Jacob is joined by Audrey Francis, Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, for a special conversation on Noah Diaz's incredible play "You Will Get Sick," opening at Steppenwolf later this month. Listen in! Get your tickets to "You Will Get Sick" by Noah Diaz at Steppenwolf Theatre Company here: www.steppenwolf.org ------------------------------ 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.patreo...
Jun 05, 2025•55 min•Ep. 290
In the final episode of the season, Jackson and Jacob discuss the worldwide phenomena that is "Jesus Christ Superstar"! Listen in as they breakdown how Webber and Rice trouble the familiar stories of Jesus and Judas, and how the changing view on rock n' roll has altered the story of "Jesus Christ Superstar." ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpo...
May 26, 2025•55 min•Ep. 289
Jacob is joined by Amy Marie Seidel, director of the New York Theatre Company's upcoming production of "Machinal" by Sophie Treadwell. Jacob and Ms. Seidel discuss the continued relevance of "Machinal," and how Treadwell uses expressionist techniques to bring the audience inside the mind of the characters. They also discuss Seidel's production, which incorporates tap dance and live foley work. The production of "Machinal" opens on June 7 and runs through July 3, 2025. Get your tickets here: http...
May 19, 2025•48 min•Ep. 288
Jacob is joined by Jack Cummings III, director of Classic Stage Company's co-production of William Inge's Bus Stop with NAATCO and Transport Group. Mr. Cummings and Jacob discuss Inge's legacy and his unique portraits of American loneliness. They also discuss Cummings' upcoming production, which begins previews on May 8, 2025. This production of Bus Stop begins on May 18 and runs through June 8. Get your tickets to Bus Stop here: https://www.classicstage.org/choose-seats/?eid=busstop2025 -------...
May 12, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 287
Jackson and Jacob discuss the play "Into the Beautiful North." In her stage adaptation of the novel by the same name, Karen Zacarías takes the audience across thousands of miles in an epic quest. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this play? Ha...
May 05, 2025•48 min•Ep. 286
Join us as Jackson and Jacob round out Halloween in April by discussing Chisa Hutchinson's revenge-horror play "Whitelisted." They chat about how Hutchinson deploys sometimes simple, sometimes not so simple spooky effects to make a larger observation about the world. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast -------------------------...
Apr 28, 2025•57 min•Ep. 285
Halloween in April continues with Jen Silverman's play Witch . Jackson and Jacob discuss Silverman's loose adaptation of The Witch of Edmonton , paying particular attention to how -- though the play contains a literal devil! -- Silverman locates the real horror of the world in our trapped (and trapping) societal patterns. ------------------------------ 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....
Apr 21, 2025•59 min•Ep. 284
Halloween in April continues with a discussion about Anne Washburn's play Apparition . Jackson and Jacob explore her mysterious, vignette-based exploration of what scares us... and why. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this play? Have you see...
Apr 14, 2025•50 min•Ep. 283
Halloween in April -- our Season 14 Themed Month -- begins today! No Script begins a 4-week look at plays with spooky, frightening characters, situations, and themes. This week, Jackson and Jacob discuss York Walker's play Covenant , where a century old myth about making a deal with the devil comes to life... Listen in! ------------------------------ 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.co...
Apr 07, 2025•54 min•Ep. 282
This week, Jackson and Jacob visit a classic of the stage: Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. This puzzling play defies categorization. With a large ensemble cast, a surprising lack of plot, and several bids for love, Chekhov manages to gorgeously tell a story of human longing. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast -----------------...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 281
This week on No Script, Jackson and Jacob discuss a play described as a "companion" to "Topdog/Underdog." Suzan-Lori Parks' "The Book of Grace" is about borders... both those on land and the ones we place, intentionally and fearfully, in our hearts. Listen in. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to ke...
Mar 24, 2025•53 min•Ep. 280
A classic example of early twentieth-century expressionism, Sophie Treadwell's Machinal is an evocative depiction of an oppressive society. The 1928 play has recently been produced by companies around the world as its relevance, frighteningly, continues. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this moving, masterful work. ------------------------------ 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.c...
Mar 17, 2025•53 min•Ep. 279
Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss Sugar in Our Wounds by Donja R. Love. Love's play is both heart wrenching and beautiful. It's a moving portrait of vile oppression and meaningful love. ------------------------------ Thanks for listening. Check out these other conversations on Sugar in Our Wounds : Regina Victor's Review for Rescripted: https://rescripted.org/2019/10/28/sugar-wounds-fft/ Julinda D. Lewis' review: https://jdldancesrva.com/2022/05/23/sugar-in-our-wounds/ Footage from the Manh...
Mar 10, 2025•51 min•Ep. 278
Jackson and Jacob discuss Nilo Cruz's play Two Sisters and a Piano . Cruz, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, explores the psychology of capture amidst the turbulent politics of communist Cuba. This lyrical, poetic play is beautiful, and terrifying, to witness. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast -----------------------------...
Mar 03, 2025•54 min•Ep. 277
What happens when the countercultural artmakers get old? What happens when their revolutionary criticisms of the establishment become the establishment? Pearl Cleage dives into these deep waters in her play "Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous." Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this smart, funny, and energetic play. ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous: Artistic Director of Hartford Stage, Melia Bensussen, discu...
