13/01/2024
MMD reveals what she does when she's directing a classic or well-known play.
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14198019 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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On 101 Stage Adaptations, host Melissa Schmitz interviews playwrights and other theatre makers about the process of creating and producing stage adaptations.
MMD reveals what she does when she's directing a classic or well-known play.
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14198019 or wherever you get your podcasts.
The one and only MMD is on the show this week.
In this episode, we discuss:
💃 The origins of the "MMD" moniker
✨ "Smuggling in deeper meaning"
🎭 Redesigning and imagining a Disney-branded show
🙌 How MMD has been a constant champion of diverse casting
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14198019 or wherever you get your podcasts.
For another installment of "When the Production is the Adaptation," Melissa is joined by director Marcia Milgrom Dodge aka "MMD" to discuss her ground-breaking production and revival of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at the Olney Theatre Center.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14198019 or wherever you get your podcasts.
My last show of 2023 was one of the first "plays" I ever saw! I spent the very early years of my life watching the Mary Martin PETER PAN on repeat. Then we all grew up and realized there were some highly problematic aspects of that show. Luckily, Larissa FastHorse has made edits to the Book, and we're all much better for it.
Peter Pan The Broadway Musical's run at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts launched the national tour of this show, and it will truly delight children of all ages. It has been modernized and the racist parts have been removed, and all the high-flying action and songs you love remain in tact, with a few new ones added in. The set is fabulous. Can I go to Neverland?
Nolan Almeida portrays Peter with the boyish charm and innocence and thirst for adventure that this role requires, and he does this with an air of effortlessness that makes me believe he is indeed Peter Pan. (I always knew he was real!)
The only thing I was conflicted about was our favorite villain Captain Jas. Hook and that coat and that Scottish accent, because instead of being menacing, it was just . . . hot. 😂 Thank you, Cody Garcia.
I loved the show signage and table decorations in the lobby!
When PETER PAN sails in or near your town, go. Take the kids. You'll feel like a kid again, too.
In this episode, Melissa guides listeners through a comprehensive goal-setting strategy for playwrights and theatre makers so they can plan for a successful 2024, however they chose to define it.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14212569 or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Are you creating a list of goals or a list of tasks?
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14212569 or wherever you get your podcasts, and Melissa will walk you through a goal-setting session so that 2024 can be your best playwriting year yet!
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In this episode, Melissa guides listeners through an end-of-year self-inventory and reflection which will help set the stage for a 2024 goal-setting session.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122718 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Easing into the new year by taking stock of everything we accomplished last year and what we're grateful for BEFORE setting our 2024 goals. ✨
🎧 Listen to the enitre episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122718 or wherever you get your podcasts.
✨Happy New Year! ✨
What are your theatre wishes for 2024?
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Thanks for listening this year! Looking forward to all that 2024 will bring! ✨
Check out these stats from Buzzsprout for 101 Stage Adaptations!
Play Club Patrick Gabridge Stagecombatthepodcast Lauren Gunderson - Playwright: Your episodes were the most downloaded this year! Wow! 🤩 Thank you so much for being on the show! 🙌
Lavina Jadhwani, professional Shakespeare nerd discusses staying faithful to the text when adapting A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which is currently playing at the Guthrie Theater and the Penobscot Theatre Company. 🎩🎄👻👻💀✨
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122712 or wherever you get your podcasts.
The multi-talented Lavina Jadhwani, professional Shakespeare nerd stops by to discuss her adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which was first produced when her script was discovered on New Play Exchange. (Yes, really!)
In this episode, we discuss:
📖 Adapting a well-known story for the stage, making it unique, and being faithful to the original text
🎭 Lavina's approach to adapting for the stage
💪 How surviving cancer gave her a different perspective of her work
🎬 The Bollywood film list Lavina curated for Melissa on the spot
And more!
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122712 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Christmas came early this year! 🎁 We are dropping this episode a few days ahead of schedule to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the release of A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens. 🎄 (That's December 19, 1843 for those keeping score.)
