A conversation about the impact that Blanka and Jiri Zizka had on the Philadelphia theater scene in the 1980s and 90s. If you have not yet listened to our Episode 97, "Off-Off Broad Street," in which we discuss the history of "The Wilma...

Charlie Gilbert returns to talk about the music theater and the many new musicals being created and developed in Philadelphia during the 1980s and 90s.We discuss the founding and early years of the American Music Theatre Festival, musica...

An interview with actor Johnnie Hobbs and choreographer Patricia Scott Hobbs about the Freedom Theatre in North Philadelphia. In an archival recording, the Philadelphia composer and teacher Charles Gilbert talks to his longtime frie...

Director and Producer Joe Canuso sits down with us to talk about his life and career in Philly theater.From acting at the Pocket Playhouse in the 70s, performing with dance troupes in the 80s, creating cutting-edge shows for the new Fri...

A conversation with one of the longest-serving and most consequential artistic directors and producers of the modern era of Philadelphia theater history, Sara Garonzik. As we continue our Season Four, we learn about her early years - fi...

Our interview with teacher, writer and director Robert Hedley - the former Chair of the Theater Departments of both Villanova and Temple Universities.In our conversation, we discuss many things - including his early years, his coming to...

Cato: A Tragedy was a famous 18th Century play by Joseph Addison - supposedly the favorite play of George Washington himself! What connection did it have to the history of America - and the theater history of Philadelphia?This ...

The story of three small ambitious cutting-edge Philadelphia theater companies of the 1970s. Why did some survive - and some falter?For a blog post with images of the productions and people we discuss in the episode, go

An interview with Joe Stinson and Ed Sabato about Philadelphia theatrical projects that employed so many local actors before and during the Bicentennial Year of 1976.In the very place where the American experiment began, regular work in...

An interview with the director, writer and artist Tom Bissinger, in which we talk about his work in the 1960s and 70s, including his all-too-brief term as the final Artistic Director of the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. A ...

A recut and remixed and refocused version of an interview with the director Mary B. Robinson, about her years she spent in the 1990s as the Artistic Director of the Drama Guild. (Stay tuned at the very end for an brief announcement about the fu...

Gregory Poggi successfully led the Philadelphia Drama Guild throughout the decade of the 1980s. He talked with us about his memories of those days - tussles with board members, battles with critics, fundraising triumphs and the growing audience...

The sudden success of the Drama Guild - a former amateur theater group transformed into a professional local powerhouse - finally fulfills the promise of giving Philadelphia a flagship nonprofit theater company.For a brief blog post wit...

A reprise of one of our early episodes from Season One, in which we travel back 225 years to a single fascinating day in American theater: January 1, 1800.Philadelphia's premiere theater company rang in the New Year with their productio...

Three new Philadelphia theater complexes are built for the mid-century modern era - funded by wealthy philanthropists. The Annenbergs would donate grand new Modernist-style Arts Centers at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, a...

A re-edited, reduced and remixed account of the entire history of the Theatre of the Living Arts – the first major professional theater company in Philadelphia's modern era.Photo of the company of The Line of Least Existence wa...

Our first episode of Season Four - introducing our plans and hopes for the upcoming year on the podcast.

Like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the body of John Barrymore would not stay still . . . one dark night it suddenly appeared in his hometown.  A story about the wandering remains of a member of Philadelphia's most famous acting fam...

An encore presentation of Peter's reading of the chapter "Oh, It's a Lovely War: The Mischianza 1778" from Thomas H. Keels' Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love.Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of B...

A re-released and edited version of our Episode 36! In this show we interview theater historian Barry Witham about his 2013 book A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at the Hedgerow, and then bring listeners along on a guided t...

An Exciting Announcement! 

This Encore episode of the podcast - first released as Episode 35 in our Season One - goes on a journey to the Paul Robeson House and Museum in Philadelphia.For a blog post on our website with additional information, images, and links, ...

In which we close out the Tryout Town story of Philadelphia theater - and we share a chapter of Peter's upcoming book!

In the 1970s, director Vinnette Carroll brought her gospel-themed musicals about African American culture through Philadelphia on their way to Broadway. We discuss this much-neglected important Black theater artist, in a conversation with Jerre...

The continuation of to the story from our previous episode, we talk about the failures, successes - and sometimes the deaths of shows and performers of commercial tryout shows in Philly of the 1970s.For images and notes about shows ment...