The PURE Theatre Podcast

In case you missed it or want to revisit, we had a wonderful talkback moderated by our own Miles Boinest, with playwright Brad Erickson and historian and author Harlan Greene.

The production runs for two more weeks so tell your friends and get your tickets below!

THE OCEAN WE SWIM IN

BY BRAD ERICKSONAPRIL 16–MAY 9, 2026WORLD PREMIEREDIRECTED BY SHARON GRACI

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In the haunting quiet of the South Carolina Lowcountry, a canceled art critic seeks refuge. But exile to the South Carolina marshes quickly offers one last chance at relevance—if he’s willing to take down a nearly 100-year-old local art legend to do it. In The Ocean We Swim In, reputations become weapons, secrets have teeth, and the line between confession and manipulation vanishes in the tide.

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When a canceled California art critic flees with his husband to the marshy refuge of South Carolina, he’s offered an unexpected shot at redemption: expose a beloved local legend for racism and cultural appropriation on the eve of his 100th birthday.

As the investigation deepens, a far more complicated truth begins to surface, rooted in secrecy, a hidden past, and a haunting, unreleased body of work. Drawn into this shadowed world, the critic is forced to confront his own complicity, his ambition, and the cost of reclaiming his voice, before making a choice that could redefine his life and his marriage.

Set between present-day Lowcountry and post-World War II Pawleys Island, The Ocean We Swim In unfolds as a moving mystery, lyrical and shifting, alive with the weight of what is remembered and what is withheld.

When a production works — really works — it’s usually because someone wrote it that way. Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton is one of those plays. It has been terrifying audiences since 1938, survived two major film adaptations in the 1940s, and somehow managed to embed itself so deeply in the cultural conversation that it gave us a word we use every day.

Steven Dietz is one of America’s finest working playwrights and a generous friend to PURE Theatre. He also adapted this production — what he calls a renovation. Not a rewrite, not a reimagining. A renovation. He kept Hamilton’s bones and made it sing in the voices of actors working today, for audiences living right now. That distinction matters, and he explains exactly what it means in this conversation.

When we asked him to join us for a talkback on closing weekend he brought exactly what you’d expect from someone who understands both the architecture of a play and the audience sitting in front of it.

This conversation covers the full arc — Patrick Hamilton’s original, the Ingrid Bergman and Diana Wynyard film adaptations, how the production landed with our audiences, and what it means that “gaslighting” has become the word of our moment.

Forty-eight minutes. Worth every one.

Press play above!

This week, my conversation with STEVEN DIETZ playwright of GASLIGHT, which starts this week at PURE. Steven is an amazing human and inadvertantly responsible for several major of my life events! Enjoy the conversation on audio above or video below.

Also join us in conversation with Steven on March 21st after the show. (details further below!)

PURE CONVERSATION with STEVEN DIETZ March 21 following the 7:30pm show

Join us after the show on March 21 for a deeper dive into the show with it’s creator, Steven Dietz! Steven will be joined by Autumn Phillips, former Editor-In-Chief of the Post & Courier, and Colleen Glenn, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the College of Charleston.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

Can’t be there in person? No worries!The performance and talkback on March 21 will be livestreamed, and we invite you to join and participate virtually!

GET STREAMING TICKETS

Mark Landis is a long time core member with us here at PURE. Mark is coming up in our next production STEVEN DIETZ’S Adaptation of GASLIGHT.

A little confession here. This is actually an interview from a couple of years ago, back when I first had dreams of developing a podcast for the company. I did a series of interviews at the time — including ones with Cristy Landis and Emily Wilhoit — and we'll air those in the future. The conversations were excellent, but I wasn't able to get the show off the ground. Later, we did a radio show on OM Radio in Charleston, found our rhythm, got the flow going, and the show was born. Now seems like the perfect time to reach back for this one. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did — with the great Mark Landis.

As an actor, David Whalen's done it all. From Shakespeare to movies, he's worked with many of the greats in the major theatre centers and across this country's robust regional theatre scene. I got to sit down with him while he's performing in PURE's production of Ayad Akhtar's MCNEAL. Catch the reviews here and join us for our final week.

CITY PAPER REVIEW by Maura Hogan

CHARLESTON DAILY REVIEW by Mark A. Leon

We’ve taken a bit of a break, but we’re back. I’m afraid I’m pretty much a one-man band here and it takes some work to get these out there. I certainly enjoy it and I hope you do as well. Feel free to let us know how it’s going and what you like and don’t like. The idea is to start taking this interaction to the next level. I’m thinking in terms of seasons and finding ways to really interface with the shows we’re producing. We succeed when we get you involved. As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome, so please leave them on the Substack or feel free to email me.

