The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK – Details, episodes & analysis

We're giving you a special gift for the holidays. A never before released live episode that we did at BroadwayCon in New York City in July of 2023. I had the great joy of sitting down with my longtime pal and colleague, Danny Burstein. Danny is a treasured and prolific actor on film, television, and Broadway. He's been in 19 Broadway shows, with the latest being Pictures from Home by Char White. Which he was starring in at the time of this recording. In this special episode, Danny and I talk about how his career as an artist intersects with his passion for activism. He also shares lots of stories from behind the scenes of some of his most famous roles. In the fifth season of The Dramatists Guild Presents: Talkback, we examine how we can expand the canon and challenge the status quo. How can we be intentional in the ways that we make space for diverse, and inclusive stories, while also reimagining the often produced ones, so that the American landscape of storytelling is truly reflective of the gorgeous tapestry of people who inhabit it? Talkback was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This season's final episode features a conversation with two of the most produced playwrights in America: Lauren Gunderson and Lynn Nottage. The two women writers speak with host (and fellow woman writer) Christine Toy Johnson about how they were motivated to start telling stories in order to create roles that were missing from the narrative. They also address the importance of bringing theatre to communities- especially marginalized communities- instead of expecting them to come to the theatre. At the time of this recording, Lynn and Lauren were among the most produced playwrights in the country; since then, Lynn has officially been named the most produced playwright of this past theatre season. In the fifth season of The Dramatists Guild Presents: Talkback, we examine how we can expand the canon and challenge the status quo. How can we be intentional in the ways that we make space for diverse, and inclusive stories, while also reimagining the often produced ones, so that the American landscape of storytelling is truly reflective of the gorgeous tapestry of people who inhabit it? Talkback was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're excited to welcome back actress and writer Charlayne Woodard. In Season 1, Charlayne spoke with Christine Toy Johnson about her experiences marketing her work. In this episode, Charlayne takes us to the beginning of her career, sharing about how her early experience in the oral tradition inspired her to start creating theatre. She goes on to discuss how she overcame resistance from members of her community when she wrote her first play as a high school student, and how her own encounters with inequity have kept her motivated to help support her fellow community of writers.  This episode was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online, using hashtag #dgtalkback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson interviews Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, a dynamic musical theatre songwriting duo who have been collaborating together for almost forty years. Even at the height of the pandemic, their writing never stopped. Listen to this episode to learn about what it means to view collaboration as teamwork, how they approached the writing process for their current musical, Knoxville, and what inspired them to launch The Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, a mentorship initiative for playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, that has nurtured a vibrant generation of diverse writers.  This episode was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online, using hashtag #dgtalkback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DG Council Vice President Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has made his career by building community with other writers - even if that community started as three blogs in the early aughts. In this episode, Branden tells Talkback host Christine Toy Johnson about his passion for fair and equitable treatment of writers and how his role at the Dramatists Guild enables him to advocate on behalf of his community of fellow playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists. He also discusses some of his earliest work as a young writer, revealing how his love of R.L Stine’s Goosebumps led to an interest in theatrical adaptation. This season of Talkback was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our final episode of Season 3 Christine sits down with celebrated director Leigh Silverman about her ongoing commitment to form teams that have intersectional inclusion. Leigh shares candidly both her own efforts to create parity on her teams, and her personal learning curve. Leigh will be a part of New York City’s Vineyard Theater 2021/2022 season. Visit (vineyardtheatre.org) TALKBACK is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America. It’s produced by Amy VonMacek, Sarah Storm, and me, Christine Toy Johnson. Robare Delaney Pruyn mixes our show. Our theme music is by Andrea Daley. The Dramatist Guild Presents: TALKBACK is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. This is our final episode for the season, but we’ll be back next fall. Who should we speak to next? What topics should we cover? Let us know by using hashtag #DGTALKBACK and as always to be continued. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Christine talks to Teresa Coleman Wash, Executive Artistic Director of Bishop Arts Theater Center in Dallas, Texas. We discuss the ways individualism and collectivism can go hand in hand in creating true community collaboration, using examples from Bishop Arts Theater Center’s programming and efforts during the pandemic.  