Real Talk with Mason Bray

Broadway Legend Jay Armstrong Johnson stops by to talk about the impact of the Tony Award-Winning Revival of Parade on the future of Broadway, his path into performing, and figuring out the journey of a character throughout a show. Jay has been a star throughout the theatre industry having performed in Phantom of the Opera, On The Town, Hair, Hands on a Hardbody, Catch Me If You Can, and in severa...

TikTok’s (and Broadway’s) Katharine Quinn chats about her roles as the Writing Associate on the new a-maize-ing SHUCKED and more! Katharine is no stranger to the Theatre world! After performing internationally for several years, she focused her craft more on the creation of a story with directing, choreography, and writing. In addition to her fascinating theatre work behind the scenes, she takes S...

Playbill Night-time Report, Meg Masseron, sits down to discuss her career in Theatre reporting as well as the importance of criticism and journalism. Meg is a recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and joined to discuss her position as the night-time/weekend reporter at Playbill! Before that, she has been independently published in various theatre journalism hubs: TheatreMania, Theatrely,...

Mike Karns sits down with Mason to chat about the trajectory of Broadway's social media and provide insight into careers on Broadway Mike is the Founder and CEO of Marathon Digital – one of Broadway’s most successful social media firms who has created iconic campaigns for Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, Shucked, Parade, Disaster, Diana, Hadestown, Into The Woods, and so many accounts that have changed the...

DJ Martin sits down to talk about his career throughout all facets of Broadway marketing and discusses the future of theatre for generations to come. DJ is the owner and founding partner of Bond Theatrical Group which works hand in hand with marketing, social media, and tour booking for iconic Broadway productions and international tours. Currently, they represent Shucked, Bad Cinderella, Moulin R...

The Broadway League’s first Chief Diversity Officer, Gennean Scott, joins Real Talk to discuss her definition behind the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion fields, her day-to-day operations, representation, Black excellence, and much more relating to her impactful work across the industry. Gennean is no stranger to the business side of theatre – getting her start in inclusion with the Omaha Performi...

Tony-Award Winning Scenic Designer, Derek McLane, chats about his unexpected route to Broadway, his creative processes leading to some of the most captivating designs in NYC, and more! “Broadway will flourish again, it always does”  Derek is the genius visionary behind some of Broadway’s most intricate, beautiful sets, including; Moulin Rouge, MJ: The Musical, Hairspray LIVE, Beautiful: The Carole...

Broadway’s own Sean McManus sits down with Mason (in-person) to discuss his life on Broadway, his position as a Vacation Swing, his infamous TikTok account with a special appearance from Patti LuPone – sort of… Sean grew up around theatre, even playing Bert in his high school production of Mary Poppins. He has played on stages across the East Coast such as Paper Mill Playhouse, Interlakes Theatre,...

After 9 months away from releasing episodes, Mason returns to discuss the future of Real Talk! Burnout is a battle that we always hear about, but generally assume that it won’t get to us – but with everything going on, it happened to me. Join me for a few minutes as I discuss why I have been absent from the podcast scene for so long, my love for theatre getting rejuvenated over and over, and the r...

On top of being Mason's theatre teacher and high school director, Mrs. Clark is the face of the YouTube channel Clarks in Parks and is currently studying at Mississippi University for Women to get her masters degree! In this episode we dive into the modern importance for arts education, Real Housewife drama, and the future of Boonville High School's Thespian Troupe #950 with the next season "Life...

The 2022 Tony Awards nominations are OUT and all of us theatre stans are getting excited for the annual ceremony on June 12th (finally back at Radio City Music Hall)! But not only are Tony Nominees up for discussion, but Mason also discusses his recent trip to the Windy City to see Winnie the Pooh and Moulin Rouge! See a full list of Tony Nominations at tonyawards.com! Check out more from Winnie t...

Kelsey Tippins is the current Production Stage Manager on tour with THE PROM! Before this tour, she has worked on Once on this Island, Finding Neverland, A Bronx Tale, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek the Musical, and so many more.  It’s been a few months since I had the chance to interview and chat with a stage manager, so I jumped at the opportunity and so thrilling to have Kelsey joining my seventh...