If you haven’t seen McNeal at PURE, it’s a mind-bending play that Ayad Akhtar has given us. It speaks to the integration of AI into an artist’s life—in this case, a famous novelist. More so, it asks what we take from each other, stories and moments, and what happens when we can do that on a large scale. And in seconds. We had a great talk-back after the show with Sharon Graci, Josh Wilhoit and Dr. Bill Manaris. This week’s return to the podcast is a replay of that conversation. Next time out we’ll have McNeal himself, actor David Whalen. Look for that in the next few weeks. From there I’m going to try something new with the podcast—I’m going to make a kind of diary of the directing of our next show, Gaslight. Hopefully we’ll have an interview with Steven Dietz along the way.

For today, however, we go back to last week after the show and our talk-back with Sharon Graci, Josh Wilhoit, and Bill Manaris.

AUDIO above, Video below!

PURE CONVERSATION

Because the best conversations don’t end at curtain call.

Saturday, January 17 following the performance

Josh WilhoitSenior Director of Software Development and PURE Core Ensemble member

Dr. Bill ManarisProfessor of Computer Science and Director of the Computing in the Arts program at the College of Charleston

CITY PAPER REVIEW by Maura Hogan

CHARLESTON DAILY REVIEW by Mark A. Leon

“A brilliant and transfixing new play” —The Atlantic

“A gripping, razor-sharp portrait of a writer coming undone.” —The New York Times

“A brilliant, unsettling look at genius, ego, and the cost of creation.” —TheaterMania

“Explosive. Unmissable.” —Vulture

Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, and a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But he also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind, and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence. From Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar, McNeal is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity—and increasing inhumanity—of the stories we tell.

STARRING

David Whalen°Sam SmithJoy Vandervort-Cobb°*Andrew PuckettJourney TownsendSylvia JefferiesRyka Khanna* PURE Core Ensemble° Appears Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

This week York Walker is on the podcast!

(VIDEO PODCAST Below)

York is the writer of COVENANT, which opens at PURE on October 2nd and runs through October 25th. There's tremendous excitement building for this production. We held an open rehearsal last week, and the audience experienced Hitchcock-worthy suspense trying to figure out what's going to happen in the play.

York was also here for our Playwrights Festival, which was truly a special event. If you missed it, don't worry—we're going to run it every year from here on out. I just can’t express enough what an extoridary opportunity it was to access and be in conversation with these artists! York was also able to sit in on one of the play's rehearsals. We talk about that experience along with many others in this conversation.

We’d love your feed back! Let me know if you prefer the video or audio podcast and which you use more!

(Watch Video Podcast below)

P&F website

Picture this: You walk out of the theater onto Spring Street, make your way to King, turn left on Rutledge, and walk down a few blocks to Bogard. Then, if you're fortunate enough to take that right and go a few more blocks, you're going to find Philosophers & Fools tucked nicely into the neighborhood.

What is Philosophers & Fools? Well, it's a bookstore and a place where you can buy a book, sit, read, and have wine or a craft beer. But more than that, it's a place to explore ideas. They host all kinds of events, they're one of our dining partners, and they're a great place to meet before the show—or really anytime you want to delve into the literary arts.

This week we have a fantastic conversation with Jenny and Michael about their love of books, Charleston, and storytelling. And if you're listening to this first thing on Tuesday, September 9th, be sure to head down to PechaKucha tonight to see them in a stellar lineup of speakers including our own Sharon Graci!

Info and tickets

PRESENTERS: ARUN DRUMMOND, JENNY FERRARA & MICHAEL BOURKE, KATE BOYETTE, LEE BARBOUR, MENA MARK HANNA, NAMELESS NUMBERHEAD, QUIANA PARLER, & SHARON GRACI

Video Podcast

This week's guest is Brad Erickson. Brad has had a fascinating career in the arts and is a long time friend and supporter of the company. He's the playwright of this year's final show, THE OCEAN WE SWIM IN, and part of our PLAYWRIGHTS Weekend coming up. You need not be a playwright to participate! It’s going to be an incredible opportunity to look into the process and meet all of the playwrights from this season. It will include a performance from last week’s guest DAN HOYLE and capped off with a party for our treasured Artistic Director Sharon Graci! Don’t miss it.

You can learn more about South Porch Residency here:

South Porch

You can also watch the video podcast here - filmed at SOUTH PORCH!

This week’s conversation is with actor, writer, and creator of Journalistic Theater DAN HOYLE. Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform. You can also see the video of the conversation below.

Dan will be performing at PURE September 12th & 13th in conjunction with our Playwrights Festival. Friday, September 12th is open to the public and the performance on the 13th is included in the Playwrights Festival. See you there!

PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL tickets and info

Single tickets TAKES ALL KINDS Friday the 12th

Dan's Website

VIDEO PODCAST