Listen: Bryan Cranston, Raúl Esparza & More Appear in BANNED TOGETHER: AN ANTI-CENSORSHIP PODCAST

The right to free speech is being threatened, now more than ever. To raise awareness of the dangers of censorship for the theatre industry, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund is presenting a special podcast, available to download now through September 24 in conjunction with Banned Books Week.

Listen below!

To raise awareness regarding the societal dangers of censorship in the theatre industry and at large, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund presents Banned Together: An Anti-Censorship Podcast featuring songs, scenes, and monologues from 11 shows that have been banned or censored in communities across the country.

Schools, libraries, religious organizations, and other community groups are banning books, plays, and musicals for purely partisan reasons. When works are banned - whether literary or theatrical- it is a constitutional infringement upon the opportunities, livelihoods, and rights of authors, including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists.

The complete list of plays and musicals included on the podcast is as follows:

• An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
• Indecent by Paula Vogel
• Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress
• Angels in America by Tony Kushner
• Rent by Jonathan Larson
• The Vagina Monologues by V, formerly Eve Ensler
• The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman
• My Name is Rachel Corrie by Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner
• Fat Free Chicana and Snow Cap Queen by Elaine Romero
• Fun Home by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori
• Anna and the Tropics by Nilo Cruz

The episode features performances from Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza (Leap of Faith, Company), Tony Award winner Celia Keenan-Bolger (To Kill a Mockingbird), Tony Award nominee Richard Kind ("Curb Your Enthusiam," The Big Knife), Tony Award winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home, Well), the Stonewall Chorale, and more. DLDF board members Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly, Smart People) and Cheryl Davis host the podcast and Greg Jarrett (Assassins, The Cradle Will Rock) serves as music director.

Banned Together: An Anti-Censorship Podcast will only be available to download for a limited time during Banned Books Week 2022 (through September 24). This podcast is presented in association with Broadway Podcast Network.

The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund advocates and educates on behalf of the right of free speech on stages across America. Learn more at www.thedldf.org.