Dear Multi-hyphenate

About Dear Multi-hyphenate

Are you a combination of actor, director, producer, designer, or anything else? Congratulations, you’re a multi-hyphenate! A multi-hyphenate is an artist who has multiple proficiencies that cross pollinate to help flourish professional capabilities. Dear Multi-hyphenate explores the full potential of artists in show business who have taken the paths less traveled. Are you unsure how to stay creative and garner income during the pandemic? Are you sitting on a project and you have no idea how to get started? What if others have cornered you into thinking that you are just an actor, or just a director, or just a producer? Let go of the rules and take agency of your full potential! Listen to me and my guests, the leaders of the multi-hyphenation station, as we dissect the mentality and possibilities about artistic agency.”Michael is the glue that holds the Broadway community together.” - Tony Award Winner Alice Ripley (Next to Normal)

Publisher

Michael Kushner

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jan 2020

Latest episode

4 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

4 of 128 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   S4; EP. 4 -- Paola Lázaro: Dog Day Afternoon

   Michael Kushner interviews actress and playwright Paola Lázaro about her Broadway role, artistic journey, and the power of community in transforming careers and lives.

2. 

   12 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   S4; EP. 3 -- Kayli Carter: The Balusters (Truth Over Applause)

   Host Michael Kushner interviews actress Kayli Carter about her Broadway debut and authentic acting philosophy, offering insights into artistic vulnerability and collaboration.

3. 

   21 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   S4; EP. 2 -- Jonathan Tolins & Remy Germinario: Buyer & Cellar

   Host Michael Kushner sits down with playwright and showrunner Jonathan Tolins and actor Remy Germinario to explore life as a multi‑hyphenate in the arts — writing, producing, directing, and performing. They discuss Tolins’ hit one‑person play Buyer & Cellar, its Barbara Streisand inspirations, and how saying “yes” to opportunities shapes a creative career. Listeners will hear practical advice on writing and producing, the differences between creating in the theater and television, how personal truth fuels work, and the enduring power of niche audiences and sharp references. Buyer & Cellar one of the 10 most produced plays in America in 2016, “Buyer & Cellar,” which won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show and was named “Best Unique Theatrical Experience” by the Off-Broadway Alliance during its record-breaking run at the Barrow Street Theatre. The show also enjoyed a London engagement at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and was shown on the WNET series “Theater Close-Up.” "How do we spend our time in a way that makes us feel like our life is worth living,” says Tolins on the themes of Buyer & Cellar, “And how much does that involve other people?"In this hilarious, fictionalized one-man show, Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., he takes a job working in the Malibu basement of entertainment legend Barbra Streisand. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? Buyer & Cellar is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs. The play is a tour de force for a comedic actor, guaranteed to delight any musical theatre lover.JONATHAN TOLINS is best known as the author of Buyer & Cellar, which won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show and was named “Best Unique Theatrical Experience” by the Off-Broadway Alliance during its record-breaking run at the Barrow Street Theatre, before a national tour and being named one of the ten most produced plays in America in 2016. It also enjoyed a London engagement at the Menier Chocolate Factory and was shown on the WNET series, Theater Close-Up. Other plays include The Twilight of the Golds (Broadway, Booth Theatre), If Memory Serves (Promenade), The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick, Century Center), Secrets of the Trade (Primary Stages), and The Forgotten Woman (Bay Street Theater). A collection of his plays has been published by Grove/Atlantic. He was also represented on Broadway by additional material written with his husband, Robert Cary, for the revival of On the Town. His film work includes The Twilight of the Golds (based on his play) starring Brendan Fraser and Faye Dunaway, and Martian Child starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet, both co-written with Seth E. Bass. For television, he was a writer for Queer as Folk (Showtime, first season, co-producer), the 2000 and 2002 Academy Awards, the 2003 Tony Awards, Partners(CBS, consulting producer), BrainDead (CBS, consulting producer), five seasons of The Good Fight (Paramount+, executive producer), Schmigadoon (Apple TV+, co-executive producer), East New York (CBS, consulting producer), and is currently the showrunner of Elsbeth, recently renewed for a fourth season on CBS. In addition, he and Robert Cary wrote the script for Grease Live!, the Emmy award-winning live broadcast based on the classic musical, and A Christmas Story Live!, both for Fox TV. Cary and Tolins also wrote scripts for 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center, A Concert for Ukraine at Carnegie Hall, Get Happy: A Judy Garland Centennial Celebration at Carnegie Hall, starring Jessica Vosk, and the book for Take the Lead which premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2025. In addition, Jon was the author of Pushkin 200: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, acted as script consultant on Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectac

Inside a recent episode

S4; EP. 4 -- Paola Lázaro: Dog Day Afternoon

Published 4 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] It's amazing. It's awesome. Yeah. The louder the audience, the better, you know. We really... enjoy that and it feels like you guys are with us and truly the audiences have been incredible we get a lot of people you know for me one of the honors of doing this piece and continuing to perform this piece is that we get a lot of people who have never seen a play before wow they yeah they come to see john bernthal they come to see shane from walking dead which is one of his characters they come to see the punisher they come to see you know this tough guy that they love and And then they end up leaving with a love story that otherwise they might have never seen, you know? […]

Who has been a guest on Dear Multi-hyphenate

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Paola Lázaro
• Kayli Carter
• Shaina Taub
• JW Crump
• Spencer Liff

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

62 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 60 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

87

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

82

Contact Dear Multi-hyphenate

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Dear Multi-hyphenate