Eli Tokash is one of the other youngest podcast hosts on the Broadway Podcast Network with his show “Take A Bow” which just celebrated 100 episodes! As a fantastic child performer, he has been in the Broadway production and National Tours of Finding Neverland, Pippin, A Christmas Story, and Mary Poppins. He also played the leading role of Trevor in “Trevor” during their run in Chicago.  In this ep...

Lexie Plath is an amazingly talented triple threat currently with THE PROM on their national tour as a Swing and Co-Dance Captain. Before this tour, she has joined the cast of Anything Goes, Bullets Over Broadway, and Cats on their national tours! In our interview, we dive deeper into what a swing does specifically on a national tour (during a pandemic), her role as a Dance Captain, and some of th...

Olivia Miller is the brilliant writer and star of “Bloody Mary: Live!” earning glowing reviews such as “Olivia Miller dazzles in this tart and punky solo show” from The Guardian. She has also performed across the U.S. in shows such as Little Shop fo Horrors, Tick Tick Boom, Assassins, and so many more! She joins the Real Talk family to discuss her pathway to creating this “stand-up structured” pla...

Broadway performer, Telly Leung, and producer, Joey Monda, sit down to discuss their new documentary “Ensemble” highlighting the rapidly changing theatre industry! Telly Leung is a Broadway star with credits ranging from Aladdin to Allegiance as a performer.  Joey Monda is a multiple Tony Award winning producer on Broadway with credits like Hadestown, Slave Play, Allegiance, and Mrs. Doubtfire. “I...

Braden Allen King joins from the ensemble of the National Tour of THE PROM to discuss his upbringing in dance and into the theatre. Braden is no stranger to professional theatre at just 18-years-old! He has performed in the titular role in Billy Elliot several times across the country as well as being part of the pre-Broadway lab for The Music Man revival with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.  In t...

Cassie Beck, Jocelyn Shek, and Emilyn Toffler join me to kick-off Season 7 and discuss their journey and time on the road with Heidi Shreck’s “What the Constitutional Means to Me?” “Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this hilarious, hopeful and achingly human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order...

Jake Bazel in the amazing voice-actor and puppeteer behind Winnie the Pooh in the current off-broadway stage adaptation of Disney's Winnie The Pooh! He has also been a puppeteer on Sesame Street, The 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Muppets, The Hungry Caterpillar Show, and so much more! In this episode, we discuss Jake's path to working on Winnie the Pooh, finding his Pooh voic...

Martín Acuña is the amazing host of Backstage Talk, a podcast highlighting the under-represented people in the theatre world. He is also 1/3 of the What's Up, Broadway hosts along with Ayanna Prescod. On top of these two shows, he is a freelance social media manager, assistant director, and performer! In this episode, Martín and I discuss his journey to being a voice of Broadway from Colombia thro...

Jenna Rich is an amazing marketing professional and producer based in NYC and working on countless Broadway and Off-Broadway productions! Right now, she is on the Marketing Team for Winnie the Pooh Off-Broadway and is the brain behind the New York City-wide Honey Hunt and various other partnerships. She has also run the social media for Chicago the Musical, Waitress the Musical, Company Revival, a...

Ryan Scott Oliver is the phenomenal composer behind 35 MM with Lindsey Mendez, Alex Brightman, Betsy Wolfe, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and Ben Crawford. He also wrote the musical Future Demons, Three Points of Contact, Rope, Mrs. Sharp, and so many other great thrilling rock musicals! In this episode, you can hear us talking about his road to creating musicals, where his inspiration for 35mm and his o...

Broadway lost one of the greatest artists ever in the past few weeks. Stephen Sondheim was such a huge influence on my life and the lives of so many others. He has truly been an inspiration to millions... I was introduced to his work in a time where I had very little hope in continuing theatre, quitting was at the forefront of my mind and "Into The Woods" reeled me back in, again. His musicals got...

Heather Hitchens is the CEO and President of the American Theatre Wing which hosts the Annual Tony Awards, Obie Awards, and has so many great educational and empowering programs to get people involved with the arts. Before becoming the CEO of The Wing, she worked in Arts Management through New York for decades with jobs through the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, and several...

Douglas Lyons is the phenomenal Broadway playwright behind “Chicken & Biscuits”! Not only did he write that show, he also worked on the musical “Breathe” virtually during the pandemic! His play opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on October 10th and it was just announced it will be closing early on November 29th due to the loss of ticket sales while there was a breakthrough case of COVID-19...