Teresa Coleman Wash is a producer, playwright, and founding artistic director for the Bishop Arts Theatre Center (BATC). Under her leadership, the theatre earned Theater Communications Group coveted Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, 13 Irma P. Hall Awards, approximately $4M in philanthropic support, and the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs’ prestigious Stanford Award for demonstrating exemplary fiscal management. She is a National Arts Strategies fellow having studied at Harvard Business School and holds an MA in Arts Management from Goucher College. She is the recent recipient of the Irma P. Hall Theatrical Excellence award, an Obelisk Award for Visionary Arts Leadership, and the National Guild for Community Arts Education Milestone Award. Her plays have been seen in New York, Atlanta, Washington, D. C., Detroit, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Bishop Arts Theatre Center (BATC) is an award-winning, multicultural, multidisciplinary arts institution with IRC 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt status. We are the recipients of the Dallas Business Journal inaugural 2021 Leaders In Diversity Award. Founded in September of 1993, our mission is to cultivate a diverse and vibrant arts community committed to social impact, while creating opportunities for local and emerging artists to develop new, contemporary, and lasting works that celebrate the diversity and resiliency of our community. We offer a full season of theater performances, jazz concerts, a speaker series, and year-round arts education programs. We are a cultural oasis for the next generation of acclaimed writers, directors, performers, and arts administrators. Governed by ten board members, we impact over 30,000 artists, art enthusiasts, and children each year via virtual and in-person seasonal performances and arts education programs. See the trailer for Profile Theater's audio production of Mlima's Tale https://profiletheatre.org/members-only/mlimas-tale-archive/ TALKBACK is a production of the Dramatists Guild. It’s produced by Amy VonMacek, Sarah Storm, and me, Christine Toy Johnson and mixed by Robare Delaney Pruyn. Our theme music is by Andrea Daley. Our guest producers for this episode are Michael Lew and Shellen Lubin. The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online use hashtag #DGTALKBACK and as always to be continued. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the pandemic left so many things unsure this year, one thing was clear: connecting communities from across the world is easier than ever. In this episode, we’ll hear from artistic leaders from two theater companies that approach centering artists with disabilities in different ways. Christine speaks with Nicholas Viselli from Theater Breaking Through Barriers, a company that has been doing work centering artists with disabilities since 1979 and Sarah Hom and Anna Morton from the Roundabout Theatre Company, a company who has been working hard this year to expand their programming to be more intentionally inclusive. TALKBACK is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America. It’s produced by Amy VonMacek, Sarah Storm, Christine Toy Johnson and mixed by Robare Delaney Pruyn. Our theme music is by Andrea Daley. Our guest producer for this episode was Anita Hollander. The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online use hashtag #DGTALKBACK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christine welcomes playwrights Saviana Stanescu, Caridad Svich and recently former Artistic Director of the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe Daniel Gallant (Gallant was still the current Artistic Director at the time of this recording) to chat about ways they have helped amplify the work of immigrant artists. Self identifying "artivist" Saviana created "Liberties Daughters" a monologue series for immigrant women hosted by Nuyorican Poet's Cafe and Caridad created No Passport an unincorporated, artist-driven, grass-roots theatre alliance & press devoted to cross-cultural, Pan-American performance, theory, action, advocacy, and publication. Each discuss how the pandemic taught them to be creative in producing work online and how it lifted borders and led to new audiences. TALKBACK is a production of the Dramatists Guild. It’s produced by Amy VonMacek, Sarah Storm, and Christine Toy Johnson and mixed by Robare Delaney Pruyn. Our theme music is by Andrea Daley.The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online use hashtag #DGTALKBACK and as always to be continued. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we talk about the Dramatists Guild’s new Inclusion rider and the initiatives surrounding it. At the time of this recording the rider had not been released. We're happy to report that we've released the rider and you can get a copy here: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/inclusion This rider is the first of its kind to come out of the theatre industry. Our goal is to empower and encourage playwrights to advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Anti-racism in our own works while collaborating with our producing partners towards these shared goals. Our guests are playwrights and DG Council members Ty Defoe and Chisa Hutchinson. TALKBACK is a production of the Dramatists Guild. It’s produced by Amy VonMacek, Sarah Storm, and me, Christine Toy Johnson and mixed by Robare Delaney Pruyn. Our theme music is by Andrea Daley. . The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Join the conversation online use hashtag #DGTALKBACK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices