Reed Birney played Uncle Vanya at SoHo Rep in 2012 in a translation by Annie Baker, with a cast that also included Michael Shannon. He joined us in December 2021 to discuss the character in depth.
You’ll hear Reed and I talk about:
We also learn lots more about Reed in our lightning round with a couple special New York questions!
This episode marks our third installment in our Chekhov series as we focus on Reed playing the role of Uncle Vanya. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out two most recent episodes of our Vanya workshop and Libby Appel’s Q&A. I suspect you’ll have an even deeper appreciation of and curiosity for the works of Chekhov.
This episode also concludes Season 5, which began way back in March! We’ve released a dozen episodes this year, from interviews to workshops to text work and Q&A’s. Thank you to everyone listening and I hope you’ve enjoyed this season as much as I have. I’d love to hear below if you have a favorite episode, guest, or moment. I’m also excited to share that we just passed 40K downloads and the show regularly appears in the top 100 of arts podcasts around the world!
Reed and I first spoke on the podcast back in Season 2 about his life and career. He has over 130 credits on stage and screen over the past 45 years. He is a Tony Winner for The Humans, a Tony nominee for Casa Valentina, and you can see him in the film Mass (now streaming on Hulu and elsewhere), HBO’s Succession, Apple’s Home Before Dark, and currently in theaters in The Menu with Ralph Fiennes. He also just closed a production of Chester Bailey with his son Ephraim at Irish Rep in New York. This guy just keeps working!
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A Tribute to Philip Bosco, with Armin Shimerman and Peter Van Norden
Ep #15: Dawn Didawick on Being a Sponge, No Credentials, and Daring to Fail
Text Work: Dickey's The Rembrandt with Francis Guinan
Ep #14: Steppenwolf's Francis Guinan on Being Blue Collar and Slightly Undisciplined
Ep #13: Tony-Winner Reed Birney on Actor Despair and Roles That Scare You
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Text Work: Mini-Shakespeare Master Class with Dakin Matthews
Ep #12: Dakin Matthews on Acting the Classics and Your Artistic Family
Ep #11: Ben Whitehair on Building Relationships and Intelligent Rule-Breaking
Ep #10: Gigi Bermingham on Being a Misfit and Living Her Dream
Ep #9: Clyde Kusatsu [Part 2] on Recovery, Preparation, and Serving the Project
Ep #8: Clyde Kusatsu [Part 1] on Discipline and Being 10x Better
Text Work: Pinter's The Hothouse with Peter Van Norden
Ep #7: Peter Van Norden on Finding Vulnerability and Work Making Work
Text Work: Bartlett's King Charles III with Nike Doukas
Ep #6: Nike Doukas on Determination and Embracing Emotion
Text Work: Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead with Geoffrey Wade
Ep #5: Geoffrey Wade on People vs. Characters and Doing Your Job
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