When Lightning Strikes!

Alex Edelman is a comedian and writer whose Orthodox Jewish upbringing has informed his critically and commercially acclaimed work for the stage and screen. He is known for both his TV writing and his solo stage shows, all three of which have been award-winning, sell-out hits in London’s West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His current solo show, Just For Us, is playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City from January 24th to February 19, 2022. Visit, https://www.justforusshow.com/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Lightning Strikes! goes to the opening Night and Broadway premiere of Alice Childress’ play Trouble in Mind. Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, the cast includes LaChanze, Michael Zegen, Chuck Cooper, Danielle Campbell, Jessica Frances Dukes, Brandon Micheal Hall, Simon Jones, Alex Mickiewicz and Don Stephenson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jacquelene Acevedo is a Grammy award winning percussionist and dancer who stars in David Byrne's American Utopia currently on Broadway at the St James Theatre. She has recorded or toured with Jeremy Pelt, Alicia Hall Moran and her mentor/father, Memo Acevedo. Jacquelene also recorded on the In The Heights movie soundtrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martyna Majok is a playwright who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cost of Living. Her newest play, Sanctuary City from New York Theatre Workshop is now playing at The Lucille Lortel Theatre. Her plays, including Queens and Ironbound, have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. She studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and Juilliard School. She is currently writing two musical librettos and developing an original series and film for HBO. Martyna is also adapting The Great Gatsby for the Broadway stage with Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett writing music. This episode was recorded on September 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pamela Moller Kareman is the executive director of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre. Just a few of their alumni includes Tony Randall, Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duvall, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Gregory Peck, Christopher Lloyd, Chris Noth, Dylan McDermott, Allison Janney and Joanne Woodward. For more than two decades Pamela has taught the Meisner Technique in New York and she continues to nurture new generations of actors. The school just reopened their famed red doors for in-person classes in September. This episode was recorded September 15, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Lightning Strikes goes to the premiere of the new documentary, The Show Must Go On. For the first time since the March 2020 shut down, an audience filled the Majestic Theatre that is home to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of The Opera. Co-directed and produced by Dori Berinstein and Sammi Cannold, The Show Must Go On is an inspiring film about how two productions in South Korea kept theater alive in the midst of the pandemic. The premiere was held on August 9, 2021 and benefitted The Actors Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russell Granet is the president and CEO of New 42, New 42 is a nonprofit organization behind the New Victory Theater, the New 42nd Street Studios and the Duke on 42nd Street. Their mission is to make performing arts a vital part of everyone’s life from the earliest years onward. Celebrated for providing accessibility and inclusion in the performing arts, New 42 is recognized as one of the largest providers of youth employment of cultural organizations in New York City. Their New Victory Theater presents international productions and serves more than 40,000 children in New York City with free arts education. New 42 Studios, an architectural icon, is one of Broadway’s great rehearsal incubators. This episode was recorded July 22, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan O’Brien is a playwright and poet whose work has been produced off-Broadway at Primary Stages, throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom. Some of his plays include The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage and The Body of an American. O'Brien has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama, the Horton Foote Prize, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and two PEN America Awards. Most recently, he published a collection of essays in his book, A Story that Happens...On Playwriting, Childhood, & Other Traumas. O'Brien reflects on theater, family, what it takes to be an artist in a fractured world and keeping hope alive.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mandy Gonzalez is an Obie and Drama Desk-winning singer, actress and author. She is so ferociously talented and has such a fierce belt that she was nicknamed “The Beast.” Mandy stars on Broadway in Hamilton as Angelica Schuyler and also originated the role of Nina Rosario in the Tony–winning Broadway musical In The Heights. Mandy played Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked and is also a Warner Music artist and released her chart-topping debut album, “Fearless.” She can also be seen as Lucy Knox in Madam Secretary. Mandy is the proud founder of #FearlessSquad, a social media movement for inclusiveness and positivity which connects millions of people around the world. She just released her first children's book, Fearless about twelve-year-old Monica Garcia who travels to New York City with her grandmother to pursue her Broadway dream. For more visit https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fearless/Mandy-Gonzalez/Fearless-Series/9781534468955 This episode was recorded on April 29, 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Calleri, Erica Jensen and Paul Davis make up the casting team Calleri Jensen Davis. The winners of 15 Artios Awards, they have a vast repertoire casting for Broadway, Off-Broadway, major motion pictures and television series. Among the agency’s upcoming theatrical projects are the Broadway productions of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,” “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” and “Blue.” They also cast the television hit “Dickinson” on AppleTV+. The trio recently won another Artios Award for Excellence in Casting for the “Pride Plays” which played Off-Broadway last season. This past February the agency went from being Calleri Casting to Calleri Jensen Davis to better reflect the equal partnership that has been central to the company’s success over these past 15 years. They have reaffirmed their commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion to ensure equal access to opportunity for all performers. This episode was recorded March 18th, before the team won their 15th Artios Award for "Pride Plays." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices