Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo) have their Saturday night card game interrupted by a love-struck parole officer (Bobby Cannavale) with major boundary issues.

Written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Good People), the madcap comedy CRAZY EIGHTS features Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (The Irishman, “Boardwalk Empire,” PoA's Gun Show), Tony winner John Leguizamo (Latin History for Morons, Ghetto Klown, Moulin Rouge), Oscar nominee Rosie Perez (Do The Right Thing, Fearless, "The View"), and Kevin Hogan ("Mr. Robot").  Stay tuned after the performance for an interview with David Lindsay-Abaire and the cast, moderated by Artistic Director Claudia Catania.

CRAZY EIGHTS was recorded live at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York.

We're re-releasing 5 of our most popular episodes for a 2020 fresh start!
(Psst: keep your eyes open for an exciting announcement, coming soon...)

Loureen is at the end of her rope. And now, she's just turned her husband into a pile of ashes.

As Lynn Nottage's funny and wrenching POOF! opens, Loureen (Audra McDonald) has inadvertently made her abusive husband (Keith Randolph Smith) disappear. Enter her friend and neighbor Florence (Tonya Pinkins) to help her pick up the pieces and begin to imagine a life post-Samuel. Directed by Seret Scott, POOF! features Tony Award winners Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill) and Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam; Caroline, or Change).

Following the play, the 2-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Sweat, Ruined) joins host Claudia Catania for a conversation about POOF!'s origins - and how she almost never became a playwright.

The police picked up teenage Ethan (Timothée Chalamet) for drunkenly wandering down the highway. Now, he's facing the real reckoning for his Misadventure: the wrath of his big sister (Zoe Kazan.)

Playwright and director Donald Margulies is a Pulitzer Prize winner for Dinner with Friends and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Sight Unseen and Collected Stories.  

Best known for her leading role in The Big Sick, Zoe Kazan has also played on Broadway and off in A Behanding in Spokane and Angels in America, among others. Her film credits include It’s Complicated, happythankyoumoreplease, and Ruby Sparks. 

Timothée Chalamet has received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Call Me By Your Name.  Other screen credits include Little Women, Lady Bird, and Beautiful Boy. He won acclaim on Broadway in John Patrick Shanley’s Prodigal Son. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.

There's a crater in the middle of the street - again. After a deadly car bomb explodes in the Sha'ab neighborhood of Baghdad, grocery store owner Abu Omar and his neighbors attempt to clear the rubble and assess the damage. Is this the new normal?  

Directed by Obie winner Omar Metwally (Guards at the Taj, "The Affair"), Emma Goldman-Sherman's COUNTING IN SHA'AB asks who - and what - counts in a community where everyday life is disrupted every day. 

Featuring Ramsey Faragallah ("Madam Secretary," "Mozart in the Jungle") Rasha Zamamiri ("Ramy," NYTW's Aftermath), Peter Ganim ("Quantico," Broadway's Oslo), and Eden Zane (The Tempest, Project Olympus), the episode also includes a behind-the-scenes conversation with host Claudia Catania, the playwright, and the creative team. 

I know I’m not your therapist. I’m your brother.

In THE WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING VIOLET by Max Baker, two brothers struggle with three of life’s great fears: death, guilt, and the false sparkle of domestic bliss. Brandon Dirden (All the Way on Broadway) and Jason Dirden ("Greenleaf," Broadway's A Raisin in the Sun) are directed by Carrie Preston (“True Blood,” “The Good Wife”). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by host Claudia Catania. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at BRIC Arts Media in downtown Brooklyn. 

Debra Monk, Johanna Day, Katie Finneran, and Zach Appelman star in the world-premiere audio production of LA TRAVIATA by Lisa D’Amour (Pulitzer Prize finalist for Detroit, Airline Highway). 

Outside of New Orleans, three sisters have gathered to celebrate Mother's Day and lament the scandalous fate of their poor, wayward nephew. But beneath their breezy porch gossip, there are family secrets of operatic proportions waiting to be uncovered. Tony & Emmy winner Monk ("Mozart in the Jungle," "NYPD Blue"), OBIE winner Day (Sweat, Proof), double Tony winner Finneran (Noises Off & Promises, Promises), and Appelman ("Sleepy Hollow," War Horse) are directed by Michael Wilson (Broadway's The Trip To Bountiful, PoA's An Upset).

