Death of a Salesman by the American writer Arthur Miller is one of the 20th century's most famous plays. It's about an ageing travelling salesman who discovers late in life that he is entirely expendable. A new production in Australia has enticed Anthony LaPaglia back to the stage for the first time in over a decade.

Also, the 1913 murder of a 13-year-old girl in the American South and the anti-Semitic fervour it whipped up has become the improbable subject of a hit musical called Parade, and the community arts company Everybody NOW! has created a music theatre work inspired by local roller skaters for this year's BLEACH* festival on the Gold Coast.

Caryl Churchill is one of the most enduring and radical playwrights of our time. Several of her plays are now in production around Australia. To unpack the politics and theatrical risk-taking of Caryl Churchill, we're joined by experts, creatives and performers immersed in her work.

Also, the sumptuous American musical Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 was a sensation in New York, where it was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. It's based on a tale of seduction and betrayal from Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace. It's now on at Sydney's Darlinghurst Theatre Company.

Ash Flanders made his reputation with wildly funny, often surreal queer theatre made under the name Sisters Grimm with his creative partner Declan Greene. Now, Ash has put the glitter and wigs aside and written a new, naturalistic play called This Is Living.

Also, multidisciplinary artist and "radical mischief-maker" Candy Bowers shares the works of art that have most inspired her journey on Top Shelf and we explore the themes of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Fleet Street with the Sydney Opera House cast.

Australian writer Michelle Law has an ear for the humour found when cultures meet. Her new play Miss Peony takes us into the world of Chinese-Australian pageants in which young women compete to be the one who most embodies Chinese values. But who decides what those values are?

Also, we meet the organisers of Club Broadway, a pop-up party that features nothing but show tunes, and we discuss 'mad scenes' in 19th century opera with the Australian soprano Jessica Pratt. What do they tell us about the attitudes and the politics of the time? Mad Scenes with Jessica Pratt is coming to the Sydney Opera House.

Guest host Wesley Enoch meets three icons of First Nations performing arts. Roxanne McDonald's stage career began more than 30 years ago when she saw an audition flyer for a play based on the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. She has since graced some of Australia's biggest stages.

Also, we meet Noongar elder Richard Walley, who has made enormous contributions to Australian performing arts, from directing and acting in a range of new theatre works to twice performing for Queen Elizabeth II, and we learn about Con Colleano, a tightrope walker known as the Wizard of the Wire. Under the big top, he claimed Spanish ancestry, but Con was a Kamilaroi man, born and raised on Bundjalung country.

The English writer Michael Frayn has produced a staggering amount of journalism, novels, philosophy, non-fiction and plays. The Tony and Olivier Award-winning writer of Benefactors, Noises Off and Copenhagen celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

Also, in the regional Victorian town of Camperdown, a local theatre company has endured for 75 years. We drop by the town's historic Theatre Royal to attend their sold-out 75th Anniversary Spectacular and meet the dedicated community members keeping the Camperdown Theatre Company alive.

The American composer Mary Rodgers was a funny, frank and intelligent woman who grew up in a world of showbiz royalty. But as an artist, she could never shake free of the shadow of her famous father, Richard Rodgers. She tells her life story in Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers, co-written by Jesse Green.

Also, after four years on stage, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will soon take its final bow in Melbourne. It is Australia's longest-running play, with more than one million tickets sold and more than 1,000 performances. For its entire run, Harry Potter has been played by Gareth Reeves. He joins us with fellow performer Natasha Herbert and executive producer Michael Cassel.

Andrew Bovell is one of Australia's most esteemed playwrights. His recent play Things I Know to Be True has been staged around the world, but in many ways its spiritual home is Western Australia where Andrew grew up. It was the place he was drawn back to when writing the script.

Also, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith shares the works of art that have most inspired her creative journey on Top Shelf and we hear a scene from Underneath Ms Archer, a two-hander written and performed by two stalwarts of the Australian stage and screen: Louise Siversen and Peter Houghton.

Have you ever wondered how a musical is written? At this year's Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the composer and lyricist Eddie Perfect is hosting an event that brings us into that process. Eddie joins us with Gillian Cosgriff whose new musical The Fig Tree will have a work-in-progress showing at the festival.

Also, in Patricia Cornelius's play Do Not Go Gentle, now on at the Sydney Theatre Company, we are out on the Antarctic ice with Robert Falcon Scott on his fateful expedition of 1912. But in this play Scott and his team are all in their 80s and we soon realise that nothing is what it seems.

Jacky is the Melbourne Theatre Company debut of Arrente writer Declan Furber Gillick, a razor-sharp new voice in Australian playwriting. It tells the story of Jacky, an enterprising Aboriginal man forced to confront the true cost of his labour.

Also, the Adelaide Festival Centre turns 50 this year. In 1973, it was Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre and a symbol of the city and the country's commitment to the performing arts during that era. We reflect on the building's storied history and future ambitions.