Kara Young and Nicholas Braun Play Childhood Friends in "Gruesome Playground Injuries"

Summary

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Detailed Summary of "Kara Young and Nicholas Braun Play Childhood Friends in 'Gruesome Playground Injuries'"

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Alison Stewart
Guests: Rajeev Joseph (Playwright), Kara Young (Actor), Nicholas Braun (Actor)
Date: November 13, 2025
Episode Focus: Exploring the Off Broadway revival of Rajeev Joseph’s "Gruesome Playground Injuries" with its stars and playwright

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the newly revived Off Broadway production of Gruesome Playground Injuries, a play chronicling the bond between two friends, Kayleen and Doug, over 30 years. Host Alison Stewart invites playwright Rajeev Joseph, alongside lead actors Kara Young and Nicholas Braun, to discuss the play’s enduring resonance, their collaborative process, and the emotional and theatrical challenges of embodying complex characters through decades of love, pain, and transformation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Makes "Gruesome Playground Injuries" Timeless

• Rajeev Joseph explains the play's significance lies in its "timeless place," detached from technology and current events, focusing on the universal themes of friendship and love.
  • Quote (03:47): "The plays always exist in a sort of timeless place...it's a love story. And I think those are always sort of relevant." — Rajeev Joseph

2. Acting Across Ages and Stages

• Kara Young discusses the opportunity and challenge of performing a character over multiple ages without ever leaving the stage.
  • Actors must rapidly transition between ages (8, 13, 23, 28, 33, 38) and emotional states in real time, physically and emotionally transforming before the audience.
  • Quote (04:13): "Nick and I don't leave the stage ever, ever, ever...It's literally like the beauty of theater." — Kara Young

3. Chemistry, Collaboration, and First Impressions

• The cast discusses finding believable chemistry without prior acquaintance, crediting director Neil Pepe for fostering a safe, creative environment.
  • Nicholas Braun admires Kara’s theatrical experience, calling the process both daunting and inspiring since it’s his first real play.
  • Quote (09:34): "[Kara] is a theater all-star, hall of famer, two time Tony winner...this is my first real play." — Nicholas Braun
  • Quote (07:23): "It all starts with like, the safest, most beautiful space...We, like, finish each other's sentences or say the same thing at the same time." — Kara Young

4. The Play’s Core Dynamic: Pain and Connection

• Rajeev Joseph explains the central question: "why might some people hurt themselves to get another person's love or otherwise; how might pain bring people together?"
  • Scenes are structured around “injuries”—emotional and physical—as pivotal moments in the characters’ timeline.
  • Quote (12:02): "The play is kind of based on this question of why might some people hurt themselves to get another person's love...how might pain bring people together?" — Rajeev Joseph

5. Character Perspectives

• Kayleen:

  • Isolative, craves connection yet feels rejected by the world as a child (13:00). Her emotional wounds, often internal and unseen, shape her adulthood in cycles of addiction and emotional turmoil (16:15).
  • Quote (13:00): "She wants to connect with people...she just wants somebody to respond to her questions." — Kara Young

• Doug:

  • Attention-seeking youngest sibling, acts out to be noticed ("rides his bike off the roof") (14:54). His injuries are visible and literal.
  • Quote (14:54): "He just wants people to pay attention to him at school, at home...he gets a thrill, but also...his mom's got to pick him up from school if he gets hurt and bloodied." — Nicholas Braun

6. Real-life Inspiration

• Rajeev Joseph based Doug on a real-life friend, Keith Benjamin, an “accident-prone guy” whose life stories of injuries inspired the play's chapter structure (17:52).

7. Magical Healing and Co-dependence

• Doug insists Kayleen’s touch heals him, a motif the actors see as magical, inexplicable, and ultimately bound up in their deep, imperfect connection (19:00).
  • Quote (19:00): "...there's just a thing. It's like how Kara was saying, like, we finish each other's sentences...you just have it and then you start to believe in it. And that person makes you feel better." — Nicholas Braun

8. The Challenge of Performing in an Exposed, Minimalist Setting

• Both actors discuss the vulnerability of changing character and costume on stage, in full view of the audience, which enhances the play's intimacy and rawness (21:43).

