La Jolla Playhouse Presents

Watch the full video episode here: https://youtu.be/AqeX6O73CrI

To jump straight into the interview, skip to 07:03.

For this week's coffee date, Artistic Director Christopher Ashley will be talking with IDRIS GOODWIN and JACOLE KITCHEN, the playwright and director, respectively, of POP Tour 2021, PICK ME LAST, highlighting the importance of inclusivity at schools. Interim Director of Education & Outreach Bridget Cavaiola, who manages POP Tour programming, will also be joining the conversation. We want your questions! Email us a question for Christopher, Idris, Jacole or Bridget at [email protected].

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#IdrisGoodwin​ #POPTour​ #LaJollaPlayhouse​ #BroadwayAtHome​ #AmplifyBlackVoices

Watch the full video episode here: https://youtu.be/d5uv4cQRIZ4
Originally aired on December 18, 2020.
Join us for a very special one-on-one conversation with the A Christmas Carol's solo star: acclaimed actor and UC San Diego grad Jefferson Mays, in a performance that was called "a tour de force" and named a "Critic's Pick" by The New York Times. Jefferson, the recipient of multiple awards including the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Obie, starred (again in an extraordinary solo role) in the 2001 Playhouse Page To Stage production, I Am My Own Wife, which went on to a Tony-winning run on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include Oslo and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, as well as many TV and film appearances.

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Award-Winning Playwright Ayad Akhtar Joins Us! Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/0vxs2XI2I5Q

Time Stamp for Straight-to-Interview content: 06:00

Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse Christopher Ashley catches up with Ayad Akhtar - the acclaimed screenwriter, novelist and playwright of two Playhouse world premieres: 2014's The Who & The What, which went on to Lincoln Center Theater and was subsequently produced around the world, and 2016's Junk: The Golden Age of Debt, which enjoyed a second life on Broadway before receiving a Tony nomination for Best Play. Named American Theatre magazine's most produced playwright in 2016, Ayad is the author of the recently published Homeland Elegies: A Novel, in which an American son and his immigrant father search for reunion and belonging in post-Trump America. The novel has been included in the Top 10 Best Books of 2020 by The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time Magazine.

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Twitter: @LJPlayhouse https://twitter.com/LJPlayhouse​

#AyadAkhtar​ #HomelandElegies​ #LaJollaPlayhouse​ #BroadwayAtHome

Watch the full video episode here: https://youtu.be/pJwJ6Xb7MXM

For this week's coffee date, Christopher will be joined by a very special guest: Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff, who has been at the helm of some of our most memorable productions, including The Who's Tommy, Jersey Boys, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Sideways and SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical. They'll discuss all things Playhouse – what drew them to work here, first-day-on-the-job memories, the LJP programs and shows they're most proud of and much more! 

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Watch the full video episode here: https://youtu.be/MAMBLU69P4Q

Coffee with the Playhouse is a way to connect with us, virtually, every month as our very own Artistic Director, Christopher Ashley, shares behind-the-scenes stories, interviews artists and previews what is new and next at the Playhouse.

For this week's coffee date, Christopher will be joined by Tyne Rafaeli, the director of last season's The Coast Starlight and next season's world-premiere play by Lauren Yee, Mother Russia. The morning will also include a chat with Alyce Smith-Cooper, a celebrated San Diego poet/storyteller/actress/community activist who was recently named Poet Laureate of the San Diego Veterans Museum, and Shammy Dee, an accomplished musical artist and DJ whom you may recognize from our production of Tiger Style! as well as our Opening Night celebrations and other Playhouse special events. Alyce and Shammy are collaborators of Digital WOW's forthcoming Spittin’ Truth To Power While Light Leaping For the People, an inter-generational piece using images, music and storytelling styles reminiscent of the griot. (Griots are West African storytellers, musicians, praise singers, poets and oral historians of their communities.)

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This frightening series of October-appropriate radio plays has been created in collaboration with the San Diego-based literary and performing arts nonprofit organization So Say We All. Intelligent, original and unsettling, this new take on the radio drama features stories from diverse writers who will have listeners on the edge of their seats. Twisted up in paranoia, magical realism, ghosts, monsters, sibling rivalry, and even earth death, Listen With The Lights Off takes patrons to wholly unexpected worlds – sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, but always memorable, and eerily plausible. These fictional short plays, adapted from So Say We All’s literary horror anthologies Black Candies, will be brought to audio reality to make sure Halloween thrives, even during quarantine.

