BITE THE HAND by Ara Watson (Summer Re-Release 2022)
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
Release Date: 08/14/2022
A STICKY MEMENTO by Ken Urban
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
When Dee–a forty-something from Rockford, Illinois–visits Harvard’s namesake statue, she discovers a legacy student, hiding from his parents in the bushes. What could this recently suspended nerd have in common with a Midwestern working-class divorcee? Parents! College! Rules and regulations! Gay or not gay. Gay meanies. What’s a poor little rich boy to do? A Sticky Memento is a world premiere written by Ken Urban (A Guide for the Homesick) and directed by Knud Adams (Primary Trust, English). The two-hander stars Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”) and Taylor...
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SHEILA: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF by Kirsten Greenidge
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
It’s not easy living with a zealot. Or being at the local supermarket where he prowls. Suppose you like bacon? Suppose disposable diapers? There is interference in the air. Sheila: A Year In The Life Of is a world-premiere James Stevenson commission from Playwright Laureate of Boston Kirsten Greenidge (Milk Like Sugar). Melia Bensussen (Artistic Director of Hartford Stage) directs a terrific ensemble of Seret Scott, Postell Pringle, Nikkole Salter, Brittany Allen, Mary Bacon, Marchánt Davis, and Lee Wilkof. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation...
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CRISIS PLANNING by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
What’s with these birthdays that end in a zero? How is it that a mere multiple of ten can wield such power? A touch of wit and love language can help. Crisis Planning is a world premiere James Stevenson commission from Bay Area-playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb (The Making of a Great Moment). Directed by Jason Eagan (Founding Artistic Director of ), the play features Andrew Garman (The Holdovers, “The Gilded Age”) and PoA legend April Matthis (Mary Jane, The Piano Lesson). Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation among the playwright,...
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DISNEY/FUKIJAWA BY Lloyd Suh
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
It’s 1942. WWIl is raging. Mr. Walt Disney is in New York to discuss another propaganda film requested by the US government to boost the wartime effort. At the moment, though, he is in a meeting with a former illustrator from his early days. It’s Gyo Fujikawa. Disney/Fujikawa comes from the mind of 2023 Pulitzer Prize Finalist Lloyd Suh (The Far Country, Franklinland). Directed by Ralph Peña (Among the Dead, ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME), this audio premiere features the talents of Michi Barall (Peer Gynt and The Norwegian Hapa Band) and PoA veteran Steven Boyer (Hand to God,...
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REVERIE by John Patrick Shanley
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
A woman (Carol Kane) is drawn into a neighborhood church by the sound of music beautifully sung. A marriage is taking place within. Do beautiful music and ceremony make a marriage? Reverie, a world premiere written and directed by Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Brooklyn Laundry, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea), showcases the talents of Carol Kane (The Princess Bride, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) and Scarlett Strallen (Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers, She Loves Me). Stay tuned after the performance for a...
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KANSAS ANYMORE by David Ives
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
1976 Kansas or Oz, that is the question. Here's a new spin on a great tale spun. To go, or say no? And in which direction? Kansas? or Oz? Tell me. Anyone? Kansas Anymore, a world premiere from esteemed playwright David Ives (Here We Are, Venus in Fur), features screen legend Lois Smith (Twister, “ER”) and TV star Catherine Curtin (“Orange Is the New Black”, “Stranger Things”). Ives also directs. Stay tuned after the performance for a conversation between the playwright, actors, and Playing on Air’s founder, Claudia Catania. ...
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DID I MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT by Patricia Cotter
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
Parents, Don and Charlotte, summon their adult children, Susanna and Brian, to a meeting at Le Pain Quotidien scheduled smack in the middle of their workday. What’s up? Patricia Cotter’s comedy ensues. Did I Miss Anything Important? is a world-premiere James Stevenson commission from accomplished playwright Patricia Cotter (Mulan, Jr., The Daughters). The cast includes stalwarts David Rasche, Maryanne Plunkett, Zach Appelman, Lesley Fray, and Lakisha May. Marchánt Davis (Reality, Ain’t No Mo’) directs. Music by Tom Kochan Stay tuned after...
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BONNET by John Patrick Shanley
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
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...
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SECOND SIGHT by David Ives
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
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...
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MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY by Rehana Lew Mirza
Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
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...
info_outlineIn 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.