There’s a lot of alarmist talk about theater making the rounds and we’re not cockeyed optimists, we get it: Things are really rough out. Peter wrote a big article about it, and it’s titled “Theater Is in Freefall, and the Pandemic Isn’t the Only Thing to Blame.”

But there are also lots of initiatives that give us hope. After Colorado’s Creede Rep on our previous episode, we head over to the Badger State to talk about World Premiere Wisconsin, a project that wrapped up at the end of June. Our guests were the festival producer Michael Cotey and Jen Uphoff Gray, who came up with the idea for WPW and is the artistic director of Forward Theater Company in Madison.

An ambitious project like this one was not a given in Wisconsin, which ranks last among the 50 states in public arts funding. But maybe that’s what spurred a few brave souls to jump into action, and World Premiere Wisconsin brought together institutions across the state for a full slate of premieres and events. It even hired a theater writer, Mike Fischer, to cover it all — Michael and Jen talk about what Mike did, and frankly, we were blown away. Of course there is a lot more to the festival but as journalists covering theater, well, we were excited.

We’re convinced other states could learn from the Wisconsin experience. Let us know if you hear of other interesting initiatives!

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

There are just about 400 people living year-round in Creede, Colo., and yet that town has been sustaining a theater company since 1966. How the heck did that happen, and how does it keep going?

Elisabeth first went to Creede in 2021, and wrote about Creede Repertory Theater for The New York Times. She loved the experience so much that she went back to Creede on vacation the following year (and wrote a follow-up piece). Then she went skiing at nearby Wolf Creek, but that’s another story.

On today’s podcast we welcome Creede Rep’s producing artistic director John DiAntonio and marketing director Kate Berry. They talked to us about the joys and challenges of producing true rep, how they build a season, who attends their shows, the importance of negotiation and compromise when running a company in a place like Creede — which sits at close to 9,000 feet in the San Juan mountains, about five hours from Denver.

We hear a lot of horror stories about theater these days, and it’s true that things are rough out there, but Creede Rep is a tale of perseverance, and how theater can save a town.

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

This week we are proud to have David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori as our guests. Their show Kimberly Akimbo has just won five Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Score (Jeanine wrote the music, David the lyrics), Best Book (by David, based on his own play from 2000), Leading Actress in a Musical (Victoria Clark) and Featured Actress in a Musical (Bonnie Milligan).

This isn’t this dynamic duo’s first collaboration — they did Shrek the Musical together, and yes, they tell us how that went down — and of course they have sterling résumés separately. David is a remarkable playwright (and yet, in Elisabeth’s opinion, still oddly underrated) whose Rabbit Hole won a Pulitzer and a Tony; you may also have seen Good People (which gave Frances McDormand a plum role), Fuddy Meers and Ripcord. As for Jeanine, what is left to say? Since Violet, she has built one of the most impressive track records of any 21st-century musical-theater composers, with shows like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, or Change, Fun Home and Soft Power.

We loved chatting with this pair about their work process, songwriting teams and casting Kimberly Akimbo.

Some links…

Kimberly Akimbo is still playing at the Booth Theater so get tickets!

Peter reviewed Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway and talked to leads Victoria Clark and Justin Cooley.

Elisabeth talked to Lorna Courtney from & Juliet, previewed the musical Good Vibrations at Irish Arts Center, and cannot recommend the new Catherine Cohen show enough.

Exciting times on Marks & Vincentelli!

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

He’s a “Succession” regular on HBO and now, on Broadway, he’s newly Tony-nominated, for his performance opposite Jessica Chastain in the hit revival of “A Doll’s House.” Arian Moayed is the guest on the latest Marks & Vincentelli. While Elisabeth was away on assignment, Peter went solo with Arian for an illuminating conversation about Arian’s modern approach to Ibsen’s portrait of an 18th Century husband unaware of how suffocating he makes life for Jessica’s Nora.

Arian talked about the character’s cluelessness, but also, about how many people, men especially, have come up to him after seeing director Jamie Lloyd’s production. What he often hears are self-examining comments — men wondering how many of their own unconscious acts of micro-aggression are embodied by Torvald. The feedback has helped Arian understand the contemporary relevance of a character first seen on the stage in 1879.

Arian’s Tony nod, for best featured actor in a play, occurs as the much-admired “Succession” moves toward its series finale at the end of May. Peter and Arian spoke of Arian’s experience as Stewy — a cool-headed investor emblematic of the series’ cast of scheming characters. And they talked, too, about Arian’s other pursuits, as an acting teacher for high school students in the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, and as co-founder of Waterwell, a performing arts company with a social conscience.

Listen now — and please subscribe!

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

For further reading: here is Peter’s review of “A Doll’s House,” directed by Jamie Lloyd.

And Peter’s profile of Jessica Chastain.

In February, a production of Lorraine Hansberry’s play “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan. The same production, directed by Anne Kauffman, is now about to reopen on Broadway, where it’ll run until July 2. We used this opportunity to invite the director of the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust, Joi Gresham, to the podcast.

Joi, as you will hear, is a terrific storyteller, starting with her very close connection to Hansberry — even though they never met. She moves on to talk about the connection between “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Sign,” the evolving perception of Hansberry and her work, what running an estate involves, and what happened in 2004.

