• S6 Ep7: "Why We're Not a Union"/ Ralph Sevush
    2025/12/01
    Welcome to our final episode of Season 6. We’ve had so many conversations this season about how writers get paid – or not. So in this episode, Christine talks to the Guild’s Executive Director of Business Affairs, Ralph Sevush, to clarify some questions that have come up and to give us his expert perspective. Ralph has been at the Guild for 28 years and has been instrumental in initiating and carrying through so much of the vital work the Guild has been doing. The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 分
  • S6 Ep6: "Saying No" or "It's Time to Talk About Money - part 2"/Amanda Green and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
    2025/11/24
    In part 2 of Christine's conversation with Amanda Green and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, they continue to dish the dish on demystifying compensation, holding on to inspiration, and more. Amanda Green is a 2-time Tony nominated, Grammy nominated lyricist and composer, and the first female President of the Dramatists Guild. Her Broadway shows include “Mr. Saturday Night”, “Hands on a Hard Body”, “Bring it On”, and “High Fidelity”. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Pulitzer Prize, 2-time Tony award winning playwright and Vice President of the Dramatists Guild. His plays include "Purpose", "Appropriate", "The Comeuppance", and "An Octoroon". The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 分
  • S6 Ep 5: "Not Just Paying it Backwards"/David Henry Hwang
    2025/11/17
    Christine talks to another fellow Guild Council member and pioneer, David Henry Hwang. In this episode they discuss how naming some of his characters after himself changed David's perspective on telling his own story, breaking the cycle of Asian Americans portrayed as “perpetual foreigners” on Broadway, writing for ourselves, and how the Guild is fighting for us. Playwright, librettist and screenwriter David Henry Hwang is a Tony Award winner and four-time nominee, Grammy Award winner and two-time nominee, and three-time Pulitzer finalist His award-winning works include: YELLOW FACE, M. BUTTERFLY, AIDA, SOFT POWER, and the opera AINADAMAR. *Note: You can watch the filmed version of the Roundabout's Broadway production of YELLOW FACE at pbs.org The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    39 分
  • S6 Ep 4: "The Work Never Disappears"/Kristoffer Diaz
    2025/11/10
    In this episode, Christine sits down with another one of her fellow Guild officers, Kristoffer Diaz, to talk about what it takes for a theatre writer to make a living, some of the nitty gritty on how writers get paid on Broadway, and keeping grounded in spite of the unpredictable nature of the theatre. Kristoffer Diaz is an associate professor at New York University, Pulitzer finalist for “the elaborate entrance of Chad deity”, Tony nominee for Hell’s Kitchen, which kicked off its first national tour in the fall of 2025, and Secretary of the DG. The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    55 分
  • S6 Ep3: "I'm Not Stopping!"/ Gretchen Cryer
    2025/11/03
    In this episode, Christine talks with ground-breaking pioneer and fellow Dramatists Guild Council member Gretchen Cryer about longevity in the field, how development of new musicals has changed over her decades long career, and how she keeps going! Gretchen Cryer has been breaking barriers since she and Nancy Ford began writing musicals together in the late 1960s, becoming the first female composer-lyricist team produced on New York City stages, perhaps best known for “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road”. She’s one of the Dramatists Guild’s longest serving Council members and is President emeritus of the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Gretchen is currently writing a show with her granddaughter Gracie Hyland, called “House on Fire”. Note: for the answer to the question Christine and Gretchen ask about what role writers take when asked to raise enhancement money for productions at non-profit theaters, come back for the answer in episode 7! The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 分
  • S6 Ep2: "This is the Time to Build" / Lloyd Suh
    2025/10/27
    In this episode, host Christine Toy Johnson talks to award-winning playwright Lloyd Suh about his “speculative future” plays, uplifting other writers through service, and the shift in new play development. Lloyd Suh’s works include The Chinese Lady, The Heart Sellers and the Pulitzer finalist The Far Country. He teaches playwriting at Princeton University and serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild. The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 分
  • S6 Ep 1: "It's Time to Talk About Money - part 1" / Amanda Green and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
    2025/10/20
    We're back! This season is all about "Reinvention". With so much change going on in our industry and our country, host Christine Toy Johnson wanted to sit down with some of her fellow writers who also serve on the Dramatists Guild Council, and ask them about the many ways they are thriving and writing in and about this moment we’re in. In this 2-part episode, Christine spends time with 2 of her fellow officers, Amanda Green and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, for some real talk about how writers get paid (or not), remembering what we offer to the field, advice about renewing our approach to marketing, and how we’re aiming to reawaken to the power of being together in community at the Guild. *Note: when Amanda and Branden refer to "minimums" being paid to writers on Broadway, they are referring to what's known as "minimum weekly guarantees"; a fee that's been stipulated in our Approved Production Contracts to be (guaranteed to be) earned once the show begins performances. Amanda Green is a 2-time Tony nominated, Grammy nominated, multiple-award winning lyricist, composer and the first female President of the Dramatists Guild. Her Broadway shows include “Mr. Saturday Night”, “Hands on a Hard Body”, “Bring it On”, and “High Fidelity”. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Pulitzer Prize and 2-time Tony award winning playwright and Vice President of the Dramatists Guild. He’s also the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant and too many other accolades to list in one episode! The Dramatists Guild of America is the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, whose mission is to protect the economic, legal, and creative interests of professional writers in the American Theater. Visit www.dramatistsguild.com to learn more. This podcast is supported by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists at all stages of their careers through educational programs; awards, grants, and stipends; free space to create new works; and emergency aid to writers in need of immediate support. DGF is a 2024 recipient of a Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow. Visit www.dgf.org or follow @DGFound to learn more about DGF's grants and programs or ways to donate. Talkback is executive produced by Christine Toy Johnson and edited and recorded by Bruce Johnson. Our theme music is by Andrea Daly. Distributed by the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    51 分
  • Special Episode! Danny Burstein at BroadwayCon
    2023/12/11
    We're giving you a special gift for the holidays. A never before released live episode that we did at BroadwayCon in New York City in July of 2023. I had the great joy of sitting down with my longtime pal and colleague, Danny Burstein. Danny is a treasured and prolific actor on film, television, and Broadway. He's been in 19 Broadway shows, with the latest being Pictures from Home by Char White. Which he was starring in at the time of this recording. In this special episode, Danny and I talk about how his career as an artist intersects with his passion for activism. He also shares lots of stories from behind the scenes of some of his most famous roles. In the fifth season of The Dramatists Guild Presents: Talkback, we examine how we can expand the canon and challenge the status quo. How can we be intentional in the ways that we make space for diverse, and inclusive stories, while also reimagining the often produced ones, so that the American landscape of storytelling is truly reflective of the gorgeous tapestry of people who inhabit it? Talkback was produced by Amy VonMacek and Christine Toy Johnson, with postproduction by John Marshall Media. The music is composed by Andrea Daly. Talkback is a production of the Dramatists Guild of America and is distributed by The Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    46 分