Podcast Episode 1: Women Playwrights and Old Plays vs New

Welcome to the first episode of Stage Savvy: The Podcast, hosted by Angie Fiedler Sutton and Jen Morris.

This first show clocks in a little over 40 minutes (the first topic kind of got out of our hands), but we had a lot of fun recording it. Up first, we covered women’s playwrights; and then, we editorialized on the pros and cons of producing a new show and an ‘old chestnut’.

Show notes:

• The show was recorded at the incredibly awesome studios at 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio. If you don’t already listen to them, please do so. For some reason, the original file cut out about 37 minutes in, and so the remaining part of the show was recorded at my home.
• Theme music is “A Variation of I Got Rhythm”, written (and performed) specifically for the podcast by Jason Bauer.
• For the intro/segue into the first topic, Angie talks about getting inspired to cover women playwrights by listening to the Stuff Mom Never Told You podcast from HowStuffWorks.com, most specifically their podcast on women visual artists. It was good timing, too, thanks to the kerfuffle of the Wendy Wasserstein Prize (provided by Theatre Development Fund). Well, not two days after recording this podcast, Stuff Mom Never Told You posted “Are there no good female playwrights?” — and even use the same word ‘kerfuffle’ in describing the playwriting prize. Thankfully, that was the only similarities in the two podcasts. However, the “Are there no good female playwrights?” podcast is worth a listen, as it goes more into the whys more women aren’t being produced.
• For the first topic, the playwrights we discussed were:
  • Lillian Helman;
  • Diana Son;
  • Beth Henley (Angie mentions the podcast The Tobolowsky Files and The Mississippi Writers Page);
  • Eve Ensler;
  • and then brief mention of Agatha Christie (and the Agatha Christie Theatre Company), the controversy over Jane Martin, Mary Zimmerman, and a rundown of some women who have written musicals.
  • We also brought up Potluck Productions‘ annual Women’s Playwriting Festival.
• The bumper was by Tiffany Garrison-Schweigert of She&Her Productions.
• Second topic, in discussing new play development, Angie brought up the National New Play Network and the NEA’s New Play Development project.
• There’s a short promo from Richard Buswell of KC Stage Magazine.
• We asked for feedback — please feel free to comment on this blog entry, e-mail me, or call 816-23-STAGE (keep in mind your voice mail may go up on a later podcast).
• We ended on the song “Sigh No More”, also by Jason Bauer, written for the Alcott Arts Center’s production of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot IV: Much Ado About Nothing that performed in the summer of 2010. If you’re a songwriter and have a song you own the rights to that you’d like highlighted, send us a note.
• The podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-alike license.

So, let’s dim the lights and start the show! Listen to Stage Savvy, episode 1:

Interested in hearing other episodes of Stage Savvy? Check them out here.