Jason Tseng, Emily Hartford, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, & Brian Tong of “Fear & Wonder”

Flux Theatre Ensemble presents FEAR & WONDER written by Jason Tseng directed by Emily HartfordListen in as Fear & Wonder playwright Jason Tseng, director Emily Hartford, and performers Neil Tyrone Pritchard (Ryan) and Brian Tong (Jabez), discuss falling back in love with faith, grappling with the harms that can come from traditions and institutions, changing the world by changing the story, and music, communion, & service.

“…it’s really kind of a meditation on queerness, faith, and how we love something that doesn’t know how to love us back…”

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Alex Tobey & Rachel Lin of “I Wanttt a Unicorn Frappe!!!”

I WANTTT A UNICORN FRAPPE!!! by Catherine Weingarten directed by Alex Tobey at The Tank NYCListen in as I WANTTT A UNICORN FRAPPE!!! director Alex Tobey & actor Rachel Lin (Jenny) discuss obsession with limited availability drinks, romantic anxiety, blending darkness & depth along with bright humor, presentation & artifice & longing, rehearsal tone conversations, finding something magical and big while also keeping it intimate, and the difference between living in a difficult reality vs. an artificial fantasy.

“…it’s a frothy, girly comedy about a young woman named Jenny…torn between ‘do I live in reality, and be unhappy, or do I go to this fantasy world that is a little distant…and maybe it’s not quite real, and maybe it’s actually unhealthy’…”

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Carrie Heitman, Kyle Abourizk, Leah McVeigh, Cynthia Babak, & Parnia Ayari of “Plan C”

Listen in as Hook & Eye Theater ensemble members and collaborating devisers on Plan CCarrie Heitman (director), Kyle Abourizk (assistant director), Leah McVeigh (production management), Cynthia Babak (performer), & Parnia Ayari (performer)—discuss their devising process, solving problems by hand, modern resonance, getting your people into a room together, lemons worth squeezing, trusting your collaborators, taking risks, politics and somatic experiences, and organizing to defeat a systemic problem.

“…we have collaborated over the years—trust does grow. It’s a real joy to work with people who you know have your back, and the only way you can do that is by doing a bunch of things with them, and failing, and picking it up…it’s unique…”

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Philip Kenner & James Wyrwicz of “The Mall The Mall The Mall”

Listen in as The Mall The Mall The Mall playwright Philip Kenner and director James Wyrwicz discuss setting the conditions for the tone, early teenage friendships, double-dip playwriting, the benefit of creative restrictions, Scooby-Doo as text, playing in a video-game-like world, reference bombardment, wonderful and horrible moments of transformation, and how when everything is meaningless, anything can have all the meaning in the world.

“…it’s been three years of watching this play become even more itself, sort of like the characters in the play. It started in a place of zaniness and silliness, and it’s only found more depth, and more truth, and brighter colors and louder sounds…it’s just such a blast to be part of that room…”

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Carolina Ðỗ & Isabel Criado of “ExtraO1dinary Aliens!”

Listen in as ExtraO1dinary Aliens! playwright Carolina Ðỗ and assistant director/stage manager Isabel Criado discuss nightmares becoming reality, bureaucratic flattening, telling stories to heal, collaboration & community & education, and growing, changing, & becoming more real.

“It’s about people trying to survive the American government…”
“…while pursuing the American dream. Which is such a paradox. But a reality.”

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Christian Parker of “The First Line of Dante’s Inferno”

Listen in as Christian Parker, producer & director of The First Line of Dante’s Inferno, discusses blank slates, finding a rhythm, getting the audience ahead of what they’re experiencing, letting the humor live, and the weird magic that happens when people get lost in the woods.

“…I think more broadly, the play is about longing, and feeling lost in midlife, and loneliness, and what sort of questions we find ourselves having to answer in the middle of our lives when we’ve already made a bunch of choices, and have to make some decisions about whether we’re going to honor those, or take a totally new direction…”

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Paul Pinto & Kristin Marting of “Mano a Mano”

Listen in as Mano a Mano creator/composer/performer Paul Pinto, along with director Kristin Marting, discuss getting over live performance doomerism, celebrating/questioning/undressing/redressing/exposing masculinity, giving the audience access to the performer, theatrical collaboration, the work of the body in creating vocal sound, a work of art’s relevance in time and space, and giving the audience a good time.

“…I like to see theatre that impresses me…that makes me feel like, when I sit down there, not only can I not believe what’s going on onstage, but I want to jump onstage and take part…”

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Ed Schmidt of “Edward”

Listen in as Ed Schmidt, creator and performer of Edward, discusses melodramatic origins to fictionalized short stories, a “theatrical epistolary novel,” doing what you can do and not what other playwrights do, cutting out the middle men, object—>story vs. story—>object, and finding the sustainable model that works for you.

“…somebody else’s life started to emerge from this, and at a certain point I realized, ‘this is a play, told this way.’ […] And I thought, ‘how could I do this thing, which is really kinda anti-dramatic…and make that theatrical in some way’…”

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Xhloe Rice & Natasha Roland of “What If They Ate the Baby?”

Xhloe & Natasha present WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY? at SoHo PlayhouseListen in as What If They Ate the Baby? playwrights, directors, & performers Xhloe Rice and Natasha RolandXhloe & Natasha—discuss being fascinated by history, deep absurdity, dressing up in femininity (as opposed to the masculinity of their last NYC show), zooming into a slice of life, true crime re-enactments, green spaghetti, candy-coated plasticky artifice, and not letting anything go to waste.

“…my biggest tip when you come see this show is, let it happen to you—don’t hurt yourself trying to get to the bottom, ‘what does this mean?’…just wait for the car ride home…”

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Eliza Palter, Vena Howard, & Kat Quiñones of “The Goo”

New Relic Theatre presents THE GOO, written by K. Rose Dallimore, directed by Eliza Palter, at The Chain TheatreListen in as The Goo director Eliza Palter, along with performers Vena Howard & Kat Quiñones, discuss unintended distance from your friends, efficient vibes, the built-up pressure of your 20s, creating compelling stage pictures on a picnic blanket, activating ideas & notions, sitcom framing, being real & having the hard conversations, and what a modern examination of the themes of The Importance of Being Earnest could look like.

“…it’s an ensemble piece, it’s funny, it’s about a bunch of people sitting around and talking about nothing, getting nowhere…and while this play isn’t a one-to-one adaptation…you have this sense that there’s something burbling under the surface that we’re not quite getting at. It’s a meditation on authenticity, on performance…”

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