Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays

In this week's summer re-release, we're doing a bit of time travel. It's a balmy night in the post-WWII Ozarks, and a young woman is leaving behind her life as a "lady of the evening" for an offer of marriage. Then a client shows up with some jaw-dropping news. Oscar-winner Chris Cooper ( A Doll's House, Part 2, Adaptation, American Beauty ), Emmy-winner Margo Martindale ("The Good Wife", "The Ame...

This week's summer re-release features Daniel Reitz 's ( NAPOLEON IN EXILE ) affecting one-act YOU BELONG TO ME, featuring  Amy Ryan (Oscar nominated for Gone, Baby, Gone,  "The Office,"   "Only Murders in the Building," and a  five-time Playing On Air MVP ) and Michael Stuhlbarg (a recent Emmy nominee for "Dopesick," "The Staircase," "Boardwalk Empire,"  A Serious Man , and four-time Playing On A...

The curtain is up. The show is in progress. But for a production stage manager and a sound and light board operator calling the cues behind the scenes, the night's most dazzling romance isn't playing out onstage. Written and directed by Jonathan Bernstein ( RULES OF COMEDY  and  A VERY VERY SHORT PLAY ), AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET stars Callie Thorne ("Necessary Roughness," "Rescue Me," "The Wire")...

This week's summer re-release features RELATIVE STRANGERS , a bubbly comedic short from playwright  Sheri Wilner  ( The Miracle of Chanukah ,  Cake Off ,  Kingdom City ) about a young woman who, during a flight to South Carolina, decides the woman next to her just might be the mother she never had. She finds an ally in a wacky stewardess who, unlike the reluctant mother figure, thinks these two pa...

In Open Arms by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros ,  an impending 50th birthday party sets off calamity over coffee and Kindles.  Open Arms  is directed by Tony Award winner John Rando and features Julie White ( The Little Dog Laughed , Airline Highway, POTUS: Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive ), and Bill Irwin ( Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Waiting for Godot, King...

Tony winner Tonya Pinkins ( Jelly's Last Jam , "Fear the Walking Dead," PoA's  Poof! ), Tony nominee Condola Rashad ( Saint Joan , "Billions"), and Melanie Nicholls-King ("The Wire," "Little Fires Everywhere") star in Cassandra Medley's  CELL.  When a jaded supervisor at an immigrant detention center finds jobs there for her sister and niece, family tensions erupt into a battle over home and homel...

From David Auburn (Pulitzer and Tony winner for  PROOF ) comes a riveting, witty world-premiere commission for Playing on Air:  GUN SHOW . In the aftershock of a national tragedy, a congenial double-date morphs into a battle of the sexes. As tempers blaze, two couples must reconsider the possibility of safety in a divided nation.  Along with Emmy winners Bobby Cannavale ("Will & Grace," "Boardwalk...

In this holiday dazzler written, directed and produced by Arian Moayed, Santa keeps a closer eye on the naughty and nice lists than we think, especially during "unprecedented times." But maybe Mrs. Claus, the hardworking team at the North Pole, and one melancholy little girl might keep the man in the red suit from singing the blues. THE MAN IN RED , our first musical, features music by Butch Phelp...

In the cool, otherworldly confines of a Zoom room, a controversial president's ethereal daughter and hands-on son-in-law surf the choppy waters of chiseled memories, personal responsibility...and elementary school. JARED AND IVANKA'S PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE AT MAURICE J. FELDMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL, our third James Stevenson Commission for Short Comedic Plays, was written by playwright and screenw...

On the precipice of making a world changing medical breakthrough, Amal visits an old lover and they contend with the uncertain future through the light of a shared, tumultuous past. JACOB AND AMAL, our second Wordsmith Duo play this season supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, was written by Dipika Guha (Blown Youth, "Sneaky Pete," "Black Monday") and directed by Jo Bonney (Cost of Living, Fat...

Amal would like to spend the night hiding from, well, everything. But when her bestie has other ideas - ideas that include a world renowned research university, high heels, and lowered expectations - she agrees to a not-so-scientific exercise that could take her, well, anywhere. All right. Just this once. THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT, a Wordsmith Duo play supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, was writ...

After his hit NUDITY RIDER , OBIE winner Hamish Linklater returns for another helping of irresistible comedy: the world-premiere commission THANKSGIVING FOR ONE. Marjorie Mumms ( Jean Smart ) would rather not be eating her holiday turkey alone at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. She can't get a decent gin & tonic, her daughter is spending Thanksgiving in another state, and her crazed waiter has cast h...

