Showing results by publisher "audible originals" in Drama & Plays

Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor John Lithgow (The Crown, Dexter, 3rd Rock from the Sun) brings his latest critically acclaimed Broadway performance to Audible. Stories by Heart celebrates the transcendent power of great literature and serves as a touching tribute to Lithgow’s late father, actor and director Arthur Lithgow.

A humanities professor at a liberal arts college is terrified of what she feels is an inevitable act of violence, fearing that one day, she will be the victim of a disgruntled student’s aggression. As a single mother, no one matters more than her little boy. So when a senseless act of violence changes her life forever, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the very weapon used to perpetrate the crime—and to the irresistible feeling of power that comes from holding life and death in her hands.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Lara anxiously anticipates the arrival of her sister, Cleo, so she can reveal a shocking family secret that has been haunting Lara since their mother’s death. By confronting revelations about their grandfather’s shameful past, Lara is hopeful that she and Cleo can make reparations and exorcise this ghost from their lives. The ghost, however, won’t be appeased so easily....

Meet Mabel Loomis Todd, an inspired conversationalist who routinely invites scandal and ignores the rules of 19th century society. Now in her 70s and living on Hog Island in Maine, the outspoken writer and editor is holding court, entertaining us with musings on her colorful life, spilling secrets, and revealing the truth about how she turned Emily Dickinson into a household name.

Getting paid $80,000 to stay in bed for 13 weeks? That sounds like a dream job for Vanessa, one of 12 participants chosen for a bedrest study. Played by Karla Souza (How to Get Away with Murder), Vanessa is looking forward to earning extra money while putting her troubles—her mom’s death, an unplanned pregnancy, and a falling out with her cousin/best friend Brigid (Zoë Winters of Succession)—on pause. Vanessa quickly realizes, however, that she cannot outrun her problems...especially with her legs beginning to atrophy.

If you didn’t manage to make it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019, Audible has you covered! We selected a cross section of some of the most exciting new plays of the year, invited the actors and directors into the studio and recorded stirringly intimate audio performances of the plays just for you.... Portions of this audio drama contain explicit content, with mature language and themes that some listeners may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

Women Talking: An Evening of Wild Female Imagination features three new works from playwrights Sandra Delgado, ruth tang, and Brittany Allen. Inspired by the film and its themes, the playwrights explored the choice the women need to make as a community: Do nothing. Stay and fight. Leave.

An utterly unsentimental journey toward the end of life, Mala is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope, and survive in the moment. Grounded in Lopez’s distinctive emotional language and sharp humor, this powerful one-woman show dances between doctors and urgent 911 calls, a mother’s growing frailty, and a daughter’s quest for grace - all set during an epic Boston winter. Rather than depict a “right way”, the play opens the door for our universal struggle to support those we love in dying, especially when all we’ve ever focused on is surviving.

Sakina's Restaurant breathes new life into an age old story: the emotive tale of an immigrant coming to New York in pursuit of the American dream. Actor, comedian, and writer Aasif Mandvi originally performed his Obie Award-winning solo show off-Broadway 20 years ago. This past October, the iconic play was reimagined and produced by Audible for a limited run at Minetta Lane Theatre in the West Village of Manhattan. Recorded for an Audible-exclusive audience, listeners can forgo the price of admission and embark on the cross-cultural journey with Mandvi.

Max is having a relapse summer. He’s an aspiring playwright and professional pie addict with a PhD in self-sabotage. Stuck in his grim Encino apartment with a leaky ceiling and a declining will to live, he escapes into an intoxicating fantasy cruise ship in his mind that’s full of bottoms and people who are hitting them. As Max's imagination sets sail, his reality begins to capsize, blurring the lines between truth and fiction in a spectacular collision that forces him to confront the very demons he so desperately wants to outrun.

The kitchen is the beating heart of every home—but for one woman summoned to an empty house, it’s also the portal to a complicated past. Forced to confront her family’s dark history or risk perpetuating it for generations to come, the woman sets out to do what her mother and grandmother before her never could.

Ashling is every busy parent’s dream: a professional nanny with experience and a warm, sunny attitude. But from the moment Mary hires her to look after her young children, things start to feel just a little...off. Are Mary’s stressful work schedule and lack of sleep playing games with her own sanity, or has she welcomed an unstable troublemaker into her home?

“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.

Kit Harington (Games of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Beast) smolder and burn as sparring brothers in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The live theatre production of True West was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. It was produced by Joseph Smith and John Brant for Smith & Brant Theatricals and James Bierman for Empire Street Productions.

Academy Award nominee Rachel McAdams stars in Mary Jane, a poignant and intimate drama following a single mother’s journey caring for her chronically ill young son. Set in New York City, the play unfolds in two parts—Mary Jane's small Queens apartment and a pediatric hospital. With unflinching honesty and unexpected humor, we witness Mary Jane's tireless devotion, her interactions with medical professionals, and her struggle to maintain her sense of self.

Stop me if you’re heard this one: Veteran comic Chauncy and social-media star José are the very definition of “opposites attract”. But sparks, and jokes, fly after the two of them embark upon a beautiful romance for the ages...two vastly different ages. Starring Drew Droege and Gabe Gonzalez, The Comedians is a modern queer love story, told through individual stand-up acts. We hear the ups and downs of their journey—from falling hard to failing harder than a botched punchline—in this hilariously relatable play about love, loss, and, above all, "The Laugh".

Nevada-Tan is a genre-bending new play that introduces us to Nick, a young man who struggles to escape loneliness and isolation in the years following the tragic Columbine shooting of 1999. Nick’s quest leads to a decade-long fixation with Nevada-Tan, a Japanese schoolgirl who committed a horrific crime in Sasebo in 2004. Mixing horror and dark humor, Nevada-Tan is a shocking exploration of secrets, tragedy and obsession, thrilling listeners with its surprising twists and turns.

In an era of public versus private personas, a young woman decides to shake up her ordinary life by becoming a contestant on a reality television show. The manufactured paradise has no clocks, no way to contact the outside world, and nothing but time, a pool, and gorgeous people. As the days or weeks or months pass by, she discovers more about herself through the people around her and challenges her notions of identity and love. In a paradise where the only game is to fall in love, what will she do to win?

All the Ways to Say I Love You by Neil LaBute, directed by Leigh Silverman, is a thoughtful, psychological solo play centered around the character Faye Johnson, performed by multi-award-winning actress Judith Light (Transparent, American Crime Story, Who's the Boss?). Reflecting on an event from her past, Johnson confronts the defining question of her life: What is the weight of a lie?

All the Ways to Say I Love You received its World Premiere production at the MCC Theater in September of 2016. MCC is under the leadership of Artistic Directors Robert Lupone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, and Executive Director Blake West.

Bonus content includes an Audible-exclusive conversation between director Leigh Silverman and actress Judith Light.

After 40 years with his beloved wife, Henry is alone for the first time. His sudden bachelorhood is a struggle for him and his daughter Lisa, who is feeling pressure to fill the void. To give Henry the companionship he’s craving, Lisa buys him a personal robotic assistant. The device transforms Henry’s life and inspires him to embrace the possibility of romance during his golden years.