The Parsnip Ship (Artistic Director/Host, Iyvon E.) announces the Radio Roots Fellowship with playwright Jesse Jae Hoon as a part of their Radio Roots program. The Fellowship will include a live audio recording of his play, 12 Chairs (directed by Charlotte Murray) and will become a part of The Parsnip Ship’s catalog of recorded theatrical experiences, including live music from a musical guest and an interview with the playwright. The cast will include Ben Langhorst, Angel Lin, Frankie Placidi, Amanda Centeno, Brandon Bogle, and Arielle Gonzalez.
In addition, the Fellowship includes weekly dramaturgy sessions, a writer’s retreat, and a private developmental reading.
The Radio Roots program exists to support emerging playwrights interested in re-engaging with playwrights through audio-focused storytelling, breaking away from modern traditions of visual storytelling. Much like all programming on The Parsnip Ship’s platform, Radio Roots seeks to cultivate distinct voices in theater by providing resources for the development of innovative and accessible stories for radio drama. Jae Hoon joins The Parsnip Ship as the first fellow of the Radio Roots program.
The Parsnip Ship created the Radio Roots program in 2019 to develop original radio play commissions through weekly dramaturgical and artistic support. The first iteration of the program was a writers’ group that brought together four New York City-based playwrights with varying experience with audio storytelling. Now reimagined in 2023 as a Fellowship, Radio Roots supports the fellow through the adaptation of an existing stage play into a radio play. Jae Hoon will adapt and present his satirical comedy 12 Chairs, itself an adaptation of the 1928 novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov.
The Radio Roots program is facilitated by Al Parker (Associate Artistic Director, The Parsnip Ship) and Gabriella Steinberg (Dramaturg).
The play development process includes a deep partnership with the director and a sound designer for a fully realized sound design, accumulating in the presentation of 12 Chairs on Monday, June 12, 2023.