When Lightning Strikes!

Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and co-stars in A Real Pain. In the film two mismatched cousins embark on a Holocaust tour through Poland to understand the history of their late grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor. It's a beautiful, honest, poetic and hilarious film that is listed as one of the ten best movies of 2024 by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the National Board of Review. As Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety "Eisenberg has scripted with an ear for the music of ideas and for contrasting voices, he presents the story of these two cousins — how they interact, what they mean to each other, how their past intersects with the present — in a way that’s so supple you can touch their reality." I sat down with Jesse at the Ram's Head Inn, a seaside hideaway in Shelter Island. The historic property was the site of several famous physics conferences that hosted J. Robert Oppenheimer and Stephen Hawking over the years. The Ram's Head continues the tradition of being an incubator for great talents. Jesse took part in a new film series there called, The Ram Film Society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Jaffe is the artistic director of American Ballet Theater. Called “America’s quintessential American ballerina," and “born to dance,” by the New York Times, Susan was a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre. She performed on stages around the world for 22 years. This summer American Ballet Theatre celebrates its 85th anniversary at the Metropolitan Opera House. Their anniversary season also marks 30 years of ABT Studio Company and two decades of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Lyn Bader is a prolific playwright whose stage plays include None of the Above, Equally Divine: The Real Story of the Mona Lisa, In Flight, and The Whole Megillah. She also wrote the audio works Tree Confessions and Communal Table. Jenny Lyn's play, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, produced by Luna Stage, is currently presented off-Broadway at the WP Theater. This episode was recorded December 23, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Roy is a magician and mentalist who has headlined at the Hollywood Magic Castle, appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and performed throughout the country. In his latest show, The Parlour of Deceptions, he intertwines sleight-of-hand, misdirection, and storytelling before an intimate crowd of 50 guests. Using his neuroscience degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Roy provides a peek behind the curtain into how magic tricks the brain. The Parlour of Deceptions is currently playing at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. This episode was recorded December 16, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shanda Sawyer is a prolific director, choreographer and executive producer. She has directed shows for Marvel, FOX, ABC, Disney, and Comedy Central. Her work has garnered many awards, including two Emmys, a Gracie and a Peabody. Most recently she has been the creative director of the 2024 Big Apple Circus show, Hometown Playground, now playing through January 5, 2025. This episode was recorded December 6, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dramatists Guild Foundation or DGF is a nonprofit devoted to American theater. For more than six decades they have supported writers at all stages of their careers. DGF offers grants, free spaces to create new works and emergency aid for immediate support. On the show is Rachel Routh is DGF's executive director and DGF's president, writer/composer Andrew Lippa. In 2024, DGF received a 2024 Tony Honors for Excellence in the theater. On October 28 DFG will have its gala, hosted by Amber Ruffin. The gala will honor Pulitzer Prize winning composer Tom Kitt and producer Mindy Rich. This episode was recorded October 8, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April Ortiz is a prolific actress who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway in film and television. She currently stars in the musical Empire at New World Stages. Just a few of April’s other credits include In the Heights, Cats, Between 2 Knees, Uncoupled, Fosse/Verdon, The Golden Girls, Elementary, Everybody Loves Raymond, Mad About You and on and on.  This episode was recorded on August 8, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew August Jeffers currently stars in An Enemy of the People now playing at Circle In the Square Theatre. A prolific actor, some of his other credits include Richard III at the Delacorte Theater, the film Unidentified Objects and the TV shows New Amsterdam, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and The Walking Dead. This episode was recorded on April 5, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bobby Conte currently plays Cousin Kevin in The Who’s Tommy on Broadway. Some of his other theater credits include Company, A Bronx Tale, My Fair Lady, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Starting Here, Starting Now and A Comedy of Tenors.  This episode was recorded on April 9, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A two-time Obie Award-winning director and choreographer, Lee Sunday Evans is the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She recently directed The Poisoner, currently playing at La MaMa. Some of Lee's other credits include Oratorio for Living Things, Dance Nation, the Courtroom, Sunday, In the Green, Miller, Mississippi, Home and Porto. Lee is also directing the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time.  