After the episode, join the artists & host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-mic discussion about Southern storytellers and family dynamics.

LA TRAVIATA was commissioned by Playing on Air with the support of the Pearson Family Foundation.

What would you sacrifice for a lifelong pal? A kidney? Your safety? $900 -- for a very specific television? 

From acclaimed wordsmith David Ives (Venus in Fur, PoA's The Blizzard), THE GOODNESS OF YOUR HEART asks what the limits of friendship really are. Directed by Tony winner John Rando (Broadway's On the Town, PoA's The Philadelphia), the cast features comedic favorites Arnie Burton (Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher, PoA's The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage) and Rick Holmes (Broadway's Cabaret, "Fosse/Verdon"). After the play, the artists join host Claudia Catania to discuss morality, childishness, and the fruits of generosity. 

The curtain is up. The show is in progress. But for two stage managers calling the cues behind the scenes, the night's most dazzling romance isn't playing out onstage. Written and directed by Jonathan Bernstein (PoA's Rules of Comedy & A Very Very Short Play), AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET stars Callie Thorne (“Necessary Roughness,” “Rescue Me,” “The Wire”) and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos (Broadway's Clybourne Park, "Better Call Saul," PoA's Hedgehog Years).  Stay tuned after the performance for an in-studio conversation with the artists, moderated by host Claudia Catania.

"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.

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. 

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.

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. 

Loureen is at the end of her rope. And now, she's just turned her husband into a pile of ashes.

As Lynn Nottage's funny and wrenching POOF! opens, Loureen (Audra McDonald) has inadvertently made her abusive husband (Keith Randolph Smith) disappear. Enter her friend and neighbor Florence (Tonya Pinkins) to help her pick up the pieces and begin to imagine a life post-Samuel. Directed by Seret Scott, POOF! features Tony Award winners Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill) and Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam; Caroline, or Change). Following the play, the 2-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Sweat, Ruined) joins host Claudia Catania for a conversation about POOF!'s origins - and how she almost never became a playwright.

CARRY THE ZERO "gets the awkwardness of teenage hookup culture squeamishly right" (NY Times). 

Mark and Nicole just had sex for the first time, and now they're facing the long, embarrassing drive back to Nicole's house. Directed by John Giampietro, Christopher Sullivan's short play stars David Gelles (Graceland at LCT3, NBC's "Deception") and Arielle Goldman ("The Knick," "The Marvelous Ms. Maisel") in an intimate and brutally funny look back at sexual awakening in the age of instant messenger and indie rock. 

This episode contains adult themes that may not be suitable for some younger listeners. 

Caroline can't find anything funny -- not her awkward love life, not her jaded standup coach Guy, and definitely not the punchlines she's been reading in 101 Dirty Jokes. 

Originally produced at the Humana Festival at the Actors Theater of Louisville, Patricia Cotter's RULES OF COMEDY is a playful, wry look at the lives of comedians when they dare to go offstage and off script. Directed by Jonathan Bernstein, Cotter's short comedy stars Louisa Krause (The Flick, Billions, PoA's Winter Games) and Michael Esper (Trust, The Last Ship, PoA's Anniversary). After the play, stay tuned for an artist interview about the playwright's background in comedy, avoiding the pull towards bitterness, and toeing the line with your material. 

"Cotter's script is lush with the knowledge of standup comedy... this play is a scream" - Todd Zeigler, Broadway World Reviews

In James McLindon’s DRUNK CHRISTMAS, a teenage runaway and a swerving mom crash into each other on Christmas Eve; the night ahead is anything but silent. An unorthodox holiday parable, DRUNK CHRISTMAS stars Tony winner Elizabeth Ashley (Ocean's 8, The Carpetbaggers) and Susannah Perkins (Network, The Wolves). After the play, director Michael Wilson (The Trip to Bountiful, The Best Man) and the creative team join host Claudia Catania for a behind-the-scenes interview. 