It’s always interesting to talk about a playwright’s legacy and how it changes over the years and decades. If you missed it, check out the episode with the Arthur Miller scholar Susan Abbotson in November. We hope to do more of those.

And of course, look up Peter’s preview of the BAM production of “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window.”

In addition, Peter reviewed the production when it was at BAM.

More reading:

Imani Perry: “Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry”

Soyica Diggs Colbert: “Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry”

The documentary “Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart” is available to rent on Amazon.

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

What a way to premiere our new interview series, in which we will pair a director and an actor!

Parker Posey is wonderful in as the theater star Irene in “The Seagull/Woodstock, NY” — Thomas Bradshaw’s adaptation of the Chekhov play, transposed to the Catskills. (In the original, Irene is, of course, Irina Arkadina.) Posey is too rare a presence on New York stages, where her last appearance was almost 20 years ago in “Hurlyburly.” Like this “Seagull,” this was a New Group production directed by Scott Elliott. Clearly, these two have something good going on.

Posey and Elliott were still buzzing from what the previous night’s performance, when the director went on in the role usually played by David Cale (who was out sick). We talked about what that was like for both of them, along with many other things. The show is running until April 9.

Some links:

“The Seagull/Woodstock, NY”

Elisabeth’s chat with Parker Posey and Hari Nef, who plays Sasha (Masha in Chekhov’s original)

Peter’s interview with Parker and his review of the show

Peter’s review of “Hurlyburly” (2005)

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

This week’s guest is Priscilla Gilman, who dropped by the podcast to talk about her new memoir, “The Critic’s Daughter” (Norton) — the critic in question being her father, Richard Gilman. He was a staff theater critic at Newsweek, back when weekly magazines had such a position on payroll, but arguably became even more influential when he began teaching at the Yale School of Drama. Priscilla talked to us about growing up on the Upper West Side with powerhouse parents (her mother is the literary agent Lynn Nesbit), the stars-to-be at Yale and whether or not her dad would be able to be as opinionated nowadays. Trust us — it’s a hoot of an episode.

Bonus: “Marat/Sade” somehow comes up and Elisabeth goes into rapture.

Some links:

Priscilla Gilman’s website

Elisabeth’s review of Agnes Borinsky’s “The Trees” at Playwrights Horizons and Betty Smith’s “Becomes a Woman” at the Mint.

Peter’s piece about “Agony” in “Into the Woods” and his review of “A Doll’s House” with Jessica Chastain and Arian Moayed.

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

Fasten your seatbelts: There’s never a dull moment when Stephen Adly Guirgis is behind the mic!

We both loved Stephen’s latest play, the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Between Riverside and Crazy.” The show is running at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway until Feb. 19. It’s also available as a simulcast until Feb. 12, which is fantastic news for our listeners around the country.

He was remarkably candid and we covered a lot ground in our chat: growing up in New York, what happened when he saw “Burn This,” working with the LAByrinth Theater Company, his enduring collaboration with Philip Seymour Hoffman. We also spent quality time discussing the play “Halfway B*****s Go Straight to Heaven,” which Elisabeth particularly loves.

Some links:

Follow Stephen on Twitter.

Elisabeth reviewed a couple of retro-oriented shows: Anthony Rapp’s “Without You” and Eduardo Machado’s “Not About Me.” Spoiler alert: She liked the puppet show “The Immortal Jellyfish Girl” a lot more.

Peter wrote about a version of “The Tempest” directed by Teller and Aaron Posner that features a Caliban played simultaneously — and Pilobolus-choreographed — by two actors.

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

We always love when Dr. Blythe Adamson, of Infectious Economics, drops by the show: She’s basically been holding (virtually, of course) us by the hand since theater came back in New York. As seems to be the case every winter now — remember the lines around the block last December when everybody was trying to get tested for Omicron? — we are reading about a new variant. (This one has been nicknamed Kraken, which annoys Elisabeth because she feels it’s spoiled her long-running habit of yelling “Release the Kraken!” whenever she’s about to play tennis, or maybe to clean her house.)

Anyway, Dr. Adamson was full of great information, as usual. But where she really took us by surprise is when she talked about the cost of having understudies vs. cancelling a show. Even more surprising was when she brought up recent developments relating to attendance — not from the audience, mind you, but from cast members and technicians. Listen up, it’s a wild ride.

Here are a couple of Peter’s recent stories:

Broadway’s “The Piano Lesson” sends its piano to the Smithsonian

How a play about a pope’s last days reveals the stark realities of dying

Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.

It’s like clockwork: Every January, some Broadway shows close. This year is no different as we say goodbye to “A Strange Loop,” “The Music Man,” “Ohio State Murders,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Beetlejuice.”

But what got a lot of attention were a couple of shows, “Ain’t No Mo’ ” and “KPOP,” that closed in December after very short runs. For whatever reasons, they didn’t find an audience.

In this episode, Peter and Elisabeth look at what’s going on with the Broadway cycle of life (reminder: it also involves death). They also talk about recent shows they like and what they’re looking forward to. The action never stops on “Marks & Vincentelli”!

Here are a few of Peter’s recent articles:

How does a 63 year old play a teen? In Victoria Clark’s case, superbly

Broadway loses more superb work as “Ohio State Murders” abruptly exits

What are we clapping for? America’s sad compulsion to applaud