Play On Podcasts

Voice and Text coach Rebecca Clark Carey and actress Michelle Beck (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM) team up to demonstrate ways to meet the challenges of Shakespeare’s complex speeches. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featuring full plays and bonus content interviews with the artists, producers and engineers who brought it all to life. Go to NCPODCASTS.COM...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Dramaturg Amrita Ramanan. On the anniversary of the January 6th riot, Dramaturg Amrita Ramanan joins Voice and Text Coach Julie Foh for a look into Roman history, Elizabethan history, Jacobean drama, words, language, and the true meaning of mob. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featu...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Actor Channie Waites to discuss Coriolanus.  Coriolanus actor, educator, and activist Channie Waites takes us on her personal journey through the performing arts to describe the power of theater in the process of healing. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featuring full plays and bonu...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Composer George Whitty to discuss A Midsummer Night's Dream. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featuring full plays and bonus content interviews with the artists, producers and engineers who brought it all to life. Go to NCPODCASTS.COM and sign up today! Musical Maestro George Whitty...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Actor Ching Valdes-Aran to discuss Coriolanus. Ching Valdes-Aran is an OBIE award-winning and Lucille Lortel nominated actress who has worked intensively in NYC on Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and in major regional theaters throughout the U.S. She has guest starred on TV (Nurse Jackie, Ugly Betty, L&O CI) & appeare...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Director Kate Wisniewski to discuss Coriolanus. Director Kate Wisniewski sits down with Play On Podcasts Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend to talk about her life in art, her work in theater, and how she was able to make sense of one of Shakespeare’s most complex and challenging plays. Listen to the full episode on Play On P...

Play On Podcasts’ Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend sits down with Playwright Sean San José to discuss Coriolanus. Sean San Jose’s hour-long, freewheeling interview takes us on the journey that led him from the Bay Area to New York and back, from the women who raised him to the Magic Theater, from injustice to a gathering of saints, from ancestral tales to Coriolanus, and beyond!  Listen to th...

Welcome to the seventh episode of the Play On Podcasts' Series Coriolanus. Synopsis: Coriolanus, crumbling under the weight of his mother’s shame, decides to abandon his campaign and Volumnia and Virgilia return to a hero’s welcome in their home city of Rome. Aufidius seethes and vows revenge before Coriolanus arrives in Antium to defend his actions. His words are met with accusations of treason,...

As the Romans tremble in fear of the Volcians' imminent attack, the Tribunes convince Menenius to beg Coriolanus for mercy but he is stopped by the Volcian watchmen and by Coriolanus himself, who turns him away with a list of conditions. Volumnia arrives next, accompanied by Coriolanus’s wife and child, and together they beg him on their knees to relent. Meanwhile, Aufidius begins to resent Coriol...

Coriolanus packs his belongings and leaves his weeping family and friends in his former home. Later, Volumnia berates Brutus and Sicinius in the Coliseum for their treatment of her son. Elsewhere, the Volsce agent Adrian meets the Roman traitor and spy Nicanor, who tells him of Coriolanus’s banishment and suggests that Aufidius take advantage of the opportunity to attack Rome in its current, chaot...

As the citizens riot for Coriolanus’s punishment, Menenius begs the Senate to show mercy and persuades them to allow Coriolanus to return home while they work to calm the angry mob. Together, Menenius and the Senators lament Coriolanus’s faults, then defend him against the vengeance of the Tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, who agree to let Coriolanus defend himself in a public trial against charges o...

As skeptical citizens discuss whether or not to vote for Coriolanus, Menenius tries to persuade him to speak kindly to them. Instead, he mockingly begs for their votes, but still wins enough to be approved by the Tribunes. Brutus and Sicinius, in turn, stoke resentment among the people, urging them to storm the Capitol to block Coriolanus’s confirmation before he takes away their freedoms. Enraged...

Cominius names Martius “Coriolanus” and the Senate rewards his bravery by making him a Roman Consul, but suspicions linger that Coriolanus cares nothing for the people and is only serving himself. Welcome to the second episode of the Play On Podcasts' Series Coriolanus. Synopsis: Cominius heaps praise on Martius for his bravery and officially names him “Coriolanus” as their soldiers applaud; Aufid...