  • Quote (21:43): "There is a level of intimacy that is happening with the audience and us...[we’re] allowing the audience into the journey as we're going through these changes." — Kara Young

• Nicholas Braun adds: This play uniquely exposes their process, letting the audience witness transformation moments, which are usually hidden in traditional theater or TV (22:51).

9. Stagecraft Details and Humor

• A memorable, recurring bit involves the actors locking hospital beds in synchronized motion—a signal to the audience of scene transitions (24:30).
• They joke about their significant height difference (Braun very tall, Young very short), but both agree it quickly becomes invisible in the intensity of performance (24:51).

10. For Returning Audiences: What to Watch For

• Joseph urges returning viewers to focus on the evolving, unpredictable performances and the “epicness” hiding inside a two-actor, one-set drama (27:13).
  • Quote (27:13): "When I go and watch these nights, seeing Kara and Nick do it, I'm seeing a different play. A play that surprises me because they're unlocking so many complicated and interesting things in these characters that I haven't seen before." — Rajeev Joseph

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the play’s universality:
  "It's a love story. And I think those are always sort of relevant."
  — Rajeev Joseph (03:47)

• On performance intensity:
  "We don't leave the stage at all...It's literally like the beauty of theater."
  — Kara Young (04:13)

• On the dynamic between actors:
  "We, like, finish each other's sentences or say the same thing at the same time. The other day in my head, I was like, wow, I really want a piece of that cookie...and he just hands the bag to me."
  — Kara Young (07:23)

• On theatrical vulnerability:
  "There is a level of intimacy...we’re allowing the audience into the journey as we're going through these changes."
  — Kara Young (21:43)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:29–04:08: What makes the play timeless — Rajeev Joseph
• 04:13–05:25: Challenges and thrills of playing one character at various ages — Kara Young
• 07:23–07:53: Finding chemistry and a safe rehearsal space — Kara Young
• 09:34–10:52: First theater play nerves and admiration — Nicholas Braun
• 12:02–12:53: Injury as metaphor and chronology — Rajeev Joseph
• 13:00–14:37: Kayleen’s emotional world as a child — Kara Young
• 14:54–15:57: Doug’s family, motivations, and loneliness — Nicholas Braun
• 16:15–17:46: Kayleen’s emotional wounds in adulthood — Kara Young
• 17:52–18:37: How a real friend’s accident stories shaped the play — Rajeev Joseph
• 19:00–20:21: The “magic” of Kayleen healing Doug — Nicholas Braun
• 21:43–22:51: The creative challenge of theatrical exposure — Kara Young and Nicholas Braun
• 24:30–24:37: Synchronized hospital beds as a theatrical moment
• 24:51–26:41: Discussing (and deflating) the height difference joke
• 27:13–28:02: What returning audiences should focus on — Rajeev Joseph

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Tone & Cultural Context

The conversation is intimate, playful, and introspective, oscillating between sincere discussion of trauma and friendship, and cheerful banter about height, cookies, and backstage mishaps. The group’s rapport embodies the spirit of collaborative theater.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a heartfelt, behind-the-scenes view of Gruesome Playground Injuries, revealing the alchemy of theatrical performance—the deep bonds forged, the risks taken, and the power of storytelling to illuminate the messiness of being human. Listeners gain insights into both the craft of acting and the emotional terrain of Joseph’s play, whether or not they’re familiar with the stage.

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Transcript

[A]

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[C]

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[D]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC Studios in soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here on the show today. Actor Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. We will be here to talk about starring in Waiting for Gadot on Broadway. We'll also talk about the new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art devoted to Cuban artist Wifredo Lam. And we'll learn about the history and the tradition of quilting. Plus, call in and tell us about your family quilts. That's our plan. So let's get this started with Gruesome Playground Injuries. The Off Broadway revival of a play known throughout the theater canon gets a new jolt of energy from its stars, Kara Young and Nicholas Braun. The play is Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajeev Joseph. The play is about two friends, Kayleen and Doug, who met in school in the nurse's office when they were 8 years old. Kayleen has a tummy ache and Doug decided to see if he could ride his bike off the roof, resulting in a bloody face gash. After Doug allows Kayleen to touch his wound, the two of them become instant besties. And they form a bond that lasts 30 years. With some ups and downs and plenty of injuries. Through the death of a parent, dead end, jobs drifting apart, and intense feelings, these two are put through the wringer. However, they still manage to find one another time and time again. The Off Broadway revival of Gruesome Playground Injuries is running at the Lucille Lortel theater through Sunday, December 28th. Playwright Rajee Joseph is here with me now to discuss. Hi, Rajeev.

