radiotheater

Experience the MENTALRASIO Chapter 3 version of a meditation, allowing you to go from frazzled to mellow in 90 seconds. 

Murry from Florida has a lot to say and no time to say it, but wants you to know "they're fine" during this Pomona Virus

Discover that butterflies sing "This is my lucky Day" and what Happiness is and how you might find it buried under "Yeah-Buts." Learn about how 2020 is the beginning of the Great Ascension, and the benefits of becoming a "Black Belt in the Art of Ricochet." You'll realize the Optimysticals are real and have been among us since the dawn of creation. Experience Time-Released Mirth. 

Playing on Air is proud to present the winner of our 2019 James Stevenson Prize: Jason Gray Platt’s HUMAN RESOURCES.

Tech start-up Diddly has a problem: their staff is whiter than a Coldplay concert in Vermont. Fortunately, Human Resources has a plan to “improve” Diddly’s corporate culture —at least in theory.

A biting satire about virtue signaling and elephant milk, HUMAN RESOURCES features Tony winner Julie White (Airline Highway, A Doll’s House, Part 2) and Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Broadway’s Hand To God). Jade King Carroll (Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth, Proof of Love) directs the world premiere, recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center. After the play, host Claudia Catania joins the ensemble for a discussion about comedy, identity, and the absurd.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

Proving MENTALRADIO is a jolt of lightning in the impending gloom, a hundred year old worldwide underground society explores the phenomenon of an all-pervasive gloom. Clearly the only answer lies in Tragic Optimism, but how many people know that? And how do we get there? This episode is the beginning. 

This is the No-Attention-Span Version of Chapter 2 "Gloom," in a handy 10 Minute Snack Pack.

This is the meditation from within the show, separate for your listening and quick-meditation, taking you from frazzled to mellow in just 90 seconds. 

CLEAN SLATE by Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Guards at the Taj) is Part Two of a thriller that begins with last week’s episode, Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS.

Special Agents Angie Mallinson and Vince Lazar just want to assure you that nothing horrible has happened at the KLWP News Hour. You may have heard rumors about a band of Kabuki-masked killers. You may have heard whispers about a mysterious vigilante group.  Ignore them — no matter what you think you saw. 

Oscar nominee Amy Ryan ("The Office," PoA’s Fifth Planet) and Eden Marryshow (Broadway's Ink, PoA’s Night Vision) join Jeremy Shamos, Eisa Davis, and director Mark Brokaw from last week’s FAKE NEWS. After the show, host Claudia Catania joins the artists to talk about what gives them hope and how they think this story really ends.

CLEAN SLATE by Pulitzer finalist and Obie winner Rajiv Joseph is a world premiere through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays. 

90 Second Meditation - This is the meditation from within Chapter One, separate for your listening and quick-meditation, designed to take you from frazzled to mellow and dreamy in just 90 seconds

Peperoni Pork Popcorn commercial 

One of the many rooms in the MentalRadio Command Post is the Celebrity Center, where advanced Mentologists gather to celebrate their Elevated Status and Exceptional Skills acquired after decades of dedication and study. In this behind the scenes clip, we hear the famous Comedian, SARGE, rant about the Necessity of Optimism. 

Is it all completely real and impossible to believe, or some kind of 21st Century Theater. Could a conspiracy for some kind of Subversive Optimism dedicated to uplifting mankind really exist? A worldwide secret organization more than a 100 years old? Discover that Spontaneous Optimism is real in Chapter One. 

Shadoe Stevens' "MentalRadio" is an elevating, uplifting escape into a world all its own; a Twilight Zone of innovation and genetically-altered humor. Coming from a former Masonic Temple in Hollywood, MentalRadio reveals a secret worldwide society dedicated to helping mankind. Its a theatrical, highly produced audio experience brimming with optimism.

This is a streamlined introduction to MentalRadio featuring highlights from the first episode, "Chapter One" in less than 10 minutes. 

A worldwide secret society dedicated to helping mankind based on wireless energy transfer and the phenomenon of Spontaneous Optimism.

Content Warning: Violence

Anchors Bob Tunley and Fran Mercer are the iconic voices behind radio’s KLWP News Hour — but today, they’ve become the story. As bizarre and menacing soundbites interrupt their live broadcast, the studio crew begins to fear that they’re under attack. 

