The Dramatists Guild Presents: TALKBACK
ABOUT
We’ve seen the stats. We’ve read the think pieces. Now we’re ready to TALKBACK.
TALKBACK is the podcast for every dramatist or theater fan who wants, but maybe hasn’t seen, the inclusiveness we all imagined. TALKBACK entertains frank conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. We ask the tough questions and don’t have all the answers but dig into dialogue that’s vital and messy and real. Join host Christine Toy Johnson and her industry colleagues from the pulse of the American theatre on TALKBACK. Look for new episodes every Monday through the end of November. Join the conversation on twitter using #DGTalkBack
Episodes

#6 – Thumbs or Tomatoes- Theater Criticism in the 21st Century
In our final episode of the season playwright Leah Nanako Winkler tells Christine about a 3Views, a new initiative to invite more voices into theater criticism ...

#5 – It’s the Most Traditional Thing You Can Do – On Diverse and Inclusive Casting
In this flashback to summer episode of TALKBACK, host Christine Toy Johnson welcomes playwright Kristoffer Diaz to talk about his work on the musical Hercules at the Public Theater just before it premiered in New York City and addresses presentation through the lens of wrestling in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad ...

#4 – The Numbers Don’t Really Lie – On Why We Count, and Why it Matters
This week, host Christine Toy Johnson leads TALKBACK on a journey to understand why representation, or the lack of it, has real and lasting impact on actors and audiences alike. Mandy Gonzalez shares her personal journey from seeking herself in others onstage to becoming a role model for ...

#3 – If We Don’t Ask, They Don’t Give – On Collaborating with a Marketing Department
No marketing means no audience… but how *do* you talk to the Marketing Department? Christine Toy Johnson sits down with actor/playwright Charlayne Woodard, playwright Lydia Diamond, producer Garlia Cornelia Jones, and marketing director Caitlin Baird for a lively discussion on how artists can get the marketing support their ...

#2 – You Have to Be Willing to do the Work-Writing Outside Your Lived Experience
In our second episode The Dramatist Presents: TALKBACK Host, Christine Toy Johnson sits down with novelist and playwright Kia Corthron (The Castle Cross The Magnet Carter, A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick) to talk about what it was like to write Tap The Leopard, a play ...

#1 – It’s Not My Story It’s Yours: Appropriation vs. Appreciation
In its inaugural episode, The Dramatist Presents: TALKBACK looks at the line between appreciating a culture and wanting to explore it in art and appropriating a culture for art and profit. At the top, host Christine Toy Johnson (The New Deal, The Wisdom of Trees) sits down with Sicangu Lakota playwright Larissa FastHorse to talk ...