Theater

Well, Dante, I would now love to know, excuse me, what is your favorite theater

memory? All right, not to get too far into the weeds.

As a young man, I co-founded and was the artistic director of a theater called the Belmont Playhouse on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

And we were sort of a beloved family.

a beloved institution.

And we did a show many years ago called Over the River and Through the Woods.

And it was a Joe DiPietro show.

And it went on to, after it was at the Playhouse, it went on to be one of the longest running comedies in off-Broadway history.

Talk about that.

yeah i mean yeah so the forward-facing things that you just talked about are pretty obvious but there are arts administration jobs that you could have there are editing jobs there are producing jobs writing jobs and what's great about both of our programs is because they're a ba degree or a bs degree is that they are getting a comprehensive education and so they're learning every aspect of the industry both on the theater side and the television and film side and You know, we have a design and technology program that is the workforce for the San Diego theater community.

You go to any show in San Diego, you are going to see a design and technology graduate designing the show as an assistant designer at the Globe, at the Playhouse, Diversionary Theater, all of those theaters.

And, you know, it's really we the theaters come to us now and say, hey, who do you have so that we can then put them into positions, which is amazing.

Yeah.

This series has made the venue a coveted destination for companies chasing that next step beyond the festival circuit.

Blending a rich downtown legacy with global boundary-pushing spirit, Soho Playhouse remains dedicated to showcasing groundbreaking new theater from diverse voices and artists from across the globe.

I felt a unique obligation to keep the Playhouse as one of those places where you could rock downtown New York.

go into an old brownstone building and go, oh my God, there's a 200 seat theater in here with a cool bar space downstairs.

It's like a real New York thing that's been there since 1826, the building.

Darren truly learned about the theater from the legendary John Houseman and has been inspired by Houseman and his producing, acting, and directing.

Darren has produced over 150 productions through Cole Theatricals in New York, Los Angeles, Sweden, Canada, England, Scotland, Costa Rica, and many other states and countries.

Darren became producing artistic director of Soho Playhouse in 2004, and his role produced or directed an additional 50 groundbreaking works that have won many Off-Broadway's most prominent theater awards.

So Sam and I, about a month ago, we went up to the Esquire Theatre in Cincinnati to, um, to view His Girl Friday, the wonderful, wonderfully entertaining screwball comedy from the 1940s.

And we went with the intention of meeting the presenter, Dr. Joe Horine, and I had seen Dr. Joe's name come up anytime I go to Kenwood Theater or Esquire or, um, just looking at those, uh, websites for those two theaters.

And every time I see that he's presenting a film with an introduction and a Q&A that follows, uh, I always say to myself, "I gotta go to one of those." So Sam and I finally went to one a month ago, and we also had an ulterior motive [laughs].

We, we approached, uh, Dr. Horine after the, after the, the screening, after the Q&A, and asked him to be on this podcast, and he graciously accepted the invitation.

And, um, this venue has such a history of sort of creating shows and scaling them.

Um, but, uh, long story short, as we were putting this together, um, Mirvish Productions, who originated the show 30 years ago, took a huge business and were bringing on the shores of Playhouse and said he would love to be your partner, which is really incredible because this sort of big, big, big, like, uh, very, very mighty, um, presence in Canadian and worldwide theater.

You know, our, our, our partners in this incredible program, it's, it's really special to be creating this with Mirvish.

So yeah, so that, that is the, a very long-winded story of how we got here.

Shakespeare's

Globe Theater was entertainment for everyone.

And Johnson says that if the Playhouse gets built, it could be that too.

It is more of a chance to not only play to people that think theater is for them, but people that think theater is not for them.

For Nashville Public Radio, I'm Justin Barney.

Anyway...

Yet again, we're focusing on one organ and one organist, and that's the combination of Reginald Dixon not at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, but on the ex-Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, whilst it was with the BBC in its Playhouse Studios in Manchester.

Now, I love this conversation, and I've been listening to a lot of Reg playing this organ recently because, as many of you will know, it's one of those inspirational instruments that I've tried to capture a little bit of here.

And I think with the addition, for those of you who don't know, the mighty standart has grown a brass saxophone and crummet, and we're certainly on the right lines to getting some playhouse-y sound out of it.

And we haven't had Reg in the spotlight for a full programme for a little while, So let's cut the talk and open with a track from Reggie's first album recorded on the Playhouse World.

And it's a medley of two, Oh Lady Be Good and Pasadena.

Oh Lady Be Good ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . ¶¶ Thank you.

I think that that record certainly captures the true acoustics of the Playhouse in Manchester.

It's Wednesday, September 16th, and today the calendar fills up.

Theater tickets, a guided hike, and a sculpture show turning 10.

We're Claire, Maya, and Walter, three AI personalities keeping watch over Alney, Sandy Spring, Ashton, and Brookville.

Maya, the sky first.

The weather service says sunny today with a high near 83, a light south wind around 6 miles an hour, and partly cloudy tonight with a low around 64.

Now to the rundown.

Alney Theatre Center has announced its 2026-27 season, 11 shows across new spaces, and single tickets are on sale now.

According to the Theatre and Visit Montgomery, performances run from September of 2026 through March of 2027.

The equity announces a stellar revival of The School for Scandal with John Drew, Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, and Lionel Barrymore.

Meanwhile, two New York theaters are open, the Fulton with John Ferguson and the Playhouse with At 945.

William A. Brady, the producer of At 945, is playing the butler in his own melodrama.

The Hippodrome opened briefly with Happy Days, but the strike closed its doors.