Lavina Jadhwani, professional Shakespeare nerd joins us to discuss her adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which is currently playing at the Guthrie Theater and Penobscot Theatre Company!
🎧 Listen to our interview with her at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122712 or wherever you get your podcasts.
On this day in 1843, one of the greatest Christmas stories was published. A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens was an instant best-seller, and his story has never been out of print.
There have since been dozens and dozens of stage and film adaptations of this beloved story. I had the good fortune of seeing it recently at the Guthrie Theater, and everything about this show was delightful. Not to forget this is indeed a ghost story, I was not expecting two jump scares involving Marley, nor the extra frightening Ghost of Christmas yet to come. I was also not expecting Scrooge to be a silver fox of a man, hello! My theatre companion and I marvelled at the changing moon/clock face. The little village was absolutely charming, and this show is a quick 90 minutes but everything you need and know from this story is there.
My interview with adaptor Lavina Jadhwani, professional Shakespeare nerd is available now at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122712 or wherever you listen to podcasts. Happy Holidays, everyone.
If you watched the film Prancer on repeat in the 90s like Melissa did, this episode is a delightful Christmas treat. Screenwriter Greg Taylor stops by the show to discuss how he adapted his film for the stage. In this clip, he reveals how the late great Cloris Leachman inadvertantly taught him a lesson in writing character backstories.
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122691 or wherever you get your podcasts.
This week Hollywood screenwriter Greg Taylor stops by the show! Greg wrote the scripts for the 90s kids' classics, HARRIET THE SPY and JUMANJI, as well as one of Melissa's favorite holiday films, PRANCER, which Greg later adapted for the stage.
In this episode, we discuss:
📝How the late great Cloris Leachman influenced Greg's script
🦌 The reindeer in the film vs the stage play
🔍 How screenwriters and playwrights are treated differently
📖 Adapting novels to screenplays and screenplays to stage plays
And more!
🎧 Listen to the episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122691 or wherever you listen to podcasts.
🎁 And since Christmas is coming, here's a gift for you! Get your FREE PDF of the PRANCER script, courtesy of Plays for New Audiences! Use code 101Prancer on their website. Valid until December 1, 2024 and only valid on PRANCER.
Who remembers watching PRANCER as a kid (or with your kids)? 🤩 It was on repeat at Melissa's house back in the day. Many years later, screenwriter Greg Taylor has adapted his beloved film for the stage, and he joins us this week.
🎧 Listen to the episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122691 or wherever you listen to podcasts.
🎭 Shoutout to Apollo Civic Theatre, The Sauk, and Amarillo Little Theatre who produced PRANCER this holiday season. It's still playing at The Sauk - go see it if you can!
🎁 Oh, and Plays for New Audiences is offering a free PDF of the PRANCER script when you use the code 101Prancer on their website. Valid until December 1, 2024 and only valid on PRANCER.
This is a great way to learn about New Play Exchange and the plays and playwrights on the platfrom! LMDA: Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
Jacob Combs describes the music of Strawdog Theatre Company's HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS, now playing in Chicago and online!
🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14087496 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Strawdog Theatre Company brings back their holiday classic, HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS, now playing through December 23, 2023. See it live in Chicago or stream it from home!
On the podcast, we chatted with the musical's creators, Mike Dailey and Jacob Combs, about how they brought this beloved children's book to life.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14087496 or wherever you get your podcasts.
This week Mike Dailey and Jacob Combs stop by to talk about their charming musical, HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS.
In this episode, we discuss:
🎭 Why Strawdog Theatre Company decided to adapt this beloved children's book
📝 Adding framing devices and length to a short story
🎯 Casting a show that needs musicians, actors, singers, and acrobatic types 🤸♀️
🎶 How the music changes every year with each new cast
And more!