[C]

Hi, Allison.

[D]

And alongside Nicholas Braun. Hi, Nicholas.

[B]

Hi.

[D]

And Carrie Young.

[E]

Hello.

[D]

So good to see you.

[E]

So good to see you, too.

[D]

Gruesome Playground Injuries has been staged many times since 2009, right?

[C]

Yes.

[D]

So how have you thought about the play's significance as time has moved forward?

[C]

Well, I think that the plays always exist in a sort of timeless place. It's not rooted in any kind of current event. There's no technology, you know, so it kind of feels like it's this slice of life of these two people. And so it's a love story. And I think those are always sort of relevant.

[D]

This spans 30 years. Kara. Yes. What opportunities does this give you as an actor?

[E]

I feel like it's a beautiful exercise in jumping from one age to the next in, you know, like, you literally are going from 8 to 23 and then to 13 and then to 28 and then to 33 and then to 23 again and then to 38. So it's quite a tough mutter, you know, Nick and I don't leave the stage ever, ever, ever. We don't leave the stage at all. And we're, you know, Nick is doing all of his injuries, and we're changing in front of you. We're changing the. The space in front of you. And it's literally like the beauty of theater. I feel like Rajeev has given this piece of art to us and why it's so iconic, why all the students love it, why students are coming and telling us that this is. They've done all of these scenes or people who have graduated. They're like, this was my. I directed this. This was my thesis. So there's a reason why it's so iconic, because it's really giving all of the essence of what theater is.

[D]

Nicholas, what intrigued you about the premise of this play?

[B]

I mean, it's. It's some of the same stuff, but I think it's a strange relationship. I mean, it's a really, like, you could call it toxic. You could call it, I don't know, romantic. It's it's just too. I don't know. There's something about this relationship where it's kind of enviable. Like, you kind of want somebody that you're as close to as Doug and Kayleen. It's kind of a beautiful thing. I don't know. I don't have a Kayleen, really. It's an extreme friendship.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

So there's something about that that felt like we. You know, I think people will really respond to it or. Or get moved by it or get uncomfortable watching them. And. And so I think. Yeah, I think it's shocking in that way kind of too.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Rajiv, you've seen many actors in these two roles talk about them like they're not here. What about their chemistry struck you as. Okay, this is real.

[C]

Well, that's. That's the kind of. The amazing kind of luck that we've had. And I think all three of us in this whole production is because I don't think you guys knew each other before.

[D]

You didn't know each other at all.

[E]

I don't know this man now.

[D]

I do. Okay.

[C]

Kiki?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's been incredible to watch these two actors work together and to find not only their way through this play and the story, but also watch their own relationship, you know, evolve over the last few weeks. And I. And I really feel that for this play to be successful, these two people have to kind of love each other. And I really feel the love between Kara and Nick.

[D]

Kara, when was a moment during rehearsal or during when you first went up that you knew this chemistry is going to work?

[E]

You know, I. Well, you know, it all starts in the room. And it all starts with, like, the safest, most beautiful space. And our incredible director, Neil Pepe, created such a great environment for us to feel free and for us to explore and for us to feel safe to explore. And I definitely feel very connected to Nick. We, like, finish each other's sentences or say the same thing at the same time. The other day in my head, I was like, wow, I really want a piece of that cookie. And like on cue, he just hands the bag to me. I only said it in my head. There's something really wild happening with Nick and I doing this play. And I think that it's all connected to Rajeev and his work and these characters. I think Kayleen and Doug are looking for all of the things that the human is looking for. They're looking for love, they're looking for connection. They're looking to connect. And it's Quite remarkable what's happening on the other side of the page with us.

