Playtime - 2026
on WIOX Community Radio Catskills
Calendar 2026
All shows at 6PM ET unless otherwise stated
January 13, 2026: A conversation on Clowning Workshop for Actors, exploring the world of clown, celebrating failure, and embracing idiocy! with Jessica Laddin, Carol Rusoff, and Zoe Wohlfeld.
Host(s): Elizabeth Sherr
Jessica Laddin, The Spark of Hudson’s Creative Coordinator, will discuss the variety of workshops and classes held at The Spark of Hudson, Carol Rusoff, Artistic Director of the Columbia County Players, will talk about why they are sponsoring the workshop, and Zoe Wohlfeld, performer and workshop leader, will give more specifics on the Clowning Workshop for Actors held on January 17 and 18, 2026 at The Spark of Hudson in Hudson, NY.
January 27, 2026: CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW.
A conversation with Diane Galusha on the upcoming show, “Voices from the Delaware Frontier.”
Host(s): Elizabeth Sherr
The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will bring to life soldiers, spies and ordinary citizens trying to make sense of a changing world when it presents “Voices from the Delaware Frontier,” a living history program to mark the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The performance, at The Open Eye Theater on July 11 and 12, will be directed by Joyce St. George and Frank Canavan.
February 10, 2026: A Valentine’s Day Tribute to LOVE.
Host(s): Arnie Schwartz and Michelle Macau
Three short plays about love….love towards humans, and other sentient beings. Guests include writers D.S. Burrows, Leslie Corn, and Linda Pallotta. Actors Nadya Rockefeller, David Hill and Keith Weiss bring the words to life.
February 24, 2026: Two special guests. The first is the rescheduled show with Diane Galusha on , “Voices from the Delaware Frontier, ” and the second is with Adele Calcavecchi discussing the upcoming production of “Social Security” at the Performing Arts of Woodstock.
Host(s): Elizabeth Sherr
The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will bring to life soldiers, spies and ordinary citizens trying to make sense of a changing world when it presents “Voices from the Delaware Frontier,” a living history program to mark the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The performance, at The Open Eye Theater on July 11 and 12, will be directed by Joyce St. George and Frank Canavan.
Adele Calvavecchi will discuss the play, Social Security by Andrew Bergman is a sharp and funny view of art, families, and love at all ages. Directed by Hank Neimark and opening on March 13.
March 10, 2026: Celebrating Women’s History Month highlighting American Impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt, with a reading of an excerpt of the play, Girl In Blue Armchair by Susan Courtney
Host(s): Elizabeth Sherr and Michelle Macau
The Open Eye Theater Playtime will host playwright, Susan Courtney, discussing and reading excerpts from her play Girl in Blue Armchair, focusing on , Mary Cassatt, and her struggle to be a professional artist in Paris in the late 1800's. Guests include Ellen Barber and Lucy McMichael.
March 24, 2026: Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Irish Culture with readings and discussions of two plays: Galway City Visitor by Susan Courtney and Giants of the Causeway by Bruce Dalziel.
Host(s): Michelle Macau
The Open Eye Theater Playtime will host playwrights, Susan Courtney and Bruce Dalziel, with a reading of their plays set in Ireland and Scotland. A discussion with the writers and actors will follow the reading. Guests include Mark Cunningham, Anne Saxon-Hersh, Maurice Kessler, Martin Pfefferkorn, and Patricia van Tassel.
April 7, 2026: Company members of the Catskill Mountain Shakespeare school touring company discuss the upcoming performances of HAMLET presented at The Open Eye Theater on April 19, 2026 at 2:00pm.
Host(s): Michelle Macau
The Open Eye Theater Playtime will host director, Sydney Berk, and actors David Michaeli and Steele Whitney who will talk about the process of putting on this epic Shakespeare play.
April 21, 2026: Marisa Caruso, collaborating artist with The Party Theater in Stamford, NY, will discuss the upcoming production of In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl
Host(s): Elizabeth Sherr
The Open Eye Theater Playtime on WIOX Community Radio Catskills, 91.3 FM, and streaming everywhere at www.wioxradio.org, invites you to a discussion with Marisa Caruso on The Party Nation’s upcoming production of In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl in Stamford, NY. Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat “hysterical” women (and some men), this revelatory comedy centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.
Marisa Caruso is a collaborating artist with The Party Theater, the founder of its flagship program The Hill People’s Comedy Fest, and the Managing Director of Torn Space Theater. She is an interdisciplinary performer, producer and theater-maker based in the Catskills.
May 5, 2026: Playwright Coni Koepfinger discusses her play, Social Insecurity, with actors Patricia van Tassel and Paul Eisemann.
Host(s): Michelle Macau
The Open Eye Theater Playtime on WIOX Community Radio Catskills, 91.3 FM, and streaming everywhere at www.wioxradio.org, invites you to a discussion with Coni Koepfinger, Patricia van Tassel, and Paul Eisemann on the process of recording Coni’s play, Social Insecurity, and the mixing of live action and virtual reality. .
Coni Koepfinger was recently named a Person of Letters by the National League of American Pen Women, and winner of the 2021 Olwen Wymark Award, Carnegie Mellon alum (MA 2002) she believes creative energy is never lost, it just changes hands and hearts. Member of TYA, NAMT, Lifeboat Foundation, Dramatists Guild, a former board member of the International Center Women Playwrights and former committee chair for the League Professional Theatre Women.
Social Insecurity is a surreal, sharp-edged metatheatrical farce where art reflects life -- especially when we face our deepest fear- having no one to love. The moral of the story --when love and money and theatre mix, it’s hard to tell what’s real... but the truth is as always - love conquers all... and "Social Insecurity" has become a sign of the times.