This Podcast Takes Deep Dives Into The Field Of Theatre

I'm Scott Miller and I run New Line Theatre in St. Louis, an alternative musical theatre company now in its 28th season. I've also written six books about the musical theatre, and I've written ten musicals and two plays myself.

After 15 years co-hosting a local radio show about theatre, I started the Stage Grok podcast in April 2015, designed to take deep dives into the process of making theatre, talking to actors, directors, writers, and other theatre artists, in New York and across the country.

I realized in 2015 that, through my work with New Line, my books, and Facebook, I've become friends with so many amazing theatre artists, in New York and all over the country. And as a working theatre artist myself, I realized I was uniquely qualified to talk to these people in-depth about their artistic processes. I can ask the kind of questions most people wouldn't think of asking.

After a little research, I realized I could start my own podcast, for virtually no money, using my iPhone as a recording studio. I got the songwriters of the musical Cry-Baby to give me permission to use the show's overture as my theme song, and New Line's graphic artist Matt Reedy was nice enough to design a Stage Grok logo for me.

My first episode posted in April 2015.

Part of the reason I left my radio show was the weekly pressure of finding a guest and find a time to record. With my podcast, I release episodes whenever I feel like interviewing someone. But the great part about this Information Age is that the episodes stay up forever.

Part of the fun for me is talking to the people who wrote the shows we produce with New Line. As an example, I interviewed director Michael Mayer about creating American Idiot while we worked on that show.

I don't take sponsorships, and I don't make money from it. But nothing is more fun for me than talking to really brilliant theatre artists about the cool theatre they make. And even though I've been making musical theatre since 1981, I learn something new in every interview I do.

I use my iPhone to record. I use Tape-a-Call to record phone interviews. I use Audacity to do post-production. I interview my guests in person when I can, but since I'm in St. Louis and many of my guests are in New York, I do a lot of phone interviews.

Stage Grok is available from all the usual sources, iTunes, Spotify, etc. I promote the show through social media primarily.

The biggest thing I've learned is that it's really easy and almost cost-free to create a podcast, but what gets listeners is great content.

stagegrok.com