David Ives To Be Interviewed on XM Radio 3/28

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio proudly present an interview with playwright David Ives, on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).

Ives will appear as the special guest on Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, March 29 at noon, Sunday, March 30 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, April 2 at midnight.  The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday afternoon, March 31.

Playwright David Ives talks about his many acts of "literary ventriloquism," channeling the voices of the authors of classic musicals for City Center's Encores series, including the current Juno and upcoming No, No Nanette, as well as the distinctive voice of Mark Twain for the recent Broadway production of Is He Dead?  He also describes the luck that led to his first play being produced at New York's famed Circle Repertory Company right after he graduated from college; explains why he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama only after his early successes; chronicles how his work for a theatre company that consisted of little more than a copy machine and an artistic director ultimately led to his success with All in the Timing; reflects on the role of pain in writing short comedies; considers whether he was typecast only as a writer of one-acts; and shares the genesis of his interest in the philosopher Spinoza, which led to his writing New Jerusalem, seen Off-Broadway at CSC earlier this season.

David Ives is best known for his evening of one-act comedies called All in the Timing. This season he simultaneously had a drama off-Broadway (New Jerusalem at Classic Stage Company) and a comedy on Broadway (Is He Dead? at the Lyceum). His short plays are collected in two anthologies, All in the Timing and Time Flies. His full-length theatre works are available in Polish Joke and Other Plays. He is also the author of three young-adult novels, Monsieur Eek, Scrib and Voss (which will be available this coming fall). He has adapted 22 American musicals for City Center's Encores series, as well as South Pacific (with Reba McEntire) and Jubilee for concert at Carnegie Hall, and My Fair Lady for the New York Philharmonic. He recently translated Georges Feydeau's classic French farce A Flea in her Ear for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play for Classic Stage Company. He is a graduate of Yale School of Drama, a former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, and is the Secretary of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Each new "Downstage Center" is regularly broadcast at 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays at 12 a.m. (all times EST). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally as both streaming audio and podcast on ATW's Web site, www.americantheatrewing.org.