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14087496 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Happy first night of Hanukkah! 🕯
Mike Dailey & Jacob Combs join Melissa this week to talk about their long-running holiday musical, HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS, adapted from the beloved children's story.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14087496 or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to get your FREE tickets to Strawdog Theatre Company's production this holiday season!
And the Kate Hamill episode makes 50! 🥳
Thanks to Buzzsprout for the fancy graphic to mark the occasion!
🎧 Catch up on the latest episodes at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313 or wherever you get your podcasts.
In our conversation with Kate Hamill, she talked about how she only writes characters that she wants to play, and she often plays a character in the world premieres of her plays.
Here she is in a few of her many adaptations.
1) DRACULA at Classic Stage Company with Matt Saldivar and Kelley Curran, 2019. 📸: Joan Marcus
2) SENSE AND SENSIBILITY at Bedlam with Andrus Nichols, Sam Steinmetz, and Vaishnavi Sharma, 2014. 📸: Elizabeth Nichols
3) MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON - APT. 2B at Kansas City Repertory Theatre with Vaishnavi Sharma, 2022. 📸: Don Ipock
Listen to the DRACULA episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14052274 or wherever you get your podcasts.
This moment! 😆
Kate Hamill, whaddaya say you come back with all of your Dramatic Questions and we play Dramaturgical Jeopardy for real? I'm READY! 📝
🎧 Listen to our full conversation at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14052274 or the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Kate Hamill stops by the show to talk about DRACULA, one of her many stage adpatations. This conversation is a full meal on taking risks, making writing fun, advocacy, and feminism.
In this episode, we discuss:
🤝 How Kate became a playwright on a bet with her friend
🎭 The dramatic question she crafted for Dracula and some of her other works
💃 Intentionally writing fun characters and feminist plays
✊Advocacy, unions, and surviving toxic behavior in the industry
And more!
🎧 Listen to our full conversation at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14052274 or wherever you get your podcasts.
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I was thrilled to chat with the great Kate Hamill about her play, DRACULA, which she adapted as a feminist revenge fantasy, naturally. This conversation is a full meal on taking risks, making writing fun, advocacy, and feminism.
🎧 Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14052274 or wherever you get your podcasts.
DRACULA is currently playing at Portland Center Stage, and you can purchase the script at TRWPlays / Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
Great gift idea from The Dramatists Guild of America!
A belated happy closing to the cast of Newsies at Sparta High School!
This is a very ambitious show, but the students seized the day and stepped up to the challenge. A personal friend of mine is the music and show choir director there, so the singing and dancing was obviously top notch! I was so impressed at the confidence the students had in carrying this show, because it is not easy. Did they go out and and find a group of tap dancers for the tap routine? No! They taught the students how to tap. I was shocked to learn that the lead was played by a sophomore! Wow! So much talent and confidence! The choreography and music was great and the students looked like they were having so much fun. 😊
Also pictured: The set model. The set was moved (choreographed, really) by an entirely separate, costumed stage crew or "crewsies." Love the play on words there. 😆 Congrats all! I had a really fun time.
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MMD reveals what she does when she's directing a classic or well-known play. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14198019 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Are you creating a list of goals or a list of tasks? 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14212569 or wherever you get your podcasts, and Melissa will walk you through a goal-setting session so that 2024 can be your best playwriting year yet! #Scriptwriting📝 #WomenWriters #PerformingArts #Plays #NewPlayExchange #PlaywrightsOfInstagram #Theatre #Playwright #TheatreArtist #Dramatist #Playwriting #NewPlay #MusicalTheatre #Theatreworks #PlaywritingLife #TheatreLife #TheatreThursday
Easing into the new year by taking stock of everything we accomplished last year and what we're grateful for BEFORE setting our 2024 goals. ✨ 🎧 Listen to the enitre episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122718 or wherever you get your podcasts.
