On "The Evolution of Encores!", guests Judith E. Daykin (founder), Rob Fisher (music director from founding to 2006), David Ives (book adapter for 18 productions) and Jack Viertel (artistic director since 2001) discuss the growth and success of the acclaimed musical concert series at New York's City Center, exploring how "Encores!" grew out of a concert at BAM in the late 80s; how the international success of "Chicago" impacted the series; how shows are selected; whether the addition of costumes, choreography and other "production" elements have moved the series away from its original goals; and whether there are shows they shouldn't have done or wish they could do again.

In this interview a panel of actors -- Anne Heche (Twentieth Century), Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife for which he won a Tony), Martha Plimpton (Sixteen Wounded), Phylicia Rashad (Gem of the Ocean and 2004 Tony winner for the revival of A Raisin in the Sun) and Richard Thomas (12 Angry Men) -- delve into their current Broadway characters and speak about how their recognition from other media affects audience perception of them today.

The development of the musical Caroline, or Change and its move from The Public Theatre to Broadway is explored with Tony Kushner (writing a musical book and lyrics for the first time and winner of two Tony Awards for both parts of Angels in America), composer Jeanine Tesori, choreographer Hope Clarke and actors Tonya Pinkins (Tony winner for Jelly’s Last Jam) and Veanne Cox.

The challenges and the rewards of producing new plays on Broadway are explored by press representative Michael Hartman (Sixteen Wounded), producers Robert LuPone (Frozen), Benjamin Mordecai (Sixteen Wounded and a Tony Award winner for Angles in America: Perestroika), Michael Parva (Prymate) and Daryl Roth (Tony winner for The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Proof and August: Osage County).

"Leading Ladies" and Tony Award winners Blair Brown (Best Featured Actress Tony Award for Copenhagen in 2000), Blythe Danner (1970 Tony Award for Butterflies Are Free), Swoosie Kurtz (1981 Featured Actress Tony for Fifth of July and 1986 Featured Actress Tony for The House of Blue Leaves) and Julie White (2007 Tony Award for her performance in The Little Dog Laughed) share their thoughts on their careers on stage, from the difference between working in plays and musicals, to whether they still audition for roles, to the experience of working with living playwrights -- and whether they feel they ever have any power on a production.

At the start of a theatre season which would see revivals of major works by each, authors Edward Albee (Tony winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 2005 recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), Harvey Fierstein (who won acting Tony Awards for Hairspray and Torch Song Trilogy—for which he also won a Best Play Tony in addition to his best book Tony for La Cage Aux Folles), Paula Vogel (The Baltimore Waltz) and John Weidman (Assassins) discuss the challenges of the career of a playwright.

The challenge of producing commercially Off-Broadway is the topic for producers and managers Ken Davenport, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Marc Routh (Tony Award for Best Musical for Company and The Norman Conquests) and Alan Schuster as they consider whether Off-Broadway is, as some of the press would have it, in crisis; reflect on the nature of the work that succeeds in that arena; and place their work in those venues in the context of both the not-for-profit theatre and the world of Broadway.

With puppetry turning up in, or serving as the main focus of, numerous shows in recent seasons, Pam Arciero (O'Neill Puppetry Conference), Cheryl Henson (The Jim Henson Foundation), Rick Lyon ("Avenue Q"), Roman Paska ("Dead Puppet Talk") and Basil Twist ("Symphonie Fantastique") discuss the intersection of puppet and human theatre.

With three of New York's major not-for-profit theatres now producing in Broadway venues, their leaders—André Bishop and Bernard Gersten of Lincoln Center Theatre (with their most recent Tony Award coming with their revival of South Pacific), Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove of Manhattan Theatre Club (with multiple Tony wins for the organization), and Todd Haimes (who has scored multiple Tonys while serving as Artistic Director), along Ellen Richard and Julia C. Levy of Roundabout Theatre Company—gather for the very first time to explore the issues facing institutional theatres on Broadway.

Three distinguished actresses—Brenda Blethyn, Kathleen Chalfant and Tony winner Randy Graff (for her featured role in City of Angels) —discuss their craft and careers.