Short plays, fully alive in audio.
The gist
Playing On Air turns short stage works into close-up audio theater, with recent pieces moving from absurd meditation comedy to bruised family reckonings. The program favors playwright-led storytelling, actorly detail, and careful production over talk-show chatter.
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About Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
Playing On Air is a showcase for short contemporary audio plays performed with theatrical precision. The format is lean. A typical episode gives the listener enough artist context to know whose work is being heard, then turns the room over to the play itself. Recent excerpts show a wide dramatic range. Mara Nelson Greenberg’s A Headspace Meditation bends the serene language of wellness audio into a comic rupture. John Patrick Shanley’s The Red Coat lingers on young love, memory, shyness, and the charged symbolism of an old coat. Malik Ray’s Father’s Sin moves through incarceration, inherited pain, anger, tenderness, and the impossible wish for a cleaner final conversation. Charles Mee’s The Corner Cafe uses a reunion to probe shame, desire, abandonment, and the way old love keeps arguing with itself. Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’s Open Arms turns a breakfast table into a crisis point for aging, marriage, and escape fantasies. Mfoniso Udofia’s The Human Experiment begins in a Wellesley College dorm room and links personal unease to a larger commissioned pairing. Alan Zweibel’s Playing God uses medical authority, squash, belief, and comic wager-making to test certainty. The show is especially strong at compressed situations. Characters arrive already under pressure. They reveal themselves through rhythm, interruption, evasion, and sudden honesty. The production credits also point to a consistent craft culture, with recurring attention to recording, audio editing, sound design, theme music, and commissioned work. It is not casual theater talk wearing a podcast costume. It is scripted performance made portable. The tone can swing from tender to absurd in a minute, but the editorial frame stays clear and measured. Listeners get contemporary playwriting, strong actors, and theatrical stakes without needing a stage, a ticket, or a long evening.
Made for: For listeners who like contemporary theater, literary dialogue, and actor-driven scenes that resolve in minutes rather than hours. It also suits podcast fans who want scripted drama with sharper craft than standard audio fiction.
What sets it apart: The show compresses the energy of a staged play into a polished audio miniature, with commissioned work, strong casts, and careful theatrical framing. Its range is unusually broad, moving from absurd comedy to grief, faith, marriage, shame, and family pain.
In their own words
Hear short, contemporary stage plays with first-rate casts. Playing on Air brings together award winners and emerging young talent, and each play is followed by a conversation with the playwrights and cast. Tune in for great American plays with great American actors, hosted and produced by Claudia Catania.
Talks about
Podcasts like Playing On Air: Short Audio Plays
Episodes
- 1
A HEADSPACE MEDITATION by Mara Nelson-Greenberg
A headspace meditation by Mara Nelson-Greenberg, introduced as part of a meditation series featuring guest hosts.
Feb 20, 2026·11m - 2
THE RED COAT by John Patrick Shanley
A brief introduction to a radio play by John Patrick Shanley, featuring actors Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg, about a teenage encounter at a party.
Feb 6, 2026·13m - 3
FATHER'S SIN by Maleek Rae
A radio play titled 'Father's Sin' by Maleek Rae, featuring a cast of multi-hyphenate artists and directed by Goldie E.
Jan 23, 2026·21m - 4
THE CORNER CAFE by Charles Mee
The new artistic directors of Playing On Air introduce themselves and present Charles Mee's audio play 'The Corner Cafe'.
Dec 19, 2025·23m - 5
Playing on Air '25 - '26 Season Announcement
Dec 5, 2025·7m - 6
73, SK. by Else Went
The new artistic directors of Playing On Air introduce themselves and preview the audio play '73 SK' by Else Went.
Dec 5, 2025·46m·2 clips - 7
CRISIS PLANNING by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Playing On Air presents "Crisis Planning" by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, a short comedy in which Frank tells his wife Janet, "I want to have a midlife crisis," after rejecting a birthday party.
Dec 29, 2024·33m·2 clips - 8
DISNEY/FUKIJAWA BY Lloyd Suh
Hidden gemLloyd Suh's Disney/Fujikawa stages a 1940s meeting between Walt Disney and illustrator Gyo Fujikawa during World War II and Japanese American incarceration.
Dec 29, 2024·44m·2 clips - 9
A STICKY MEMENTO by Ken Urban
Ken Urban’s short play places Dee, a recently divorced factory worker from Rockford, beside Evan, a 19-year-old Harvard student hiding from his parents.
Dec 29, 2024·34m·2 clips - 10
SHEILA: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF by Kirsten Greenidge
Hidden gemPlaying On Air presents Kirsten Greenidge's 'Sheila, A Year in the Life Of,' directed by Amelia Bensousen and performed by a seven-person cast including Syrett Scott as Elaine and Postell Pringle as Carl.
