Audible – a leader in creating and providing the best in audio storytelling – announced its new slate of audio-plays to be released this month through April, which will feature performances by Tony Award winners Laura Benanti (Gypsy), Tony Shalhoub (The Band’s Visit), Santino Fontana (Tootsie), and Mary-Louise Parker (Proof), award-winning screen actress Diane Guerrero (Orange is the New Black), Emmy Award winner and Tony nominee Joe Morton (Scandal; Raisin), and more.
The upcoming Audible Theater releases include the world premieres of Tonderai Munyevu’s Mugabe, My Dad & Me on February 11, in which the playwright himself stars; hop thA A on February 18, by Audible Emerging Playwright James Anthony Tyler, starring Ronald Emile, Jayme Lawson, Kareem Lucas, and Portia; Daniel Goldfarb’s Men’s Health on February 25, with the star-studded cast of Tony Shalhoub, Santino Fontana, Laura Benanti, Diane Guerrero, and Tom Hollander; Adam Rapp’s six-time Tony Award nominated The Sound Inside on March 18, with original Broadway cast members Mary-Louise Parker and Will Hochman; and Cornelius Eady’s Brutal Imagination on April 29, starring Joe Morton and Sally Murphy, who originated their roles Off-Broadway.
According to Artistic Producer Kate Navin, “Our Spring slate represents the very best of Audible Theater. We’re bringing listeners Broadway’s finest Tony-nominated shows, we’re introducing new voices through our Emerging Playwrights Fund, and we’re commissioning new work from award-winning playwrights with all-star casts.” She added, “At this time when we can’t enjoy live theater, we’re grateful to be able to elevate new talent and make world-famous creatives more accessible to theater fans everywhere.”
Coming next week, on Thursday, February 11, is Mugabe, My Dad & Me, an audio-first world premiere following the 2020 cancellation of the show’s scheduled live stage debut due to the coronavirus pandemic. Directed by John R. Wilkinson, Tonderai Munyevu’s captivating personal story is set in the Spring of 1980, when the British colony of Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe, headed by revolutionary politician Robert Mugabe. Interweaving monologue, commentary inspired by Mugabe’s most notorious speeches, and music (sound design and original music composed by Nigel R. Glasgow, and music on the mbira – an African instrument traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe – played and composed by Millicent Chapanda), the one-man memory play charts the rise and fall of the controversial leader, the relationship between the “born-free” playwright and his father, and what it means to return “home.”
Next up on the release schedule, set to premiere on Thursday, February 18, is the Audible Original hop thA A, written by James Anthony Tyler through Audible’s Emerging Playwright Fund. The commissioned work, with direction by Stevie Walker-Webb (one in two) and sound design by Justin Ellington, tells a heartwarming story about finding love and humanity in unexpected places, as two co-workers at a NYC nightclub forge an unlikely connection on a late-night subway commute uptown.
For more information on these and the other three upcoming audio-plays, check back here and visit the Audible website as the new releases become available.
