Theater craft, Syracuse voices, backstage context.
Syracuse (On)Stage follows the people building theater in Central New York, from directors and actors to educators and community partners. Its conversations stay close to rehearsal rooms, co-productions, classrooms, and the practical choices behind a season.
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Syracuse (On)Stage is an interview series about theater as it is actually made in and around Syracuse Stage. It is local, but not small. The show uses specific productions as its starting point, then follows the people, partnerships, and memories that gather around them. A conversation about Joe Turner's Come and Gone becomes a reflection on August Wilson, directing history, and what a play reveals when revisited years later. A 39 Steps episode turns into a generous exchange between artistic directors about co-productions, comedy, fundraising, and the need for joy in a darkened room full of strangers. The show likes process. It is comfortable talking about rehearsal, design, season planning, actor training, and the practical value of putting students near professional productions. Syracuse University's Department of Drama is treated as part of that living ecosystem, not just an academic neighbor. Community also matters. Episodes connect Relentless to boxing, The Hello Girls to women veterans and public service, and arts education to the first experiences that make young people feel claimed by art. The tone stays friendly and informed. Guests are allowed to tell stories, circle back, and find the point in the telling. Some conversations are celebratory. Others are reflective, especially when the subject touches history, military service, education, race, or civic responsibility. The show is strongest when theater becomes a way to talk about how people learn, work together, and imagine a better public life. It does not need heavy theory to get there. It trusts artists, educators, and community partners to explain what the work asks of them. For theater lovers, it offers production context. For local listeners, it maps the cultural network around Syracuse Stage. For curious newcomers, it opens the rehearsal-room door without making the room feel closed to outsiders.
Made for: For theatergoers, students, educators, regional arts supporters, and curious listeners who want production context without academic stiffness. It especially suits people interested in how professional theater connects with classrooms, communities, and local history.
What sets it apart: The series stands out by tying Syracuse Stage productions to the working relationships around them: university drama training, co-productions, civic partners, artists, and community expertise. It is less a review show than a record of how theater gets built.
Syracuse (On)Stage pulls back the curtain and explores the process of creating theatre in the heart of Central New York. We will go behind the scenes with the various artists and creators making theatre at Syracuse Stage and beyond.
Comedy becomes math here, and you get Olaf's puppeteer showing his work.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A director's path to Syracuse runs through Shakespeare records, shared spaces, and student-professional overlap.
A new department chair arrives at Syracuse by way of snow, Shakespeare records, and the unusual charge of a university theater sharing space with a professional stage.
A director's return to Joe Turner opens into a thoughtful conversation about memory, change, and Wilson's cycle seen from later perspective.
Timothy Douglas's return to Syracuse Stage gives this single-episode review a clear center: a director looking back at Joe Turner's Come and Gone through memory, earlier work, and August Wilson's continuing pull on his career.
Two artistic directors make the case for 39 Steps and the value of joy.
Bob Hupp and Ben Hanna make a steady case for why a funny night at the theater matters, and their talk keeps circling back to Syracuse Stage's co-production of 39 Steps.
A theater interview that becomes a practical local look at women veterans, service, and recognition.
Syracuse On Stage opens with The Hello Girls, the musical about the first women to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I, and uses that frame to introduce Assemblymember Pamela Hunter, identified here as the only female veteran in the New York State Legislature.
Rare early drama, argued and performed.
Friendly criticism for screen and stage obsessives.
Odd lives, sharp tangents, no straight path.
Shakespeare, traced through the wider world.
Dan and Teresa Sealy spent 18 months organizing a 2003 trip to Gander to thank residents who had welcomed stranded passengers after 9/11.
Jacqui Herter spent 29 seasons at Syracuse Stage as lead audio engineer and resident sound designer, after first arriving as a directing graduate student.
Andrea Dotto and Brendan Malafronte discuss performing Olaf in Syracuse Stage’s production of Disney’s Frozen and their work as puppeteers, builders, teachers, and producers.
Syracuse Stage's Kate Leslie talks with teacher Todd Benware, junior Udochukwu Okereke and Syracuse University graduate student Katie Copeland just after the 2026 Young Playwrights Festival.
Syracuse On Stage host Melissa Crespo interviews Eleanor Holdridge, the new chair of Syracuse University's Department of Drama, about her move from freelance directing into academic leadership.
Syracuse on Stage features resident playwright Kyle Bass interviewing director Timothy Douglas about directing August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
This episode features an interview with Joe Stray, a former champion boxer and gym owner, discussing his background and his collaboration with Syracuse Stage on the boxing-themed play 'Relentless'.
This episode features a conversation with arts education professionals discussing the importance of arts in young people's lives, including personal transformative experiences.
Melissa Crespo opens with Bob Hupp and Ben Hanna talking about the upcoming co-production of 39 Steps.
Joanne Yarrow opens Syracuse On Stage with The Hello Girls, the musical about the first women to serve in the U.S.
This episode features an interview with director Jade King Carroll and actor Tracy Conyer-Lee about their production of 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill,' a play depicting Billie Holiday's final performance.
This episode features an interview with actors Mel House and Phillip Taratula about their roles in the Syracuse Stage production of 'What the Constitution Means to Me' by Heidi Schreck, discussing the show's selection and their backgrounds.
This episode features an interview with Bob Hupp and Jim True-Frost discussing the production of Thornton Wilder's play 'Our Town' at Syracuse Stage, exploring its enduring significance and their roles in it.
This episode features an interview with director Melissa Rain Anderson and artist Crystal Chenet about their work on a production of 'The Little Mermaid' at Syracuse Stage, discussing their backgrounds and creative processes in theater.
This episode features an interview with the writers of the musical 'How to Dance in Ohio,' discussing the show's focus on young adults on the autism spectrum preparing for a formal dance.