Listen in as Racecar Racecar Racecar playwright Kallan Dana, director Sarah Blush, and producer/performer Julia Greer, discuss the open road of a script, symmetry & palindromic structures, complicated father relationships, creating breaks, emergency relocations, and taking road trips with your collaborators.

“…I’m a person who tries to talk and talk until I can get to what I mean, and I’m always failing. The words are always failing you. And so I think that feels like a really emotionally true thing for me, and that was part of the fun for generating the language in this play…”

The Hearth presents

Racecar Racecar Racecar

written by Kallan Dana

thru December 22, 2024

A.R.T./NY Mezzanine Theatre

tickets: $29/$45, available via TicketTailor

photos by Travis Emery Hackett

Listen in as Ana Mari de Quesada (Producing Artistic Director) & Tom Escovar (Producing Director) of The Wild Project discuss venue stability, sustainable architecture, providing opportunities for exciting new work, hoping to find an angel, infamous signage, why this incredible space needs to remain open in the East Village, and how you can help. #savewildproject

“We’re home to many downtown artists…especially since the pandemic […] the number of independent theaters that can house independent artists, give them free space or subsidized space, is shrinking. We really just want to solidify our home, for all the artists that we serve in this community…”

The Wild Project

Producing Artistic Director Ana Mari de Quesada, photo by Paul Logston

The Wild Project, photo by Anthony Misiano

Listen in as performers Fareeda Pasha & Dylan Lesch, and Hana Fatima Dehradunwala, playwright of The Last Word, along with Amani Meliyah, director, and Aliyah Curry, playwright of Receptors, both plays in The Science in Theatre Festival, discuss responsibility, “doing the research” and having access to those who *did* the research, standing on the shoulders of giants, last words, making social media explode onstage, the insanity of being a human being, and the bleeding edge between theatre and science.

“There’s something wrong with the world…[we should be] treating this country we live in as a community, we’re all responsible for each other…”

Transforma Theatre presents

The Science in Theatre Festival

thru November 26, 2024

Brooklyn Art Haus

tickets: $30, $25 students/seniors, available via Stellar Tickets

photos by Dinara Khairova

Listen in as Boomerang Theatre Company Artistic Director Tim Errickson, producer of the world premiere of Gina Femia’s Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves, discusses joy in hindsight, speeches that won’t let you rest, upending the madness, giving some distance to put things into perspective, and turning a tragedy into something celebratory.

“…I think that’s what the play is really trying to capture, is this idea that, unlike Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, who don’t get that moment, because theirs is cut off at the end of the play…our characters get to move forward, and grow and change and experience what it means to have that as part of their history, and their journey…we often see LGBTQ-themed stories on stage that tend to center around some sort of tragedy, violence, bigotry, hatred…and I know that Gina wanted to be able to celebrate the things that are also in the LGBTQ experience, and to show them as powerful, and joyful, and life-changing, and heartfelt, and highly relatable…”

Boomerang Theatre Company presents

Mercutio Loves Romeo Love Juliet Loves

written by Gina Femia

thru November 24, 2024

The Jeffrey & Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./NY

tickets: $30 (general), $50 (GA plus drinks), or $80 (VIP), available via OnTheStage

photos by Isaiah Tanenbaum

Listen in as Dave and Boris Kill the Cat playwright Rhys Luke, director Sophia DiPaolo, costumer Leah Davidowitz, and performers Tits Morality, Chloe Drohan, and Eliana Coe, discuss falling down rabbit holes, working on a show that features real people, queer horror, grotesque and disgusting mannerisms, drag & film noir, intergenerational cat trauma, & making everything larger than life.

“…there’s something so special about sending such a strong message, under the guide of comedy…to have audience members tell you is, ‘it was so funny, I laughed so hard,’ and then you know that they go home, and think a little bit more about it, and they realize what the show is really about…it’s such a joyful process, to work on something so meaningful, something so inclusive, and have a laugh while doing it…”

Love Child Theater presents

Dave and Boris Kill the Cat

written by Rhys Luke

August 23–25, 2024

American Theater of Actors

photos by Kate Shea Saumell

Listen in as feejee mermaid playwright Clay McLeod Chapman, director Pete Boisvert, props & effects designer Stephanie Cox-Connolly, and actor Morgan Zipf-Meister, discuss finding a taxidermy consultant, love and hate, reconnecting with the scene, multiple hats, buying everyone the book, and making shit so you can make something live & breathe.

“…it’s about four people who are intersecting at a point in their lives where they love each other, hate each other…these are people who need each other to complete themselves, and achieve something greater than any one individual.”

Drops in the Vase presents

feejee mermaid

written by Clay McLeod Chapman

thru November 2, 2024

The Flea

tickets: $45, available via dropsinthevase.com

photos by Kent Meister

Listen in as actors Laura Hooper and Jason Alan Carvell of Tracks discuss finding actors, complicated relationships, boots & chops, audience reactions, questioning assumptions, stumbling in on real life experiences, and not letting go.

“Everything in our lives conspires to sort of anchor us in a normalcy. And I think one of the powers of Paula’s art, and art more broadly, is that it offers this opportunity to just stray a little bit away from that anchor…”

Pendragon Theatre and New Light Theater Project presents

Tracks

written by Paula B. Stanic

thru September 28, 2024

59E59, Theater C

tickets: $32, available via 59E59’s website

photos by Matt Lazarus

Listen in as The Ask playwright Matthew Freeman, and director Jessi D. Hill, discuss generational divides, pitching runtimes, writing from what you know in real life, finally getting to work together, what can happen when you see yourself onstage, failing and messing up and misspeaking, seeing both sides from the middle, flawed arguments, and writing for what the play needs.

“Every debate in the show is not some secret argument that’s only happening in the ACLU. Everyone talks about this stuff…”

Theater Accident in association with The Flying Carpet Theatre Company present

The Ask

written by Matthew Freeman

thru September 28, 2024

The Wild Project

tickets: $51, available via OvationTix

photos by Kent Meister

Listen in as In Search of Elaina playwright Kara Ayn Napolitano, along with director Joy Donze, discuss the vibes between them, making things happen, facing the difficult parts of yourself, strong female friendships, finding the right people for your ensemble, strong audience reactions, and why you should write what you know.

“…you said it at opening…this is a play about a lot of peoples’ people. I think that, when you bring your truth to the stage, as a collective humanity, we find that a lot of us can relate to that truth…”

Drift In Act Out, in association with Platt Productions, presents

In Search of Elaina

written by Kara Ayn Napolitano

thru September 22, 2024

The Players Theatre

insearchofelaina.com

tickets: $62 ($87 VIP), available via OvationTix

photos by Al Foote III

Listen in as creator Peter Michael Marino & performer Denisse Estefany Mendoza of SHOW UP, KIDS! discuss awful auditions and why they often don’t matter, working out your show over time, building fairy tales from scratch, how to work with new & inexperienced (very young) improvisers, using what’s given to you by the audience, bringing them back into the show, funny chickens and evil farmers and bad penguin driving, and the sensibilities of New York City kids.

“You just have to say ‘yes, and,’ even to their ‘nos’…you just have to keep going…even the nos can be really funny!”

“It’s always a gift!”

Show Up, Kids!

created by Peter Michael Marino

thru September 28, 2024

Q.E.D.

tickets: $20, available at https://qedastoria.com/

photos by Mikiodo