Listen in as Not Our Home, Not Our Home playwright Ned Du, director Sissi Chen, performers Didi Won, Boyu Chen, Tien-Li Wu, John Jiang, & Josh Lau, and composer Hannah Limbrick, discuss the meaning of family, lost cats, enough or too much, freedom, enmeshment, what twists us apart, “love and responsibility,” mirrors of ourselves, and the purpose of guilt.

“…this show is really about the concept of guilt. How does guilt move us, how does guilt animate us to do very, very silly things. Also, it’s about the question of immigration; who do we leave behind, how does it change us, and more importantly, how do we maintain ourselves as a family despite, for example, straddling the Pacific…”

Not Our Home, Not Our Home

written by Ned Du

September 22–28, 2025

Theater for the New City

https://not-our-home.github.io/play-info/

photos by Meggie Hool Photography

Listen in as director Eliza Palter and performers Enrique Huili & Isabel Sanchez of In the Mouth of the Beast discuss spelunking, climate change, father-daughter relationships, highs and lows, worldly stakes vs. the personal, trust, pushing the limits of your resources, life and death, making impossible choices, and what we’re willing to sacrifice.

“…you really get to see how people perceive themselves, as compared to how they really are…”

New Relic Theatre presents

In the Mouth of the Beast

written by Baylee Shlichtman

October 17–20, 2024

MITU 580

photos by Jennifer Loo

Listen in as the co-writers of Steve Burns ALIVE—Steve Burns, performer, and Matthew Freeman, director—discuss the performer-audience relationship, going through some weird experiences, holding hands, asking for help, hermit crabs out of their shells, humans & humanity on the internet, having a conversation with an old friend, ancient technological testaments, the “inherent unsatisfactory nature of being alive,” and the kind of show that can only come from a place of deep friendship and creative respect.

“…it’s built to be a story for the audience, not just a confessional; it’s thematic, about the nature of the authenticity of our relationships through screens, and our relationships to each other…it’s an exploration of communication…”

Mechanical Raven Productions presents

Steve Burns ALIVE

written by Steve Burns & Matthew Freeman

thru July 25, 2025

The Club at La MaMa

tickets: $27.32, available via TicketLeap

Listen in as writers/performers David Carl & Katie Hartman of David and Katie Get Re-Married, along with director Michole Biancosino, discuss litigation possibilities, drama school in the ’70s, heading to Edinburgh, psychopathy, wrangling, 9 a.m. dramatic improv (without a director), writing for yourself, confusing your audience, improvising into weird emotional places, and working with your friends and idols.

“…this man wears boat shoes, and quotes ‘The Zoo Story’…”

The Women in Theater Festival presents

David and Katie Get Re-Married

written by David Carl & Katie Hartman

thru June 29, 2025

A.R.T./NY Theaters

tickets: $28.52, available via EventBrite

photo by Mindy Tucker

photo by Andrew Patino

Listen in as Xhloe Rice & Natasha Roland, the creators and performers of A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First, discuss doing your own everything, learning curves, making your show mobile, finding a tire, the sinister myth of nostalgia, dressing up in masculinity, chemistry, “becoming people together,” going through a traditional writing process before tearing the script apart, settling disputes with your creative partner, and pulling the rug out from under your audience.

“…all of our work is historically influenced. We play a lot with clown, and absurdity…a lot of American movies, especially about the ’60s and ’70s…are so, like, ‘remember when everything was great, and it was the good ol’ days?'”

“We call it this ‘mythic American boyhood,’ that everybody wanted, but not necessarily anyone got…”

The SoHo Playhouse and Xhloe & Natasha present

A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First

written & performed by Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland

thru June 29, 2025

SoHo Playhouse

tickets: $40, available via OvationTix

photos by Morgan McDowell

Listen in as actors Kana Seiki, Celeste Samson, Anuka Sethi, Josie Rose Hand, Mason Forringer of Alexandria discuss “Category-5 dystopia,” clinging to things we shouldn’t, ominous vibes, finding hope in the library, collaboration and trying and exploring weird new things, overnight set changes, post-apocalyptic skills, & how “saying and doing are two very different things.”