In PLAYING GOD, a divine comedy from SNL's Alan Zweibel (Playing on Air's HAPPY), a self-involved OB-GYN (Scott Adsit of "30 Rock") creates chaos for his pregnant patient (Emily Bergl). Over the objections of a heavenly assistant (Susie Essman of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), God himself (Bill Buell) challenges the doctor to an outrageous squash match for his faith. Following the play, director Fred Berner and host Claudia Catania join the cast and playwright to talk about their roots in comedy. 

Hear two of Broadway's greatest comedians tackle family drama. A sarcastic alcoholic man in recovery (Steven Boyer) tries to prove himself to his father (Bill Irwin), searching for his own way to say I LOVE YOU.

Directed by David Auburn (Proof, Playing on Air's Gun Show & An Upset) and written by Lynn Rosen (co-founder of The Pool, Resident Playwright at New Dramatists), I LOVE YOU features comedic legend Bill Irwin (Tony winner for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Waiting for Godot, co-creator and star of Old Hats) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, NBC’s "Trial & Error," Time and the Conways). In the after-play discussion with host Claudia Catania, Boyer shares some surprising anecdotes about preshow rituals & his co-star’s past performances. 

From the beloved narrator of the Harry Potter audiobooks and the playwright of Venus in Fur comes a wickedly clever whodunit.

In THE MYSTERY AT TWICKNAM VICARAGE, Scotland Yard's Inspector Dexter (Jim Dale) arrives at a country parsonage to investigate the murder of Jeremy Thumpington-Fffienes (David Furr). As Jeremy's wife (Kelly Hutchinson), two lovers (Scarlett Strallen and Arnie Burton), and a suspiciously attractive sofa aid in the investigation, the crime crescendos into an uproarious parody of Masterpiece Theater, Sherlock Holmes, and all things British. After the play, Tony-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, On the Town), Ives, and the cast join host Claudia Catania in a behind-the-scenes interview.

Are the Berenstain Bears, Nelson Mandela's death, and Darth Vader's most famous line evidence of a parallel universe?

During lunch with a friend, an actress works herself into a cosmic tizzy about the unsettling MANDELA EFFECT, the collective misremembering of names, news stories, and cultural artifacts. Written and directed by Max Baker (Revolutionary Road, Broadway's 1984, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest), THE MANDELA EFFECT features Geraldine Hughes (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jerusalem, Rocky Balboa), Kelly Hutchinson (Catch Me If You Can, Broadway’s Macbeth) and Bill Buell (Cyrano, Equus, “Boardwalk Empire”). In the post-show discussion, Baker and his cast delve into the bizarre, fascinating phenomenon that inspired the play.

In Leland Frankel's modern comedy WOKE, an aspiring Pakistani-American rapper named Sunny crashes into Rebecca, a misguided activist, and the cop pursuing her across Queens. As Rebecca and Sunny are forced to reckon with race, privilege, and art, WOKE questions whose job it is to change the world - and who gets to. 

Recorded live at Playwrights Horizons and directed by Mimi O'Donnell (Labyrinth Theater, Gimlet Media), WOKE features Craig muMs Grant ("She's Gotta Have It," HBO’s “Oz”), Tracee Chimo (Bad Jews, “Orange is the New Black,” "People of Earth"), and Debargo Sanyal (Venus, Pearl Theatre's Vanity Fair). After the play, stay tuned for an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with the artists and host Claudia Catania.

"If I gave you my heart, that would be the knife."

With one hop of the fence, a star-crossed lover (Emmy nominee Rupert Friend) storms back into the life of the married woman (Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams) he deserted. Hovering on the brink, will they bite into the forbidden fruit - or dare each other to walk away for good?

Starring Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn, The Greatest Showman, Blue Valentine) and Rupert Friend (Pride and Prejudice, "Homeland," The Young Victoria), LAST NIGHT IN THE GARDEN I SAW YOU is written and directed by Pulitzer Prize & Tony winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Prodigal Son, Moonstruck). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the artists to discuss rapid-fire theater, risk, and the battlefield of love. 

Cora and Dave love Abby and Tim. Really. They're the kind of fabulous, beautiful people you love to be seen at dinner with. The friends you wake up at night panic-envying. The couple you secretly hope may have a terrible, terrible secret. 

