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Artwork for James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight

James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight

James Elden
Playwriting
Los Angeles
Musical Theatre
Latino Theatre Company
June Jordan
Hey Morgan
Madlab
Parallel Process
New York City
Immersive Theatre
Theatre
Crux
The Best Medicine
The Shot
Kinderkrankenhaus
Poetry For the People
The June Jordan Experience
Wildclaw Theatre
Artificial Intelligence
Theatre Roulette

Playwright Spotlight features a new playwright every episode to discuss the tools of the trade and solutions to the obstacles we face as writers in hopes of making us all better and more successful playwrights.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes141Founded5 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
Performing ArtsArtsEducation

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Artwork for James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight

Latest Episodes

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Joy Gregory is a Peabody Award winner and three-time Humanitas nominee. She is a founding ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company Her first play, All Souls Day, was produced with Lookingglass in 1992, followed by dreamin... more

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Jesi Bender is playwright, novelist, and poet from Upstate New York. She is the author of the novels Child of Light and The Book of the Last Word, and the poetry collection Dangerous Women. Her plays include Kinderkrankenhaus and Cr... more

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Robin Gerber is a playwright and best selling author. Her first play, The Shot, was selected for the 2017 Ojai Playwright’s Conference and is currently being produced around the country starring Sharon Lawrence. She served as commit... more

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Ben Steinfeld is a playwright, director, teacher, musician, and co-artistic director of Fiasco Theater. He wrote the family musical Twelve Kinds of Ice (book/music/lyrics) and the book for the new musical Diamond Alice and holds awa... more

YouTube

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Recent Guests

Jesi Bender
Playwright, novelist, poet and librarian from Upstate New York
Episode: Symbolic Commentary, Unexpected Humor, and Executing Stage Directions - Playwright's Spotlight with Jesi Bender
Robin Gerber
Playwright, bestselling author, leadership speaker, and former lawyer and lobbyist
Episode: Honesty, Loyalty, and Writing What You're Afraid Of - Playwright's Spotlight with Robin Gerber
Ben Steinfeld
Playwright, director, teacher, musician and co-artistic director of Fiasco Theater
Fiasco Theater
Episode: Audience Focus, The Room We Are In, and Big Maps and Little Maps - Playwright's Spotlight with Ben Steinfeld
Kevin Allen Jackson
Playwright and producer
Nurture in Nature
Episode: Taking the Leap, Achieving Audience Expectations, and Non-Traditional Spaces - Playwright's Spotlight with Kristine Dickson and Kevin Allen Jackson
Kristine Dickson
Playwright and producer
Nurture in Nature
Episode: Taking the Leap, Achieving Audience Expectations, and Non-Traditional Spaces - Playwright's Spotlight with Kristine Dickson and Kevin Allen Jackson
Douglas Goodhart
Actor, comedian, musician, co-founder and writer for Uncle Function; creator of Master It! the Musical
Self-employed / Uncle Function / The Master It! project
Episode: Breaking Rules, The Rhythm of Comedy, and Mastering It! - Playwright's Spotlight with Douglas Goodhart
Greg Banks
Actor, writer and director
Theatre/Playwriting
Episode: Linguistics, Sam and Frodo, and Lessons in Storytelling - Spotlight with Greg Banks
Keith Szarabajka
Playwright and performer with work in stage, audio books, video games, film, radio, and TV
A Few Thoughts Theater Company / ESTLA affiliations mentioned
Episode: Readings and Funding, Serial Stage Plays, and Weaving in Outside Influences - Playwright's Spotlight with Keith Szarabajka
Cameron Scott
Playwright and guest on the show
Theatre/Playwright
Episode: Finding the Arc, Unconventional Stage Directions, and Successful Marketing and Pitches - Playwright's Spotlight with Cameron Scott (Part 2 - In Person)

Host

James Elden
Host of Playwrights Spotlight; guides interviews with playwrights and theatre makers.

Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars from 24 ratings
  • So good!

