The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK, sponsored by the Dramatists Guild Foundation

Welcome to our final episode of Season 6. We’ve had so many conversations this season about how writers get paid – or not. So in this episode, Christine talks to the Guild’s Executive Director of Business Affairs, Ralph Sevush, to clarify some questions that have come up and to give us his expert perspective.  Ralph has been at the Guild for 28 years and has been instrumental in initiating and car...

In part 2 of Christine's conversation with Amanda Green and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, they continue to dish the dish on demystifying compensation, holding on to inspiration, and more. Amanda Green is a 2-time Tony nominated, Grammy nominated lyricist and composer, and the first female President of the Dramatists Guild. Her Broadway shows include “Mr. Saturday Night”, “Hands on a Hard Body”, “Bring i...

Christine talks to another fellow Guild Council member and pioneer, David Henry Hwang. In this episode they discuss how naming some of his characters after himself changed David's perspective on telling his own story, breaking the cycle of Asian Americans portrayed as “perpetual foreigners” on Broadway, writing for ourselves, and how the Guild is fighting for us. Playwright, librettist and screenw...

In this episode, Christine sits down with another one of her fellow Guild officers, Kristoffer Diaz, to talk about what it takes for a theatre writer to make a living, some of the nitty gritty on how writers get paid on Broadway, and keeping grounded in spite of the unpredictable nature of the theatre. Kristoffer Diaz is an associate professor at New York University, Pulitzer finalist for “the ela...

In this episode, Christine talks with ground-breaking pioneer and fellow Dramatists Guild Council member Gretchen Cryer about longevity in the field, how development of new musicals has changed over her decades long career, and how she keeps going! Gretchen Cryer has been breaking barriers since she and Nancy Ford began writing musicals together in the late 1960s, becoming the first female compose...

In this episode, host Christine Toy Johnson talks to award-winning playwright Lloyd Suh about his “speculative future” plays, uplifting other writers through service, and the shift in new play development. Lloyd Suh’s works include The Chinese Lady, The Heart Sellers and the Pulitzer finalist The Far Country. He teaches playwriting at Princeton University and serves on the Council of the Dramatist...

We're back! This season is all about "Reinvention". With so much change going on in our industry and our country, host Christine Toy Johnson wanted to sit down with some of her fellow writers who also serve on the Dramatists Guild Council, and ask them about the many ways they are thriving and writing in and about this moment we’re in. In this 2-part episode, Christine spends time with 2 of her fe...

We're giving you a special gift for the holidays. A never before released live episode that we did at BroadwayCon in New York City in July of 2023. I had the great joy of sitting down with my longtime pal and colleague, Danny Burstein. Danny is a treasured and prolific actor on film, television, and Broadway. He's been in 19 Broadway shows, with the latest being Pictures from Home by Char White. W...

This season's final episode features a conversation with two of the most produced playwrights in America: Lauren Gunderson and Lynn Nottage. The two women writers speak with host (and fellow woman writer) Christine Toy Johnson about how they were motivated to start telling stories in order to create roles that were missing from the narrative. They also address the importance of bringing theatre to...

This week, playwright and activist Roger Q. Mason speaks with podcast host Christine Toy Johnson about how power influences the canon. Roger shares how spirituality plays a key role in their writing process and also discusses the importance of thinking critically -- especially when facing both canonical and new theatrical works. In the fifth season of The Dramatists Guild Presents: Talkback, we ex...

Discover why the American theatre canon is not a static entity. In this episode, Guthrie Artistic Director Joseph Haj speaks with Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson about how his theatre seeks to include both traditional classics and new works to diversify and educate the audience in each theatre season. He also shares how the Guthrie's non-homogenous creative team policy works and how other thea...

How does theatre help a neurodivergent artist navigate the challenges of being on the spectrum? In this episode, playwright Harmon dot aut speaks with Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson about their writing process and their experience at Spectrum Theater Ensemble, where Harmon is a playwright in residence. Discover how the theatre's NICE program supports neurodiverse, inclusive theatre practices...

