Thesis on Joan is a podcast dedicated to amplifying voices from the LGBTQ+ community in the New York performing arts scene and examining the industry from a queer perspective! Join fanqueers and theatre professionals Harrow (they/them) and Meghan (she/her) as they sit down with groundbreaking theatre folx, from Brooklyn cabaret performers to people backstage and on Broadway. For many queers, theatre has been an escape, this podcast looks to have open conversations on where we’ve come from an ...
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#4.6 Queer the Tonys with Harrow and Meghan
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Hosts Harrow and Meghan share Tony reactions, queer recommendations and Summer plans. We talk Ruthie Ann Miles’ spit takes, the Tony as a marketing tool, our love of Ariana Debose (host everything!), the Tony’s response to the writer’s strike, the Tonys continuing to sideline the creative awards, disappointments and celebrations of the big night, t…
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#4.5 Meghan & Harrow Return to the Shubert
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Hosts Harrow and Meghan discuss Some Like It Hot and White Girl in Danger. Hear the response from Meghan on the representation(s) of her namesake (but not her spelling) and thoughts on how queerness, gender, race, and identity are represented in these two very different productions. It’s also time for Pride and there are many queer festivals, shows…
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#4.4 Summoning Magic with Daniel K. Isaac
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Daniel K. Isaac, star of stage and (TV) screen joins hosts Harrow & Meghan for an in-depth discussion of his theatrical work, particularly his play Once Upon a (Korean) Time and his role in Noah Diaz’s You Will Get Sick. We fanqueer over Ryan Haddad’s Dark Disabled Stories and learn about the inspiration and research behind Daniel’s work (including…
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow have a spoiler-full discussion of Fat Ham by James Ijames, directed by Saheem Ali and Dark Disabled Stories by Ryan J. Haddad, directed by Jordan Fein. Hear how their New Year’s resolutions and intentions are going, their queer theatre character fanfic dreams, what queer-ish shows they hope to see next, how to support the NY…
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#4.2 Every Crayon in the Box with Justin David Sullivan
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Justin David Sullivan, currently starring as May in & Juliet on Broadway, brings a burst of queer joy to the podcast. Hosts Harrow and Meghan talk with Justin about the representation that has inspired her, crayons and our type A personalities, what drives them to continue to advocate for inclusivity and representation on stage and how they landed …
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Season four kicks off with artist, activist, cultural worker, and Pisces, Sara Porkalob (she/they)! Sara and hosts Harrow (they/them) and Meghan (she/her) get pumped for Dragon Cycle, Sara’s trilogy of musical plays about her family (and the queer upbringing of our dreams), manifesting the next role in their villain arc, queerness as performance, m…
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#3.12 & Juliet, You Will Get Sick and 2023 Resolutions
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Harrow and Meghan wrap up the season with a show catch-up, a reflection on the last year, and theatrical resolutions for 2023. Hosts discuss the millennial bait of & Juliet and how it measures up to other jukebox musicals, our love of Betsy Wolfe, and what worked and didn’t work for us in this star-crossed lovers tale with new queer characters. Hos…
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#3.11 Cool, Cool, Considerate Queers
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow discuss a new round of queer theatre including the Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival readings of TRANS WORLD by Ty Defoe, Hide and Hide by Roger Q. Mason, and Overheard directed by L Morgan Lee, as well as Where the Mountain Meets the Sea by Jeff Augustin and I Wanna F*ck Like Romeo and Juliet by Andrew Rincón. Special gu…
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Artist, Activist, and Self-Proclaimed Sister to thee people Sis joins us from the road as she wrapped up playing Ado Annie in the National tour of Oklahoma! We talk about how Ado Annie has been with her for years, execution and expectations when it comes to revivals, and theatre as a mirror to realize the world that we’ve created. We find out why n…
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow discuss all the queer shows they’ve seen recently (and not so recently)! Hear shout outs to Songs From Bark of Millions by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray, Gumiho by Nina Ki, The Nosebleed written and directed by Aya Ogawa, As You Like It adapted by Shaina Taub & Laurie Woolery, and Lavender Men by Roger Q. Mason. They go into deepe…
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#3.8 You Are What You Watch with Victor I. Cazares
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Victor I. Cazares, a non-binary Poz Queer Indigenous Mexican Artist, sits down with Harrow and Meghan to talk about the premiere of their show american (tele)visions, opening the New York Theatre Workshop season. We discuss the villains of capitalism and the art and politics that inspired the play, the incredible team that has brought the multi-med…
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#3.7 Reclaiming stories with George Strus
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The Founding Artistic Director of the Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival (BTB), George Strus, joins us as we kick off the second half of Season 3! Hear from George about BTB, a communal, new play development hub for trans, nonbinary, two-spirit plus actors, directors, writers, dramaturgs, and stage managers, created by members of that community. …
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The incomparable Qween Jean, costume designer and activist, sits down with Harrow and Meghan to talk activism, theatre design, and hopes for the future of queer liberation. We discuss designing for revivals versus new work, what makes a good collaborative relationship, not living with the rules, and creating freedom for the stories of BIPOC artists…
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#3.5 Tonys Recap: Six Shots for Chris Harper
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Welcome to a Tony Award reaction episode with hosts Meghan and Harrow! Hear about the highlights and shocks of the evening, their love of Ariana DeBose and Ruthie Ann Miles, the queer kiss you might have missed, the stress and joy for A Strange Loop, and lots of ideas for a new recurring section of the ceremony. They also discuss how it’s actively …
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#3.4 Happy Pride! Queer Show Round-Up
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Happy Pride! Join Harrow and Meghan for a super queer round-up of everything we’ve seen recently and are excited to see this month. Beware - spoilers abound! We talk about the genius of Paula Vogel and the revival of How I Learned to Drive. We attempt to manifest a queer dating conversation between Ryan Haddad and Michael R. Jackson and share our l…
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#3.3 Manifesting Broadway with Michael R. Jackson
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Hosts chat with two-time Tony nominated playwright, composer, and lyricist, Michael R. Jackson, creator of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Strange Loop which is up for 11 Tony awards! They discuss how A Strange Loop developed into an all Black queer and trans cast that manifested themselves to Broadway, how choreographer Raja Feather Kelly tur…
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We are thrilled to welcome the legendary Paula Vogel as our first guest on Season Three! We talk about the revival of How I Learned to Drive currently making its Broadway debut at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre as well as other highlights from Paula’s incredible career. We talk gender collision, theater-viewing as obligation, the inspiri…
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#3.1 Queer Until Proven Otherwise (Suffs, Wolf Play, Company)
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow kick off season three of Thesis on Joan and share how they’re queering up the format this year! They discuss shows they saw during the hiatus, including Wolf Play by Hansol Jung at Soho Rep, Company on Broadway, and a deep dive on Suffs by Shaina Taub at The Public. Also, get a sneak peek of all the shows they have booked an…
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#2.15 Revolutionary Storytelling with Cecilia Gentili
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Legendary advocate, organizer and storyteller Cecilia Gentili joins us for the final episode of Season Two! We talk about her autobiographical show The Knife Cuts Both Ways and finding beauty in your story when the world wants to “reduce you to a ball of trauma.” She shares the joy of being a part of Pose (her first ever audition!) and some behind …
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#2.14 Decolonizing the Process with the New Visions Fellowship
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This week’s guests, ayla xuân chi sullivan, Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, and Roger Q. Mason come from the inaugural New Vision Fellowship for Black trans and gender non-conforming playwrights, a partnership with the National Queer Theatre and Dramatist Guild! As the Fellowship co-founder/lead mentor, Roger shares the genesis of the program, the need for w…
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#2.13 An Awakened State with Mei Ann Teo
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Mei Ann Teo, theatre, film maker, and Associate Artistic Director of New Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, stops by the podcast to give Harrow and Meghan a master class in civically minded art, church skits as artistic awakenings, queer plays written by “straight” identifying teens, liberation as a way to subvert the grand narrative and the life…
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#2.12 Decentering Broadway with Miss Hazel Jade
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Hosts chat with Miss Hazel Jade, director, dramaturg, playwright, librettist, literary consultant, and investor for Broadway and the West End! Miss Hazel shares her current focus to decenter Broadway, return to grassroots nonprofit regional theatre, and inspire the next generation of theatre-makers. She highlights the legal issues with investing in…
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#2.11 Aggressively Korean with Nina Ki
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Today we sit down with playwright, aerialist, and mother of three dogs, Queerean Nina Ki! We discuss the extra labor that goes into submitting as an artist of color, acting in your own plays (because you’re the only person who knows Korean), writing horror (Asian style), finding inspiration from unlikely sources on Netflix, queering deeply upsettin…
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Hosts Meghan & Harrow chat with Twi McCallum (she/they/he), the first woman of color sound designer of a Broadway show! Hear how Twi came to work on their Broadway debut, Chicken & Biscuits (previews begin TOMORROW, September 23, 2021), the history of women and POC sound designers on Broadway (not many), how things have changed since Twi published …
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#2.9 Ryan J. Haddad is Still Single
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We’re back with the hilarious and insightful actor and playwright Ryan J. Haddad to kick-off the second half of Season Two! Ryan’s show Hi, Are You Single? was a pandemic, digital theater high point for us - we go into the backstory and creation of this piece and what it was like to tell stories about connections during COVID. Ryan also (maybe acci…
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#2.8 Reimagining the world with Javier Rivera DeBruin
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Wrap up Pride month with playwright and impact producer, Javier Rivera DeBruin, and hosts Meghan and Harrow! Javi discusses how queerness, magical realism/fantasy/scifi in theatre allows a unique opportunity for anything to happen, the dynamics of family in their writing and in the theatre community, and why theatre is the Grey Gardens of the arts.…
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#2.7 Criminal Queerness with National Queer Theater
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Celebrate Pride with National Queer Theater’s Criminal Queerness Festival! Hosts are joined by director, playwright, actor, teaching artist and National Queer Theater (NQT) Artistic Director Adam Odsess-Rubin and playwright, dramaturg and Co-Producer of the Criminal Queerness Festival Adam A. El-Sayigh. In addition to the trio of shows for this yea…
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This week, hosts chat with filmmaker, theatremaker, and writer Drew Gregory! Drew shares about the short she made in quarantine, “The First Time”, reminisces about directing immersive theatre immediately after coming out, and giving young people the trans representation in media she did not have. As a writer for Autostraddle, Drew discusses the fre…
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#2.5 The Genre Fluid Dionne McClain-Freeney
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The multi-talented Dionne McClain-Freeney is a musical theatre septuple threat - pianist, composer, lyricist, choral and musical director, arranger, singer and teaching artist. Join Meghan & Harrow as they sit down with Dionne to discuss her many roles in the theater world, musical theater as a medium rather than a genre, the importance of “working…
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#2.4 Living Joyously with Melissa Li & Kit Yan
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In Thesis on Joan’s first duo interview, musical theatre writing team Melissa Li (she/her) and Kit Yan (they/she/he) check in with hosts about the recent rise in anti-Asian violence, how they’ve grown as creative partners over a decade, and what our responsibility is to our elders even when they’re part of the problem. Kit and Melissa also discuss …
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#2.3 Shut Up & Listen with Maybe Burke
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Maybe Burke has been all over your TV this pandemic! In our third episode of the season, Meghan and Harrow sit down with the award-winning actor, writer and human rights advocate! We talk about the many ways to identify as a theatre-maker, the dangers of producers auditioning trans actors to “check a box,”, the glamours of screen work (umbrella PAs…
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Critic and cheerleader, Jose Solís chats it out with hosts Harrow and Meghan this week! A critic at the age of 16, Jose shares how to become an authority on things we’re “not allowed” to be a part of and why he has his matches ready (fuck the Tonys). By creating the BIPOC Critics Lab and Token Theatre Friends podcast, Jose works to disrupt the whit…
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Welcome back, queers! The incomparable L Morgan Lee is our first guest of Season Two! Join Harrow and Meghan as they talk to L Morgan about making space in developing projects, the Pulitzer situation, intersectional change, always being a student, the demands on musical theater actors, the genius of Michael John LaChiusa and searching for L Morgan’…
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We're (almost) back, queers! Season Two of Thesis on Joan premieres this month, March 2021! Thesis on Joan: Follow Thesis on Joan on Instagram & Twitter Leave us a voicemail at (845) 445-9251 Email us at thesisonjoan at gmail dot com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Broadway Podcast Network
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Join us for our season finale episode in which we get to talk to the artist who coined the name for our podcast, writer and actor Lisa Kron! We discuss Lisa’s early artist days and the “living culture” of WOW Café as well as the origins and almost European tour of the Five Lesbian Brothers. This leads us to the importance and rarity of queer spaces…
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#13 The Divine Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi
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In our season one penultimate episode, hosts Meghan and Harrow talk with Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi. As a performance artist, author, educator, advocate, choreographer, priestess, speech writer, playwright, and healer, Lady Dane takes us through her teenage years creating cabarets and if you’re a fan of WAP, recommends some nasty songs from her Bad B…
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Today our guest is none other than the interdimensional Aneesh Sheth! We talk to Aneesh about creating during quarantine, making Shakespeare accessible and relevant (and Bollywood infused, of course), inhabiting many roles as an artist, the magic of Fun Home (we didn’t bring it up, we swear!), trans folx in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what we re…
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Surprise! Join Harrow & Meghan on this special mini episode as they talk election hopes & fears and queer culture comfort. They’ll provide a quick fix of bisexual pirates, queer sci-fi, dog talk and road trip paranoia before tomorrow’s election. Get out and vote and we’ll be back on November 11th with our regularly scheduled programming with the in…
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow keep it in the working family this week with Harrow's co-worker, Sulu LeoNimm, a Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC) Joker and Interim Executive Director, actor, director, and parent of 2 small kids. Hear about Sulu’s very serious start in drag performance that eventually led to an Asian musical mashup drag show in the back…
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#10 The Frontrunner, Azure D. Osborne-Lee
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On our most bookish episode yet Harrow and Meghan sit down with award-winning Black queer theatre maker and founder of Roots and River Productions, Azure D. Osborne-Lee! Join us as we chat Black sci-fi, sharing stories with family, being a weird kid, our queer night missed connection with Azure at their show Mirrors, the importance of paying artist…
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Hosts Meghan and Harrow receive a virtual fridge tour and so much more from polyspirited Artist Diana Oh. Learn about Diana’s doula in birthing art, how they define chosen family, and why her art is so big, sparkly, colorful, and bombastic. Diana also gives us some advice on how to find some of the joy from Infinite Love Party during quarantine and…
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On a “We all escaped from Ohio” special edition of Thesis on Joan- your friendly neighborhood Schmerm, Becca Blackwell, joins your favorite buckeye queers, Harrow and Meghan, to talk labels, imagining Midwest queer communities, the many reasons Harrow and Becca are destined to be friends, that paradox of trying to understand the gender binary (thro…
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Tune in this week with Meghan and Harrow as they talk with interdisciplinary artist Ty Defoe about breaking out of binaries as a two-spirit Indigiqueer person and finding balance between safe and brave space in theatre. Ty also speaks on being “genre fluid,” building just systems to create justice on stage with projects like Broadway’s Straight Whi…
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#6 Discomfort with Sally Cade Holmes
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Join Meghan and Harrow as they sit down with Tony Award winning producer extraordinaire Sally Cade Holmes as she navigates producing in the age of digital theater. We talk about our mutual love of drag kings, why strong female characters in musicals are probably queer, Harrow's go-to fourth date spot in 2014-2015, the need for queer mentors, and li…
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This week’s episode, Thesis on Joan hosts speak with writer C.A. Johnson. Hear about her recent production and premature closing of MCC’s All the Natalie Portmans, writing for sad queers watching movies about women who don’t want them, and our shared love of a certain teen heartthrob. C.A. also talks about the residencies and fellowships she’s done…
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In Episode 4 get to know Thesis on Joan’s hosts, FanQueers Meghan and Harrow! Hear about the inspiration for the podcast, their friendship meet cute, growing up in Ohio as budding musical theatre nerds, their (kinda) matching tattoos and what musical theatre moments probably made them queer. Places / Orgs We Shout Out! ART New York - Body Autonomy …
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Thesis on Joan hosts Meghan and Harrow chat with Andrea Prestinario, performer, producer and the Executive Director / Co-Founder of Ring of Keys, an advocacy organization that promotes the hiring of queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists working in musical theatre. Learn about Ring of Keys’ mission, the organization’s members (…
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In Episode 2 Thesis on Joan’s hosts Meghan and Harrow talk to writer and performer Marga Gomez just before her 13th solo show Spanking Machine heads to Dixon Place for a digital presentation July 16-25, 2020. Hear about Marga’s inspiration for Spanking Machine, the highs and lows of creating a show for the digital space (she has some notes for the …
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For Thesis on Joan’s inaugural episode for Pride, hosts Meghan and Harrow talk to Ianne Fields Stewart, a Black, queer, nonbinary, transfeminine, actor/activist and founder of The Okra Project. Hear about Ianne’s many talents, the work they want to focus on, and how theatres can actually show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Follow …
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