Soundstage

Latest Episodes:

Bonus! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM YOURSELF by Erin Courtney Apr 18, 2024

Show notes

A darkly comedic fable of violently lonely doppelgängers who mind-meld and are brought together through cookies, rats, and their cosmic connection to an exterminator.

Written by Erin Courtney

Produced and directed by Kate Bergstrom

Written for Crystal Finn and Lucy Taylor and Todd Almond as the Exterminator.

Sound Designer and Additional Music Works by Michael Costagliola

Associate Produced and Stage Managed by Calvin Anderson

With music by Todd Almond

Bonus! FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM, ET CETERA by Dave Harris Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

A panel of Black thinkers (a Broadway playwright, a spoken word poet, a Columbia professor, and an activist) try to define Freedom in the year ???? in this dark comedy about ancestors and artists.

Written by Dave Harris

Directed by Taylor Reynolds

Sound Design by Ben Scheff

Sound Editing by Dylan Carrow

Production Stage Manager -- Hanako Rodriguez

CAST:

Walter Mixon Riley -- JEROME PRESTON BATES

LaToya Beasley -- BRITTANY BRADFORD

Jake Dillers / Sponsors / Announcer -- YONATAN GEBEYEHU

Jones Joseph -- DAVE HARRIS

Jerome Barker Thomas -- BEETHOVEN ODEN

Season 2 of Soundstage was made possible with the generous support of the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, the J. L. Greene Arts Access Fund in The New York Community Trust, and The Shubert Foundation.

Bonus! VAPOR TRAIL by Ken Urban Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

This week we're so happy to bring you a full length audio play written, directed, and produced by our friends and frequent collaborators Ken Urban, Dan Kluger, and Knud Adams. It premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival as part of their Audio Storytelling program, and we're so pleased to be able to re-release and amplify it here for you, our Soundstage audience! Enjoy!

At a chance meeting at the farmers market, two strangers find a connection rooted in their own unspeakable tragedies. The evening they spend together becomes an encounter they can’t forget.

Written by Ken Urban
Directed by Knud Adams
Audio Produced and Mixed by Daniel Kluger

Starring Maulik Pancholy and April Matthis

Recorded by Noel Nichols

Edited by Noel Nichols and Christian Frederickson
Foley by Daniela Hart
Additional Sound Design by Christian Frederickson

Produced by John Albert Harris

Original Music by Daniel Kluger and Occurrence
To listen to the music from Vapor Trail, the soundtrack is available here: https://occurrencemusic.ffm.to/vaportrail

VAPOR TRAIL premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival as part of their Audio Storytelling program and it was developed at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, MN during the 2020-21 season. VAPOR TRAIL was made possible thanks to the support of the d'Arbeloff Fund, the DeFlorez Fund and the SHASS Research Fund from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

THE MARRIAGE OF EARTH AND SKY by Agnes Borinsky Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

The farmer wants the shepherd. The shepherd wants God. The playwright isn't quite sure what she wants. A play about grief and desire and the mess that is the theater.

Written by Agnes Borinsky
Directed by Brooke O'Harra
Sound Design by Nick Auer

CAST:

Loretta -- JANICE AMAYA
Leah / Bruce -- JESS BARBAGALLO
Bonita -- AGNES BORINSKY
Vinie -- VINIE BURROWS
Martha -- ANNIE FANG
Adam -- ADAM GREENFIELD
Mary -- MARY NEUFELD
Bettina -- BRYNA TURNER

Flautist -- Isabel Lepanto Gleicher

HIS CHEST IS ONLY SKELETON by Julia Izumi Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

A little meditation on what it is to carry what we can and can't control, and the crossroads of being and belonging.

Written by Julia Izumi
Directed by Sarah Cameron Hughes
Sound Design by Fan Zhang

Rocks -- JESS BARBAGALLO
Someone -- JORGE CORDOVA
Grandchild -- MIDORI FRANCIS
She -- HARUNA LEE
He -- RONALD PEET
Mother -- SAORI TSUKADA

(THERE'S) NO TIME FOR COMEDY / LOOPS by David Greenspan Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

Two audio plays -- an old radio comedy of anxiety in the modern world, and a soliloquy of lost love -- sprung from the mind of this singular and iconic playwright.

Written by David Greenspan
Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
Sound Design by Leah Gelpe

(There's) No Time for Comedy Cast:
Sidney - EVANDER DUCK JR.
Henry Flower - DAVID GREENSPAN
Darlene - BETH GRIFFIN
Mona - LISA KRON
Donald - PACO TOLSON

Loops Cast:
Player - DAVID GREENSPAN

LAST WORDS OF UNCLE DIRT by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

An abandoned limestone statue chronicles centuries of adventures through and beyond the Chinese diaspora. Written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Directed by Michael Roth CAST: Uncle Dirt - KOK-HWA LIE Music Composition/Arrangements/Sound Design/Editing by Michael Roth Final Sound Mix and Mastering by Jessica Paz

PROGRAM B: RAPID IMMERSION by Sheila Callaghan Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

Congratulations for choosing Program B! Our goal is to challenge and elevate you. It won't be easy, but transformation is possible! If you trust the process.

Written by Sheila Callaghan
Directed, Designed, and Edited by Alex Barron
Original music by Surrija
CAST: Rashan – FRANCIS BENHAMOU
Chatty Stranger – SHEILA CALLAGHAN
Whispering Man – MATTHEW J. HARRIS
Additional voices – BRANDT ADAMS, KAILEE AYYAR, ALEX BARRON, ALISON KOCH, NGOFEEN MPUTUBWELE, J.J. SUELTO, MAGGIE THOMPSON, NYSELI VEGA
Learn more at phnyc.org/soundstage or text PHNYC to 44-321.

Soundstage: Season 2 Intro Jul 26, 2022

Show notes

It's official: We'll be back for more! Playwrights Horizons has commissioned an additional roster of playwrights to be part of Soundstage Season 2 including Agnes Borinsky, Sheila Callaghan, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, David Greenspan, Dave Harris, Julia Izumi, and Kit Yan & Melissa Li. We'll see you next week!

In Process with Will Arbery, on Corsicana Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Playwrights Horizons Associate Artistic Director Natasha Sinha interviews Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Will Arbery about his new play, Corsicana, how these characters are and are not like those in Heroes of the Fourth Turning, the minefield that is language, his complicated relationship to theatrical musicals and Hilary Duff, and how his sister inspired him to become a playwright.