THEATER TALK to Feature Off-Broadway's NEW YORK ANIMALS & FIRST NOEL This Weekend

An all-new episode of THEATER TALK features interviews about and performances from two Off-Broadway productions - one of them celebrating the upcoming Christmas holiday.

First up, the focus is on New York Animals, a new musical produced by Bedlam Theatre Company. Guests are Eric Tucker, Artistic Director of Bedlam and director of the show; Steven Sater, its book writer and lyricist, who collaborated with composer Burt Bacharach on the score; and singer Jo Lampert (who performs a song from the show with Debra Barsha on keyboard). New York Animals features five actors in 21 roles, portraying a cross-section of troubled New Yorkers on a rainy city day. Sater, now represented on Broadway by Deaf West Theater's revival of his Tony-winning show Spring Awakening, talks about going with the cast of that production to Washington, D.C, to give a special performance at the White House.

Also on the program, a discussion about The First Noel, a new holiday production by The Classical Theatre of Harlem, with guests Ty Jones, CTH's Artistic Director; Managing Director David Roberts; and Steve Broadnax, director of the show, now playing at the Apollo Theater. Nia Caesar, Nathaniel Stampley and other cast members perform two songs from the score.

Co-hosted by Susan Haskins and guest co-host Nancy Giles of CBS Sunday Morning, this episode premieres in the New York metropolitan area beginning Saturday, December 12 (2015) at 8:30 PM, Sunday 12/13 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 12/14 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM on CUNY TV*. The episode will air on THIRTEEN/PBS on Friday 12/18 at 1:30 AM (Saturday morning) and Sunday 12/20 at 11:30 AM and on WLIW/21 on Monday 12/14 at 5:30 PM.

The not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV jointly produce THEATER TALK. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast throughout the New York metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in THE FIVE boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner; Optimum/Brooklyn), Ch. 77 (RCN) and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). The show is available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org and via iTunes podcasts.

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