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Actress, director and educator Penelope Reed sits down for an interview with us, and shares fascinating memories of her long career in Philadelphia area theater. In particular she discusses her lifelong involvement and eventu...
[Note: This is a repeat of our Episode 12, first released in June 2021] Fires were a real danger in 19th Century theater, and some Philadelphia theaters were burned down and rebuilt multiple times. Inevitably, in some of thes...
First released as Episode 10 in May of 2021, we bring out this great story once again! You can find illustrations and additional information about the events we describe here, on our webpage: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/...
The the final episode of our story about the Theatre of the Living Arts. While exciting work continues to happen on South Street, opposition to Andre Gregory's artistic leadership rises, and eventually matters come to a head ...
Our story continues, with productions of the '65-'66 second season of Philadelphia's first scrappy non-profit resident theater company - at its home on South Street. Visit our website to find a blog post with mages about the ...
Announcements, Corrections, Answers to questions from our listeners - and some exciting personal news! (The episode image is of the frontage of the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, ca. 1820. From Charles Durang's Hist...
The founding of Philadelphia's first major resident theater company: The Theatre of the Living Arts. As the 1960s begin, the fortunes of the Quaker City - and its theater - are flagging. Even the longtime supply of Broadway ...
Would Sunday in New York perform on Saturday in Philadelphia? Were the "riffraff and lowlifes" of Brecht's Threepenny Opera suitable for its Playhouse in the Park? Could the first publicly funded and owned city theater in the...
An interview with the Producing Artistic Director of the historic Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Bernard Havard. Visit our website for a blog post with photos of our tour, including many of the items we discuss in the...
During the Great Depression years of the 1930s, some touring Broadway shows got into trouble in Philadelphia. "The People's Mayor" S. Davis Wilson had his limits when it came to what he would allow in the city's theaters. Thi...
In the 1920s, Philadelphia theater censorship controversies were usually about what women were wearing - or rather were NOT wearing - on the city's stages. A great cast of historical characters in this episode, set during the...
In 1911, actress Sarah Bernhardt's production of La Samaritaine met with fervent opposition from Philadelphia clergymen. In 1912, the Irish Players' production of Playboy of the Western World caused yet another Philly audienc...
The last installment of the saga of Oscar Hammerstein in the "Opera Wars" - and the grand Philadelphia theater he left behind, when the war was over. We also meet the New York banker Otto Kahn - the power behind …
February 1909: The opera "Salome" at Oscar Hammerstein's new Philadelphia Opera House needed to be stopped, as a matter of public decency, declared hundreds of clergymen and civic leaders. Meanwhile, the impresario himself wa...
November 17, 1908 : The magnificent new theater in North Philadelphia was ready for its first opera! It was "as if some master magician's wand had called it into being," wrote one admiring journalist. Everyone in the city, es...
1906: A coalition of African American men attempt to stop Thomas Dixon Jr.'s play The Clansman from being performed in Philadelphia. After leading a public protest in front of the Walnut Street Theatre, the whole matter ends ...
Seven short and light vignettes from the history of Philadelphia Theater - all of which took place in the city during the Holidays, from various theatrical seasons over the past 150 years. A gift to all of you listeners and …
We continue our story about Thomas Dixon Jr. and his 1905 play The Clansman with an examination of the early life of this formidable man. We learn the root causes of his political obsessions - and about his need to …
We begin the harrowing and alarming story of "The Clansman," in Philadelphia. Although this play by the author Thomas W. Dixon is know as the progenitor to the 1915 D.W. Griffith film "Birth of the Nation," few are aware of …
A re-broadcast of an episode originally released in November of 2021. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, an exploration of performances by Indigenous People in theaters of the City of Philadelphia in the 19th Century...
The mob is gathering in the street outside the Chestnut Street Theatre, while inside the rehearsals for the scandalous play The Quaker City go on! The thrilling conclusion of our three part series! Will it all end in a deadly...
George Lippard's novel "The Quaker City, or the Monk's of Monk Hall" is made into a new play. The excitement about it builds in Philadelphia, just as the national election of 1844 roils the city. We learn more about the …
The theater of Philadelphia was being staged during the roiling years of the 1840s. Bankruptcies, riots, labor unrest, growing religious fervor and racial tensions, rising crime (and public perception of crime due to increasi...
A quick announcement about our upcoming season of new episodes . . . For an exciting season about Philadelphia's "Theatre History" or "Theater History" - however, you spell it, this is the place. Spoiler Alert: There will be ...