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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Issy Knowles of “Body Count”

Listen in as Issy Knowles, the creator & performer of Body Count, discusses imploding and exploding your work, putting a feminist lens on porn, clicking with your collaborators, how online sex culture bleeds back into society, the commodification of intimacy, audience involvement, and the ongoing loneliness of this modern world.

“I think what’s interesting is everybody in this scenario is actually being dehumanized…not just the girls who are hosting, and participating, but the men that are also participating, they are being dehumanized, they are just a number in the queue. So everyone wins! But everyone loses. They get what they came for, but at what cost?”

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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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Barry Boehm & Christopher Borg of “Our House”

Listen in as Our House playwright Barry Boehm and actor Christopher Borg discuss wedding jitters, putting your play in history, living a life of dignity & honesty & joy anywhere, legacy, sticking your foot in it but trying to do better, rom-com energy, & the history and importance of the producing company, TOSOS.

“…I’ve had the basic ideas of this play for many years…originally it was going to be about the life of gay people, comparing the East Coast to the Midwest…then as I got older, it became a more intergenerational discussion…things just sort of changed…it’s about people that are trying to find their voice, and express who they are, but are often caught up…they experience crises in different ways…”

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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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Camber Carpenter of “In My Condition”

Listen in as performer/producer/mom/singer/diva/creator of In My Condition, Camber Carpenter, discusses parenthood, the stand-up/cabaret intersection, the scariness of being brutally honest, Mother Nature’s trickery, adding in that ever-changing additional performer (the audience), letting loose, and taking the initiative to make art while being a mom.

“…our world is difficult in so many ways right now…bringing a little joy to somebody for a while is pretty important, I think…”

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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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Alexandra Haddad of “Helen in Her Homeland”

Frayed Knot Collective presents HELEN IN HER HOMELAND, written by Alexandra Haddad, directed by Jessica Wastchak, at Loft Story BrooklynListen in as Helen in Her Homeland playwright Alexandra Haddad discusses immersion & implication, fragments of poetry, working outward from dialogue, leaving arts admin jobs, listening without responding, writing as a director, what propels us through the difficulty of production, and “the spectrum between Sarah Ruhl and Sarah Kane.”

“…early on, Helen says, ‘you might think you’re above that,’ like, judging people by their appearance, but ‘you have a body, too, you have a face, too,’ and you know that those things have consequences in the world. And so, I do want the audience to feel both invited, and implicated in that conversation…”

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Mark Lonergan, Ryan Shinji, & Book Kennison of “I’ll Take It”

Parallel Exit presents I'LL TAKE IT at 3AM Theatre, created and conceived by Joel Jeske, directed by Mark Lonergan, photo by Maike SchulzListen in as I’ll Take It performer Ryan Shinji & composer Book Kennison, along with director Mark Lonergan, discuss success by proximity, coexisting in small spaces, conceptualization and minimizing, bodies and boxes in space, object manipulation, possible futures, dancing around each other, and what’s going on with this wild ride of a show in a box.

“The concept is three friends who are living together in a very tiny apartment, and over the course of the show they drift apart, they come back together…it’s a very classic New York story, and experience, and it’s told through the mediums of circus & physical theatre. So it’s not just people standing and having a relationship…it’s people doing spectacular, extraordinary things with their bodies…”

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