Calling for an end to democracy, the brilliant Roman General and war hero Caius Martius (Coriolanus) shames the starving and rioting citizens of Rome for their lack of military service. Meanwhile, the Volcian army, led by Martius’s blood enemy Tullus Aufidius, marches towards Rome. Welcome to the premiere episode of the Play On Podcasts' Series Coriolanus. Synopsis: The citizens of Rome, starving...

Play On Podcasts’ Senior Producer Miriam Laube sits down with Director and Episode Script Adapter Catherine Eaton to discuss A Midsummer Night's Dream. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featuring full plays and bonus content interviews with the artists, producers and engineers who brought it all to life. Go to NCPODCASTS.COM and sign up today! The Play O...

Play On Podcasts’ Senior Producer Miriam Laube sits down with Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated Playwright, Actor and Screenwriter Jeff Whitty to discuss his life, his career, and his journey into A Midsummer Night's Dream. Listen to the full episode on Play On Premium for an ad-free audio experience featuring full plays and bonus content interviews with the artists, producers and eng...

Welcome to the sixth episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: The players delight Theseus, Hippolyta, the lovers and the Court with their rendition of “Pyramus and Thisbe”; as Titania, Oberon and all the fairy kingdom bless the realm with their celebration of unity. Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream is produced by Next Chapter Podcasts and is made...

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: Oberon takes pity on Titania and orders Puck to wake her from her reverie. The Fairy King and Queen are united in rekindled love, and balance is restored at last. The next morning, Theseus and Hippolyta, now happily united and embarking on a hunt, stumble upon the sleeping lovers in the forest. In thei...

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: All four lovers end up in a fray of broken hearts and wounding words, much to Puck’s delight and Obreron’s disgust. Meanwhile, Titania dotes on her ass-headed lover, Bottom. Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream is produced by Next Chapter Podcasts and is made possible by the generous supp...

Welcome to the third episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: In the forest, Puck stumbles upon the city workers, who have unwittingly set up their rehearsal right next to the sleeping fairy queen. He uses his magic to transform Bottom’s head into the head of an ass, and the players all run scared out of their wits through the forest, waking Titania, who instantl...

Welcome to the 2nd episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: Titania offers to restore the balance of nature with Oberon but refuses his demand to hand over custody of her fairy child to him. In revenge, Oberon sends Puck to fetch a flower that has a magic potion which, when dropped on anyone’s eyelids, will make them fall madly in love with the next thing they se...

Welcome to the premiere episode of the Play On Podcasts Series A Midsummer Night's Dream. Synopsis: Just as celebrations for Theseus’s wedding with his reluctant bride-to-be, Hippolyta, are about to get underway, the Duke’s court is interrupted by a squabble between Hermia’s lover, Lysander, and her wealthy father, Egeus, who demands that she marry his choice for her, Demetrius, or be put to death...

The Way I Am Now podcast host & acclaimed performer Dionne Lea Williams has put together three exceptional pieces of bonus content to accompany our Play On Podcast series, “Pericles”, which provide a unique and illuminating way to discover new aspects of this whimsical and inspiring tale. This is the third episode of the 3-part series featuring actor Keith David.  Listen to the full episode on Pla...

The Way I Am Now podcast host & acclaimed performer Dionne Lea Williams has put together three exceptional pieces of bonus content to accompany our Play On Podcast series, “Pericles”, which provide a unique and illuminating way to discover new aspects of this whimsical and inspiring tale. This is the second of the 3-part series featuring director Lisa Rothe. The Play On Podcasts Series Pericles is...

Welcome to the seventh episode of the Play On Podcasts Series Pericles. Synopsis: Reunited with his daughter at last, Pericles pays homage to the Gods at Diana’s temple, where he is met with more good fortune. Play On Podcasts Series Pericles is produced by Next Chapter Podcasts and is made possible by the generous support of The Hitz Foundation. New episodes go live every Friday. Please subscribe...