The Drama Book Show!

Barry M. Putt, Jr. is a playwright and screenwriter whose work centers on identity, resilience, and human connection. His plays and scripts, produced both nationally and internationally, often amplify marginalized voices and explore urgent social themes. Joining the conversation are director Robert Liebowitz, who has helmed more than 100 productions over the course of his career, and cultural cons...

Emmy- and Artios-nominated casting director Wendy S. Kurtzman joins us to discuss her book, Acting is Your Business: How to Take Charge of Your Creative Career. With over 35 years of experience in film, television, and theater, Wendy shares actionable strategies to help actors take control of their careers, position themselves as CEOs of their own creative businesses, and build lasting professiona...

In this episode, we explore This is Not a Dream, a collection of nine ten-minute plays by emerging Ukrainian playwrights capturing stories of connection, resilience, and hope during war. From a soldier reconnecting with his daughter to a young woman navigating life amid conflict, these plays reveal the human cost and courage of everyday lives. We speak with contributors Karina Syrota, Taya Fedoren...

In this episode, we explore the legacy of Zelda Fichandler through The Long Revolution: Sixty Years on the Frontlines of a New American Theater and To Repair the World: Zelda Fichandler and the Transformation of American Theater by Mary B. Robinson. The conversation delves into Fichandler’s pioneering work founding Arena Stage, her role in the regional theater movement, and her decades-long impact...

Khalid Y. Long, Associate Dean of Research and Creative Endeavors in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University, is a scholar, dramaturg, and author of August Wilson in Context. Aviva Neff, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Denison University, is a director, intimacy coordinator, and scholar whose work explores devised theatre, pedagogy, and equitable rehearsal practices. Th...

Join us for a live podcast recording, talkback, and book signing with playwright and novelist Matthew Greene as he discusses his debut novel, There's No Murder Like Show Murder. Set in the charming Eastbrook Playhouse, the story follows costume shop head Tasha Weaver as she navigates backstage drama, a theater star’s shocking murder, and the challenge of saving her beloved theater from financial r...

For our 100th Episode, award-winning playwright and director David Rigano joins us to discuss his play What We Deserve. Rigano's work includes the award-winning musical You Heard It Here, as well as We Were Wild, Get the Duchess, and Awaken: A Sleeping Beauty Musical, written with his longtime collaborator and brother, Paul Rigano. He also co-created the long-running Ides of March Extravaganza and...

In this episode, legendary playwright Migdalia Cruz discusses her new anthology The Impossible Plays, which features three previously unpublished works alongside reflections from theater luminaries Virginia Grise, Todd London, and David Henry Hwang. The conversation explores Cruz’s provocative, essential plays, her creative process, and her insights for emerging playwrights seeking to build a care...

Join us for a conversation with Julian Novak, author of Men in the Chorus. Inspired by The Boys in the Band, this play blends fantasy and memoir to explore love, mistakes, and self-discovery in the 1970s. Novak reflects on friendship, survival, and the search for belonging through a story that is part confession, part “what if,” and wholly theatrical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire, whose acclaimed works include Rabbit Hole, Kimberly Akimbo, Good People, and Shrek the Musical, joins us to discuss his latest play, The Balusters. Recently nominated for five 2026 Tony Awards, including Best Play, The Balusters is a sharp and hilarious satire set within a tightly knit neighborhood association where a se...

Bess Wohl is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and filmmaker whose acclaimed works include Liberation, Grand Horizons, Small Mouth Sounds, and Camp Siegfried. Her play Liberation earned Tony nominations, a GLAAD Media Award, and widespread critical acclaim, with productions featured on numerous “Best of the Year” lists. Joining the conversation are celebrated theater artists Jocelyn Bioh and Whi...

In this episode, actress, model, and television personality Patricia Kara joins moderator Cheryl Benton to discuss her new book Dream On…Now Deliver. Drawing from over thirty years in the entertainment industry—including her iconic work on all three versions of Deal or No Deal—Patricia shares hard-earned insights on breaking into show business, building a personal brand, navigating auditions, and...

In this episode, we explore “CRISIS: The Theatre Responds” with Dr. Carol Rocamora, joined by Eleanor Burgess, Antoinette Nwandu, Keith Hamilton Cobb, and Mfoniso Udofia. The book examines how theatre has confronted times of upheaval over the past century—from World War II and apartheid to AIDS, systemic racism, the refugee crisis, and the pandemic—revealing how playwrights and theatres have used...

