Theater

In Lynn Nottage's play Sweat, Jason (Stephen Michael Spencer, left) and Chris (Tramell Tillman) are workers at a steel tubing plant in Reading, Pa. Nottage says she wanted to write about "how poverty and economic stagnation were shifting the American nar

Arts

In 'Sweat,' Adapting To Change Is The Hardest Work Of All

7:13pm January 21, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage spent two years visiting Reading, Pa., to research her new play. Sweat explores how industrial decline affected workers in the former steel and textile town.

Queue Listen Now

Performing in his play Djihad, writer/director and lead actor Ismaël Saïdi plays a character lamenting his life in prison upon returning from fighting in Syria.

A Belgian Playwright Tackles Muslim Radicalization With Comedy

9:09am January 17, 2016

by Teri Schultz

"We have a problem," says Belgian Muslim playwright Ismaël Saïdi. His solution: writing and producing a comedy play about three men who go to fight a holy war. It's become an unlikely hit in Brussels.

Queue Listen Now

In The Glory of the World, 17 actors, all men, mark author and Catholic monk Thomas Merton's 100th birthday.

Arts

'Glory Of The World' Is More Wacky Birthday Party Than Traditional Play

8:13am January 16, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

The play celebrates Catholic monk Thomas Merton's 100th birthday. But it isn't really about Merton — it's about human complexity, and at times the action resembles the film Animal House.

'Fiddler' Songwriters Discuss Putting Themselves In The 'Soul Of The Characters'

2:07pm January 15, 2016

Together Sheldon Harnick and the late Jerry Bock wrote the songs for the Broadway show Fiddler on the Roof. Both men spoke to Fresh Air in 2004; Harnick spoke to Fresh Air again in 2014.

Queue Listen Now

Ade, played by Nana Sam Elliott-Sackeyfio glows in new love at a private dinner, in the production of Bananas and Groundnuts.

Years After Its Curfew Killed Theater, Ghana Gets A Second Act

9:04am January 11, 2016

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Back in the '80s, Ghanaian theater went dark under military curfew. Now, a dapper businessman-turned-playwright is leading an onstage revival — and doing it with a sense of humor.

Queue Listen Now

Violet Newman is one of five young girls who make up the cast of Employee of the Year, one of the plays being featured at this year's Under the Radar Festival.

Arts

Why Do Theater? Every Year, International Festival Looks For Answers

1:14pm January 10, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

Organizers of Under the Radar regularly search the globe for cutting-edge theater that is urgent and relevant. This year's festival features works from Rwanda, the U.S. and Japan.

Queue Listen Now

75 Years Of 'Pal Joey'

8:13am January 09, 2016

Penguin Classics has published a 75th Anniversary presentation of the John O'Hara novel, and the libretto and lyrics of the musical. Scott talks to Thomas Mallon, who wrote the book's forward.

'Caucus: The Musical' Jabs At Political Process

8:13am January 09, 2016

by Don Gonyea

With the real Iowa caucuses just weeks away, lines are being learned, moves choreographed, audiences are being wooed. It's all part of what's become an every four years-tradition in Iowa, featuring local residents.

To mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, the Folger Shakespeare Library is sending the first printed collection of all his plays out on tour.

Books
Arts

400 Years After His Death, Shakespeare's First Folio Goes Out On Tour

2:38pm January 04, 2016

by Susan Stamberg

The First Folio is the first printed collection of all of Shakespeare's plays, assembled by two of his buddies after he died. Without it, plays like Macbeth and Twelfth Night might not have survived.

Queue Listen Now

100 Years On, Cleveland Play House Stays True To Its Regional Mission

4:28pm January 01, 2016

by David C. Barnett

It's been called the oldest professional regional theater in the United States. The Cleveland Play House was founded in 1915 by a group of artists and social activists dissatisfied with the commercial fare that dominated theaters at the time. The theater has had its ups and downs, but it's stayed true to its original mission of presenting challenging work with a primarily local cast and crew.