In this episode, we talk with playwright Ellen Abrams, whose work has been produced Off-Broadway at Urban Stages and whose plays have been published by Smith & Kraus and Next Stage Press. Her extensive body of work includes Spark of Life, Closing Time, Lizzie Borden Gets Engaged, Hamlet Investigations, Inc., Giving, and many others, spanning comedy, history, and stories inspired by real people and events.

We dive into her play Eleanor and Alice, which brings together two of the most influential women of the 20th century: Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt. First cousins, friends, rivals, and “frenemies,” the two women meet at eight pivotal moments throughout their complicated lives, debating and arguing over their husbands, children, politics, and the state of the world. Through their sharp exchanges, laughter, and disagreements, Eleanor and Alice explores the remarkable lives of two women who found themselves at the center of American history from very different vantage points.