Playwrights Diana Burbano and Jason Ma speak with Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson about the interaction between language and the expanding definition of the American theatre canon. They discuss the challenges of using playwriting software when writing shows that utilize non-Western languages, what it's like to write for audiences for whom English is a second language, how deeper meanings can g...

The first episode of The Dramatists Guild Presents: Talkback Season 5 features a conversation with theatre artists and educators Stephen Kaplan and Julianne Wick Davis. Host Christine Toy Johnson speaks with Stephen and Julianne about how to teach difficult or controversial theatrical works in the classroom, how to include more recent plays and musicals in a school curriculum, how teachers can use...

Amanda Green made headlines last year when she became the first female president of the Dramatists Guild of America in its over 100-year history. In this episode, Amanda talks about what DG means to her, telling podcast host Christine Toy Johnson about how the Guild uplifted her during an uncertain time in her life and career. She also discusses the importance of the PRO Act, explains why collecti...

In this episode, hosted by Christine Toy Johnson, Michael R. Jackson and Rona Siddiqui share their creative inspirations, discuss their collaboration on the upcoming musical White Girl in Danger, and reflect upon their respective journeys with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical A Strange Loop, which was recently nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. They...

In this episode, Christine interviews longtime friends and colleagues, Lisa Kron and John Weidman. Both John and Lisa have served as officers on the Dramatists Guild Council; under their purview, the Guild grew to become a national organization that seeks to serve writers of all backgrounds. They discuss the labor relations and gender equity issues that fueled their respective desires to help lead...

We're excited to welcome back actress and writer Charlayne Woodard. In Season 1, Charlayne spoke with Christine Toy Johnson about her experiences marketing her work. In this episode, Charlayne takes us to the beginning of her career, sharing about how her early experience in the oral tradition inspired her to start creating theatre. She goes on to discuss how she overcame resistance from members o...

Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson interviews Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, a dynamic musical theatre songwriting duo who have been collaborating together for almost forty years. Even at the height of the pandemic, their writing never stopped. Listen to this episode to learn about what it means to view collaboration as teamwork, how they approached the writing process for their current musica...

DG Council Vice President Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has made his career by building community with other writers - even if that community started as three blogs in the early aughts. In this episode, Branden tells Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson about his passion for fair and equitable treatment of writers and how his role at the Dramatists Guild enables him to advocate on behalf of his community...

In our final episode of Season 3 Christine sits down with celebrated director Leigh Silverman about her ongoing commitment to form teams that have intersectional inclusion. Leigh shares candidly both her own efforts to create parity on her teams, and her personal learning curve. Leigh will be a part of New York City’s Vineyard Theater 2021/2022 season. Visit (vineyardtheatre.org) TALKBACK is a pro...

In this episode Christine talks to Teresa Coleman Wash, Executive Artistic Director of Bishop Arts Theater Center in Dallas, Texas. We discuss the ways individualism and collectivism can go hand in hand in creating true community collaboration, using examples from Bishop Arts Theater Center’s programming and efforts during the pandemic.  Teresa Coleman Wash is a producer, playwright, and founding...

While the pandemic left so many things unsure this year, one thing was clear: connecting communities from across the world is easier than ever. In this episode, we’ll hear from artistic leaders from two theater companies that approach centering artists with disabilities in different ways. Christine speaks with Nicholas Viselli from Theater Breaking Through Barriers, a company that has been doing w...

Christine welcomes playwrights Saviana Stanescu, Caridad Svich and recently former Artistic Director of the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe Daniel Gallant (Gallant was still the current Artistic Director at the time of this recording) to chat about ways they have helped amplify the work of immigrant artists. Self identifying "artivist" Saviana created "Liberties Daughters" a monologue series for immigrant w...

In this episode, we talk about the Dramatists Guild’s new Inclusion rider and the initiatives surrounding it. At the time of this recording the rider had not been released. We're happy to report that we've released the rider and you can get a copy here: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/inclusion This rider is the first of its kind to come out of the theatre industry. Our goal is to empower and enco...