32 episodes

Theater is for everyone and we want to make it available everywhere. Soundstage is an anthological, scripted fiction series of portable stories from Playwrights Horizons theater in New York City. Featuring short-form commissions from America’s best playwrights, these audio experiences are written specifically for the ear, not translated or recorded live from the stage. Now, the theater is wherever you are.

Follow us at @SoundstagePH on Instagram and Twitter.

If you like what you hear and want to support this program, we hope you will consider making a donation that will allow us to commission more artists, complete production on more podcasts, and continue to provide our writers with a much-needed creative outlet and an audience in these unprecedented times. To support us, text SOUNDSTAGE20 to 44-321.

Soundstage Playwrights Horizons

    • Fiction
    • 4.9 • 145 Ratings

Theater is for everyone and we want to make it available everywhere. Soundstage is an anthological, scripted fiction series of portable stories from Playwrights Horizons theater in New York City. Featuring short-form commissions from America’s best playwrights, these audio experiences are written specifically for the ear, not translated or recorded live from the stage. Now, the theater is wherever you are.

Follow us at @SoundstagePH on Instagram and Twitter.

If you like what you hear and want to support this program, we hope you will consider making a donation that will allow us to commission more artists, complete production on more podcasts, and continue to provide our writers with a much-needed creative outlet and an audience in these unprecedented times. To support us, text SOUNDSTAGE20 to 44-321.

    Bonus! FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM, ET CETERA by Dave Harris

    Bonus! FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM, ET CETERA by Dave Harris

    A panel of Black thinkers (a Broadway playwright, a spoken word poet, a Columbia professor, and an activist) try to define Freedom in the year ???? in this dark comedy about ancestors and artists.

    Written by Dave Harris

    Directed by Taylor Reynolds

    Sound Design by Ben Scheff

    Sound Editing by Dylan Carrow

    Production Stage Manager -- Hanako Rodriguez

    CAST:

    Walter Mixon Riley -- JEROME PRESTON BATES

    LaToya Beasley -- BRITTANY BRADFORD

    Jake Dillers / Sponsors / Announcer -- YONATAN GEBEYEHU

    Jones Joseph -- DAVE HARRIS

    Jerome Barker Thomas -- BEETHOVEN ODEN




    Season 2 of Soundstage was made possible with the generous support of the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

    Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, the J. L. Greene Arts Access Fund in The New York Community Trust, and The Shubert Foundation.

    • 37 min
    Bonus! VAPOR TRAIL by Ken Urban

    Bonus! VAPOR TRAIL by Ken Urban

    This week we're so happy to bring you a full length audio play written, directed, and produced by our friends and frequent collaborators Ken Urban, Dan Kluger, and Knud Adams. It premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival as part of their Audio Storytelling program, and we're so pleased to be able to re-release and amplify it here for you, our Soundstage audience! Enjoy!

    At a chance meeting at the farmers market, two strangers find a connection rooted in their own unspeakable tragedies. The evening they spend together becomes an encounter they can’t forget.

    Written by Ken Urban
    Directed by Knud Adams
    Audio Produced and Mixed by Daniel Kluger

    Starring Maulik Pancholy and April Matthis

    Recorded by Noel Nichols

    Edited by Noel Nichols and Christian Frederickson
    Foley by Daniela Hart
    Additional Sound Design by Christian Frederickson

    Produced by John Albert Harris

    Original Music by Daniel Kluger and Occurrence
    To listen to the music from Vapor Trail, the soundtrack is available here: https://occurrencemusic.ffm.to/vaportrail

    VAPOR TRAIL premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival as part of their Audio Storytelling program and it was developed at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, MN during the 2020-21 season. VAPOR TRAIL was made possible thanks to the support of the d'Arbeloff Fund, the DeFlorez Fund and the SHASS Research Fund from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    • 57 min
    THE MARRIAGE OF EARTH AND SKY by Agnes Borinsky

    THE MARRIAGE OF EARTH AND SKY by Agnes Borinsky

    The farmer wants the shepherd. The shepherd wants God. The playwright isn't quite sure what she wants. A play about grief and desire and the mess that is the theater.
    Written by Agnes Borinsky
    Directed by Brooke O'Harra
    Sound Design by Nick Auer



    CAST:

    Loretta -- JANICE AMAYA  
    Leah / Bruce -- JESS BARBAGALLO
    Bonita -- AGNES BORINSKY  
    Vinie -- VINIE BURROWS
    Martha -- ANNIE FANG
    Adam -- ADAM GREENFIELD
    Mary -- MARY NEUFELD
    Bettina -- BRYNA TURNER



    Flautist -- Isabel Lepanto Gleicher

    • 39 min
    HIS CHEST IS ONLY SKELETON by Julia Izumi

    HIS CHEST IS ONLY SKELETON by Julia Izumi

    A little meditation on what it is to carry what we can and can't control, and the crossroads of being and belonging.
    Written by Julia Izumi
    Directed by Sarah Cameron Hughes
    Sound Design by Fan Zhang

    Rocks -- JESS BARBAGALLO
    Someone -- JORGE CORDOVA  
    Grandchild -- MIDORI FRANCIS   
    She -- HARUNA LEE
    He -- RONALD PEET
    Mother -- SAORI TSUKADA

    • 31 min
    (THERE'S) NO TIME FOR COMEDY / LOOPS by David Greenspan

    (THERE'S) NO TIME FOR COMEDY / LOOPS by David Greenspan

    Two audio plays -- an old radio comedy of anxiety in the modern world, and a soliloquy of lost love -- sprung from the mind of this singular and iconic playwright.

    Written by David Greenspan
    Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
    Sound Design by Leah Gelpe

    (There's) No Time for Comedy Cast:
    Sidney - EVANDER DUCK JR.
    Henry Flower - DAVID GREENSPAN
    Darlene - BETH GRIFFIN
    Mona - LISA KRON
    Donald - PACO TOLSON

    Loops Cast:
    Player - DAVID GREENSPAN

    • 26 min
    LAST WORDS OF UNCLE DIRT by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

    LAST WORDS OF UNCLE DIRT by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

    An abandoned limestone statue chronicles centuries of adventures through and beyond the Chinese diaspora.
    Written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
    Directed by Michael Roth
    CAST: Uncle Dirt - KOK-HWA LIE
    Music Composition/Arrangements/Sound Design/Editing by Michael Roth
    Final Sound Mix and Mastering by Jessica Paz

    • 45 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
145 Ratings

145 Ratings

Taypee88 ,

I forgot how it feels to laugh this hard

The perfect humor and story for Covid times: it’s equal parts funny, smart and surreal. I never saw the end coming. Standing O!

WkA207 ,

Genius

MS Phoenix Rising is a laugh a minute. Genius. Thank you!

liza.dear.liza ,

funniest audio content online

the MS PHOENIX RISING is the most hilarious and captivating audio series i’ve heard—
truly a standout of its form. genius.

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