No Script: The Podcast
An unscripted conversation about theatre’s best scripts with theatre-philes Jackson Nickolay and Jacob Mann Christiansen
Episodes
Jackson and Jacob discuss Diana Son’s play "Stop Kiss." The story follows Callie and Sara, two women whose unexpected friendship develops into something more... and whose first kiss has devastating consequences. It’s a tender, often playful, and popular play. Listen in as J&J examine how Diana Son expertly moves her characters through a series of difficult, can't-go-back decisions!
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Ple...
What happens when a community built on inclusivity, empathy, and (especially) consensus suddenly has to make a decision that not everyone can agree on?
In Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, the progressive parents and administrators of a Berkeley private school find themselves facing a mumps outbreak—and a seemingly simple question about vaccination quickly becomes anything but simple. This week on No Script, Jackson a...
Season 17 has arrived! Jackson and Jacob discuss the landmark musical "A Chorus Line" by Michael Bennett, Marvin Hamlisch, James Kirkwood Jr., Nicholas Dante, and Edward Kleban. Set during an audition for a Broadway musical, this deeply theatrical piece asks what happens when performers are stripped of their characters and asked to reveal themselves. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob explore the show's unforgettable characters, its in...
Jacob hosts Eve Bianco, Ana Radice-Morras, and Violet Levinson of Red Door Productions to talk about their upcoming production of "Crimes of the Heart" by Beth Henley.
See the show at Theatre 154 on Christopher Street in NYC (July 15-26, 2026).
Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-door-productions-presents-crimes-of-the-heart-by-beth-henley-tickets-1991060722218
Director Cora Therber joins the podcast to talk about "untitled hamlet play" by Rory O'Neill, which opens this weekend by LOVECHILD Theater in NYC.
See the show at the John DeSotelle Studio, May 29 - 31, 2026.
Get tickets through the LOVECHILD Insta (@lovechildtheaterco) or here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lovechild-presents-untitled-hamlet-play-tickets-1988245208942
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Jackson and Jacob discuss Dave Malloy's hit musical "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812." This fiery piece adapts a small segment of Tolstoy's "War and Peace." Listen in to this final episode of Season 16!
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https://www.patreon.com/noscriptpodcast
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Rajiv Joseph's play "Mr. Wolf" follows the family of a kidnapped child when that child returns home. It's a poignant, theatrical story in which Joseph assembles the most complicated possible cast of characters to undergo this highly unlikely event. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss Joseph's exploration of messy human relationship... and infinity?
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This season's Themed Month, Paula Vogel Month, wraps up with her most famous play. The incomparable "How I Learned to Drive" is a haunting, hilarious piece of theatre. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob revisit its whirling theatricality and specificity.
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Please enjoy these other conversations on "How I Learned to Drive":
Playwright Sarah Ruhl's essay on the play: https://www.3viewstheater.com/views/...
Jackson and Jacob discuss Paula Vogel's play on "Othello." "Desdemona, A Play About a Handkerchief" (great title!) explores the behind-the-scenes action of "Othello." It contains Vogel's characteristic humor and irreverence, while also asking important questions about our relationship to Shakespeare's famous play. Listen in!
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Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can hel...
Paula Vogel Month continues! Jackson and Jackson discuss Vogel's hauntingly brilliant one-act play "The Long Christmas Ride Home." The story follows one family across a particularly memorable Christmas holiday. Vogel deploys her characteristic sense of theatrical intimacy, using puppets alongside narrative actors to bring the supernatural to bear on the play. Listen in!
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We kick off Paula Vogel Month with her newest play, "Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions." Jackson and Jacob discuss this theatrical look at a family across time. A semi-autobiographical piece, "Mother Play" is described by Vogel as her way of saying "Hi Mom." Listen in!
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Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Podcast can continue.
...Lauren Gunderson's adaptation of JM Barrie's famous Peter Pan stories is full of humor, imagination, and robust stage challenges! Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss "Peter Pan and Wendy," a play in which Gunderson refocuses the narrative on Wendy and Tiger Lily, even while she delivers much of what audience's expect from the story of Neverland.
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This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss a play which has been called a combination of "Death of a Salesman" and "Our Town." Emily Feldman, a sharp and theatrical emerging playwright, has always wanted to write a play with a Stage Manager character, like in Thorton Wilder's famous play. Now she has. Her play "The Best We Could" explores some of the same themes and structure as Arthur Miller's classic, while taking place in...
In this episode of No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss Irish playwright Marina Carr. Her play "Woman and Scarecrow" is a gallows comedy about a woman on her death bed, and the strange figures (some supernatural!) which surround her. Listen in!
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Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No Script Podcast can continue.
https://www.patreon.com/nosc...
Jackson and Jacob discuss a play from a pair of plays by popular contemporary playwright Samuel D. Hunter. "Clarkston" is set in a small town along the Lewis and Clark Trail. It follows two men working night shift at a Costco. Listen in as J&J discuss the play's complicated discussions of legacy and society.
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Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to en...
This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob (finally) discuss a play by Terrence McNally. "Mothers and Sons" is a small, intimate play about two people meeting nearly two decades after they both lost someone close to them. The play also tracks how the world has changed since the AIDS crisis. Listen in!
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Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can help to ensure the No ...
Jackson and Jacob discuss one of America's most influential, profound playwrights: August Wilson. Wilson's play "Two Trains Running" is part of the Century Cycle. This play follows a group of regular's at a diner in the Hill District, a diner which is about to be torn down. Listen in!
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Check out these other voices and their discussions of "Two Trains Running":
In this episode of No Script, Jackson is joined by Hope College professor Eric Van Tassell and director Dr. Daina Robins in a conversation about Hope's upcoming production of "The Night Witches," a powerful drama by Rachel Bublitz. The play follows the real-life bravery of the Soviet Union’s all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment during World War II. Listen in!
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This time on No Script, Jackson and Jacob explore Philip Kan Gotanda's play "Ballad of Yachiyo." This powerful and poetic drama is set in the early 19th century in Hawaii. The play follows a young Japanese-American woman whose life is shaped by cultural expectations and personal yearning. She leaves home to live with a family who will teach her the graces of traditional Japanese arts like the tea ceremony. J&J discuss how the p...
In this episode of No Script, we dive into the fascinating world of "Merrily We Roll Along" — Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold musical that turns the traditional Broadway story backward. Based on the 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the show traces the lives of three friends over two decades, but with a twist: it starts at the end and moves in reverse. We explore this reverse chronological structure...
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