Episode 479 - Bess Wohl

JOHN-ANDREW MORRISON -Tony Award Nomination, Lucille Lortel Award, and OBIE for A Strange Loop. Currently stars on Broadway in Oh, Mary. Off Broadway: Blues for an Alabama Sky (KEEN Company, Outer Critics Circle Honoree), The Blacks - A Clown Show, Caligula and Malvolio (Classical Theater of Harlem), Medea of the Laundromat (La MaMa and Lucille Lortel Theater with The Experimentals — for George Ferencz). Regional: 3 Summers of Lincoln (La Jolla Playhouse). BA from Brandeis University and MFA from UC San Diego. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bess Wohl is a playwright and filmmaker whose plays have been produced on and off Broadway, regionally, and internationally. Bess's plays include LIBERATION, GRAND HORIZONS (Broadway, Tony Nomination), CAMP SIEGFRIED, MAKE BELIEVE, CONTINUITY, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, AMERICAN HERO, TOUCHED, IN, CATS TALK BACK and the musical PRETTY FILTHY. Her plays have been recognized with a variety of awards and nominations, including the Drama Desk, Drama League, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics' Circle. She made her feature film debut with her film BABY RUBY, starring Noémie Merlant and Kit Harington, which she wrote and directed. The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures in 2023. She also is developing multiple television projects and wrote for the Apple TV+ series, “Extrapolations." Wohl is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s PlayGroup, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Recently, she made her West End debut with a sold out run of BARCELONA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jenn Harris is an award-winning writer, director, actor, and producer. She is currently starring in Oh, Mary! on Broadway.  Jenn originated the role of Clarice Starling in Silence! The Musical, won a Lortel and Theatre World award for her performance in Modern Orthodox, and was in the revival of All In The Timing. Film & TV credits: American Fiction (Oscar '24), "High Maintenance," “Elsbeth,” “Search Party," "30 Rock," "Gayby," "Difficult People," "Younger," "Bored to Death." She wrote, directed and starred in the short film She's Clean, her co-created series “NEW YORK IS DEAD” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Comedy at the New York Television Festival, and she co-directed the short "Island Queen" starring Rachel Dratch and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. She wrote My Name is Karen! and Snitch for Theaterworks Hartford. Jenn is also a member of the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Directing Shadow Program. @realjennharris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Award-winning, best-selling author Adam Gopnik has been a writer for The New Yorker since 1986 – covering fiction, humor, criticism, art, book reviews, personal essays, profiles, and reported pieces from abroad. He has written nine books, ranging from essay collections about Paris and food, to children’s novels, as well as several musicals and theater pieces. Gopnik has won three National Magazine Awards, for essays and for criticism, and the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting. In 2021 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur, and this year was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Letters.  He lectures widely, and, in 2011, delivered the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s fiftieth-anniversary Massey Lecture. For the theater, Gopnik wrote the book and lyrics for the musical comedy Our Table, with composer David Shire; the libretto for the oratorio Sentences, with Nico Muhly; and is currently working on several new projects for the stage. Projects in development include: a new musical, Fairy Tale, with Andrew Lippa, developed alongside Nicholas Hytner; a new musical with Marcy Heisler for the Central Park Conservancy; and a new collaboration with Shire that tells the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine, called Troubadour. Adam Gopnik’s New York, his autobiographical solo show, returns to NYC this month (October, 2025) at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Hamilton has worked as an actor since he was a teenager in NYC. On stage, he’s been in the original productions of Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery and The Medieval Play, on Broadway in Proof, The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia and Dead Accounts. Off-Broadway includes Annie Baker’s The Antipodes, Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Things We Want, HurlyBurly(Drama Desk nom), Scene Partners, Lie of the Mind, The Cider House Rules, Reasons to be Happy, Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters(CSC), The Bridge Project(BAM/Old Vic) and Wallace Shawn’s Evening at the Talkhouse(National Theater). His film work has included Reality, 8th Grade(Indie Spirit nom), Maestro, Manchester by the Sea, Blaze, Landscape with Invisible Hand, Away We Go, Outsourced, Kicking and Screaming, The House of Yes, Alive. And on TV in The Walking Dead, 13 Reasons Why, The Last Thing He Told Me, Mrs. Fletcher, At Home with Amy Sedaris, Louie, Accused, and Ray Donovan. He can be seen in the upcoming The Long Walk, Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Concessions, Mayday(Apple), Something Very Bad is Going to Happen(Netflix), The Last Thing He Told Me season 2(Apple) and The Five Star Weekend(Peacock). And on stage in Wallace Shawn’s new play “What We Did Before Our Moth Days” directed by Andre Gregory at the Greenwich House Theater in early 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kenneth Cole is an American designer and social activist who believes that business and philanthropy are interdependent. His company, Kenneth Cole Productions, creates modern footwear, clothing, and accessories that are distributed worldwide. Kenneth’s commitment to public health initiatives goes back decades. He has been one of the leading and loudest voices in the global response to HIV and AIDS for more than 30 years. Kenneth