Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays

Today we share the final audio play in our '25 - '26 Season, "A Headspace Meditation" by Mara Nelson-Greenberg, directed by Sarah Lunnie. Thank you for joining us as we explored a new format. We're excited to begin sharing conversations with our artists in the coming weeks, so if you missed those - have no fear, as you'll soon be able to deep dive with the artists from this season's plays.     "A...

Today, we are back with a Playing on Air favorite!  POA Regular, Playwright John Patrick Shanley and his two-hander, "The Red Coat".   It's been an exciting '25-'26 Season here at Playing on Air!  We've got 1 play left that drops in two weeks, "A Headspace Meditation" by Mara Nelson-Greenberg . This season, 4 of our plays are commissions.  In December, we premiered "73, SK." by Else Went , directe...

Today, we are proud to premiere the inaugural MC Libby Commission, "Father's Sin" by Maleek Rae with music by Xander Browne . "Father's Sin" is Directed by POA Alum, Goldie E. Patrick Jezelle the Gazelle and Revelations )   Welcome back to another episode of Playing on Air! Last month, we premiered "73, SK." by Else Went , directed by Emma Rosa Went , and "The Corner Cafe" by Charles Mee , directe...

Welcome back to another episode of Playing on Air! Playing on Air is back for a new season!  We've got 5 plays for the '25 - '26 Season, 4 of which are new plays, and 3 of those new plays are commissions.  Two weeks ago, we premiered "73, SK." by Else Went .  Today, we drop our 2nd episode of the season, "The Corner Cafe" by Charles Mee, directed by Tom Dugdale .   " The Corner Cafe" features the...

Playing on Air is back for a new season!  We've got 5 plays for '25 - '26 Season, 4 of which are new plays, and 3 of those new plays are commissions.  First up, is "73, SK." by Else Went , directed by Emma Rosa Went . "73, SK" features a company of actors each making their Playing on Air debut! We are thrilled to welcome: Olivia Rose Barresi , Paul Joseph Bernardo , Zachary Desmond , Chukwudi Iwuj...

Playing on Air's Leadership team, Artistic Director, Joshua Kahan Brody and Associate Artistic Director & Creative Producer, Garlia Cornelia Jones ‪ announce the '25 - '26 Season! Their 1st season together! ​ This new season includes 5 plays, 4 of which are World Premieres and 3 of which are commissions and 1 Playing on Air regular! • 73, SK. Written by Else Went , Directed by Emma Rosa Went • THE...

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 w...

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 e...

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 Ars Nova ), the play features Andrew Garman ( Th...

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 (...

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 Ka...

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 d...

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...

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...

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...

It's 1915 and another typhoid fever outbreak, this one in a bustling hospital run by an officious Supervisor ( Cindy Cheung ), has once again led dogged sanitation engineer George Soper ( Matt Park ) to the hospital's newest cook, "Typhoid Mary" Mallon ( Catherine Curtin ). It's been years since Soper reluctantly released her from a forced quarantine on an inhospitable island. Can Mary finally was...

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...

An old school drill sergeant under fire from his very modern and diverse new recruits desperately longs for simpler times. Directed by  John Giampietro , James McLindon 's short satire I DON'T KNOW features stage and screen favorite Jay O. Sanders as the Drill Sergeant and an ensemble cast of Broadway, off-Broadway, and TV regulars as his new recruits: Bobby Moreno , Sue Jean Kim , Jeff Biehl , an...

In Lloyd Suh's HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. ABERNATHY , a shared story, formerly repressed, begins to bridge the racial and generational distance between a white American centenarian of the Greatest Generation (Len Cariou) and his Asian American great-grandson (Ken Leung). Stay tuned after the play for a poignant conversation between the playwright and Founder and Consulting Director Claudia Catania . 

It's the summer of 1955, and a new U.S. Army private stationed far away from his New Jersey hometown may have met his match, a very modern Southern belle, at a USO-style dance.  Emily Bergl directs a pitch perfect cast— Eli Gelb , Erin Wilhelmi , and Vance Barton —in Cary Gitter 's THE ARMY DANCE , which also boasts a nifty-fifties-style score by composer Tom Kochan. After the play, host Claudia C...

Hear that? In ECHO AND NARCISSUS , playwright Amanda Quaid 's newfangled take on an infamous myth from Ovid's  Metamorphoses , a young woman falls in love with a narcissist after a vengeful wife condemns her to a unique fate. The sprightly production is directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt , stars Sarah Manton , Christian Conn , and Mia Katigbak , and features a kinetic score by composer Tom Kochan...

A jet-lagged Gen Z couple ( Toney Goins and Kerry Warren ) decides to take an old school taxicab home to Brooklyn instead of an Uber, and their kooky cabbie ( Louis Mustillo ) introduces them to a very different (under)side of New York City.  Playwright Aurin Squire 's otherworldly urban comedy is a James Stevenson Commission for Short Comedic Plays, generously supported by Josie Merck, and boasts...

From brilliant  New Yorker  cartoonist, illustrator, and children's book author  James Stevenson  comes this darkly hilarious reimagining of iconic animated characters - now "over the hill" and waiting out their golden years at a seedy retirement community in Los Angeles.   Directed by Tony nominee  Dana Ivey   (The Last Night of   Ballyhoo , "Boardwalk Empire"), EVENING AT ANAHEIM features  Richa...

In Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner  John Patrick Shanley 's TENNESSEE, a wannabe musician seeking an escape plan and a glimpse at his future approaches a dissatisfied woman who's blessed, and possibly cursed, with the power of foresight.  The audio play stars Oscar nominee  Timothée Chalamet  (our audio production of  MISADVENTURE ,  Dune ,  Beautiful Boy ,  Call Me By Your Name ,  Lady Bird...

Anything can happen when you leave your window open on a warm night. Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley  ( Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar ) wrote and directed this week's summer re-release about a curious banshee, a fantastical Irish spirit, who pays an ailing teacher a visit and makes him an otherworldly proposal. The mystical comedy features Geraldine Hughes  ( THE...