Pioneer Theatre Company's Podcast
A podcast from Pioneer Theatre Company, interviewing professionals in the theatre industry. Hosted by Utah playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett.
Episodes
Playwright Jeff Talbott invites us into the process of adapting a female-centered version of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People." Where Henrik Ibsen was focused on the dangers of "compacted majorities," Talbott is focused on the reasons that we've stopped talking to each other. The play is being developed in PTC's Play by Play program and will be read this Friday, March 13th @ 7:30pm and Satur...
For this episode—in conjunction with "Once On This Island"—mythologist John Lundwall, PhD, explains our need for stories with elemental gods, the origin of Haitian mythos, and the image of the Cosmic Tree in "Once On This Island" and beyond.
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John Lundwall is the author of "Mythos and Cosmos: Mind and Meaning in the Oral Age," a book that examines myth through oral thinking and ora...
Our first Play-by-Play reading of the 2019–2020 season is "The Anatomy of Love" by Ted Malawer.
Mr. Malawer talks about how he gradually makes a play less personal for him and more personal for the characters that inhabit it.
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TED MALAWER (playwright) is a recent graduate of the Juilliard Playwriters Program. He has received Lincoln Center’s Lecomte du Nouy Prize and The Kennedy Center’s Bla...
Next up at PTC is "Mary Stuart" by Jean Stock Goldstone and John Reich (derived from the text of Friedrich Schiller).
Director Shelley Butler talks about how she approaches political intrigue, how she prepares for historical dramas, and about the manufacture of narrative in Elizabethan times and today.
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SHELLEY BUTLER (Director) recent productions include the world premieres of Lucas Hnath’s...
PTC's holiday show for 2019 is "The Play That Goes Wrong" by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. It's a demanding physical comedy with a lot that goes wrong—as the title implies. For this episode, actors William Connell (Chris) and Ruth Pferdehirt (Sandra) talk about the rigors of comedy—timing, pacing, "riding the wave," and more. They also share their stories of other moments in plays gon...
Dr. Avery Holton, a 2018 National Humanities Center Fellow from the U of U's Department of Communication, helps you separate fact from fiction in this episode, as we discuss how social media has warped (and sometimes strengthened) the lifespan of facts.
Musical Theatre pros Brent Barrett ("Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular") and Matthew Hydzik (national tour of "Rent") chat about making it in musical theatre, self-care, and saying yes to roles that scare you. Brent and Matt will play Lawrence and Freddy in a concert musical production of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" at PTC on October 18th and 19th, 2019.
Dr. Andrew Nelson from the Film and Media Arts department of the University of Utah breaks down the old movie studio system and the success of tough guy and silver screen icon James Cagney. Pioneer Theatre Company is opening a new bio musical about Cagney and this episode of the podcast provides some background on the early 20th-century films that made the man Jimmy Cagney a star.
Matthew Ivan Bennett interviews PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg and Managing Director Chris Massimine about the 2019-2020 Season.
Seven main stage plays and musicals, a concert production and three new play readings...it's a busy season, and all the action started this week with the arrival of the cast of "Cagney."
Here's a bit about each of the upcoming productions you'll see this ...
Matthew Ivan Bennett interviews Resident Sound Designer Allan Branson about the intricacies of sounding a musical like Grease.
The Way North is a hopeful yet timely play, set in the Minnesota wilderness. Playwright Tira Palmquist talks about her background, why she decided to set the play in Minnesota, and showcase how timely this play is.
In our first dual interview, Matthew Ivan Bennett interviews Director Mary B. Robinson and Actress Nafeesa Monroe. They talk about "what's your moment before" and other ways they navigated the intricacies of the Pulitzer-Prize winning play Sweat, as well as how pertinent this play remains in American politics.
Vreni Romang, publicity manager at PTC, interviews costume designer Patrick Holt (aka the drag queen Tempest DuJour). Holt talks about his inspirations, his love of "La Cage aux Folles" and why everyone should see "La Cage aux Folles" at Pioneer Theatre Company.
PTC's Matthew Ivan Bennett sat down with "Once" actress Hillary Porter (“Girl”) to talk about how she “met” the piano and the insanely soulful music she sings in the show.
Matthew Ivan Bennett sits down with The Fifth Domain playwright Victor Lesniewski about cyber security, Pioneer Theatre Company's Play-by-Play series, and what lead him to writing this timely thriller.
Dialect – or technically accent – coach Sarah Shippobotham chats with PTC Publicity Manager Vreni Romang about what it takes to make an accent for a PTC show. Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley opens November 30 and runs through December 14
PTC's publicity manager Vreni Romang interviews musical director Phil Reno on directing "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at Pioneer Theatre Company, and on meeting Stephen Sondheim.
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