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Playlist: Playing on Air's Portfolio

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Chris Cooper, Jesse Eisenberg, Kathleen Turner,Jerry Stiller, Margo Martindale, Adam Driver are among the cast members performing on Playing on Air, a new 53-minute program. It features 10-20 minute very short plays with the highest caliber talent. Each short short play is followed by a personal interview with its artists. These bite-sized pieces are authored by America's best including Pulitzer and Tony award winners Beth Henley, Frank Gilroy, Herb Gardner, Lynn Nottage and Warren Leight. Original music introduces each short piece.
"The seven programs Playing on Air has provided to us have already aired and were extremely well received by our listeners...this is a perfect fit for public radio." -Alan Chartock, CEO WAMCNortheast Public Radio Hide full description

Chris Cooper, Jesse Eisenberg, Kathleen Turner,Jerry Stiller, Margo Martindale, Adam Driver are among the cast members performing on Playing on Air, a new 53-minute program. It features 10-20 minute very short plays with the highest caliber talent. Each short short play is followed by a personal interview with its artists. These bite-sized pieces are authored by America's best including Pulitzer and Tony award winners Beth Henley, Frank Gilroy, Herb Gardner, Lynn Nottage and Warren Leight. Original music introduces each short piece.
"The seven programs Playing on Air has provided to us have already aired and were extremely well received by our listeners...this is a perfect fit for public... Show full description

Featured

Out Loud

From Playing on Air | Part of the Playing on Air Hour Length Episodes series | 53:00

Starring Oscar Winner Olympia Dukakis, There You Are, the first of three short plays portraying the gay experience, is about two widows who meet again by chance at an outdoor concert and consider the relationship they didn't dare to pursue in their youth. In Small Things, a young door-to-door evangelist, on his last day of his one-year service, is invited in for the first time in a year of door knocking. He finds a man inside who is considering suicide and as the 18-year old and the older man exchange their stories, we experience the curative power of a story. In If We're Using a Surrogate, How Come I'm the One with Morning Sickness, a gay parent (Oscar winner James Lecesne) comically rants about having a child. Three short plays. Interviews are with playwrights Leslie Ayvazian, Cary Pepper and actor James Lecesne. Original music by Tom Kochan.

Playing
Out Loud
From
Playing on Air

Olympia_dukakis_photo_small The first play, There You Are, with Olympia Dukakis and Maria Tucci, is about two widows who meet again by chance at an outdoor concert and consider the relationship they didn't dare pursue in their youth. Then in Small Things by Cary Pepper a young door-to-door evangelist (Bobby Steggert) on his last day of service is invited in by a troubled man (Jack Wetherall) for the first time after a year of door knocking. As the 18-year old and the older man exchange their stories, we experience the curative power of a story. In the third short, If We're Using A Surrogate How Come I'm The One With Morning Sickness, by Marco Pennette; a gay parent (Oscar winner James Lecesne) comically rants about having a child. Interviews are with playwrights Leslie Ayvazian, Cary Pepper and actor James Lecesne. There You Are by Leslie Ayvazian with Olympia Dukakis (Oscar for Moonstruck) and Maria Tucci. Small Things by Cary Pepper with Bobby Steggert (Tony nom. Ragtime) and Jack Wetherall ("Queer as Folk). If We're Using A Surrogate How Come I'm The One With The Morning Sickness by Marco Pennette with James Lecesne (Oscar for Trevor). 

Non-RomCom

From Playing on Air | Part of the Playing on Air Hour Length Episodes series | 53:00

NON-ROMCOM features two short plays by young female playwrights. Both Patricia Cotter's RULES OF COMEDY and Chiara Atik's 52ND TO BOWERY TO COBBLE HILL, IN BROOKLYN shine a piercingly funny light on how we deal with relationships, romantic and un-.

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Non-RomCom
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Playing on Air

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First up in NON-ROMCOM is Patricia Cotter's RULES OF COMEDY.

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 Gamesand 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. 


NON-ROMCOM finishes up with Chiara Atik's 52ND TO BOWERY TO COBBLE HILL, IN BROOKLYN

Halle is taking a late-night cab ride through Manhattan with her bubbly acquaintance Alison. Halle didn't mean to blurt out how she really feels about their "friendship," but now they're stuck in traffic on Broadway and 4th, dealing with it. Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (Colt Coeur), Atik's modern comedy features Molly Bernard ("Transparent," "Younger") and Sue Jean Kim (Bachelorette, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater).


"An answered prayer for anyone who craves more theater in their life." -The New York Times
 
"In the long-running podcast series Playing on Air, sterling actors sink their teeth into short plays by the country’s finest authors" -The New Yorker
 
"Playing on Air increases the accessibility of quality theatre to theatre-hungry audiences" -Playbill

A Hedgehog and a Spatula

From Playing on Air | Part of the Playing on Air Hour Length Episodes series | 53:05

Carol Kane and Jeremy Shamos in A HEDGEHOG AND A SPATULA. The show features recordings of the winners of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize for Comedic Short Plays, Gracie Gardner's HATE BABY and Lily Akerman's HEDGEHOG YEARS. Between the plays, host Claudia Catania interviews the late James Stevenson's wife Josie Merck, the Prize's sponsor, about Stevenson's work and the inspiration behind the contest.

Carol_small In his cartoons for The New Yorker, James Stevenson told stories about the human comedy with energy and economy. In 2018, Playing on Air introduced the James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, which recognized his love of theater, as well as his extraordinary ability to pack a punch with very few lines. This hour features the first and second prize winners of the inaugural Stevenson Prize.

First up, HEDGEHOG YEARS:
Emmy winner Carol Kane (The Princess Bride, Hester Street, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos ("Better Call Saul," Clybourne Park) star in Lily Akerman's Hedgehog Years, the second place winner of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize. When he was five, Theo (Shamos) met his best friend: an excitable hedgehog (Kane) who loves leftovers and longs to go to summer camp. Now, sifting through his memories, Theo must try to make sense of the days when he ran away from home and started living like an animal. Mischievous and heartbreaking, Hedgehog Years is an adventure for anyone who's ever ached to return to childhood. After the play, Tony winner and director Judith Ivey joins the cast, Akerman, and host Claudia Catania to discuss imagination and animal instincts. 

Then, HATE BABY:
Sigrid has a new little bundle of joy, and she's worried that he might be... evil. Today, she's tagging out: this baby is her neighbor Darla's problem now. Just in time for Mother's Day, Gracie Gardner's HATE BABY, the winner of Playing on Air's 2018 James Stevenson Prize for Comedic Short Plays, delves into the often-gross, ever-changing world of new parenthood. HATE BABY features Emily Bergl (Broadway's The Ferryman, PoA's Evening at Anaheim), OBIE winner April Matthis (Elevator Repair Service, PoA's Wanting North), and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA's An Upset). After the play, the artists join host Claudia Catania and director Claudia Weill for an onstage interview. Hate Baby was recorded live at the 52nd Street Project in New York City.


"An answered prayer for anyone who craves more theater in their life." -The New York Times
 
"In the long-running podcast series Playing on Air, sterling actors sink their teeth into short plays by the country’s finest authors" -The New Yorker
 
"Playing on Air increases the accessibility of quality theatre to theatre-hungry audiences" -Playbill