Mercilessly relatable, CORA AND DAVE ARE GETTING OLDER by Julia Cho (Office Hour at the Public, Aubergine at Playwrights Horizons) pulls back the curtain on a couple in a moment of midnight vulnerability, battling the jealousy, comparison, and artifice that plague modern love. 

Directed by Obie winner Marcia Jean Kurtz, the cast features Dawn McGees ("The Tick," "High Maintenance")  and Jack Sochet (Gotham, Soho Rep, The Public).  Stay tuned after the play for a behind-the-scenes artist interview with host Claudia Catania. 

From brilliant New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, and children's book author James Stevenson comes this darkly hilarious reimagining of iconic animated characters - now over the hill and waiting out their golden years at a seedy retirement community in Los Angeles.  

Directed by Tony nominee Dana Ivey (The Last Night of Ballyhoo), EVENING AT ANAHEIM features Richard Kind (The Producers, "Spin City"), Karen Ziemba (Tony winner for Contact), Emily Bergl ("Gilmore Girls," Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos), Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), and Tom Alan Robbins (The Lion King). 

EVENING AT ANAHEIM was co-presented with Playwrights Horizons and recorded live in New York City.

When a conservative father and his young gay son (stage legend Len Cariou and ”Ugly Betty’s” Michael Urie) reconnect in the most unlikely of places - an airport terminal - they find that love can transcend a family's baggage. This witty, heartfelt short by Andy Reynolds is directed by Broadway’s Michael Wilson. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a behind the scenes interview.

Watch your step. Look at those hardwood floors. Don’t lose your mind.

While touring a prospective buyer through a mansion for sale, a wary real-estate agent is ensnared by the house’s haunting past. 

Denis O’Hare (“American Horror Story”, Tony winner for Take Me Out), and Kristine Nielsen (Tony nominee for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) star in thriller Wildwood Park by Doug Wright (Pulitzer Prize & Tony winner for I Am My Own Wife), directed by PoA favorite and veteran director Michael Wilson.  

Playground tantrums. Modern angst. Hungarian dance festivals. In Kate Robin's Inside Voice, dive into the secret lives of parents. Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Tony Award winner for Broadway's Indecent, Lincoln Center Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater), the cast features Patch Darragh (Broadway's Our Town, "Weeds," "The Path," Sully) and the playwright herself ("One Mississippi," "The Affair," "Six Feet Under")! After the play, the artists and host Claudia Catania discuss showrunners, women on TV, and the role of fear in theater.

When she hears his story on a daytime talk show, a Cambodian refugee (Jodi Long) start to exchange letters with a homeless man (Matthew Cowles). From Jacquelyn Reingold ("The Good Fight," "Smash," "Grace and Frankie") comes an unlikely, soulful romance. After the play, join Reingold and host Claudia Catania for a candid conversation about the play, the business of TV, and writing from the news.  

From David Ives (Venus in Fur) comes a madcap satire of Brotherly Love and cosmic misunderstandings. Mark thought he woke up in New York City this morning, so why isn't there a cab, a copy of the Times, or a cold beer in sight?  You can't always get what you want, and in this clash of the cities, you might only be able to get the complete opposite - plus a cheesesteak. Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando (Urinetown, Jerry Springer - The Opera,) The Philadelphia features Carson Elrod (Peter & the Starcatcher, The Liar), Jenn Harris (Silence! The Musical), and Matthew Saldivar (Saint Joan, JUNK).  Stay tuned after the play for a behind-the-scenes conversation with host Claudia Catania and the artists.

Winter Games: as stray cats prowl and dough rises, two sardonic twenty-somethings flirt with dreams of Olympic glory - or maybe just escape from the small town bakery where they work. Penned by rising star playwright Rachel Bonds, a recipient of the prestigious Tow Foundation Playwriting Residency grant, it features Louisa Krause (lead of STARZ’s “The Girlfriend Experience,” Annie Baker’s The Flick) and Blake DeLong (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Public’s Illyria). Winter Games is directed by Portia Krieger. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.

The police picked up teenage Ethan (Timothée Chalamet) for drunkenly wandering down the highway. Now, he's facing the real reckoning for his Misadventure: the wrath of his big sister (Zoe Kazan.) Playwright Donald Margulies is a Pulitzer Prize winner for Dinner with Friends and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Sight Unseen and Collected Stories.  

Best known for her leading role in The Big Sick, Zoe Kazan has also played on Broadway and off in A Behanding in Spokane and Angels in America, among others. Her film credits include It’s Complicated, happythankyoumoreplease, and Ruby Sparks. 

Timothée Chalamet has received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Call Me By Your Name.  Other screen credits include Lady Bird, Interstellar, Love the Coopers, Hot Summer Nights, and "Homeland." He won acclaim on Broadway in John Patrick Shanley’s Prodigal Son. After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the entire creative team.

The 1840s South. In the thick plantation air, two enslaved sisters spin a poetry of escape. Today’s the day: Field Girl is making her run for freedom. Inspired by oral histories of slavery and resistance, the short play Wanting North by Tanya Barfield (“The Americans,” HBO’s “Here and Now”) features Obie winner April Matthis and Rebecca Frank.  After the episode, stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes discussion with Barfield, director Melissa Crespo, the cast, and host Claudia Catania.

In Jon Kern's short comedy Hate the Loser Inside, a college football coach is tackling a local television commercial and fumbling more than his team ever did - until he finally scores. Kern has written for "The Simpsons" and “Son of Zorn, and his plays include Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them.  Director R.J. Tolan heads EST's Youngblood program and co-directed the off-Broadway revival of Godspell. 

The cast features off-Broadway and regional favorite Brad Bellamy (Dallas Theater Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Theater Center), seen onscreen in “30 Rock" and “Law & Order: SVU.” Graeme Gillis, the co-Artistic Director of Youngblood, is a member of The Actor’s Studio and Ensemble Studio Theater.  After the play, host Claudia Catania talks shop with the whole creative team. 

In Tennessee, a small town 20-year-old wannabe musician (Timothée Chalamet) seeks an escape plan from the town's resident psychic (Caitlin FitzGerald).  Featuring Caitlin FitzGerald who stars as Libby Masters in the television series “Masters of Sex” and in “Rectify.” Her film credits include It’s Complicated, Newlyweds  and Taking Woodstock. Tennessee also features Timothée Chalamet who starred on Broadway in Mr. Shanley’s play Prodigal Son. His films include Call Me By Your Name, Interstellar and Lady Bird. Lively conversation with playwright/director John Patrick Shanley, Caitlin FitzGerald and Timothée Chalamet follows Tennessee. Tennessee was recorded and co-presented in front of a live audience at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York Public Radio.

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. 

Sure Thing features comic pros Carson Elrod and Liv Rooth. Directed by Tony winner John Rando. Original music by Tom Kochan. There is an interview with David Ives moderated by PoA's Claudia Catania, following 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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. 

Romulus Linney is one of America's great playwrights and a master of the short form. He conjures up a particular time and place in this confection of a play.​ Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with Lois Smith​,​ Frances Sternhagen and Scott Sowers moderated by 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In CHRISTMAS BREAKS by Patrick Gabridge, a young man surprises his girlfriend with some curve ball gifts. Featuring Steven Boyer (Hand to God), Zach Appelman ("Sleepy Hollow", Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Halley Feiffer. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania and the cast.

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.

In The Miracle of Chanukah by Sheri Wilner, a holiday guest’s personal miracle throws a family for a loop. Featuring Zach Appelman, Peter Friedman, Judy Gold (Emmy Award), Marcia Jean Kurtz and Lisa Joyce. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright and cast.

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.

A deposed dictator’s beloved pet answers to the disenfranchised population of Romania in The Final Interrogation of Ceausescu’s Dog by Warren Leight. Featuring Ed Asner (UP, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") as Dog and Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, The Spoils - playwright) as the Interrogator. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with with Ed Asner and Warren Leight, moderated by our 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.

In The Press Conference by Jessica Dickey, Inner longing and outer reality come to a hilarious head in the form of a chaotic Sheriff's press conference in small town America. Featuring Jay O. Sanders (The Day After Tomorrow, Oliver Stone’s JFK), Will Dagger and Paul Thureen, directed by Judith Ivey (Tony Award winner for Steaming and Hurlyburly). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by our 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.

In I'M WITH YA, DUKE, by Oscar and Tony winner Herb Gardner (A Thousand Clowns, I'm Not Rappaport), Jerry Stiller plays a fruit vendor dreaming of the good old days when Duke Snider played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and there was someone "ya could root for." Duke and the other Dodgers who won the 1947 pennant: Amoros, Gilliam, Campanella, Furillo, Hodges, Padres are his heart and Red Barber his voice as he faces impending surgery, know-it-all doctors and crazy kids. Featuring Jerry Stiller ("Seinfeld"), Fiana Toibin, and Gordon MacDonald ("Saving Grace"). Directed by John Rando (Tony winner Urinetown). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the director moderated by our 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

In New York Story by Mike Reiss (“The Simpsons”), Ed Asner plays a master of the one-liner to his public, pain-in-the-neck to his son (Peter Jacobson), total charmer to his new lady friend (Elizabeth Ashley), and pinch-hit babysitter for a frenzied mom (Daphne Rubin-Vega). Directed by Michael Wilson. Original music by Tom Kochan. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by our 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

New York Story was supported in part by Don and Linda Silpe.

In West of Stupid by Cusi Cram, a teacher vacationing with her son, falls for Rome and won’t go home. Featuring Alfredo Narciso, and Tony Award winner, J. Smith-Cameron. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright, moderated by our 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

It’s spring in Hell’s Kitchen in Something I’ll Tell You Tuesday by Tony winner John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation) and family members don't seem to be facing the real crisis at hand. It features theater luminaries Lois Smith (Grapes of Wrath), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed), Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park), and as the nosy neighbor, Carol Kane ("Taxi," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"). Directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by our 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.

In this week's Short Play Podcast Skin by Naveen Choudhury, romance sparks at the college health clinic, and a student sings in Bengali to win over a fellow co-ed. Featuring Vandit Bhatt, and Nitya Vidyasagar ("Sesame Street"). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright moderated by founding 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.

A morning person and a night owl make for a mixed marriage in this week's podcast, Breakfast at the Track by Lanford Wilson. Featuring Jeanine Serralles (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Lorenzo Pisoni (The Explorers Club at MTC), directed by Caitriona McLaughlin. Recorded live at BRIC Arts Media in downtown Brooklyn, stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by founding Artistic Director Claudia Catania.

Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by founding 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.

In David Auburn’s Fifth Planet, a professional astronomer played by Amy Ryan (Birdman; Gone, Baby, Gone; “The Wire,” “In Treatment,” “The Office”) and an amateur astronomer (Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster) hazard a friendship and learn more about Jupiter than they bargained for. David Auburn directs. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by founding 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.

In Holly Walter Kerby’s Attention, Amber (Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger) is bummed out that her boyfriend has visited his family without her. She takes solace in playing The Sims computer game. When her boyfriend David (Tony nominee Steven Boyer) calls to ask her the big question, he finds her hopelessly in the loving clutches of The Sims! Directed by Michael Barakiva. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by founding 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.

This week's podcast, Napoleon in Exile by Daniel Reitz, is about a single mother and her young adult son who has ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). It features Will Dagger and Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”) and is directed by Marsha Mason (The Good-bye Girl and Chapter Two). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the artists and founding 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.

In this week's podcast, A Very Very Short Play by Jacquelyn Reingold, two passengers of very different statures meet on a plane and take off. It features Tony Nominee Hope Davis (God of Carnage), Richard Kind (Inside Out, Spin City), and Robert Stanton directed by Jonathan Bernstein. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright, director, and founding 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.

ANNIVERSARY by Rachel Bonds, a comic drama about a young, grieving woman who finds love again. Featuring Michael Esper (The Last Ship, A Beautiful Mind), Sarah Sokolovic (“Homeland”), Steven Boyer (Hand to God), and Sue Jean Kim (Water by the Spoonful). Directed by Linsay Firman. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright and founding 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.

Underwriting for ANNIVERSARY provided by the Geraldine Stutz Trust.

