Theater of War Productions

05/15/2026

Theater of War Productions, BAM and WNYC
Present

A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
A Live Call-in Radio Show
An adaptation of the essay by Paul Bloom
Directed by Bryan Doerries
Al companionship can soothe loneliness, but can technology meet our human need for connection, as painful and messy as it can be? Psychologist Paul Bloom probed that quintessentially modern question in “A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem,” published in 2025 by The New Yorker. Now, actors Bill Murray (Lost in Translation, Rushmore), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window at BAM), and Lois Smith (East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces) will perform Bloom’s article in a live call-in radio show, presented by Theater of War On The Radio on stage at BAM’s Harvey Theater.

The reading will be followed by a discussion led by Kai Wright (WNYC’s Notes from America, The Guardian’s Stateside) and Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions), featuring calls from listeners. Audience members will also be able to participate in the discussion following the conclusion of the radio broadcast. This special evening concludes the spring season of Theater of War On the Radio, a series that combines readings of timely news stories by all-star casts with listener call-ins. The reading, discussion, and listener calls will be broadcast live from the stage of the Harvey Theater on WNYC and wnyc.org.

Or tune in on Wednesday, May 27, at 8pm EDT on WNYC 93.9 FM or on WNYC.org to catch the live broadcast!

04/29/2026

On Thursday, at 8pm EDT, we’ll be back at WNYC to present the third installment of our new, live show: Theater of War - On the Radio. Actors Adepero Oduye (12 Years a Slave, Pariah, The Big Short) and Jumaane Williams (NYC Public Advocate) will perform “Our Longing for Inconvenience,” a new essay written by Hanif Abdurraqib for The New Yorker. We’ll use the essay to start a conversation with WNYC listeners about “falling in love the old fashioned way” in a world mediated by phones and apps. We’ll explore the tension between our desire for convenience and the friction of older technologies—like Walkmans, disposable cameras, and VCRs—that transport us back to less distracted, seemingly more authentic, times. And we’ll talk about strategies for staying present and resisting the allure of instant gratification to feel more alive.

Tune in on Thursday, April 30, at 8pm EDT on WNYC 93.9 FM or on WNYC.org to catch the live broadcast!

04/27/2026

The Guardian featured The Oedipus Project at Georgetown University!

'[Jesse] Eisenberg, star of films including The Social Network, Zombieland and Now You See Me, described the play as a timeless philosophical argument personified. “You have a guy here who is in denial of his own fate and is slowly coming to terms with it and so, for me as an actor, it creates wonderful dramatic stakes but intellectually it also is a fascinating discussion around denial and fate and, more specifically here, blind leadership.”

He said of Oedipus: “He won’t listen to reason, he ignores evidence and demonises anybody who tries to contradict what he assumes and what he thinks. What’s special about doing it with Dr Fauci, of course, is that it comes with all sorts of other resonance that can be quite allegorically potent.”'

Jesse Eisenberg and Chuck Schumer also star – could 2,500-year-old play teach US something about the climate crisis?

04/27/2026

Thank you to the 700 people who joined us in person for The Oedipus Project at Georgetown University on Tuesday, April 21, and over 1,000 more who joined us on Zoom from all over the world, spanning eighteen countries, including: the United States, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, China, Greece, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Jamaica, Taiwan, and Guatemala.

We are delighted to share the full recording of this unforgettable event, which presented acclaimed actors and public servants performing scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King as a catalyst for a powerful, constructive, global discussion about climate change, ecological disaster, ethical leadership, and environmental justice on the eve of Earth Day 2026.

Thank you to our cast for their thrilling, committed performances, including: Jesse Eisenberg, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Jumaane Williams, Chuck Schumer, Mare Winningham, Marjolaine Goldsmith, Bill Irwin, Erika Rose, and Craig Wallace. Thank you to our community panelists: Megan Lickley, Michaela Harrison, Megan Lu, and Nathaniel Rich for their candid responses and powerful insights.

Special thanks go to our partners at Georgetown University who co-presented The Oedipus Project as part of DC Climate Week: The Earth Commons and the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics. Thank you to Lasser Media for their technical support!

Translated, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.

The Oedipus Project featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Anthony Fauci

04/24/2026

Thank you to the 700 people who joined us in person for The Oedipus Project at Georgetown University on Tuesday, April 21, and over 1,000 more who joined us on Zoom from all over the world, spanning eighteen countries, including: the United States, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, China, Greece, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Jamaica, Taiwan, and Guatemala.

We are delighted to share the full recording of this unforgettable event, which presented acclaimed actors and public servants performing scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King as a catalyst for a powerful, constructive, global discussion about climate change, ecological disaster, ethical leadership, and environmental justice on the eve of Earth Day 2026.

Thank you to our cast for their thrilling, committed performances, including: Jesse Eisenberg, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Jumaane Williams, Chuck Schumer, Mare Winningham, Marjolaine Goldsmith, Bill Irwin, Erika Rose, and Craig Wallace. Thank you to our community panelists: Megan Lickley, Michaela Harrison, Megan Lu, and Nathaniel Rich for their candid responses and powerful insights.

