Playwrights Horizons Footnote*

Playwrights Horizons' Literary Director Lizzie Stern sat down withOscar-nominated and Grammy-winning musician Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire, to talk about the songs of Stereophonic. Their conversation spans childhood theater, the magic of songwriting, and includes a special snippet of Will singing one of his songs from the show.

David Adjmi's Stereophonic, with songs by Will Butler and directed by Daniel Aukin, was recently named the "Best Play of 2023" by the Washington Post. Learn more at phnyc.org.

Writer and performer of School Pictures, Milo Cramer gives you a look at the tumultuous lives of NYC students and the precipice their tutors find themselves on.

A peek behind the curtain with the writer/performers behind Playwrights Horizons' upcoming solo shows, performed in repertory this fall.

School Pictures, written and performed by Milo Cramer

Amusements, written and performed by Ikechukwu Ufomadu

Sad Boys in Harpy Land, created and performed by Alexandra Tatarsky

In conversation with playwright David Adjmi and Arcade Fire's Will Butler, discussing Stereophonic, the first show in our '23-'24 season.

Stereophonic

Written by David Adjmi

Songs by Will Butler

Directed by Daniel Aukin

Tickets available now at phnyc.org

Podcast produced by Chelcie Parry

with panelists Dr. Emily Horowitz, Willie Trent, and Judith Levine

On Saturday, December 3, a panel discussion was held at Playwrights Horizons. Please note this event was recorded live, so listeners will experience some irregularity in audio quality in listening to this playback and has only been lightly edited for volume, not for content.

For a partial transcript of selected highlights from this discussion, as well as bios of each participant, please visit the event website here. If you require a full transcript for accessibility reasons, please contact us at [email protected]. To read more about the other events in this series and for program curator Sivan Battat's curatorial framing essay, please click here. 

“Why should we care about those who have done terrible things to others? After all, society tells us, they made a choice to do something that caused their predicament. Yet the reality is that registries do absolutely nothing to deal with the scourge of sexual harm. They don’t make us safer. They’re merely a punitive tool of social control that subjects millions to cruelty and harm that then spreads to their families and communities.”  -Dr. Emily Horowitz

Downstate asks: What do we do with these individuals in society? What might we do better? How do we heal from harm without repeating the cycle? This conversation with justice field experts and those affected by the registry engages with the challenging, visceral questions around the justice system brought up by Bruce Norris' gripping work.

*The title of this panel is derived from "Navigating Justice For Sexual Abuse Survivors, When You’re A Prison Abolitionist And A Survivor" by Joshua Briond

with panelists Amita Swadhin, RJ Maccani and Jenani Srijeyanthan

On Saturday, November 19, 2022 a panel discussion was held at Playwrights Horizons. Please note this event was recorded live, so listeners will experience some irregularity in audio quality in listening to this playback, but we wanted to make the entirety of the conversation available for our audiences to listen to. It has only been lightly edited for volume, not for content.

For a partial transcript of selected highlights from this discussion, as well as bios of each participant, please visit the event website here. If you require a full transcript for accessibility reasons, please contact us at [email protected]. To read more about the other events in this series and for program curator Sivan Battat's curatorial framing essay, please click here.

When harm happens, how do we hold it within community? What does a survivor-centered justice process look like, and how might it support healing? What modules exist outside of carceral and punitive systems to address harm and support survivors? This conversation with activists, academics, and abolitionists discusses forgiveness and transformative justice after sexual harm at the personal and collective levels.

*The title of this panel is derived from Saidiya Hartman, via Mariame Kaba.

Playwrights Horizons Associate Artistic Director Natasha Sinha interviews Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Will Arbery about his new play, Corsicana, how these characters are and are not like those in Heroes of the Fourth Turning, the minefield that is language, his complicated relationship to theatrical musicals and Hilary Duff, and how his sister inspired him to become a playwright.

Playwright and performer Heather Raffo gathers a multi-generational, multi-religious, multi-national group of women to discuss the themes and ideas of her play NOURA. Participating in the conversation were author and sociologist Zahra Ali, architect Hiba Hadid, author and dentist Cynthia Kaplan Shamash, and filmmaker and Executive Director of The Abraham Path Initiative Anisa Mehdi.

In this in-depth conversation between playwright Craig Lucas and Associate Artistic Director Adam Greenfield, discover the big ideas that inspired Craig's play I Was Most Alive With You as well as a lifetime of crafting intimate theater.