House of SpeakEasy

Follow House of SpeakEasy
Share on
Copy link to clipboard

House of SpeakEasy's, "The SpeakEasy Podcast," is where writers come together to eat, drink, and share stories on a range of themes each week. Hosted by SpeakEasy's co-founders, Amanda Foreman and Lucas Wittmann, episodes will feature previously recorded storytelling performances from our live Serio…

House of SpeakEasy

  • Jul 1, 2020 LATEST EPISODE
  • monthly NEW EPISODES
  • 40m AVG DURATION
  • 8 EPISODES


Search for episodes from House of SpeakEasy with a specific topic:

Latest episodes from House of SpeakEasy

Seriously Entertaining - Can You Hear Me Now?

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2020 48:13


As our country reckons with its history of systemic racism, House of SpeakEasy seeks to examine injustice, intolerance, and inequity by amplifying the voices of Black writers who have performed on stage for Seriously Entertaining. This episode of The SpeakEasy Podcast features a collection of stories from past shows: the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature and middle-grade author Jason Reynolds, who relates how racial discrimination shaped his mother’s relationship to her parents—and his own relationship to her—from our “All Together Now” show (May 2017); screenwriter and New York Times contributing opinion writer Kashana Cauley on The Great Migration and the resulting racial and economic divides in Milwaukee, the second-most segregated city, which for her is a true “No Man’s Land” (May 2018); and, from “Caught in the Act” (December 2017), author, legal scholar and Yale Law School Professor James Forman, Jr., re-imagines what justice, accountability, and prison reform might look like for a country with a human rights crisis in the form of mass incarceration.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - As Good as Gold

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2020 40:56


Though we were unable to host our March Seriously Entertaining show live at Joe's Pub due to the coronavirus, we wanted to share these original stories prepared by our March speakers, tied to the theme "As Good as Gold." This episode features Anne Nelson, journalist and author of the new book Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right examining the 2016 election, how it went unpredictably wrong, and what religious radio shows in the Midwest had to do with it; artist, activist, and author of the new book Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We’re Taking Back Our Power, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh sharing how her art expresses who she is as a woman…a woman who isn’t always polite; and Philip Kennicott,Washington Post art and architecture critic and author of Counterpoint: A Memoir of Bach and Mourning talking about finding Nathan, the greatest dog in the world…except for Nathan’s one significant flaw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - A LIterary Mixtape

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2019 39:14


Our sixth and final episode of the season presents a literary mixtape highlighting performances from SpeakEasy’;s inaugural year 2014-15. Since we were digging back into our archives, it seemed fitting to select stories that similarly looked backward in time: Historian Simon Winchester, who, at the age of 17 lands a job as a mortuary assistant quickly learns a valuable lesson about “Plays With Matches” by not fearing the dead. In “Falling for Perfection,” comedian and former The Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan reminisces about growing up in two different New York Cities and the powerful influence of movies, from Gremlins to Ghostbusters. And for “Summertime Blues,” philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein shares an origin story from the summer of 1957, when, after the Hungarian uprising, relatives come to live with her bringing mystery, unfamiliar language, and questions that would end up shaping her life choices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - It's Not You

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2019 40:04


SpeakEasy’s fifth episode highlights stories united by the theme “It’s Not You”: Pulitzer Prize–winning author and critic Margo Jefferson, memoirist George Hodgman, and novelist David Ebershoff share their journeys of negotiating issues of identity, memory, and what it means to be you.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - Failing Up

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2019 46:39


SpeakEasy’s fourth episode features storytellers dealing with the most fortuitous kind of failure, charting paths of those who’ve succeeded despite the odds, the ones who’ve tried and failed and yet try again. Theoretical cosmologist and professor of physics and astronomy Janna Levin shares the story of Joe Weber and his firm belief in the power of gravitational waves. Novelist and Whiting Award–recipient Mitchell S. Jackson talks about the decade of perseverance it took to produce his first novel. And political analyst and CNN anchor John Avlon talks about the Peter Principle through history and how failing up is really the story of our country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - When Strangers Meet

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2019 40:41


This is House of SpeakEasy Foundation's The SpeakEasy Podcast where writers come together to eat, drink, and share stories on a range of themes. Hosted by SpeakEasy’s co-founders, Amanda Foreman and Lucas Wittmann, episodes will feature previously recorded storytelling performances from our live Seriously Entertaining shows at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in New York City as well as new audio segments from our outreach programs, including our bookmobile outings and work with high school students. In this episode, poet-essayist and novelist Chris Abani, poet-critic Steph Burt and novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer share stories tied to the theme "When Strangers Meet." At the root of each of our performers stories, there seemed to be two basic questions just who is a stranger anyway? And what exactly can strangers tell us about ourselves? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - Razor's Edge

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2019 38:16


This is House of SpeakEasy Foundation's The SpeakEasy Podcast where writers come together to eat, drink, and share stories on a range of themes. Hosted by SpeakEasy’s co-founders, Amanda Foreman and Lucas Wittmann, episodes will feature previously recorded storytelling performances from our live Seriously Entertaining shows at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in New York City as well as new audio segments from our outreach programs, including our bookmobile outings and work with high school students. This episode features Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Madeleine Thien who will show us both sides of the blade, poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Alexander who will give us The Light of the World, and bestselling author James Rebanks will share with us The Shepherd’s View...all at the Razor's Edge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seriously Entertaining - This Is Not the End

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2019 32:36


Introducing The SpeakEasy Podcast, where writers come together to eat, drink, and share stories on a range of themes each week. Hosted by SpeakEasy's co-founders, Amanda Foreman and Lucas Wittmann, episodes will feature previously recorded storytelling performances from our live Seriously Entertaining shows at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in New York City as well as new audio segments from our outreach programs, including our bookmobile outings and work with high school students. Our first episode features TV writer and "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski who talks about the power of walking away; writer Alexander Chee explains why endings are so damn hard; and novelist Colum McCann takes us back to his beginnings to show why nothing really ever ends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claim House of SpeakEasy

In order to claim this podcast we'll send an email to with a verification link. Simply click the link and you will be able to edit tags, request a refresh, and other features to take control of your podcast page!

Claim Cancel