Mark Brokaw (Broadway’s How I Learned to Drive, Cinderella) directs Obie winner Eisa Davis (Passing Strange, PoA’s Gun Show), Tony nominees Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park, PoA’s Hedgehog Years) and Steven Boyer (Hand to God, PoA’s Human Resources), and Tony winner Katie Finneran (Noises Off, PoA’s La Traviata) in FAKE NEWS by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, PoA’s Wildwood Park). After the episode, host Claudia Catania talks with the artists about writing plays specifically for audio and how these genius actors were able to play around with different accents and impressions on such short notice.

Doug Wright’s FAKE NEWS is Part One of a two-part thriller that continues next week with Rajiv Joseph’s CLEAN SLATE. Both pieces are world premieres through Playing on Air and Axe-Houghton Foundation’s annual Wordsmith Duo Project, which invites two extraordinary playwrights to explore a shared theme or story through original, partnered plays.

Playing on Air is a non-profit, listener-supported production. To help support our fall season, visit https://playingonair.org/donate. Thank you for listening!

There's a lot of money to be made at this funeral. 

Friends and flames have gathered to celebrate and remember the WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE of the charismatic, outrageous Sheila (Tony & Emmy winner Debra Monk)  — but the dearly departed still has one more trick up her sleeve. 

WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE by Emmy winner Patricia Cotter (PoA's Rules of Comedy, The Daughters) features an ensemble cast of Playing on Air favorites — Monk, Scott Adsit, Lucy DeVito, Denise Manning, Lisa Emery, and Jeff Biehl — and original music by folk-rock duo Misner & Smith, produced and recorded by John Kilgore, arranged and performed by Charlie Rosen. Associate Producer Michele O’Brien directs. Stay tuned after the episode, as host Claudia Catania chats with the artists about celebrating life and how they’d like to be remembered.

Join us for a movie in your head, a wide-screen, cinematic world between your ears with funny ideas, features, scenes and characters designed to make you feel better whether you want to or not. It’s brimming with optimism, makes fun of fear, doubt, and gloom, and we're certain you’ve never heard anything quite like it. It has original music and jingles, and sound design created so you can see everything in your mind. 

Content Warning: Violence

“I don’t want you hunting anyone. What if you become the prey?”

On a night walk in Brooklyn, pregnant Ayanna and her husband Ezra witness a sudden, violent attack. But when they call the police, doubts arise. Did they get a good look at the attacker’s face? What color was his sweatshirt? And — why do their memories differ so drastically? 

Originally commissioned as part of New Black Fest’s “Facing Our Truth: Ten-Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege,” NIGHT VISION launches Playing on Air’s yearlong celebration of MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ winner Dominique Morisseau (The Detroit Projects, Pipeline, Ain't Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations). Directed by Stori Ayers (Chautauqua Theater Company, "The Last O.G.”), NIGHT VISION stars OBIE winner April Matthis (Toni Stone, Elevator Repair Service, PoA’s Hate Baby) and Eden Marryshow (“Jessica Jones,” Broadway’s Ink) and features music by guest composer Jimmy Keys.

Tony Shalhoub and Kristine Nielsen star in Amanda Quaid’s THE CLAM, the Second Place winner of Playing on Air’s 2019 James Stevenson Prize competition. 

After a lifetime of playing it safe , a wistful clam (Shalhoub) decides to come out of his shell with help from a therapist (Nielsen). His friends are disappearing without a trace, he’s lost touch with thousands of his children, and he’s desperate for a pearl to call his own. Alternately tongue-in-cheek and deeply identifiable, THE CLAM is a comedy for anyone who’s ever felt adrift in their search for happiness. 

Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway’s Bernhardt/Hamlet, Hand to God) directs Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” The Band’s Visit, “Monk”) and Tony nominee Nielsen (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Androninus, PoA’s Wildwood Park). The opening episode of PoA’s 2020 Spring Season, THE CLAM was recorded live at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center. 

Starting next Sunday and continuing every Sunday throughout April and May, we’ll be releasing a new short play. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to share our artists' beautiful work with you, even in these uncertain times.

The Curious Case of Dr. Bifold

By Mark Bate

Performed by Mark Bate

Introduced by Joe Camareno

Produced by Eclectic Voices Literary Group