✨Happy New Year! ✨ What are your theatre wishes for 2024? #Dramatist #WomenWriters #Scriptwriting📝 #TheatreArtist #Playwriting #NewPlay #Playwright #MusicalTheatre #PlaywrightsOfInstagram #PerformingArts #PodcastLife #Theatre #Plays #PlaywritingLife #TheatreLife
Lavina Jadhwani, professional Shakespeare nerd discusses staying faithful to the text when adapting A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which is currently playing at the Guthrie Theater and the Penobscot Theatre Company. 🎩🎄👻👻💀✨ 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122712 or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you watched the film Prancer on repeat in the 90s like Melissa did, this episode is a delightful Christmas treat. Screenwriter Greg Taylor stops by the show to discuss how he adapted his film for the stage. In this clip, he reveals how the late great Cloris Leachman inadvertantly taught him a lesson in writing character backstories. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14122691 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jacob Combs describes the music of Strawdog Theatre Company's HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS, now playing in Chicago and online! 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14087496 or wherever you get your podcasts.
This moment! 😆 Kate Hamill, whaddaya say you come back with all of your Dramatic Questions and we play Dramaturgical Jeopardy for real? I'm READY! 📝 🎧 Listen to our full conversation at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/14052274 or the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Shots fired! Alayna from The Playwrights' Center sounds off on what is needed in theatre today. 🔥🔥🔥 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13975041 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Why The Playwrights' Center is a great resource for playwrights of all levels. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13936258 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Lauren Gunderson - Playwright drops some major wisdom about when to take a playwriting note and when to ignore it. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13892857 or wherever you get your podcasts. #NewEpisode #NewPlay #MusicalTheater #TheatreArtist #MusicalTheatre #Theatreworks #Theatre #Dramatist #PerformingArts #NewWork #WomenWriters #ListenNow #Theatre #Plays #Scriptwriting📝 #PlaywritingLife #feministart #Playwriting #Musicals #Playwright #TheatreLife #TimeTravellersWife #MusicalTheatre #WestEnd
After his harrowing experience at a top theatre, Sean Hayden from Stagecombatthepodcast explains what companies can do to protect the mental health of their employees and artists. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13840735 or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Sandy Rustin, one of the most-produced playwrights in the US, reveals some of her best writing tips. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13803582 or wherever you get your podcasts. #Plays #TheatreArtist #PlaywrightsOfInstagram #PerformingArts #Theatre #Playwright #Playwriting #Dramatist #Scriptwriting📝 #SpookySeason #MusicalTheatre #WomenWriters #womeninthearts #PlaywritingLife #Clueonstage #Clue #Cluedo #SoapOpera #AllMyChildren
Michael Susko reveals what he wants when he's dramatizing horror for the stage. 🎭💀👻😈 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13553462 or wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to catch his world premiere adaptation of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, only at Kismet Performing Artists Theatre!
Jeffrey Hatcher explains why he thinks DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is a story that still intrigues us after 140 years. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13712576 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Julie from Theatre Marketing Lab with Julie Nemitz reveals what theatres do to decide how to program their season. 😱 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13670201 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Happy 1st Anniversary to the 101 Stage Adaptations Podcast! 🥳 🎧 Listen to the entire episode and catch up on your faves at https://101stageadaptations.buzzsprout.com.
Nan Barnett answers THE pressing question about New Play Exchange. 🎧Listen to the entire conversation at the link in bio or at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13587332 or wherever you get your podcasts. #MusicalTheatre #PerformingArts #TheatreArtist #Plays #Theatre #NewPlays #Dramatist #Scriptwriting📝 #PlaywrightsOfInstagram #NewWork #Playwriting #Playwright #NewPlay
Melissa discusses one way playwrights can raise their profile in their industry. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode on assets and value-adds playwrights can use in their personal marketing at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13543730 or wherever you get your podcasts.
Creating is amazing, but how are you serving your artform? Playwright/Producer Patrick Gabridge says service is key to building your reputation. 🎧 Listen to the entire episode at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1999313/13494321 or wherever you get your podcasts.
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