This episode was recorded April 12, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode When Lightning Strikes! goes on location to the theater at Studio 54. Jeryl Brunner talks to Brian d’Arcy James who currently stars in Days of Wine and Roses with Kelli O'Hara. Adapted from the 1962 film and original 1958 teleplay by J.P. Miller, this new musical features a book by Craig Lucas, Adam Guettel's music and lyrics and direction by Michael Greif. In this extensive conversation Brian talks about the epic journey to bring Days of Wine and Roses to the stage and why the show is so important to him.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Broadway and off-Broadway veteran who has starred in dozens of productions, Patrick Page is currently performing in the hit play All the Devils Are Here at the DR2 Theatre. Directed by Simon Godwin, this riveting show explores Shakespeare's most fascinating villains. A Tony nominee for his portrayal of Hades in Hadestown, some of Patrick's other credits include Saint Joan, Casa Valentina, A Time to Kill, Spring Awakening, Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, A Man for All Seasons, Julius Caesar, The Lion King and on and on. This Grammy-winning gifted actor has also appeared on TV and film in The Gilded Age, Elementary, Spirited, In the Heights, Estella Scrooge, and much more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Daniels and Sheryl Kaller are some of the forces behind The White Chip, the hit autobiographical comedy currently playing at MCC Theater. Daniels, who wrote the White Chip, is a prolific theatermaker who leads The Recovery Project for Florida Studio Theatre. The Recovery Project commissions new works that destigmatizes recovery. The White Chip's director, Sheryl Kaller, has directed on and off Broadway. Some of her credits include Next Fall, for which she was nominated for a Tony and Mothers and Sons by Terrence McNally. The White Chip's production team includes Jason Biggs, John Larroquett, Hank Azaria, Annaleigh Ashford, recovery activist and author Ryan Hampton and the The Recovery Project. The production stars Joe Tapper, Crystal Dickinson and Jason Tam. This episode was recorded on February 20, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warren Carlyle is a Tony winning and Emmy nominated Director and Choreographer. Most recently he directed and choreographed the musical Harmony, now playing on Broadway. Just a few of his other credits include After Midnight, Chaplin, Hugh Jackman: Back On Broadway, Finian’s Rainbow, A Tale of Two Cities, Kiss Me Kate, The Music Man, Hello, Dolly!, She Loves Me, On The 20th Century, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story, Stephen Sondheim’s Follies and more!  This episode was recorded on December 7, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marty LaSalle is the CEO of the Big Apple Circus. Their latest show, Journey to the Rainbow, created in collaboration with Circus-Theater Roncalli, is now playing at Lincoln Center through January 1.  This episode was recorded on November 21, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zalmen Mlotek is the Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. He and his son, Avram Mlotek are the forces behind Amid Falling Walls: Unveiling Resilience and Hope During the Holocaust. Arranged by Zalmen with a libretto by Avram Mlotek, this Off-Broadway production presents songs created and performed in ghettos, cabarets, concentration camps, and theaters. The musical is currently playing at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at The Museum of Jewish Heritage. This episode was recorded November 27, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sade Lythcott is a Tony and Emmy-nominated producer and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Black Theatre. Founded in 1968, by her mother Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, National Black Theatre is the nation’s first revenue-generating Black arts complex. National Black Theatre, also called NBT, is one of the longest-running theaters by a woman of color. Most recently, National Black Theatre co-produced Fat Ham and Purlie Victorious on Broadway and (Pray) off-Broadway. All three shows have been New York Times Critic’s picks.  This episode was recorded on November 1, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A prolific director on Broadway and off, some of Leigh Silverman's credits include Violet, Grand Horizons, The Lifespan of a Fact, Chinglish, Well, SUFFS, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Soft Power, Sandra, Hurricane Diane,The Wild Party and Really Rosie. A Tony award nominee, Leigh has directed over 60 world premieres and musicals. Her latest show, Merry Me, is now playing at New York Theatre Workshop. Leigh will soon be reuniting with Billy Crudup directing him in the Berkeley Rep production of Harry Clarke. He performed the show at the Vineyard and Audible theaters.  This episode was recorded on October 26, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of their appearance on RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars Season 8, Alex Michaels, also known as Alexis Michelle, has had a hit cabaret show at Joe’s Pub and appeared at Disney’s Gay Days in Anaheim. An accomplished theater performer, Alex appeared off-Broadway and in tours of Big Apple Circus, Field of Mars, Chapter One, Hair, Little Shop of Horrors and Oklahoma! In addition to their album "Lovefool" on Broadway records, Alex also has a series of music releases including, "If You Want My Apples" and "Lulu's Shoes." Look out for Alex's upcoming Witch Perfect tour with fellow drag stars, Scarlet Envy and Tina Burner.  This episode was recorded September 15, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrea Syglowski is a riveting actress who has thrived on stage in film and TV. Just a few of Andrea's credits include Pass Over, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Queens. Lost in Yonkers. Venus in Fur, A Doll’s House and Dear Elizabeth. Andrea currently stars in the hit play Dig by Theresa Rebeck. Presented by Primary Stages, Dig is playing at 59e59 Theaters. This episode was recorded on October 3, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices