Radiolab, Reply All & More Podcasts Partner at First-Ever CAST PARTY Tonight

Podcasts continue to have a breakout year, grabbing the world's attention, amassing millions of listeners and being honored by the Peabody Awards for the first time in history. This summer, hosts from some of the most popular podcasts are getting together to celebrate at the inaugural Cast Party (www.castparty.org) - an original variety show celebrating the emergence of the podcast as a global medium with a growing, obsessed fan base.

Tonight, July 28 at 8pm ET, hosts of Radiolab, Invisibilia, Reply All, With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus and The Truth will take the stage at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in front of a live audience. All the excitement from the biggest podcast party ever will also be simulcast across the U.S. and Canada to hundreds of cinemas with the help of BY Experience (www.byexperience.net), a Brooklyn-based company specializing in bringing live events to cinema screens via satellite. In addition to performances from each podcast, Cast Party will feature non-stop visual and aural excitement with music from horn quartet The Westerlies, performances by comedy dance group Cocoon Central Dance Team, surprise guests, original videos, projected visuals and much more.

"We envision this as the 'Lollapalooza' of podcasts," says Cast Party co-creator and producer Seth Lind. "Podcasts are having this moment, what everyone's calling a golden age, so we thought why not gather shows from different genres and networks and just have a huge celebration? And let's rent a satellite so everyone can see it."

At the event's official website (castparty.org) fans can enter to win a pair of tickets to the event screening at their local movie theater. Cinema tickets will go on sale starting Friday, June 12th. Tickets are on sale now for the live performance at NYU Skirlball Center. Tickets links can be found at www.castparty.org.

"Getting audiences together to watch their favorite podcasts come to life, from the live stage to the big screen, will be exhilarating," says Julie Borchard-Young, co-President of BY Experience, Executive Producer and co-creator of Cast Party. "These podcast hosts talk right into our ears each week, which is an intimate, often solitary pleasure. We're thrilled to transform that individual listening experience into a live, collective, visual one. With some actual song and dance."

Once a niche for the tech-savvy, podcasts have exploded in popularity in recent years. In late 2014, the mega-hit investigative podcast Serial pushed podcasting to the epicenter of pop culture with more than seven million downloads per episode. At the same time, Apple launched a new podcasts app that made it easier than ever to tune in. Listening soared across shows and networks, spawning many think pieces about the new golden age of podcasts. Seems like the right time for a party.

Cast Party is made possible with the generous support of MailChimp and Audible.com - both perennial supporters of podcasts, with sponsorship appearing across many different networks and shows.

The Cast Party Podcast Lineup:

· Radiolab. Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich bring to the stage WNYC's wildly popular, multi-award winning, obsessively sound-designed exploration of science, philosophy and human experience.

· Invisibilia. Co-host Lulu Miller performs a brand new story reported for NPR's mega-hit podcast about the hidden forces that guide our lives.

· Reply All. Hosts by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman perform a live episode of Gimlet Media's breakout show featuring riveting stories about Internet. Produced by former This American Life producer and Planet Money co-creator Alex Blumberg.

· With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus, Earwolf's improv comedy show guested by - that's right, guested - by comedian and Orange is the New Black star Lauren Lapkus. In every installment, another comedian pretends to be the host of an imaginary long-running show and tells Lauren on the spot what her character is. Improvised comedy of the highest caliber ensues. Lauren's special host for the evening is to be announced...

· The Truth, created by Jonathan Mitchell, is contemporary radio drama. Like old-timey radio serials, but without any of the throwback cheesiness - completely fresh and with 3D soundscapes. Jonathan and his team of writers and actors will create a completely original dramedy to be performed live on stage at Cast Party. The Truth is part of Radiotopia, a collective of story driven podcasts from PRX.

Song and Dance:

· The Westerlies are a New York based brass quartet composed of four friends from Seattle, Washington: Riley Mulherkar, Zubin Hensler, Andy Clausen and Willem De Koch. Since their inception in 2011, The Westerlies have premiered over 40 original works for brass quartet.

· Coccoon Central Dance Team is Tallie Medel, Sunita Mani and Eleanore Pienta. Remember when you and your cousins made up that dance to Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" at the family reunion and Uncle Stanley laughed so hard he choked on his barbecued rib? Cocoon Central Dance Team is exactly like that but it's 2015.

Cast Party is produced for the stage by Seth Lind. Julie Borchard-Young and Robert Borchard-Young of BY Experience, Inc. are Executive Producers for Cinema. The team has previously collaborated on cinema events for This American Life, where Lind is Director of Operations. Brooklyn-based BY Experience specializes in distributing specialty performing arts and other content for cinemas globally.