joined amfAR’s board of directors in 1987 and assumed its chairmanship in 2004. Under his leadership of 14 years, amfAR was instrumental in significant breakthroughs in HIV and AIDS research, treatment, and helping to designate the disease. Since 2016, Kenneth has also been a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador using his passion, insights, and vast experience to help end the public health crisis. Dori Berinstein is a six-time Tony-winning Broadway producer and an Emmy-award-winning director/producer. As a filmmaker, Dori’s work includes:Dori’s award-winning documentary work includes: “A Man with Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole”, “ShowBusiness: The Road To Broadway” (IDA Finalist), “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life” (NYT – Favorite Films of the Century) “Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love” (Emmy Award) and “Gotta Dance”. Dori is Executive Producer of Isaac Mizrahi’s “Unzipped”, “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” and producer of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix film “The Prom”, adapted from Dori’s Broadway Musical (Golden Globe Nominee).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Zayas is best known for his role as Angel Batista on the award-winning series Dexter and Dexter: Resurrection. Other television work includes OZ (HBO), Shut Eye (Hulu), Gotham (Fox), Bloodline (Netflix), Blue Bloods (CBS), FBI (CBS), Pose (F/X), and Next (Fox) among others. He has appeared in the films The Interpreter, 16 Blocks, Michael Clayton, The Expendables, Ride, Tallulah, Shine, Annie, Body Cam, Force of Nature, and R#J. David began his acting career with LAByrinth Theater Company in 1992. Productions include In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, Jesus Hopped the A Train, and Our Lady of 121st Street all written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. His latest projects include Devil of Choice by Maggie Diaz Bofill and Divine Horseman written and directed by Paul Calderon. On Broadway, he appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-w inning Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz and directed by Emily Mann. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicola Kraus co-authored The Nanny Diaries, which became an international #1 best-seller selling over 6 million copies in 32 languages and inspiring the movie starring Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti and Alicia Keys.  In addition to co-authoring 9 more novels, Nicola has contributed to The London Times, The New York Times, Redbook, Glamour, and Town & Country. In 2015 she co-founded the creative consulting firm The Finished Thought, which helps the next generation of aspiring authors find their voice and audience.  The Best We Could Hope For is her first solo novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kadia Saraf stars as Detective Claudette Wallace in Showtime and Paramount+’s Dexter: Resurrection and has also appeared as U.S. Attorney Anya Avital in Law & Order: SVU. Her additional credits include The Better Sister, Blue Bloods, FBI: International, and The Good Fight. Fluent in four languages and conversant in ASL, Kadia is also a martial artist and amateur boxer. She volunteers at the Animal Care Center, fostering and caring for cats and neonatal kittens. Dominic Fumusa currently plays “Detective Melvin Oliva” on the hit Paramount / Showtime series “Dexter: Resurrection.” Fumusa is best known for playing "Kevin Peyton" opposite Edie Falco on Showtime's acclaimed show "Nurse Jackie" which ran for seven seasons from 2009-2015.  Fumusa's film work includes playing the real life hero John "Tig" Tiegen in "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" directed by Michael Bay.  Fumusa appeared opposite Will Smith and Margot Robbie in the romantic comedy "Focus."  Other film work includes "The Report," "Allegiance," "Helena from the Wedding," "Management" and "Little New York."  Fumusa plays opposite Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman on Apple TV's "Echo 3" written and directed by Mark Boal.   Additional television work includes major season-long arcs on "Homeland," "Godfather of Harlem," "Divorce," "Goliath," and "The Purge," as well as guest starring roles on "Damages," "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos," and many others. Fumusa's extensive stage experience includes originating roles in the New York premieres of Sarah Ruhl's plays "Stage Kiss" and "Passion Play", Richard Greenberg's Tony Award winning "Take Me Out" (NY and London), Melissa James Gibson's Obie Award winning "[sic]" and Stephen Belber's plays "The Power of Duff," "Fault Lines," and "Tape" (NY, London and Los Angeles).  His Broadway debut came in the 1998 revival of "Wait Until Dark" opposite Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino.  Select regional theater credits include numerous plays at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Stratford Festival in Canada, the Huntington Theater in Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Humana Festival at the Actors Theater of Louisville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marisha recently starred as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway and in London. Also on the west end she starred as Miss Adelaide in the smash-hit revival of Guys and Dolls, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also received critical acclaim and an Oliver nomination for her performance as Ado Annie in the groundbreaking production of Oklahoma! At the Young Vic. Her extensive stage credits include performing for His Majesty the King, starring as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray at the London Coliseum, originating the role of Becky in the West End production of Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, and making her West End debut as Effie White in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre. Her albums include Soul Holiday, Tomorrow and Live in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices