BANSHEE by John Patrick Shanley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar) wrote and directed this short play about a 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.
Download on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [ 25 Minutes 46 Seconds]
YOU BELONG TO ME by Daniel Reitz (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
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 years--having a chance meeting on the subway. 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.
Download on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [ 17 Minutes 58 Seconds]
AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET by Jonathan Bernstein (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
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 founder and consulting director Claudia Catania.
Download on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [20 Minutes 13 Seconds]
SKIN by Naveen Bahar Choudhury (Re-Release)
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 the play’s director, host Claudia Catania, for a post-performance conversation.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [15 Minutes 36 Seconds]
BEYOND GLORY: JOHN WILLIAM FINN by Stephen Lang
Content advisory: this episode contains language and themes that may not be appropriate for younger listeners.
"One of the richest, most complex pieces of acting I've seen in my theater going life."
- The Wall Street Journal, on Stephen Lang's Beyond Glory
A special release for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, BEYOND GLORY: JOHN WILLIAM FINN is part of the longer work Beyond Glory, by Stephen Lang. On the morning of December 7, 1941, when the attack on Pearl Harbor began, Medal of Honor recipient John William Finn was in bed with his wife. This is the sailor's own account of that day - and the life that came before and after - as adapted and performed across the world by Lang (Avatar, "Salem"). This installment also features Jeremy Davidson (Netflix's "Seven Seconds," "Army Wives").
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [18 Minutes 44 Seconds]
2B OR NOT 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold
Sometimes, the most seductive offers come from unexpected messengers. Heartbroken on a Friday night, Franny (Jenn Harris) finds herself confronted by a charming bee (William Jackson Harper) with a buzzy - and delicious - proposal.
Recorded live, 2B OR NOT 2B by Jacquelyn Reingold ("The Good Fight," HBO's "In Treatment) features Harper ("The Good Place," Midsommar, All the Way) and Harris ("High Maintenance," Gayby). After the play, host Claudia Catania joins director Michael Barakiva (Hangar Theatre), the playwright, and the cast for a discussion of unlikely inspiration, in love and art.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [18 Minutes 33 Seconds]
A LITTLE PART OF ALL OF US by Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, PoA's The Blizzard) is both playwright and actor in the satirical short A LITTLE PART OF ALL OF US. Since 9/11, anxious hipster Joey (Eisenberg) has been haunted by survivor's guilt. Or -- maybe he's just co-opting a national tragedy to justify a decade of depression? A LITTLE PART OF ALL OF US also stars Justin Bartha (The Hangover trilogy, “The Good Fight”) as Joey's deadpan friend, who is definitely, totally listening to Joey. Really. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between host Claudia Catania and the cast.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [16 Minutes 48 Seconds]
AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET by Jonathan Bernstein
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.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [20 Minutes 13 Seconds]
MY HUSBAND by Paul Rudnick
A wedding isn't a competition - until the mothers get involved.
After gay marriage is legalized in New York, one meddling matriarch will stop at nothing to get her son to the altar. Starring Michael Urie (Broadway's Torch Song, "Ugly Betty," PoA's A Departure) and Tony winner Harriet Harris ("Frasier," "Desperate Housewives," Phantom Thread), MY HUSBAND by Paul Rudnick (The New Yorker, the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada) is directed by Claudia Weill (Girlfriends, HBO's "Girls," PoA's Hate Baby). After the short comedy, host Claudia Catania joins the artists for a behind-the-scenes discussion.
MY HUSBAND was recorded live at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [19 Minutes 58 Seconds]
NEW YORK STORY by Mike Reiss
"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.
Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [31 Minutes 27 Seconds]