Neil Simon & Michael Riedel Talk Theater, 10/30

"Theater Talk," a weekly expose of world theater airing on PBS Friday nights (PBS/Thirteen) and five times weekly on CUNY TV, will feature playwright Neil Simon on this week's broadcast. The half-hour program airs on PBS Channel 13 this Friday October 30th at 1 a.m., and will be repeated on CUNY TV Saturday November 7th at 8:30 p.m., Sunday November 8th at 12:30 p.m., and Monday November 9th at 7:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

"Theater Talk" is co-hosted by Michael Riedel, Broadway columnist for the New York Post, and series producer Susan Haskins.

One of the world's all-time most successful playwrights, the witty and prolific Simon talks about his early days as a comedy writer for television and how, with great determination, he broke into writing plays for the legitimate stage. Two of Simon's funniest and most touching works, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, are now being revived in repertory at the Nederlander Theatre, directed by David Cromer and starring Laurie Metcalf.

Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first of The Neil Simon Plays, directed by David Cromer, opened on Sunday, October 25th at the Nederlander Theatre. Broadway Bound will join Brighton Beach Memoirs in repertory on November 18th, 2009. 

Brighton Beach Memoirs, about the coming of age of Jewish teen Eugene Morris Jerome in Brighton Beach Brooklyn, stars Laurie Metcalf (Kate Jerome) and Dennis Boutsikaris (Jack Jerome) with Santino Fontana (Stanley Jerome), Jessica Hecht (Blanche), Gracie Bea Lawrence (Laurie), Noah Robbins (Eugene Jerome) and Alexandra Socha (Nora).

Tickets are available online at www.TicketMaster.com, by phone at 212-307-4100 or at the Nederlander Theatre box office (208 West 41st Street). For more information about The Neil Simon Plays at the Nederlander Theatre, visit www.TheNeilSimonPlays.com.

Theater Talk is taped at CUNY-TV Studios in New York City. The Executive Producer for CUNY TV is Bob Isaacson, the Producer of Theater Talk is Steven Doloff and Associate Producers are Rossmary
Cruz and Vanessa Mourner. It is directed by Adam Walker with engineering by John Harvi and lighting design by Jonathan Belcher. The show is edited by Larry Guo, Quan Ou and Sylvester Lukasiewicz. The program is funded by contributions from private foundations and individuals, as well as The New York State Council on the Arts and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information on Theater Talk, e-mail theatertlk@aol.com or visit www.theatertalk.org.

Theater Talk is also telecast every Thursday night on PBS Station NJN, which is available to
all over-the-air digital and cable TV viewers in the NYC area.

For clips and highlights from the show, please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/theatertalk.

To watch the show in streaming video or iTunes, visit http://www.cuny.tv/series/theatertalk/listen.lasso?year=2008.