Upstage Left | Intimate Conversations with New York Theater

We kick off 2020, and a new decade with an interview with Artistic Director of Montana Repertory Theatre, Michael Legg. Montana Rep is the only full season, equity theater in the state of Montana (population: 1 million). Rachel & Michael talk about his journey to Artistic Director, after a brief stint as a talent agent in New York, and 11 years as the director of the professional training prog...

In the last episode of 2019 - Rachel speaks with Margaret Odette, a first generation Haitian American actor from Harlem, NY most recently seen as Hero in the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing, starring Danielle Brooks and directed by Kenny Leon. If you missed it, you can stream it for free at PBS.Org as part of their Great Performances Broadway&apos...

Will Arbery is a playwright & filmmaker raised in Wyoming and Texas. His latest play, Heroes of the Fourth Turning,  is about a group of Catholic Conservatives reuniting in the Path of Totality, in their Wyoming hometown on the night before the solar eclipse. Will & Rachel talk about his experience sharing this deeply personal play on an Off-Broadway stage, how he came to playwriting, what...

Abby Rosebrock is a brilliant and hilarious actress ( Dido of Idaho, Women), and equally brilliant and hilarious playwright ( Blue Ridge, Dido of Idaho, Different Animals), and lastly incredible friend. I had the honor of interviewing her back in January 2019 when her play Blue Ridge premiered at the Atlantic starring Marin Ireland. In this episode we talk about how she juggles both acting and wri...

Noel Allain started out as an actor... once playing a "large dwarf" as part of Richard Foreman's ensemble. After attending Skidmore, and meeting his now, long-time collaborators - he would go on to become a founding member and Artistic Director of the Bushwick Starr. Noel and Rachel talk about his early years in New York City, how he ended up at Juilliard, and how the Bushwick Starr...

Diana Oh's work encompasses multiple performance categories, including but not limited to: music, art, storytelling, and theater. Earlier this year, Diana's The Infinite Love Party was hosted at the Bushwick Starr and is described as "barefoot barefoot potluck dinner, dance party, and sleepover for QTPOC and Their Allies." Their residency at A.R.T. in Boston culminated in Clair...

Jaclyn Backhaus is the 2018 Horton Foote prizewinner for her play India Pale Ale. Her play Men on Boats has been produced at Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks, Playwrights Horizons, & regionally in the US. Her new play Wives will be opening Playwrights Horizons' 2019-2020 season, running from August 23-October 6. She is a co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper, a theater company committed to de...

Annie Tippe's latest project, Octet, a chamber musical, written by Dave Malloy, is a meditation on our collective addiction to technology and our devices. In this episode we talk about how Annie came to direct this strikingly relevant piece, and what she did the day after the show opened to rave reviews. Annie talks about her relationship to her mentor, Rachel Chavkin, who just won the Tony f...

Wendy Vanden Heuvel is a native New Yorker, who has been acting since high school. Today she is an actor (most recently seen in the world premiere of Jessica Dickey's The Convent as the Mother Abbess) , teacher, and producer. She is the artistic director of  Weathervane Theater , founder of piecebypiece productions , and a member of Rising Phoenix Rep. I met Wendy when she was teaching acting...

You may have seen Layla Khosh (Khoshnoudi) in the Pulitzer Prize nominated  Dance Nation at Playwrights Horizons as Amina, in Abby Rosebrock's Dido of Idaho at Ensemble Studio Theatre , in the original cast of Men on Boats, or as Nina in Seagullmachine by the Assembly. She's a brilliant actress, as well as writer and director.  After moving New York to attend the Martha Graham School, sh...

Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody are two of Fiasco Theater's co-founding members and co-artistic directors. In addition to running a company celebrated for their productions of Shakespeare & Sondheim - they're both actors, teachers, and directors. Their production of Merrily We Roll Along co-produced with Roundabout Theatre Company has been extended until April 14 at the Laura Pels The...

Ronald Peet is currently starring opposite Alan Cumming in Daddy by Jeremy O. Harris. You can also catch him in Netflix’s upcoming series “The I-Land” (with Kate Bosworth, Natalie Martinez and Alex Pettyfer). Previous credits include: Spill (EST), Cute Activist (The Bushwick Starr), Kentucky (EST/P73), Icarus On The LES (Joe’s Pub) , The World My Mama Raised (Clubbed Thumb), Debutante (Ars Nova)....

Charly Evon Simpson is the playwright behind the thrice extended Behind The Sheet at Ensemble Studio Theater. A New York Times' critic pick, Behind The Sheet is based on the true story of a group of enslaved black women, and their (uncredited) contributions to modern gynecology. Her new play Jump is premiering at four theaters across the country with the National New Play Network's rolli...

Ming Peiffer's Roundabout Underground debut, "Usual Girls" made history by writing the first play to sell out its extension before the show even opened. The critically acclaimed play follows the story of Kyeoung, a bi-racial (half-Korean, half-American) girl coming of age in Ohio. A former actress, and founder of the now defunct Spookfish Theater Company - Ming talks about her own j...