Take radars, magnetrons, and dielectric heating; add two teenagers; mix and get lots of heat in this funny short about a teenage first date. Bounce With Me! We're Being Heated! by Christopher Sullivan features Lucy DeVito and Christopher Sullivan in a performance role. Directed by John Giampietro. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the artists moderated by founding 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.

In Mere Mortals by David Ives, three bridge-and-tunnel construction workers reveal secret pasts over their lunch pails. Featuring Bobby Cannavale (“Vinyl“, Blue Jasmine), Matthew Maher (The Flick, A Most Violent Year), and Alfredo Narciso (The Motherf***er With the Hat). Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between playwright, director and cast moderated by our Artistic Producer 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.

In The Strangest Kind of Romance by Tennessee Williams, a man’s love for his feline companion confounds everyone around him. Featuring Matthew Cowles ("All My Children"), Adam Driver (Star Wars Episode VII, "Girls"), Michael Stuhlbarg ("Boardwalk Empire," A Serious Man), Kathleen Turner (Peggy Sue Got Married, The Virgin Suicides), Jack Wetherall and Ellen Barber. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania, and Kathleen Turner.

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.

In Acorn by David Graziano, a clothesline, acorns, and laundry add up to romance in Brooklyn. Featuring Bobby Moreno and Megan Tusing (Year Of The Rooster at EST), directed by John Giampietro. Recorded at BRIC Media Arts in Brooklyn. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania, and the cast.

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.

In MILTON BRADLEY, a flummoxed Rabbi has to eulogize a mother whose son has only terrible things to say about her. MILTON BRADLEY by Peter Sagal (Host of NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!) features Bob Balaban (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Gosford Park) and Michael Stuhlbarg ("Boardwalk Empire", Seven Psychopaths). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director Claudia Catania, and playwright Peter Sagal.

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.

The Blizzard, a mystery thriller, features Jesse Eisenberg as a snowed-in screenwriter facing unexpected guests. Written by David Ives and directed Tony Award winner John Rando, it features Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, The Spoils), Alfredo Narciso, Heidi Schreck and Sarah Sokolovic. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania, and the cast.

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.

In CHRISTMAS BREAKS by Patrick Gabridge, a young man surprises his girlfriend with some curve ball gifts. Featuring Steven Boyer (Hand to God), Zach Appelman ("Sleepy Hollow", Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Halley Feiffer. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania and the cast.

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.

In The Miracle of Chanukah by Sheri Wilner, a holiday guest’s personal miracle throws a family for a loop. Featuring Zach Appelman, Peter Friedman, Judy Gold (Emmy Award), Marcia Jean Kurtz and Lisa Joyce. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with the playwright and cast.

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.

Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins plays a VA hospital waiting room clerk coping with a World War II veteran’s short fuse and an Iraq veteran’s eight year old Latina daughter. Recorded live at BRIC Arts Media House in downtown Brooklyn, FORWARD OBSERVER features Tonya Pinkins (Tony winner for Caroline or Change), David Margulies and Kyndra Sanchez; directed by Anne Kauffman.

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.

In David Ives' short play THE PHILADELPHIA, ordering a sandwich is a challenge of epic proportions – let alone a beer. It features Carson Elrod, Jenn Harris, and Matthew Saldivar, directed by Tony Award winner John Rando. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation with David Ives, John Rando and the cast.

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.

WAKING UP, a short play by Cori Thomas, juxtaposes an American urbanite and an African villager’s triumph over breast cancer. Featuring Lynnette R. Freeman and Amy Staats. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania and Cori Thomas.

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play by Frank Gilroy in which a scrappy GI, gleefully recalls how he went from almost flunking high school to the trenches of WWII to Dartmouth. GETTING IN written by Pulitzer and Tony Award winner, Frank Gilroy, features David Beach, Kim Bendheim, Matthew Cowles, Caroline Gilroy, Michael Godere, Carter Hudson, Lillian Laserson, Thomas Lyons, David Margulies, Fiana Toibin and Jack Wetherall.

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play by Jesse Eisenberg in which a young man displays his tenuous hold on reality when he co-opts the national tragedy of September 11th into a self-serving anxiety narrative. A LITTLE PART OF ALL OF US features Jesse Eisenberg (The Spoils, The Social Network, Zombieland) and Justin Bartha (The Hangover, National Treasure).

