Neuse Little Podcast

Neuse Little Podcast is exactly what its name suggests: a podcast made by and about Neuse Little Theatre, a community playhouse celebrating its 50th season. Matt Gore hosts, Meta Toole produces, and both get named in the sign-offs. The format is guest-driven. When a production is coming up, the cast or the director comes in to talk about it, sometimes over more than one episode, as with 'Wizard of Oz Cast part 2'. The talk is pre-show chatter rather than criticism. The actor playing the Wizard is teased about his wizardy look and his spectacular shoes, then admits he has not tried his makeup yet. The director of Arsenic and Old Lace explains that she asked to stage it because she had done it so many times before and hoped people at the theater remembered seeing her earlier production. Directors get a fair amount of airtime. In 'Doubt, a talk with the Director', the guest credits the theater for letting him take on bucket-list scripts and offers the most quotable line in the run: sacrifice money if you must, never your creative control, or you are a referee rather than a director. Logistics come up constantly, and in a way only a small theater would bother with. Backstage is a little precarious for larger cast members; someone named Stephen will fix it. Membership tickets are honored for Wizard of Oz but must go through the college because it handles the box office and the seats are assigned. And every recent episode opens with a rundown of the anniversary merch table: hats, toboggans, hoodies, blankets, tumblers, pint glasses, tote bags, big and tall sizes included. The cast interviews double as ticket pitches, and the host is not shy about saying so. The show is not confined to its own building. One episode is built around a production of The Dinner Party at JCC, with the promise of more JCC plays to come. There is a Christmas episode where the people in the room compare holiday plans, one of them having grown up in a church that kept the Jewish high holy days rather than Christmas or Easter. Names from past productions surface without introduction, as they would among people who already know each other. Matt Gore signs off thanking all 23 listeners, which is either a joke or an honest count. Either way it captures the register: unpretentious, local, and fond of its own theater.