Jeni Jones is a director, actor, playwright, producer, and performer whose 30-year career spans theatre, film, music, and spoken word. Known for her work as a Beckettian actor and director, she has directed productions of Waiting for Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape, NOT I, and ROCKABY, and has earned recognition including an NAACP Theatre Award. Her work combines classical theatre with contemporary appro...

In this episode, we celebrate To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim, a heartfelt tribute to one of musical theatre’s greatest legends, Stephen Sondheim. Emmy winner and Tony and Grammy nominee Liz Callaway is joined by special guest Jim Walton for an evening of stories, music, and reflection on a career deeply intertwined with Sondheim’s work. Recorded live at 54 Below, the Grammy-n...

In this episode, we explore Once in the Countryside: A Collection of Plays by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh, a sweeping anthology that brings over 150 years of Asian and Asian American history to life onstage. Through plays like The Chinese Lady, The Far Country, Bina’s Six Apples, and The Heart Sellers, Suh blends intimacy, humor, and epic storytelling to illuminate voices and histories too o...

In this episode, we dive into 43 Stages of Grieving: A Comedy, a wildly inventive and deeply human story about a pregnant, dying robot and a human determined to live forever. Forget the idea of just five stages—this surreal, heartfelt comedy explores the countless (and often hilarious) ways we navigate loss, from soft cheese to hard cheese and everything in between. As the pair grapple with an unc...

In this episode, we explore Sappho’s Garden, a theatrical meditation on the legendary Greek poet that blends a vivid one-act play with scholarly insight and creative reimagining. Writers Carol Lee Campbell and Domnica Radulescu discuss bringing Sappho’s voice into a contemporary theatrical frame, drawing on history, myth, and modern perspectives on gender, identity, and artistic legacy. The conver...

In this episode, we celebrate the launch of Prince Faggot, one of the year’s most talked-about and provocative new plays, written by acclaimed playwright Jordan Tannahill. This live conversation explores the play’s audacious premise, radical imagination, and fearless interrogation of power, privilege, queerness, and colonial legacy. The discussion is moderated by director Shayok Misha Chowdhury an...

In this episode, Mark talks with Mara Lieberman about Bated Breath Theatre Company’s newest immersive production, Dirty Books, and the evolving world of immersive theatre. Lieberman has served as the company’s Executive Artistic Director since 2012, directing and co-writing all of its productions, including Voyeur: The Windows of Toulouse-Lautrec, Chasing Andy Warhol, Unmaking Toulouse-Lautrec, Be...

Join us for an engaging conversation and live performance exploring Unlikely Japan and Other Plays, a collection of ten one-act plays written by Neil LaBute over a decade-long collaboration with the St. Louis Actors’ Studio. LaBute and William Roth discuss the creation and staging of these diverse shorts, spanning comedy, drama, monologue, and dialogue, while Gia Crovatin performs scenes from the...

In this episode, we celebrate artistry that endures with photographer and artist Betti Franceschi, whose book Ageless Dancers captures forty legendary New York dancers—ages 70 and up—in striking portraits that honor grace, intelligence, and lifelong creative expression. Franceschi is joined by featured dancers Ze’eva Cohen, Molissa Fenley, Sandra Lee and Diana Byer and more. Together, they discuss...

Doug’s Goddess of the Hunt is a fast-moving comedy about dark secrets in a public world. When grieving Charlie Windsor meets the lively Diana Black-White in a New York bar, they become instant BFFs, much to the shock of his longtime friend, Broadway actor Ed McGrath. Pulled into a whirlwind of secrets, betrayals, and dysfunctional family dynamics, Charlie navigates a world he’s unprepared for. Thi...

In this episode, veteran producer Julian Schlossberg discusses My First Book—Part 2, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from his six decades in film, theater, and television. Hear his experiences with legends like Peter Falk, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and John Cassavetes, along with reflections on running his own Castle Hill Productions for nearly 40 years. Moderator Renee Taylor, Emmy- and Academy...

In this episode, we dive into Justin Borak’s plays Community Garden and Cabin Chronicles. Community Garden follows Ralph’s first volunteer shift at Uptown City Gardens, exploring how tending to a shared green space can cultivate connection, humor, and even love. Cabin Chronicles is a horror comedy where three teens compete to tell the scariest stories while navigating the trials of high school and...