Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell (MA) just announced its exciting 2025-2026 season and artistic director Courtney Sale discusses how she embraces both MRT's working-class roots and its commitment to the growing diversity of Lowell's population. Sale reveals her programming philosophy, which admirably veers away from the head and towards the heart; her investment in a world premiere from the self-described “Khmer Kerouac”; her fondness for theater that flatters the intellect and the imagination; how she owns MRT's identity as a “beer and pizza” theatre; and her appealing commitment to the 4 Cs: commissions, community, comedy, and catharsis. (Length 18:02)

Christopher Moore's new novel Anima Rising combines his signature elements – complicated artists, suspicious detectives, a bawdy sisterhood, and supernatural bonking – into a strangely moving tale of friendship and survival. Set in 1911 Vienna, Chris's new novel is a spiritual sequel to his 2012 art world masterpiece Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art and, in anticipation of his upcoming book tour, Chris reveals how his fondness for Gustav Klimt and Mary Shelley drives this unlikely comic adventure; how both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung had to figure into the story (because: 1911 Vienna); and how his novels are becoming increasingly touching...or at least that’s how they’re being read. (Length 21:17)

Playwrights and RSC artistic directors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor discuss the updates they've been making to all their scripts (including All the Great Books (abridged), featuring Doug Harvey, Tré Zijuan Tyler, and Michael Faulkner, below) and how their writing process begins with coming up with material that's personal resonant. Martin and Tichenor reveal the despair of artists listening to the mortgage when evaluating their work; how not all laughs are created equal; how the great job of making people laugh now feels like an supremely important job; and how hearing the audience gasp at the turns in the narrative is even more satisfying to us. (Length 24:21)