Playwrights Horizons’ Soundstage “theatre for the ears” continues with “Outtakes” by Qui Nguyen.

A son keeps trying to get his charming (if frustrating) immigrant parents to tell him a true war story from their lives in Vietnam to help him write a new play. Imagined as edited found interview tapes, OUTTAKES is both funny and heartfelt, drawn from the playwright’s real-life experiences.

OUTTAKES

Written by Qui Nguyen
Directed by May Adrales
Sound Design by Shane Rettig

Audio Editing and Soundscape Design by Tony Cirne for Acoustiguide
Additional Production and Consulting Services provided byAcoustiguide
Recorded at CDM Studios in New York City
Casting by Katie Meister Houben

Paul Juhn - Dad
Jon Norman Schneider - Playwright
Maureen Sebastian - Mom

Listen HERE.

 Soundstage unites beloved writers and actors to craft scripted audio experiences of new plays and musicals. It’s theater for your ears, and you can enjoy it on the go, at home, or, really, from anywhere: now, theater is wherever you are. A new, free streaming program, Soundstage is a groundbreaking production that provides our adventurous artists with enhanced digital means to reach our curious audiences. Tune in and hear the stories of today by the writers of tomorrow. 

Full episode list HERE.

In 2018, Playwrights Horizons started working on a podcast series titled “Soundstage.” The timing turned out to be critical, as we are now exploring new ways to experience theatre—and rediscovering old ones, as these shows feel like radio productions. The first episodes are all over the stylistic map. “PRIME: A Practical Breviary” is a meditative ten-song cycle by the rising composer Heather Christian (“Animal Wisdom”), who conceived it for a collective 6 a.m.Mass. It’s saying something that “PRIME” is the most traditional of the initial three podcasts. “Gather,” written and directed by Robert O’Hara (“Bootycandy,” “Barbecue”), sets up a thriller atmosphere, then springs the kind of pointed, surreal twist at which he excels. Jordan Harrison’s “Play for Any Two People” is exactly that: a show for two listeners to perform together (they speak lines and act out movements by following cues on a pair of audio tracks). New “Soundstage” episodes, which come out every other Thursday, will include works by Lucas Hnath, Kirsten Childs, and Jeremy O. Harris.

From Elisabeth Vincentelli for www.newyorker.com and Playwrights Horizons.