Dollhouse - By Cait Cole

Starring Savanna Padilla, Sam DiSalvo, Rhiana Basore, Dallas McLaughlin,  Dianne Yvette and Victor Morris

Directed by Yolanda Franklin

The Swimming Lesson - by Dave Maass

Starring Monique Gaffney and Thomas Morrison

Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed

Scoring and SFX for all episodes: Scott Paulson
Intro theme: Kurt Kohnen of AM/FM Music
Outro theme: Daniel Schraer

COFFEE WITH THE PLAYHOUSE is an interview series that allows you to connect with us every month as our very own Artistic Director, Christopher Ashley, shares behind-the-scenes stories, interviews artists and previews what is new and next at the Playhouse.

This month, we're joined by three-time Tony Award-nominated scenic designer Robert Brill, the creative force behind the design of such celebrated Playhouse and Broadway hits as Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Jesus Christ Superstar. Christopher will also chat with extraordinary puppeteers Bridget Rountree and Iain Gunn of Animal Cracker Conspiracy, who will share a live, behind-the-scenes tour of their magical San Diego studio.

Watch the full video interview here: https://youtu.be/XH5D9eVuKqg

This frightening series of October-appropriate radio plays has been created in collaboration with the San Diego-based literary and performing arts nonprofit organization So Say We All. Intelligent, original and unsettling, this new take on the radio drama features stories from diverse writers who will have listeners on the edge of their seats. Twisted up in paranoia, magical realism, ghosts, monsters, sibling rivalry, and even earth death, Listen With The Lights Off takes patrons to wholly unexpected worlds – sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, but always memorable, and eerily plausible. These fictional short plays, adapted from So Say We All’s literary horror anthologies Black Candies, will be brought to audio reality to make sure Halloween thrives, even during quarantine.

Slow Waves - by Sarah Jean Alexander

Starring Alyssa Anne Austin and Salomon Maya

Directed by Jennifer D. Corley and Justin Hudnall

Welcome Back - by Jay Wertzler

Starring Patrick Mayuyu

Directed by Cambria Herrera

Scoring and SFX for all episodes: Scott Paulson

Intro theme: Kurt Kohnen of AM/FM Music

Outro theme: Daniel Schraer

Today we launch a new addition to Walks of Life, the moving series of radio plays by Blindspot Collective that was part of our Digital WOW programming earlier this year: a special Episode 4 that focuses on Black artists and experiences. Although the previous three episodes did include Black playwrights and performers, this moment of national reckoning and recognition necessitates a creative rebuke to systemic oppression and a proclamation that Black lives not only matter, they are essential. This new episode features four short plays that celebrate the beauty, vibrancy and excellence of Black culture and community through dialogue, spoken word, soundscape and original music.

Community Partners: Central San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce; SD Melanin

WALKS OF LIFE: Episode 4
Nursing Hours
By Penny Middleton

Punch Bowl Spaces
By Kian KlineChilton

The Piano
By Richard Allen and Taran Gray

Family Sound
By Michael Mitchell, Aurin Squire and Annastasia Victory

Directed by: Kandace Crystal and Lamar Perry
Original spoken word by: Sherehe Hollins
Sound Design: Melanie Chen Cole
Original Music/Additional Sound Design: Chesney Snow

This frightening series of October-appropriate radio plays has been created in collaboration with the San Diego-based literary and performing arts nonprofit organization So Say We All. Intelligent, original and unsettling, this new take on the radio drama features stories from diverse writers who will have listeners on the edge of their seats. Twisted up in paranoia, magical realism, ghosts, monsters, sibling rivalry, and even earth death, Listen With The Lights Off takes patrons to wholly unexpected worlds – sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, but always memorable, and eerily plausible. These fictional short plays, adapted from So Say We All’s literary horror anthologies Black Candies, will be brought to audio reality to make sure Halloween thrives, even during quarantine.

This is a Ghost Story - by Juliet Escoria

Starring Salomon Maya and Rhianna Basore

Directed by Cambria Herrera

Today We Go To Noah's Ark - by Kayla Miller

Starring Yolanda Marie Franklin

Directed by Jennifer D. Corley and Justin Hudnall

Scoring and SFX for all episodes: Scott Paulson

Intro theme: Kurt Kohnen of AM/FM Music

Outro theme: Daniel Schraer