When Lightning Strikes!
Broadway’s top talents reveal their lightning bolt moments that set them on the course of their dreams. When Lightning Strikes! Is hosted by Forbes.com and Parade.com contributor Jeryl Brunner.
All Episodes
#88 - The Monsters cast and creative team
Writer/director Ngozi Anyanwu says that her play The Monsters is “a love letter to strong bodies, soft hearts.” Now playing at Manhattan Theatre Club, this intimate production is also a riveting sibling love story about what it takes to reconnect, forgive, and truly confront your inner demons.
#87 - Andréa Burns
Andréa Burns is a beloved Broadway star whose many credits include In the Heights, The Notebook, On Your Feet!, Dear World, The Light in the Piazza, Songs for a New World, West Side Story, and more. She is currently starring as Diane in Come from Away at Paper Mill Playhouse.
#86 - Heather Christie
Heather Christie created and hosts LoveNotes! The storytelling event also inspired Heather's popular book of the same name. LoveNotes! mines all kinds of love stories, including first love, last love and all the messy love in-between.
#85 - Linus Karp and Joseph Martin
Linus Karp and Joseph Martin are actors, writers, and theater makers. They created Awkward Productions to bring ridiculous genre-mixing comedy, niche pop culture references, audience participation, and queer joy to the stage.
#84 - Samuel D. Hunter
Samuel D. Hunter is a playwright and screenwriter whose work includes the critically acclaimed play The Whale and its Oscar-winning film adaptation. This past fall he made his West End debut with Clarkston, and he is currently making his Broadway debut with Little Bear Ridge Road at the Booth Theatre.
#83 - Crystal Skillman
Crystal Skillman is an award-winning dramatist. Her play Open, which was awarded a New York Times Critics’ Pick, has been running Off-Broadway at WP Theater through July. Her next play, The Rocket Men, is about to receive a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere across the country.
#82 - Jak Malone
Jak Malone co-stars in the hit new musical, Operation Mincemeat, which is nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and a nomination for Jak. He also received Oliver, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for his show-stopping performance as Hester Leggatt and other characters.
#81 - Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and co-stars in A Real Pain. In the film two mismatched cousins embark on a Holocaust tour through Poland to understand the history of their late grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor.
#80 - Susan Jaffe
Susan Jaffe is the artistic director of American Ballet Theater. Called “America’s quintessential American ballerina," and “born to dance,” by the New York Times, Susan was a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre. She performed on stages around the world for 22 years.
#79 - Jenny Lyn Bader
Jenny Lyn Bader is a prolific playwright whose stage plays include None of the Above, Equally Divine: The Real Story of the Mona Lisa, In Flight, and The Whole Megillah. She also wrote the audio works Tree Confessions and Communal Table. Jenny Lyn's play, Mrs.
#78 - Daniel Roy
Daniel Roy is a magician and mentalist who has headlined at the Hollywood Magic Castle, appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and performed throughout the country. In his latest show, The Parlour of Deceptions, he intertwines sleight-of-hand, misdirection, and storytelling before an intimate crowd of 50 guests.
#77 - Shanda Sawyer
Shanda Sawyer is a prolific director, choreographer and executive producer. She has directed shows for Marvel, FOX, ABC, Disney, and Comedy Central. Her work has garnered many awards, including two Emmys, a Gracie and a Peabody.
#76 - Rachel Routh and Andrew Lippa
The Dramatists Guild Foundation or DGF is a nonprofit devoted to American theater. For more than six decades they have supported writers at all stages of their careers. DGF offers grants, free spaces to create new works and emergency aid for immediate support.
#75 - April Ortiz
April Ortiz is a prolific actress who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway in film and television. She currently stars in the musical Empire at New World Stages.
#74 - Matthew August Jeffers
Matthew August Jeffers currently stars in An Enemy of the People now playing at Circle In the Square Theatre. A prolific actor, some of his other credits include Richard III at the Delacorte Theater, the film Unidentified Objects and the TV shows New Amsterdam, The Marvelous Mrs.
#73 - Bobby Conte
Bobby Conte currently plays Cousin Kevin in The Who’s Tommy on Broadway. Some of his other theater credits include Company, A Bronx Tale, My Fair Lady, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Starting Here, Starting Now and A Comedy of Tenors.
#72 - Lee Sunday Evans
A two-time Obie Award-winning director and choreographer, Lee Sunday Evans is the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She recently directed The Poisoner, currently playing at La MaMa.
#71 - Brian d'Arcy James
In this episode When Lightning Strikes! goes on location to the theater at Studio 54. Jeryl Brunner talks to Brian d’Arcy James who currently stars in Days of Wine and Roses with Kelli O'Hara. Adapted from the 1962 film and original 1958 teleplay by J.P.
#70 - Patrick Page
A Broadway and off-Broadway veteran who has starred in dozens of productions, Patrick Page is currently performing in the hit play All the Devils Are Here at the DR2 Theatre. Directed by Simon Godwin, this riveting show explores Shakespeare's most fascinating villains.
#69 - Sheryl Kaller and Sean Daniels
Sean Daniels and Sheryl Kaller are some of the forces behind The White Chip, the hit autobiographical comedy currently playing at MCC Theater. Daniels, who wrote the White Chip, is a prolific theatermaker who leads The Recovery Project for Florida Studio Theatre.
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