Special thanks go to our partners at Georgetown University who co-presented The Oedipus Project as part of DC Climate Week: The Earth Commons and the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics. Thank you to Lasser Media for their technical support!

Translated, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.

04/20/2026

Join us on Tuesday, April 21, at 7pm EDT! The Oedipus Project presents acclaimed actors, public servants, and community members reading scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King as a catalyst for powerful, constructive, global discussions about climate change, ecological disaster, ethical leadership, and environmental justice. Sophocles’ ancient play is a timeless story of arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, intergenerational curses, and a pestilence and ecological collapse that ravages the city of Thebes. Seen through this lens, the play has served a powerful catalyst for engaging diverse communities in dynamic discussions about the climate crisis.

Featuring performances by Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain, The Social Network), Dr. Anthony Fauci (Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown University School of Medicine and McCourt School of Public Policy), Jumaane Williams (New York City Public Advocate), Chuck Schumer (Minority Leader of the United States Senate), Mare Winningham (St. Elmo’s Fire, Dopesick), Bill Irwin (Interstellar, Sesame Street), Erika Rose (Queens Girl in Africa, In Darfur), and Craig Wallace (Fences, A Christmas Carol).

The Oedipus Project at Georgetown University is presented as part of DC Climate Week by Theater of War Productions, The Earth Commons, and the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics.

Translated, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.

03/24/2026

Helen Shaw included us and Antigone in Ferguson in her recent The New York Times article exploring the enduring relevance of Antigone today: “Theater of War’s “Antigone in Ferguson” (2016) discovered another Polyneices: Michael Brown, the 18-year-old killed in 2014 by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., and left for four hours in the summer sun. Ancient tragedy included choral odes, sung responses from a group just outside the action. Here, the chorus consisted of Ferguson residents, including kids and cops, harmonizing in new settings of Sophocles’ songs.”

“Antigone” gave us the original “bad girl,” but its themes go beyond that. How do adaptations keep making Sophocles’ ideas about democracy and theater new?

03/13/2026

We are thrilled to share the recording of the second installment of our new live call-in radio series, which took place last night at WNYC. Thank you to our actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Rosie Perez, and David Patrick Kelly for their lively and humorous performance of “CASH AND CARRY,” a personal history written by David Sedaris for The New Yorker. It sparked an exuberant and moving conversation with WNYC listeners and callers about the challenges and joys of being neighbors, our duty to strangers, and the unique possibility of connection and disconnection in New York City. Thank you to everyone who tuned in live and called in. We heard all kinds of memorable New York stores, about giving and receiving help, moving pianos, pigeons, hunger, homelessness, and how much the city has changed.

Special thanks to our partners at WNYC for this exciting step in our collaboration. Additional Theater of War - On the Radio broadcasts will take place on a monthly basis through May 2026. Details about future shows will be announced at a later date.

03/11/2026

This Thursday night at 8pm EDT, we’ll be back at WNYC to present the second installment of our new, live show: Theater of War - On the Radio. Actors Jesse Eisenberg, Rosie Perez, and David Patrick Kelly will perform “CASH AND CARRY,” a personal history written by David Sedaris for The New Yorker, to start a conversation with WNYC listeners and callers about the challenges and joys of being neighbors, our duty to strangers, and the unique possibility of connection and disconnection in New York City.

Tune in on Thursday, March 12, at 8pm EDT on WNYC 93.9 FM or on WNYC.org to catch the live broadcast!

02/18/2026

This Thursday night at 8pm EST, we are joining forces again with WNYC to present a new, live show: Theater of War - On the Radio. Actors Julianne Moore, Sam Waterston and Daphne Rubin-Vega will be performing two pieces on the air: an article entitled “ICE’s Assault on a Minnesota School District,” written by Jessica Winter for The New Yorker, and Judge Fred Biery’s recent judicial opinion ordering the the immediate release of five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father from a detention facility in Texas. These texts will start a conversation with live call-in radio listeners about ICE and its impact on our schools and our children.

Tune in on Thursday, February 19, at 8pm EST on WNYC 93.9 FM or on WNYC.org to catch the live broadcast!

01/23/2026

BEHIND THE SCENES! Thank you to the nearly two thousand audience members who joined us at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Monday night to celebrate MLK Day 2026! It was a buzzing, profound, lively exchange, and we are immensely grateful to the cast, choir, musicians, and Dr. Philip Woodmore for serving the community and discussion with such moving, impassioned performances.

Thank you to Jeffrey Wright, Zohran Mamdani, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Jumaane Williams, The Phil Woodmore Singers, Marcelle Davies-Lashley and Friends, and soloists De-Rance Blaylock, Duane Foster, John Leggette, and Daniel McRath for bringing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon “The Drum Major Instinct” to life with generosity, humility, and unwavering commitment. Thank you to co-facilitators Bryan Doerries and De-Andrea Blaylock-Solar for leading the discussion with empathy and grace.

Thank you to our co-presenter BAM and their excellent team, which helped us bring this exciting event to fruition, for including us in their 40th Annual Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Special thanks go to photographer Beowulf Sheehan for capturing this thrilling night with his keen eye and deep humanity.