The Farm Theater To Launch BULLPEN SESSIONS Podcast

The Farm Theater (Padraic Lillis, Founding Artistic Director) will launch season one of their new Bullpen Sessions Podcast on Thursday, March 28. This ten-episode series, hosted by Padraic Lillis and Lee J. Kaplan, will be available worldwide on all major podcast distributors. https://soundcloud.com/bullpensessions

The Bullpen Sessions are conversations with working theater professionals for early career artists or anyone interested in the journey of building a career in the theater. The focus of the podcast is to have conversations with working theater professionals and to demystify the process of building a career in the theater. Hosts Lee Kaplan and Padraic Lillis will talk with artists from all disciplines in the theater to have them share: how they got to where they are, who and what helped them, what they carry with them into the room, and advice for early career artists. Our first season will consist of ten episodes that will be released every two weeks beginning March 28th. Guests for season one of The Farm Theater's Bullpen Session will include: Aaron Roman Weiner ("The Americans"), Susan Pourfar ("Scandal"), Raul Castillo (El Chican; Looking), Matthew Hallock (Chair of Centre College Theater Dept.), Portia (Sweat; Ruined), Kris Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety), Lisa Arrindell (Madea's Family Reunion; Saints and Sinners), Megan Kingery (Broadway Producer, The Great Comet of 1812), Judy Bowman (Casting Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville), Rick Steiger (Broadway Stage Manager, An American in Paris; War Horse).

Lee J. Kaplan (Co-Host) began collaborating with Padraic in 2012 after writing the first draft of what would become Bully, his critically-acclaimed, award-winning solo theatre show. Since then, Lee has performed Bully for more than 17,000 people in theatres and schools across the U.S. and in Canada. Attempt to Rise, Lee's first narrative short film, collected multiple awards on the festival circuit in 2016. Lee made his off-Broadway debut in a production of Penny Penniworth with the Emerging Artists Theatre company and has been seen in numerous short films and web shorts. As a voiceover artist, Lee has recorded commercial spots for Baskin-Robbins, Nissan, Grey Goose Vodka, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. Samples of recent acting and voiceover work are available at Lee's personal website. Lee also owns and operates a video editing business called MakeItReel, working with artists to assemble demo and performance reels. Training: The William Esper Studio. http://leejkaplan.com/ http://makeitreel.net/

Padraic Lillis (Co-Host) is the Founding Artistic Director of The Farm Theater. This past fall he was The Humana Visiting Scholar and Artist in Residence at Centre College. He has been awarded the NYIT Award for Outstanding Director, Overall Excellence in Directing from NY International Fringe Festival for Lee Kaplan's Bully, and his film Hand Over Hand, which he wrote and directed, was awarded Best Short Film at the Milan International Film Festival. His plays are published with Dramatists Play Services and his solo show Hope You Get To Eleven or What are we going to do about Sally? was awarded Outstanding Solo show at the Planet Connections Festivity. Padraic has presented on behalf of The Farm Theater and their College Collaboration Project at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, South East Theatre Conference, and the Mid-American Theatre Festival. He taught with NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing, is the resident dramaturg for Compass Needle, a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company, and a lifelong Yankee fan.

The Farm Theater The name is inspired by the "farm" system of baseball whose role is to provide experience and training for developing players. The Farm Theater develops early career artists that may not have the support system afforded others, through workshops, productions, and mentoring. The centerpiece of our programming is The College Collaboration Project. This program is in its sixth year and has commissioned seven female playwrights. We have worked in collaboration with sixteen colleges. Lindsay Joy's In The Event of My Death, which was developed in the first year of the program was produced Off-Broadway by Stable Cable and had a sold out run, the 2017/18 collaboration commission, In the Cotton by Morgan McGuire was awarded the Mark David Cohen National Playwriting Award by the Kennedy Center, and the College Collaboration Project has been featured in American Theater Magazine and on HowlRound. The Farm Theater has produced numerous solo shows, including Artistic Director Padraic Lillis' show on suicide awareness, Hope You Get To Eleven or What are we going to do about Sally? which was awarded Best Solo Show and Planet Advocate Award at the Planet Connections Theatre Festival. In 2017 The Farm Theater partnered with Planet Connections Theatre Festival to produce Alex Riad's The Floor Is Lava. The play was awarded Best New Play and Best Production of a New Play and The Farm Theater was awarded The Planet Advocate Award for raising money and awareness for Girls Who Code. www.thefarmtheater.org

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