“…as much as we’re talking about doom and gloom, of survival in an apocalyptic world, I do think that there is a lot of love and humor and kindness that comes out of that. In this play in particular, when you don’t have the fluff of everything that is important to us in 2025, you get to witness people at their rawest, the very human experience…”

Pop Up! Productions presents

Alexandria

written by Markley Bortz

thru May 25, 2025

Dixon Place

tickets: $59.50 ($35 for under-35), available via OvationTix

photos by Tiffany Zhou

Listen in as Hellish Delights playwright Scott C. Sickles, director Jesse Edward Rosbrow, and performers Amanda LaPergola, Brian Silliman, Alyssa Simon, discuss finding delight in characterizations, humor traps, storytelling, second chances and the effects of time on the work, finding the through-line, puppets, and what it means to be in hell.

“…I feel like the plays, parts of them, feel very different now than they did five years ago. I don’t know much of that is just that, our world has changed…how much of it was, it was in the back of our minds, ‘working’ for five years, or, we’re five years older, with five years more experience…”

Theatre Beyond Broadway presents

Hellish Delights

written by Scott C. Sickles

thru May 10, 2025

The Chain Theatre

tickets: $25, $15 students/seniors, available via TicketLeap

photos by Kent Meister

Listen in as the cast of this timely production of Fat Cat Killers—Christopher Lee (co-producer), David Carl, & Philip Cruise (co-producer)—discuss bumbling buddies, coincidental Caribbean encounters, the brilliance & great works of playwright Adam Szymkowicz, finding “more murdery” stuff, status shifts, continuous character discovery, and just how two lonely cogs in the corporate wheel could get in way over their heads.

“…as soon as we read the play, we were like, ‘we have to do it.’ […] And we don’t promote Luigi, and I don’t think the play does—but I think the play really addresses American exceptionalism…”

SparkPlug Productions, in association with Thin Duke Productions and The Gene Frankel Theatre, presents

Fat Cat Killers

written by Adam Szymkowicz

thru May 17, 2025

The Gene Frankel Theatre

tickets: $38.10 (includes all fees), available via OnTheStage

photos by Scott Fetterman

Listen in as Bread of Life playwright Frank Pagliario, director Leslie Kincaid Burby, along with the cast of Nikaury Rodriguez, Jesse Castellanos, Miguel K. Reis, Laura Fois, & Cameron Mark Russell, discuss Catholic School upbringing, charismatic cults, Biblical and modern language, vibrant colors, what Jesus asked us to do, and the wreckage that is left behind.

“…I just think it’s a really interesting way to look at…a charismatic cult leader, about what happens to women who are left behind when partners go off to do their adventure, and they’re left to somehow hold things together…”

UP Theater Company presents

Bread of Life

written by Frank Pagliaro

thru April 12, 2025

Fort Washington Collegiate Church

tickets: $25 ($15 students/seniors), available via EventBrite

photos by Edward Lopez

Listen in as Lilith in Pisces playwright Kayla Eisenberg, along with director Stephanie Cox-Connolly, discuss missed connections, revealing secrets, Jekyll & Hyde, starting from anywhere, campfire plays, designer collaborations, staging the unstageable, adjacency to horror, “a little bit of not-sympathy,” Stephanie’s recipe for making stage-ready mac & cheese, and things that are funny until they’re not.

“…I don’t know if it was the stars in the sky as we were reading this, or the fire started getting more fire-y, but there was a feeling with this that, THIS is a play we need to produce…I wanted plays that had that living room drama kinda feel…I like that kinda feeling of…just, ‘what is happening?’ that had theatrics in it that no one in their right mind would want to do…”

Drops in the Vase presents

Lilith in Pisces

written by Kayla Eisenberg

thru March 22, 2025

The Flea’s Siggy Theater

tickets: $45, available via dropsinthevase.com

photos by Kent Meister