Dec 29, 2024·38m·2 clips - 11
KANSAS ANYMORE by David Ives
Hidden gemPlaying On Air presents David Ives's "Kansas Anymore," in which a Hollywood radio reporter named Maggie Hamilton interviews an aged Dorothy on a Kansas farm on July 4, 1976, with Lois Smith as Dorothy and Catherine Curtin as Maggie.
Dec 22, 2024·51m·2 clips - 12
DID I MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT by Patricia Cotter
Dec 22, 2024·40m - 13
REVERIE by John Patrick Shanley
Dec 22, 2024·25m - 14
BONNET by John Patrick Shanley
Aug 27, 2023·20m - 15
SECOND SIGHT by David Ives
Aug 20, 2023·47m - 16
TYPHOID MARY by Mike Lew
Aug 13, 2023·33m - 17
MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY by Rehana Lew Mirza
Aug 13, 2023·33m - 18
I DON'T KNOW by James McLindon
Aug 6, 2023·24m - 19
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. ABERNATHY by Lloyd Suh
Jul 30, 2023·22m - 20
THE ARMY DANCE by Cary Gitter
Jul 23, 2023·31m - 21
ECHO AND NARCISSUS by Amanda Quaid
Jul 16, 2023·25m - 22
JFK TAXI by Aurin Squire
Jul 9, 2023·41m - 23
EVENING AT ANAHEIM by James Stevenson (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Sep 4, 2022·37m - 24
TENNESSEE by John Patrick Shanley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Aug 28, 2022·24m - 25
BANSHEE by John Patrick Shanley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Aug 21, 2022·26m - 26
BITE THE HAND by Ara Watson (Summer Re-Release 2022)
Aug 14, 2022·32m - 27
YOU BELONG TO ME by Daniel Reitz (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Aug 7, 2022·18m - 28
AT THE WATER'S EDGE, WET by Jonathan Bernstein (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Jul 31, 2022·20m - 29
RELATIVE STRANGERS by Sheri Wilner (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Jul 24, 2022·32m - 30
OPEN ARMS by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
A married couple engages in a tense morning conversation about their upcoming dinner plans and underlying relationship issues.
Jul 17, 2022·21m - 31
CELL by Cassandra Medley (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Jul 10, 2022·53m - 32
GUN SHOW by David Auburn (Summer 2022 Re-Release)
Jul 3, 2022·32m - 33
The MAN IN RED by Arian Moayed
Dec 19, 2021·53m - 34
JARED AND IVANKA'S PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE AT MAURICE J. FELDMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL by Jonathan Spector
Dec 12, 2021·30m - 35
JACOB AND AMAL by Dipika Guha
Dec 5, 2021·21m - 36
THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT by Mfoniso Udofia
A podcast episode introducing and presenting the world premiere of the play 'The Human Experiment' by Mfoniso Udofia, part of a paired commission with 'Jacob and Amal'.
Nov 28, 2021·31m - 37
THANKSGIVING FOR ONE by Hamish Linklater (Re-Release)
Nov 21, 2021·30m - 38
LOCKED AND LOADED. CAN I HELP YOU? by David Ives
Nov 14, 2021·30m - 39
THE WAYFARER'S CODE by Brittany K. Allen
Nov 7, 2021·31m - 40
TECH DEMONS by Sarah Gancher
Oct 31, 2021·29m - 41
THE BURIAL SOCIETY by Susan Sandler (Re-Release)
Oct 10, 2021·16m - 42
WAKING UP by Cori Thomas
Oct 3, 2021·18m - 43
A DEPARTURE by Andy Reynolds (Re-Release)
Sep 26, 2021·28m - 44
PLAYING GOD by Alan Zweibel (Re-Release)
Hidden gemPlaying On Air presents Alan Zweibel’s short play “Playing God,” directed by Fred Berner and performed by Scott Adsit, Emily Bergel, Bill Buell, and Susie Essman.
Sep 19, 2021·24m·1 clip - 45
THE DONOR by Avery Deutsch
Hidden gemPlaying On Air presents 'The Donor' by Avery Deutsch, winner of the 2020 James Stevenson Prize for Short Comedic Plays, performed by Sakina Jaffrey and Hamish Linklater and directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stupnagel.
Jun 27, 2021·28m·1 clip - 46
OWNER OCCUPY by Jonathan Spector
Jun 20, 2021·43m - 47
REVELATIONS by JuCoby Johnson
A father and daughter reunite amidst the ruins of a burnt-out building in Minneapolis in June 2020, confronting their strained relationship.
Jun 13, 2021·25m - 48
CAMBERWELL HOUSE by Amelia Roper
Jun 6, 2021·21m - 49
DUMMY DIALOGUE by David Ives
May 30, 2021·30m - 50
REAL AMERICAN DINNER PARTY by Jen Silverman
May 23, 2021·16m