Feb 24, 2025•49 min•Ep. 276
Jackson and Jacob discuss August Wilson's musical, volatile play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom . Listen in as they explore how Wilson masterfully links to characters, comparing and contrasting their interactions with an unjust world. ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on Ma Rainey's Black Bottom : George C Wolfe discusses the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6qEaTW3L58 MoMA interviews the cast of the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW_ZksDkQME Gavin Dillon ...
Feb 17, 2025•52 min•Ep. 275
"Man from Nebraska" by Tracy Letts. Jackson and Jacob discuss this Pulitzer Prize finalist, exploring how different the play is from its headline plot. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this play? Have you seen it? Comment and tell us your favorite theme...
Feb 10, 2025•52 min•Ep. 274
Season 14 begins! Jackson and Jacob discuss the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Eboni Booth: Primary Trust . Listen in as the boys rave about Booth's theatrical imagination -- and debate her main character's affinity for mai tais. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have...
Feb 04, 2025•51 min•Ep. 273
For the season finale, Jackson and Jacob discuss the hit musical Waitress . With a rocking score by Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson, Waitress is several love stories all wrapped into one... and there's pie! Listen in. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have yo...
Dec 23, 2024•55 min•Ep. 272
How does playwright Luis Santeiro imagine a terrible part of Europe's colonial history? With puppets, of course! Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this wild and wacky take on history. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this play? Have you seen it? Co...
Dec 16, 2024•48 min•Ep. 271
Jacob is joined by Dr. David Cody to discuss Sondheim's famous musical Into the Woods . Dr. Cody provides a detailed and rich exploration of the music of the show. David Cody is a professional singer, actor, and musical director primarily in musical theatre and opera. He also teaches courses in voice, musical theatre history, and music theory at The University of Montana. He is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he received masters and doctorate degrees in vocal...
Dec 09, 2024•52 min•Ep. 270
In the grand finale of Marriage Month, Jackson and Jacob take on one of the most fractious, combative marriages in the American library... George and Martha in Edward Albee's famous Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you ...
Dec 02, 2024•58 min•Ep. 269
Marriage Month continues with a play that spans a whole relationship, looking at the same couple across decades of their lives. Tanya Barfield's Bright Half Life explores how memory works -- not chronologically, but in moments. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob unravel the many interweaving threads of this excellent play. ------------------------------ 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...
Nov 25, 2024•50 min•Ep. 268
Marriage Month continues with a play by Loy A. Webb. In The Light , a romantic proposal becomes the context for a complicated, emotional discussion of power and abuse. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob explore the way Webb masterfully builds her characters' relationship and points of view. ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on The Light : Sesali Bowen interviews the playwright: https://www.nylon.com/loy-webb-interview-the-light WAM Theatre interviews the playwright: ...
Nov 18, 2024•51 min•Ep. 267
Marriage Month is in full swing as Jackson and Jacob discuss Neil Simon's newlyweds play: Barefoot in the Park . Full of physical comedy, well timed jokes, and reflections on close relationships, this play is a perfect addition to our five-part look at marriage on stage. Listen in! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ---------------------...
Nov 11, 2024•54 min•Ep. 266
MARRIAGE MONTH BEGINS! For the first episode of their themed month, Jackson and Jacob discuss one of the most famous plays of all time. But Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy -- not a romance! Listen in to learn why. ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation going! Have you read this pla...
Nov 04, 2024•55 min•Ep. 265
Oh, the things that happen in the family kitchen. That's the subject of Zora Howard's Stew , a play in which the preparation for an important meal at church brings out hidden family tensions and secrets. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this Pulitzer Prize finalist! ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on Stew: Interview with Zora Howard for Shattered Globe's production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=775aWplZs6g Conversation with cast of the Gloucester Stage...
Oct 28, 2024•52 min•Ep. 264
A broken apartment buzzer system serves as the basis for terrifying intrusions. Tracey Scott Wilson's Buzzer is about relationships under stress and gentrification. It's also just really good writing. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss! ------------------------------ 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/noscriptpodcast ----------------------------- We want to keep the conversation ...
Oct 21, 2024•53 min•Ep. 263
Stephen Karam's play Speech & Debate takes on censorship in schools. When three high school students find themselves unable to speak truth to power through traditional means, they use the school's new speech and debate club to fight the puritanical adult culture around them.... with the help of a dancing Abraham Lincoln and Mary Warren. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob discuss this play! ------------------------------ Please consider supporting us on Patreon. For as low as $1/month, you can he...
Oct 14, 2024•58 min•Ep. 262
Lydia Diamond's play Smart People took her 7 years to write. It's a character study which boldly explores how race can be an explosive ingredient in contemporary American conversation. Listen in as Jackson and Jacob explore Diamond's smart structuring and theatricality. ------------------------------ Check out these other conversations on Smart People: Lydia Diamond discusses her Radcliffe Fellowship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukI00tDhbIk Lydia Diamond Interview at UW-Madison: https://www....
Oct 07, 2024•50 min•Ep. 261
