No Script: The Podcast

A weekend at the family vacation home in Martha's Vineyard... Sounds relaxing, right? But Lydia R. Diamond's play "Stick Fly" imagines the LeVay family (and a few guests) trying to enjoy their weekend at the Vineyard, but finding out that secrets, lies, and high expectations can tend to ruin the relaxation. Listen in this week as Jackson and Jacob discuss Diamond's "well-made play."  -------------...

Based loosely on true events, David Henry Hwang's play "Yellow Face" is a comic examination of theatre and identity. This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss Hwang's use of himself as the play's protagonist, as well as the play's documentary style.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Podcast...

This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss the delightful, evocative "Letters from Cuba" by Maria Irene Fornes. Fornes is a heavily-lauded playwright and director, known for the huge variety of styles and subjects in her work. "Letters from Cuba" is based on letters Fornes received from her own brother. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For...

Lyrical and poignant, Suzan-Lori Parks' play Father Comes Home From the Wars is a loosely adapted telling of The Odyssey set during the American Civil War. She imagines Hero, an enslaved man who is asked to follow his white captor into battle - fighting on the side of the rebel South. If he chooses to go, Hero will have to leave behind his beloved adoptive father and his long term romantic partner...

Nowadays, if you say "Lin-Manuel Miranda" in any public space, people will start gushing about the hit musical Hamilton. But before Hamilton was the culturally ubiquitous icon that it is, Miranda was well known for another genre-busting musical called In the Heights. Soon to be a major motion picture, In the Heights is an incredible portrait of the Washington Heights neighborhood. This week on No...

The collapse of Detroit is a narrative that is still embedded in the American psyche. Playwright Dominique Morisseau, a Dertroit native, has written a three play cycle called The Detroit Projects which chronicles three different Detroits across time. Listen in to this week's episode of No Script to hear Jackson and Jacob discuss the third play in this cycle, Skeleton Crew. In Skeleton Crew Morisse...

When the Blake family decides to hold their Thanksgiving in a mostly empty, slightly spooky two-floor apartment in Manhattan, deeply held secrets and insecurities boil to the surface. Stephen Karam's "The Humans" is an empathetic look at this family and their individual and corporate joy and pain. Listen in this week as Jackson and Jacob discuss how Karam plays on standard psychological realism tr...

A classic comedy if there ever was one, Noel Coward's "Private Lives" has been a staple of the stage for years and years and years. This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob wrestle with the play's complexities and its future.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Podcast can continue.  https://www.pat...

For a long time, Jackson and Jacob have been planning to talk about Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury as the first episode of Season Five. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, America is finally facing a racial reckoning which makes the discussion of plays like Fairview all the more important.    ... But, it is not lost on the boys of No Script that their perspective as two white men is a li...

In the final episode of the season, Jackson and Jacob discuss one of the greatest Western playwrights of all time: Henrik Ibsen. His play "Hedda Gabler" is a gripping character study, full of hard decisions and wry humor. Listen in! ------------------------------ This is the final episode of Season 4! We will take a short break and begin Season 5 in early July.  ------------------------------ Plea...

For the third time, the boys of No Script discuss a play from the robust library of Wendy Wasserstein. Her script "The Sisters Rosensweig" is a funny, poignant portrayal of three sisters whose lives are forever changed by one weekend in London.  ------------------------------ We are nearing the end of Season 4! After this episode, there will be one more episode released to round out the season, an...

Confusing, menacing... funny? "The Birthday Party" by Harold Pinter is awash in contradictions. Pinter secured his place in history as one of the great playwrights of all time with his incredible body of work. "The Birthday Party" has remained as one of his finest pieces. Though he quibbles with the category, "The Birthday Party" is often considered the primary example of a comedy of menace. Liste...

No Script is excited to welcome Dr. Patricia Relph to the show. Relph is the Arts Learning Specialist at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She and Jacob discuss one of the all-time great dramatists: Anton Chekhov. His play "The Seagull" is a look into the hidden lives of artists.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can h...

No Script is back to full length scripts this week! "Fun Home" is a delightful and poignant musical based on the autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. Set at three different points in Alison's life, the play follows her challenging relationship with her father. Book/lyrics by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. F...

Mini Month Week 4: "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell In this final episode of Mini Month, Jackson and Jacob discuss one of the most famous one acts of all time... "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell! What happens when a small-town woman is accused of killing her husband? How does the investigation - primarily conducted by men - show the biases of the time? Glaspell's classic short play is an early example of fe...

Mini Month Week 3: "The Shawl" by David Mamet Mini Month continues into its third week with a short play by one of the most popular playwrights in American history: David Mamet. Mamet has a robust collection of short plays, many of which show off the brilliant stylistic and storytelling choices that make Mamet the titan of drama that he is. In "The Shawl," Mamet pits a psychic with a heart of gold...

Mini Month Week 2: "Far Away" by Caryl Churchill In this second week of Mini Month, Jackson and Jacob take on both the form of a "one act" and the awesome, enigmatic Caryl Churchill. Her play "Far Away" is a mysterious and sometimes baffling look at a society consumed by war. ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the...

Mini Month has arrived!  During the month of April, Jackson and Jacob will look at four one acts/short plays. First up? "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You" by Christopher Durang. This irreverent look at the institution of Catholic education has earned Mr. Durang protests across the country. Listen in to see why! ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Fo...

This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob return to playwright Rajiv Joseph. His play "Guards at the Taj," reminiscent of "Waiting for Godot" or "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," follows two low-level imperial soldiers assigned to guard the newly completed Taj Mahal. Playing on the ancient myth about the Taj Mahal's construction, Joseph imagines these guards have to severe the hands of all...

It's controversial, it's tragic, it's... a comedy? This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob take on Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice." Listen as the boys reflect on Shakespeare's humanizing portrayal of Shylock, his brilliant writing (especially the trial scene), and his bizarre Act 5.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help...

In their first discussion on American theatre history signpost Clifford Odets, Jackson and Jacob wrestle their way through his dense and passionate writing style. Odets' play "Awake and Sing!" follows an impoverished Jewish family living in a small apartment in the Bronx in the 1930s. "Awake and Sing!" is a strong ensemble show with complex and earnest characters. Listen in!   --------------------...

The night before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. encounters something spectacular... or, at least, that's all we can tell you about Katori Hall's play "The Mountaintop" without spoiling it. This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss Hall's use of revelation and the way she humanizes giants of history. Listen in! ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on P...

How do we conduct ourselves in positions of power? How does the culture we invest in change us? These questions and more are explored by Rebecca Gilman in her thought-provoking play "Spinning into Butter." This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob try to unpack some of Gilman's complex and challenging ideas. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For a...

This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob take one of theatre's greatest scripts: Brecht's striking play "Mother Courage and Her Children." In his powerful anti-war epic, Brecht imagines a woman who makes her living by selling supplies to soldiers during wartime. In the course of the play, that same war which she relies on for her business claims all three of Courage's children. Listen in as Jacks...

In their first discussion on brilliant playwright Tina Howe, Jackson and Jacob choose her Putlizer Prize-finalist play "Painting Churches." This script is just as poignant as it is funny. Listen in as J&J wrestle with the complex family relationships Howe has crafted and explore how young artists can make their parents take them seriously.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting...