Audible Theater Releases December Audio Slate, Including Five New Originals

Audible released today a new slate of five Audible Theater titles. In addition to presenting thrilling live performances at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York, audio releases are a staple of Audible Theater’s programming, which continues to deliver the live performance experience to millions of listeners around the world. Now celebrating its fifth season, Audible Theater’s dynamic mix of live and audio theater productions have been praised as “an agent for change.” (Forbes)

Audible Theater’s December slate includes:

• Center of the YOUniverse, created and performed by Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess and Tony Award winner Jane Krakowski, was recorded live during a three-night-only, sold-out run at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in July. Tony Award winner Christopher Gatetelli directs this outrageously hilarious show where Tituss and Jane attempt the impossible: a double-booking. Through delightful performances of pop and theatrical songs, Burgess and Krakowski prove they’ll stop at nothing to upstage one another.
• Summer, 1976 by David Auburn comes to audio following its acclaimed Broadway run. Starring four-time Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Laura Linney and Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht, this thoughtful play directed by Daniel Sullivan tells the story of two young mothers as they forge an unlikely bond and discover how friendships define and divide us.
• Fat Ham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated play by James Ijames, comes to audio following its celebrated Broadway run. Original cast members including Tony nominee Nikki Crawford, Marcel Spears, and Adrianna Mitchell star in this "smart, fearless, and wildly entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Directed by Tony nominee Saheem Ali, an uproarious family cookout emerges as an examination of love, pain, and joy.
• Bob and Jean by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan stars Santino Fontana, Peter Friedman, and Betsy Wolfe. Through passionate, funny and sometimes desperate letters, this touching play introduces the remarkable courtship of Robert Schenkkan’s parents in 1941. Tony Award nominee Scott Ellis directs.
• The Other Woman by Afsaneh Gray is a darkly suspenseful story about two women, a young Iranian immigrant and a British housewife, whose complicated entanglement leads to a shocking end in this erotic thriller. Elayce Ismail directs a full cast featuring Robyn Addison, Viss Elliot Safavi, Dana Haqjoo, John Sackville, Nicholas Boulton, and Saffron Coomber.

Kate Navin, Head of Creative Development at Audible, said: “I’m pleased that our final 2023 slate displays both the breadth and depth of Audible Theater’s work as we boldly expand the possibilities of theatrical storytelling. Direct from the Minetta, Center of the YOUniverse is a perfect example of how we bring the live theater experience to audio—with many laughs along the way. The celebrated Broadway runs of Fat Ham and Summer, 1976 are beautifully adapted for riveting audio. Finally, Bob and Jean and The Other Woman show how playwrights craft works expressly for the listening experience. These global releases highlight the incredible range of audio theater, and we can’t wait for listeners everywhere to hear them.”

To listen to these new titles, visit Audible.

MORE ABOUT THE NEW RELEASES

Center of the YOUniverse

Performed by Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski

Directed by Christopher Gattelli

Center of the YOUniverse is an out-of-this world spectacle starring six-time Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess and Tony Award winner Jane Krakowski. When they realize they’ve both been tapped to host the same charity fundraiser, Tituss and Jane attempt the impossible: a double booking. They’ll stop at nothing to upstage each other and steal the spotlight…until they realize the true purpose of being ridiculously attractive and having immeasurable talent: to unite and heal the world. It’s an outrageously fun and weird show full of pop and theatrical duets. A clash of divas and dueling vocals. It’s the show the world didn’t know it needed until reading this blurb. Recorded live in New York at the Minetta Lane Theatre and directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli.

Summer, 1976 by David Auburn

Performed by Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht

Directed by Daniel Sullivan

Starring four-time Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Laura Linney and Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht, Summer, 1976 is an intimate and insightful exploration of friendship, ambition, and the struggle for independence. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn, this critically acclaimed Broadway hit chronicles the lives of two young mothers as they forge an unlikely bond during the summer of America’s Bicentennial. As the days heat up, they navigate a tumultuous relationship, and discover how friendships define us, divide us, and permanently alter our sense of ourselves. A fully immersive listening experience and a must-hear for theater enthusiasts everywhere, Summer, 1976 is a deeply moving portrayal of the small moments that can change the course of our lives.

Fat Ham by James Ijames

Performed by Marcel Spears, Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith, Benja Kay Thomas, Chris Herbie Holland

Directed by Saheem Ali

The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Critic's Pick that served Broadway "raucous comedy and nonstop pleasure" has made its way home to Audible. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid already grappling with some serious questions of identity when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. But here’s the rub! Revenge doesn’t come easy to Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man in search of his own happiness and liberation. From an uproarious family cookout emerges a "smart, fearless, and wildly entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) examination of love, pain, and joy from writer James Ijames and director Saheem Ali.

Bob and Jean by Robert Schenkkan

Performed by Santino Fontana, Peter Friedman, and Betsy Wolfe

Directed by Scott Ellis

For two people not looking for love, it found them at the worst possible time. When college friends Bob Schenkkan (Santino Fontana) and Jean McKenzie (Betsy Wolfe) reunited in New York City in 1941, lightning struck. However, with Bob shipping off to the Pacific War as a Bomb Disposal Officer and Jean touring the nation as a USO actor, keeping this new flame alive while thousands of miles apart was a challenge. Written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (All The Way, The Kentucky Cycle), Bob And Jean is a stirring and romantic new play that tells the remarkable story of his parent’s tumultuous courtship with direction from Tony nominee Scott Ellis. Travel through their passionate, funny, sometimes desperate letters as they navigate bombs, wrecked trains, miscues, and the complexities of the human heart.

The Other Woman by Afsaneh Gray

Performed by Robyn Addison, Viss Elliot Safavi, Dana Haqjoo, John Sackville, Nicholas Boulton, and Saffron Coomber

Directed by Elayce Ismail

“What does she want from me?” A young Iranian immigrant panics as she’s being chased through the streets by an unknown blonde woman. When their two worlds collide, the answer to that question becomes increasingly unsettling in Afsaneh Gray’s The Other Woman, a bracingly unpredictable audio experience. The two women find they share similar struggles in a society that doesn’t see them…but as their relationship develops, what feels like liberation begins to shift into an all-too-familiar dynamic. The Other Woman is an enthralling erotic thriller that explores cycles of power and exploitation all the way to its unsettling conclusion.