COUNTING IN SHA'AB by Emma Goldman-Sherman

"Life as usual and then the sky falls in."

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. 

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 40 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]

HEDGEHOG YEARS by Lily Akerman

"Any words spoken by hedgehogs in this play are in translation. Please note that all translations are betrayals..."

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. 

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [26 Minutes 50 Seconds]

TWO CROWS APART by Max Baker

Unwanted house guests. A murder of crows. Is something brewing in the raw, early morning? 

In TWO CROWS APART, Ciarán Hinds (Mance Rayder in "Game of Thrones,"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Geraldine Hughes (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jerusalem, Playing on Air's The Mandela Effect) paint a virtuosic, unfiltered portrait of marriage. After the play, director and playwright Max Baker (Broadway's 1984, The Mandela Effect) and the cast join host Claudia Catania for a discussion of haters, lovers, and animal instincts. 

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 12 Seconds]

MILTON BRADLEY by Peter Sagal

How do you eulogize a woman who everybody hated? 

In Peter Sagal's MILTON BRADLEY, Rabbi Schoenberg (Michael Stuhlbarg), faced with this dilemma, turns to a metaphor: the game of Life (the board game, that is). 

Featuring Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name, The Shape of Water) and Bob Balaban (Gosford Park, Christopher Guest & Wes Anderson ensemble regular), MILTON BRADLEY is a darkly funny exploration of where we're all headed one day. Stay tuned after the play for a conversation with playwright Peter Sagal (of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! fame) and the play’s director, host Claudia Catania.

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [21 Minutes 51 Seconds]

BEYOND GLORY: CLARENCE SASSER by Stephen Lang

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. 

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [15 Minutes 13 Seconds]

THE MYSTERY AT TWICKNAM VICARAGE by David Ives

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, by David Ives, 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.

Download on iTunes, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [29 Minutes 30 Seconds]

EVENING AT ANAHEIM by James Stevenson

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.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [35 Minutes 58 Seconds]

A DEPARTURE by Andy Reynolds

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.

Download on iTunes, Podbay, Player FM, subscribe to our RSS feed, search ‘Playing on Air’ in your favorite podcasting app – or stream below! [28 Minutes 11 Seconds]