Playwright Paul Rudnick On Downstage Center This Weekend

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio proudly present an interview with playwright Paul Rudnick, on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).
 
Rudnick will appear as the special guest on Friday, April 18 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, April 19 at noon, Sunday, April 20 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, April 23 at midnight.  The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday afternoon, April 21.
 
Playwright Paul Rudnick discusses his evening of one-act plays, The New Century, currently playing at Lincoln Center Theatre, including how he came to combine characters originally written for separate plays into a single work and how he hopes they play against their stereotypes; how he announced his plans to be a playwright to his parents as a young child, before he'd even seen a play; the senior class project that he threw together at the last minute only to see it swiftly produced as a one-night-only event at Yale; the famously troubled Broadway run of I Hate Hamlet; the difficulty he experienced trying to get Jeffrey, a comedy set in the era of AIDS, produced; and the story behind his longest-running character, film critic Libby Gelman-Waxner of Premiere magazine.
 
Paul Rudnick plays have been produced both on and off-Broadway and around the world.  Currently his play The New Century is being staged at Lincoln Center Theatre and his most recent work before was Regrets Only at Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Christine Baranski and George Grizzard. Other plays include Valhalla, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, I Hate Hamlet and Jeffrey, for which he won an Obie, an Outer Critics Circle Award and the John Gassner Playwrighting Award.  His novels are Social Disease and I'll Take it, both published by Knopf.  His articles and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New York Times.
 
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.
 
About The American Theatre Wing
The American Theatre Wing is best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, which it presents annually with The Broadway League.  The Wing's other activities, dedicated to recognizing excellence and supporting education in theatre, include "Working in the Theatre," now in its 29th year of telecasts on CUNY TV in New York and on other national cable outlets; "Downstage Center," an hour-long weekly interview program on XM Satellite Radio; "Guides to Careers in the Theatre," a video series developed for schools and libraries; a grants and scholarship program to New York City schools and not-for-profit theatre companies, which has awarded more than $2.5 million since its inception; the Theatre Intern Group, a career development program for young professionals; and SpringboardNYC, a two-week college-to-career boot camp for young performers moving to NYC.  Visitors to www.americantheatrewing.org can view or download an archive of "Working in the Theatre" and the career guides and listen to "Downstage Center", all as free, on-demand streaming audio and podcast. Sondra Gilman is Chairman of the Board of the American Theatre Wing; Doug Leeds is President of the Board and Howard Sherman is Executive Director.
 
About XM Satellite Radio
XM is America's number-one satellite radio company with more than 9 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, D.C., New York City, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Toronto and Montreal, XM's lineup includes more than 170 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: the most commercial-free music, premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and the most advanced traffic and weather information. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit www.xmradio.com 

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!