The proud owner of a gun shop in a small American city has a peculiar visitor one day - a celebrity of sorts who wants to buy a weapon but can't say exactly why. LOCKED AND LOADED. CAN I HELP YOU?, a world premiere from celebrated playwright David Ives (Venus in Fur, The Heir Apparent, White Christmas) is directed by Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Venus in Fur, White Christmas)) and features Hank Azaria...

Airstreams, Winnebagos, Chevys, the blood brothers of RV circuit, take us from the shackles of modernity to the freedom of the road! Two couples who might not otherwise cross paths befriend each other in a Texas RV Park, and declare their mutual independence. THE WAYFARER'S CODE , another world premiere James Stevenson Commission, is written by playwright Brittany Allen and features Frankie Faison...

An aspiring writer ( Isaac Oliver ) who dreams of learning the secrets of the human heart summons an ancient demon ( Vera Beren ). Good thing he's got tech support ( Jay O. Sanders ). TECH DEMONS, a world premiere James Stevenson Commission by Sarah Gancher , is directed by Marc Bruni (Broadway's Beautiful: The Carole King Story ) and also features Vera Beren and music by composer Dan Moses Schrei...

Husband-wife team Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller play former Yiddish theater stars who steal the show at a memorial service in the THE BURIAL SOCIETY, a comic play by Susan Sandler. Also featuring George Morfogen* ("Oz") and David Margulies (Ghostbusters). Directed by Playing on Air Producing Artistic Director Claudia Catania. Playing on Air is honored to share the work of this all-star cast, the me...

Playing on Air presents Waking Up,  an insightful short by Cori Thomas . It juxtaposes the experiences of an American urbanite's and an African villager's struggle with breast cancer. Although the details from diagnosis to ultimate triumph are vastly different, their stories underscore the universality of the human spirit. This play features Lynnette Freeman and Amy Staats . Conversation between h...

When a conservative father and his young gay son (stage legend Len Cariou and "Ugly Betty's" Michael Urie) reconnect in the most unlikely of places - an airport terminal - they find that love can transcend a family's baggage. This witty, heartfelt short by Andy Reynolds is directed by Broadway's Michael Wilson. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the playwright, director, and cast for a beh...

In PLAYING GOD, a divine comedy from SNL's Alan Zweibel (Playing on Air's HAPPY), a self-involved OB-GYN (Scott Adsit of 30 Rock) creates chaos for his pregnant patient (Emily Bergl). Over the objections of a heavenly assistant (Susie Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm), God himself (Bill Buell) challenges the doctor to an outrageous squash match for his faith. Following the play, director Fred Berner...

Single mom Suzanne needs an actor for a discreet personal favor. It should be simple. But when she casts Mike, she grossly underestimates the lengths an out-of-work actor will go to to make an impact.  Written by Avery Deutsch and a winner of the 2020 James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, THE DONOR stars Sakina Jaffrey ( Timeless ) and Hamish Linklater ( The Big Short, "Legion"). It is di...

In Alvin and Mia's neighborhood, property owners flip houses or parcel them out for AirBnBs. No one's investing in the community. So they're thrilled by the arrival of a new homeowner — a tech entrepreneur who's rich, ambitious, charismatic, and strangely pale. And he's an excellent drinking companion. Scotch, anyone? A comedy about bloodsuckers of all kinds, OWNER OCCUPY stars David Patrick Kelly...

Mahalia, a Black trans woman, returns to her hometown of Minneapolis during the tumultuous summer of 2020. Against a backdrop of fire and protest, she and her father tentatively rekindle a long-dormant bond. REVELATIONS is written by JuCoby Johnson ( How It's Gon' Be ) and directed by Goldie E. Patrick ( Paradise Blue ). It stars Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi ( Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem ), John Do...

A tale of old age, murder and gingernut biscuits. CAMBERWELL HOUSE , a darkly comic one-woman play by Amelia Roper ("The Great"), stars five-time Tony nominee Dana Ivey ( The School for Scandal , "Sex and the City").

Norman and Max may be dummies, but they're no fools. Offstage, ventriloquist dummies are the same as anyone else — smack-talking their bosses, worrying about being behind the times — but beneath their hard wooden exteriors lurk sensitive, philosophical, funny souls. A world premiere by a master of the short form, David Ives ( The School for Lies , Venus in Fur ), DUMMY DIALOGUE stars Richard Kind...

Sometimes you lose your keys, sometimes you lose your temper, and sometimes you lose the most unexpected of things. When Marcy and her difficult boyfriend come for a visit, what we know about ourselves can change in the blink of an eye... REAL AMERICAN DINNER PARTY is written by Jen Silverman ( Witch , novel We Play Ourselves ) and directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin ( Hadestown ). It features...