The Shotgun Players Podcast

Wow. I just finished an inspiring conversation with Bay Area Theater royalty, the incomparable Margo Hall. As an actress, she had made her presence felt on every major Bay Area stage from the rough and tumble Intersection for the Arts in the Mission to the big houses at ACT, BRep, and Cal Shakes. She's taught and mentored hundreds of theatre artists and directed over two dozen plays. Perhaps more importantly, she has shown many emerging theater artists how hustle, hard work, and a big heart can cut a path to a gratifying and successful career. As you can imagine, Margo is a spectacular storyteller. She recounted adventures and anecdotes from her beginnings in Detroit, Michigan, to her first professional gigs at Arena Stage in DC, and on to her decision to pull up stakes and move to the Bay Area, which, fortunately for all of us, became her home. You're in for a real treat. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at the Shotgun Studios on Friday, May 1st. As always, your feedback and suggestions are welcome at patrick@shotgunplayers.org. https://www.margohall.com/

Let's Talk About Theatre will feature interviews with playwrights and other contributing artists of past and future shows. The interviews will be focused on shows from our upcoming 30th Anniversary Season as well as conversations about past programming. Tune in on YouTube or listen to the audio version right here! 'My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre' playwright Diana Oh appears live with director Mina Morita and TBA director-in-residence Leigh Rondon-Davis, recorded on June 10, 2021. A brutally candid, painful, and bitingly funny play about transparency, honesty, and repairing centuries of damage done in the American theatre industry. Oh's play embraces the power of naming and celebrates truth on a journey toward building a balanced relationship that is no longer oppressive, silencing, and damaging. Music is You Make Your Money Now, written and performed by Diana Oh and Matt Park!

Hanah talks with Brooke Jennings, designer of Arcadia, Vinegar Tom, Henry V, and assistant on Iron Shoes. Learn about helping actors find characters, why you should be kind to costume shop managers, how to make a fake pregnancy belly, and that one time Brooke threw together a whole Regency gown in 48 hours. To see some of Brooke's work at Shotgun, visit our show pages below: Iron Shoes (assisting designer Alina Bokovikova) Arcadia Vinegar Tom To support Shotgun, and our ability to keep paying artists in quarantine, visit www.shotgunplayers.org and click "Donate!" Intro music by Dave Malloy, davemalloy.com Outro music by Misner & Smith, misnerandsmith.com

Hanah talks with Sara Witsch (The Claim) and Elton Bradman (Kill Move Paradise) about their recent experiences designing radio plays in quarantine, missing their in-person theater collaborators, and their attempts to compose in harmony with the Ashby Stage air conditioner. If you haven't heard the The Claim yet, check it out here! For more of Elton's work, visit eltonsounds.com and Bass Magazine. For more of Sara's work, visit Sound Play Media. Also check out Sara's recommendation of Unseen, an audio comic with a blind heroine, for blind (and sighted) audiences. To support Shotgun, and our ability to keep paying artists in quarantine, visit www.shotgunplayers.org and click "Donate!" Intro music by Dave Malloy, davemalloy.com Outro music by Misner & Smith, misnerandsmith.com

Hanah talks Beth Wilmurt and Mark Jackson about what we carry forward from the past into the future, trying to stay in the present, and how theater may present more opportunities than basketball. To watch the video that inspired this podcast, check out Remember Theatre? It's not required for listening, but it is pretty damn charming. The full-length version of Mark and Beth's production of Kill the Debbie Downers! is also still available here! Please support Shotgun Players during our 2-week Sassafras fundraiser right now! Proceeds go to the "Shotgun stimulus" fund for our 2020 artists affected by the shutdown, and the folks creating online theater for you all to enjoy. Click here for Sassafras or visit www.shotgunplayers.org! Intro music by Dave Malloy, davemalloy.com Outro music by Misner & Smith, misnerandsmith.com

Hanah talks with Leigh Rondon-Davis about the joys and challenges of doing a million theater jobs, how they got started at Shotgun Players, and one particular night when all the lights went out at the Ashby Stage. For pics, including some never-before-seen from the 2016 "flashlight performance" of Caught, click here. Intro music by Dave Malloy, davemalloy.com Outro music by Misner & Smith, misnerandsmith.com To support Shotgun Players, visit shotgunplayers.org and click "Donate."

This week, Hanah is talking with Devon LaBelle about beets and bleach and consulting medical professionals - all part of producing blood effects on stage. Plus - find out exactly how the wedding turned bloody during our 2017 production of Black Rider. For pics and videos related to the podcast, click here. (Warning: contains graphic images of stage blood.) Finally, as promised, the beet-blood recipe: 1/4 cup powdered beets 2 Tablespoons xanthan gum 2 Quarts water Intro music by Dave Malloy, davemalloy.com Outro music by Misner & Smith, misnerandsmith.com To support Shotgun Players, visit shotgunplayers.org and click "donate."

Director of Production Hanah Zahner-Isenberg interviews scenic designer Randy Wong-Westbrooke about their approach to design, with special focus on The Flick, including where all those darn chairs came from. Click here to see behind-the-scenes photos from The Flick at Shotgun Players, as well as another of Randy's designs, The Daughters at SF Playhouse. To support our work, visit shotgunplayers.org and click "donate"! You can also send ideas and feedback to podcast@shotgunplayers.org. Editing by Hanah Zahner-Isenberg Music Credits: Intro - Dave Malloy, from Beowulf with Shotgun/Banana Bag and Bodice, http://davemalloy.com/ Outro - Misner & Smith, Poor Player, https://misnerandsmith.com/