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play by Arlene Hutton: On the cusp of World War II, two young strangers meet on a train and find out they may know each other better than they know themselves. LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC features Mamie Gummer (“The Good Wife,” “Emily Owens MD,” “The Big C”) and Gregg Mozgala. Directed by John Rando.

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play by Lynn Nottage in which a woman's words proove cosmically powerful. POOF! by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Intimate Apparel, By The Way Meet Vera Stark) features multiple Tony winner Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess, 110 In The Shade, A Raisin In The Sun, Ragtime), Tony winner Tonya Pinkins (Caroline or Change, Jelly's Last Jam) and Keith Randolph Smith. 

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play by David Lindsay-Abaire in which recovering addicts (Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo) have their Saturday night card game rudely interrupted by Bobby Cannavale, who plays good cop/bad cop all by himself. 

Crazy Eights by David Lindsay-Abaire features Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine, “Boardwalk Empire,” The Motherf***er With The Hat) John Leguizamo (Ghetto Klown, Mambo Mouth; “Ice Age” series, “Romeo + Juliet”), Rosie Perez (“Do The Right Thing,” Academy Award nominee for “Fearless,” “White Men Can’t Jump”) and Kevin Hogan. Directed by David Lindsay-Abaire. Interview with the playwright, director, cast and Artistic Producer Claudia Catania following the performance.

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.

A young woman of "ill repute” grabs a chance at marriage and a client shows up with some jaw dropping news. Featuring Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, Emmy winner Margo Martindale, and Liv Rooth. Directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation moderated by our Artistic Director, Claudia Catania, with Ara Watson and the entire cast.

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.

In this week's podcast, a short play from Christopher Durang (Tony Award for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) in which a comfortable couple in Connecticut gets shaken up by a husband’s high school fling’s unexpected arrival. This radio drama features performances by Kate Jennings Grant (United 93, Frost/Nixon), Josh Hamilton (Frances Ha, J. Edgar), Jane Krakowski (“30 Rock”) Aaron Clifton Moten (The Flick at Playwrights Horizons), with a cameo from Christopher Durang.

A door-to-door evangelist is invited into the home of an older man on his last day of service in Small Things, a short by Cary Pepper. With Bobby Steggert (Big Fish) and Jack Wetherall ("Queer as Folk"). 

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.

Husband-wife team Anne Meara (1929-2015) and Jerry Stiller play former Yiddish theater stars who steal the show at a memorial service in the The Burial Society, a comic play by Susan Sandler. Also featuring George Morfogen. Followed by an interview with playwright Susan Sandler. 

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.

On a flight to South Carolina, a young woman selects a new mother. A short play by Sheri Wilner, with Julie Halston, Michael Keck, Debra Monk and Merritt Wever. 

In this short play by David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize winning author of PROOF, the daughter of a disgraced senator confronts the retired campaign strategist who dragged her family name through the dirt. With Rebecca Brooksher and David Rasche. Directed by David Auburn. Visting Playing on Air online at playingonair.org, facebook.com/playingonair and @playingonair on Twitter. 

In a play by "Law and Order: SVU" writer/producer and Tony Award winner, Warren Leight, three friends and basketball fans share two stadium seats and two decades of Knicks' getting trounced. With Geoffrey Cantor, Peter Jacobson ("HOUSE"), and Cezar Williams. Directed by Fred Berner. Followed by an interview with Berner, Cantor, Jacobson and Williams. Recorded live at BRIC Arts Media House, 12/1/2014. 

Sure Thing, a short play by David Ives, with Carson Elrod and Liv Rooth. From Playing on Air, Great American Short Plays with Great American Actors. 

In this short play by John Patrick Shanley (Pulitzer for DOUBT, Oscar for MOONSTRUCK), a dying man is visited by an Irish sprite. Featuring Aidan Quinn and Geraldine Hughes. 

Trailer for Off My Chest

Three short plays. "A Little Part of All of Us" by Jesse Eisenberg. "A Very Very Short Play" by Jacquelyn Reingold. "Happy Birthday Mr. Abernathy" by Lloyd Suh