    The guests provide so much important information and advice about playwriting that it feels as if I were taking a course instead of listening to a podcast.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Wisecow
    United States3 years ago
  • Helpful and Interesting

    Even when I find myself disagreeing with someone being interviewed, it gets me thinking and learning! Finally a podcast that isn’t all about the host’s personality! Good questions and great discussions.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    TrumanO
    Norway3 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Guests provide actionable craft advice that translates well to real-world production.
Questions balance theory with practical production realities, which listeners appreciate.
The format avoids host-centric monologues and keeps discussions outcome-focused.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#156
United States/Arts/Performing Arts
Apple Podcasts
#25
Finland/Arts/Performing Arts
Apple Podcasts
#112
India/Arts/Performing Arts
Apple Podcasts
#197
Finland/Arts
Apple Podcasts
#218
Switzerland/Arts/Performing Arts

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Honesty, Loyalty, and Writing What You're Afraid Of - Playwright's Spotlight with Robin Gerber
Q: How did The Best Medicine come about?
While caring for her husband as his Parkinson's disease progressed, Gerber felt she was losing her joy. She joined a comedy class and used her frustration with caregiving in a routine, which resonated with strangers. Researching caregivers' experiences inspired her to develop the routine into a comedy about caregiving.
Honesty, Loyalty, and Writing What You're Afraid Of - Playwright's Spotlight with Robin Gerber
Q: What was the shift into playwriting?
After years as a lawyer and lobbyist, Gerber began creative writing, wrote for newspapers and magazines, and published books. While researching Katherine Graham, she wanted to write a screenplay about Graham's domestic abuse, but her manager suggested she try a play instead. Gerber wrote The Shot, her first play.
Symbolic Commentary, Unexpected Humor, and Executing Stage Directions - Playwright's Spotlight with Jesi Bender
Q: So when you go through that and after you've done your research, then what's your next step? What's the process once you've nailed down the elements?
Bender gathers visual notes into categories and puzzles them together into a story. She prioritizes emotional drive and language over plot, then revises repeatedly to shape rhythm, sound and cadence.
Symbolic Commentary, Unexpected Humor, and Executing Stage Directions - Playwright's Spotlight with Jesi Bender
Q: It was definitely, was the concept originally for it to be nonverbal actors?
Bender said she struggled to write a fully nonverbal play because her novelist background led to too much description. The finished version retained nonverbal or minimally verbal characters but changed substantially after dialogue was added.
Audience Focus, The Room We Are In, and Big Maps and Little Maps - Playwright's Spotlight with Ben Steinfeld
Q: Why choose a musical adaptation for Twelve Kinds of Ice and what was your writing process like?
The musical form was chosen to leverage imagery and poetry, with a two-actor framing that allows an adult to guide a child through memories; the process involved careful integration of narration, songs, and stagecraft to keep the piece intimate yet expansive.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight

What is James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A show built around deep dives with a rotating roster of playwrights and theatre-makers, focusing on craft, process, and practical paths to getting work produced. Episodes mix hands-on guidance—dialogue, structure, scene-building, site-specific storytelling, and collaboration with directors and venues—with behind-the-scenes realities of running theatres, developing apps for writers, and navigating funding and production. A notable through-line is how guests adapt traditional playwriting skills to innovative formats (immersive, site-specific, multi-media) and how relationships with venues, companies, and collaborators shape opportunities for emerging writers. The format tends to surface candid career anecdotes, actionable tips for submission... more

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These podcasts share a similar audience with James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight:

1. The Playwriting Podcast
2. Playwriting Real-life
3. Playwright's Process Podcast
4. Unlimited Playwriting
5. Scriptnotes Podcast

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James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight launched 5 years ago and published 141 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight?

Recent guests on James Elden's Playwright's Spotlight include:

1. Jesi Bender
2. Robin Gerber
3. Ben Steinfeld
4. Kevin Allen Jackson
5. Kristine Dickson
6. Douglas Goodhart
7. Greg Banks
8. Keith Szarabajka

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