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Johnnie Hobbs and Patricia Scott Hobbs talk about their experiences at the North Philadelphia institution which both served and shaped the city's African American community.
Director and Producer Joe Canuso sits down with us to talk about his life and career in Philly theater.
A conversation with Sara Garonzik, the Producing Artistic Director Emeritus of the Philadelphia Theatre Company.
Our interview with teacher, writer and director Robert Hedley - the former Chair of the Theater Departments of both Villanova and Temple Universities.
"Cato: A Tragedy" was a famous 18th Century play - supposedly the favorite play of George Washington himself! What connection did it have to the history of America - and to the theater history of Philadelphia?
The story of three small ambitious cutting-edge Philadelphia theater companies of the 1970s. Why did some survive - and some falter?
The Bicentennial Year of 1976 gave young and ambitious Philadelphia theater artists a boost in their careers - with jobs in "historical re-enactment" and patriotic storytelling.
An interview with the director, writer and artist Tom Bissinger, in which we talk about his work in the 1960s and 70s, including his all-too-brief term as the final Artistic Director of the Theatre of the Living Arts.
An interview with the director Mary B. Robinson, about the time she spent as the final Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Drama Guild.
Gregory Poggi successfully led the Philadelphia Drama Guild throughout the decade of the 1980s. He talked with us about his tussles with board members, battles with critics, fundraising triumphs and the growing audience support for professional nonprofit theater companies
The sudden success of the Drama Guild - a former amateur theater group transformed into a professional local powerhouse - finally fulfills the promise of giving Philadelphia a flagship nonprofit theater company.
January 1, 1800: Philadelphia's premiere theater company rang in the New Year with their production of the spectacular Romance entitled "Blue Beard, or Female Curiosity."
Three new Philadelphia theater complexes are built for the mid-century modern era - funded by wealthy philanthropists.
A re-edited, reduced and remixed account of the entire history of the Theatre of the Living Arts – the first major professional theater company in Philadelphia's modern era.
Our first episode of Season Four - introducing our plans and hopes for the upcoming year on the podcast!
Like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the body of John Barrymore would not stay still . . . one dark night it suddenly appeared in the Philadelphia.
An encore presentation of a chapter from Thomas Keels' "Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love."
We interview the late theater historian Barry Witham about his 2013 book "A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at the Hedgerow," and then bring listeners along on a guided tour of Hedgerow Theatre campus in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania.
An exciting announcement - Join the party, as we launch our new book!
This Encore episode of the podcast - first released as Episode 35 in our Season One - goes on a journey to the Paul Robeson House and Museum in Philadelphia.
In which we close out the Tryout Town story of Philadelphia theater - and we share a chapter of Peter's upcoming book!
Vinnette Carroll brought her gospel-themed musicals about African American culture through Philadelphia In the 1970s. We discuss this much-neglected important Black theater artist, in a conversation with Jerrell Henderson.
The continuation of to the story from our previous episode, we talk about the failures, successes - and sometimes the deaths of shows and performers of commercial tryout shows in Philly of the 1970s.
Many hopeful Broadway tryout shows came through Philadelphia during the 1960s. Some shows died in Philly - and some performers and audience members did too!