No Script: The Podcast

Jackson and Jacob discuss Molly Smith Metzler's play "Cry It Out," which premiered at the Humana Festival of New Plays. This touching drama follows two women who become fast friends during their maternity leaves. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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.patreon...

Jackson and Jacob discuss John Millington Synge's famous comedy "The Playboy of the Western World." This Irish classic has been adapted countless times, but it's original story remains a quirky comedy which relies heavily on dramatic irony. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Check out this article on the riots that took place in Dublin: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/sep/23/playboy...

Jackson and Jacob discuss Enda Walsh's wild, Beckett-like comedy "The Walworth Farce." In a small flat in London, a father and his two sons replay the same day of their lives over and over again. But what happens when, one day, a stranger knocks at their door? Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No...

"Surely Goodness and Mercy" by Chisa Hutchinson is the story of a middle school boy and his unlikely friendship with the school lunch lady. Listen in this week as Jackson and Jacob discuss the play's tenderness and heart. J&J also discuss the techniques Hutchinson uses to keep the audience tightly focused on the story. ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Fo...

This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss Tom Stoppard's epic play about the Velvet Revolution: "Rock 'n' Roll." Listen in as J&J breakdown the play's intricate scene work. They also discuss Stoppard's powerful portraiture of theoretical ideas in everyday life. ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No...

Jackson and Jacob discuss Rajiv Joseph's play King James. This two-hander loosely follows the career of LeBron James as a Cleveland Cavalier, with all it's unexpected twists and turns. Listen in!  ------------------------------ 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.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast  -----...

Jackson and Jacob discuss Ayad Akhtar's new play "McNeal" which starred Robert Downey Jr. in its Broadway debut. In the play, Akhtar takes on the issue everyone's talking about: AI.  ------------------------------ 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.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast  -------------------...

To begin Season 15, Jackson and Jacob discuss another play from Lynn Nottage's fabulous library: "By the Way, Meet Vera Stark." In this story of an early black film star, Nottage deploys surprising meta-theatricality to cross time periods and ask powerful questions. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Check out these other voices and their discussions of "By the Way, Meet Vera Stark": Saman...

Jacob is joined by Audrey Francis, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, for a special conversation on Noah Diaz's incredible play "You Will Get Sick," opening at Steppenwolf later this month. Listen in!  Get your tickets to "You Will Get Sick" by Noah Diaz at Steppenwolf Theatre Company here: www.steppenwolf.org ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon....

In the final episode of the season, Jackson and Jacob discuss the worldwide phenomena that is "Jesus Christ Superstar"! Listen in as they breakdown how Webber and Rice trouble the familiar stories of Jesus and Judas, and how the changing view on rock n' roll has altered the story of "Jesus Christ Superstar." ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/...

Jacob is joined by Amy Marie Seidel, director of the New York Theatre Company's upcoming production of "Machinal" by Sophie Treadwell. Jacob and Ms. Seidel discuss the continued relevance of "Machinal," and how Treadwell uses expressionist techniques to bring the audience inside the mind of the characters. They also discuss Seidel's production, which incorporates tap dance and live foley work. The...

Jacob is joined by Jack Cummings III, director of Classic Stage Company's co-production of William Inge's Bus Stop with NAATCO and Transport Group. Mr. Cummings and Jacob discuss Inge's legacy and his unique portraits of American loneliness. They also discuss Cummings' upcoming production, which begins previews on May 8, 2025. This production of Bus Stop begins on May 18 and runs through June 8. G...

Jackson and Jacob discuss the play "Into the Beautiful North." In her stage adaptation of the novel by the same name, Karen Zacarías takes the audience across thousands of miles in an epic quest. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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.patreon.com/noscriptpodc...

Join us as Jackson and Jacob round out Halloween in April by discussing Chisa Hutchinson's revenge-horror play "Whitelisted." They chat about how Hutchinson deploys sometimes simple, sometimes not so simple spooky effects to make a larger observation about the world. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure...

Halloween in April continues with Jen Silverman's play Witch. Jackson and Jacob discuss Silverman's loose adaptation of The Witch of Edmonton, paying particular attention to how -- though the play contains a literal devil! -- Silverman locates the real horror of the world in our trapped (and trapping) societal patterns.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For...

Halloween in April continues with a discussion about Anne Washburn's play Apparition. Jackson and Jacob explore her mysterious, vignette-based exploration of what scares us... and why. Listen in!  ------------------------------ 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.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast  -----...

Halloween in April -- our Season 14 Themed Month -- begins today!  No Script begins a 4-week look at plays with spooky, frightening characters, situations, and themes. This week, Jackson and Jacob discuss York Walker's play Covenant, where a century old myth about making a deal with the devil comes to life... Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For...

This week, Jackson and Jacob visit a classic of the stage: Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. This puzzling play defies categorization. With a large ensemble cast, a surprising lack of plot, and several bids for love, Chekhov manages to gorgeously tell a story of human longing. Listen in!  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to...

This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss a play described as a "companion" to "Topdog/Underdog." Suzan-Lori Parks' "The Book of Grace" is about borders... both those on land and the ones we place, intentionally and fearfully, in our hearts. Listen in.   ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Pod...

A classic example of early twentieth-century expressionism, Sophie Treadwell's Machinal is an evocative depiction of an oppressive society. The 1928 play has recently been produced by companies around the world as its relevance, frighteningly, continues. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this moving, masterful work.  ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For...

Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss Sugar in Our Wounds by Donja R. Love. Love's play is both heart wrenching and beautiful. It's a moving portrait of vile oppression and meaningful love.   ------------------------------ Thanks for listening. Check out these other conversations on Sugar in Our Wounds:  Regina Victor's Review for Rescripted: https://rescripted.org/2019/10/28/sugar-wounds-fft/ Ju...

Jackson and Jacob discuss Nilo Cruz's play Two Sisters and a Piano. Cruz, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, explores the psychology of capture amidst the turbulent politics of communist Cuba. This lyrical, poetic play is beautiful, and terrifying, to witness. Listen in! ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No...

What happens when the countercultural artmakers get old? What happens when their revolutionary criticisms of the establishment become the establishment? Pearl Cleage dives into these deep waters in her play "Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous." Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this smart, funny, and energetic play.   ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on...

Jackson and Jacob discuss August Wilson's musical, volatile play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Listen in as they explore how Wilson masterfully links to characters, comparing and contrasting their interactions with an unjust world.  ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on Ma Rainey's Black Bottom:  George C Wolfe discusses the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6qEaTW...

"Man from Nebraska" by Tracy Letts. Jackson and Jacob discuss this Pulitzer Prize finalist, exploring how different the play is from its headline plot.  ------------------------------ 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.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast  ----------------------------- We want to keep the...