[B]

Yeah, the play kind of works on you. So I think that does some of the work in rehearsal where it's like, you know, we're trying to learn how to be 8 year olds together.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

We're trying to figure out how to talk like 8 year olds run around, you know, we're trying to figure out 13. We're trying to figure out the heaviness of where they're at in 38. So some of that watching another actor's process also helps you get to know them. And you know, we come from different worlds. Like, Kara is like a theater version vet. What like theater all star, hall of.

[D]

Famer, two time Tony winner.

[B]

Two time Tony winner, like all the accolades. So, you know, and this is my first play. This is my first real play, you know.

[D]

Were you scared?

[B]

You know, not really. Like, I was just really, I was really excited. I, I knew I would be inspired and, you know, I would learn from Carrie Young. I'd heard so much about her. Like, so many people were so excited that she was going to do the play and I was going to get to work with her. And so I went into it with that kind of excitement. And then watching her, watching her figure out this character in front of me, trying all sorts of things. She's like very like experimental, like passionate, imaginative person. The list could go on and on. So I'm like, I just felt well matched. I'm like, oh man. Like she and I, she's going to. It was. It's like when you're doing movies and tv, there's smaller performances, you know, and people are not necessarily like going, they're not necessarily on like their front foot in the way that like the first day when I was, when I met Kara Young, I'm only going to use her first and last name together because that's just how we do it. But I was just like, yeah, like she's going for it. Yes, she's. She's using her voice and her body and you know, and so I think that was exciting. Like, there's just very few actors I've met that are so like, I don't know, it takes like a courage, I think, in a boldness. So anyway, I could truly spend this entire interview talking about how inspired I am by her. But I love watching her and so, and learning from her and I think, you know, we're going out there and throwing it back and forth at each other every night and that's really fun. That's the best.

[E]

So much fun.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

We're discussing the Off Broadway revival of Gruesome Playground Injuries. Actors Carrie Young and Nicholas Braun are here, as well as playwright Rodney Rajiv Joseph. It's Gruesome Playground Injuries will be running at the Lucille Lortel theater through Sunday, December 28. Rajiv, these, these characters, they go back in time over 30 years. And it's not chronological, which is harder on you guys, but what aspects of the characters lives did you want to show during this 30 year period?

[C]

Yeah, well, I think that, you know, the title kind of tells you in some ways what it is. And it's. The play is kind of based on this question of why might some people hurt themselves to get another person's love or otherwise. How might pain bring people together? So I was looking at these kind of traumatic events. They meet in the nurse's office when they're eight and she has a stomach ache like you said, and he's cracked his head open. And then we meet them at these points of injury. These points of injury end up being sort of of like the chapters in their story. And that evolves and devolves that we go back and forth in time into a more dangerous and fraught relationship than your average love story.

[D]

KARA. We meet eight year old Kayleen. What's important to Kayleen when she's eight?

[E]

What's important to Kayleen? I feel like Kayleen is really loving to be alone. She wants to connect with people. I feel like she is, you know, facing like rejection from the world right now. Yeah. So we meet Kayleen in isolation and. In isolation and safety. Yes. She has a stomachache. I think that she wants a friend and I think that it's that kismet point of contact with Doug when he enters the nurse's office. Because, you know, she just wants somebody to respond to her questions and she gets that. And she's curious, inquisitive, she's filled with all sorts of magic and imagination and it feels very hopeful in the beginning. And there's that point of, the point of contact, the point of connection with Doug. It's as if, like the possibilities of our, the purity of us when we're children before the world comes at us. There's just so much hope and so many possibilities when we meet them. Yeah.

[D]

We meet Doug after he attempts to ride his bike off the roof. Nicholas. Spoiler. He does not stick the landing. Why does he do this in the first place? In your mind, why does he ride his bike off the roof?

[C]

Roof.

[B]

I think I mean, I, I, he comes from a family where he's the youngest. We think of a, a handful of brothers, I think, you know, maybe three other brothers or something. And nobody pays attention to him. Part of it is he just wants people to pay attention to him at school, at home. And I think he gets a thrill, but also like, you know, his mom's got to pick him up from school if he gets hurt and bloodied. But he's also just one of those guys that just wants to, like, feel and just wants to, like, throw himself around. And it's also just a type of person and it's kind of, I think, a lonely existence in a way, because a lot of, you know, Evel Knievel's all by himself going off those ramps. So, so to find a kind of partner in that, I think feels good because he's doing most of it alone.

[D]

Kerry, your character's injuries are not always due to accidents. Some are self inflicted and you can see Doug's injuries, but you can't always see your injuries. How are Kayleen's emotional wounds? How do they shape into her adulthood? How do they change into her adulthood?

[E]

How does her emotional wounds shape her adulthood? I think that Kayleen's, I think that what we're talking about, Rajiva's given us clues, so many clues in regards to Kayleen's addictions. And, you know, that can be self inflicted until it is a disease. And we don't necessarily see that. There's, that, there's that pivotal scene where she actually talks about how she injured herself. And I feel like, you know, it's a raw tunnel that is hard to escape. You know, for those of us who know, it's a very, it's a challenging place to be. And, you know, when things happen to you and you don't know or don't have the tools to navigate those emotions or those traumatic events, then you're going to constantly try to have a solve or a bomb that you put over it for it to escape the thoughts, to escape. Sitting in thought. Yeah.

[D]

Rajeev, is this based on a friend of yours?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, tell me a little bit about this.

[C]

Yeah, I have this friend, his name is Keith Benjamin. And I grew up with him. I didn't grow up with him. He's a little older than me, but we worked together in Cleveland when I was in high school and college. And one night we were sitting there in Brooklyn. I'd known him for years and he was telling me about his life and all these injuries. He's had. I knew about some of them because he is an accident prone guy. But in learning about these other injuries that had started when he was very small that were so bizarre and so terrible, and I was like, how are you alive? And also, if you wrote a memoir, you could have every chapter be an injury. And that made me start thinking about marking time through injuries. And I thought, if it was a memoir, it could also be a relationship. And if it was a relationship, it could be a love story marked by these things. And that's what led to the play.

[D]

We're discussing the Off Broadway revival of Gruesome Playground Injuries with its playwright, Rajeev Joseph, as well as its actors, Kara Young and Nicholas Braun. Nicholas. Doug often tells Kayleen that when she touches his injury, it makes him feel better, even though she doesn't necessarily believe him. Do you think that Doug believes that it makes him better?

[B]

Yeah, I do. Rajeev. No. Yeah, I do think he believes it. I do. I don't know. It's one of those magical parts of the play that is inexplicable. Maybe, like, there's just. There's just a thing. It's like how Kara was saying, like, we finish each other's sentences or, I know when she wants some of my food or something. It's like you just have it. You just have it and then you start to believe in it. And that person makes you feel better. But these two people kind of can't get out of the way of their own pain, you know, and they can't. Like, they, she, she'll fix them. And then he still keeps doing stunts, you know, keeps going. So it's that conflict of, like, you know. Yeah, still wanting to bash himself up, but there's a person that can also make him feel really good. It's like the battle of, like, being a person alone versus being with someone. And it's not so easy as, like, oh, wow, I have a friend and they're gonna be my friend forever, and this is gonna be a perfect friendship. You sometimes can't get out of the way of your own stuff. So, yeah, I think. I think he believes it. I think he believes it.

[D]

Rajeev, what were you trying to get at? The long lasting friendship. What did you want to explore about this kind of long lasting friendship between two people, which has its highs and has its real lows?

[C]

I mean, it's one of the things I love about storytelling is the compression of time. How you can look at a whole life, a whole, you know, years and years and Years in the span of 90 minutes, which the play is. And see. See these people at different times in their life and how they've changed and how they've, you know, evolved but also degraded. And I really, I find that really moving. And I. Not all of my plays do that, but I do enjoy either writing or seeing stories in which they're sort of epic in scale. And this is a small play about just two people on stage and they never leave the stage. And it's about them growing up together. But there's an epicness to it because it is, you know, takes place over 30 years.

[D]

You never leave the stage, Kara. You change your clothes on the stage. You become a different person sort of or age on the stage. How does working in such a minimal space help you creatively?

[E]

Oh, are you talking specifically like changing of your clothes?

[D]

How you become yourself at varying?

[E]

This is very vulnerable. I feel like it's very. It's very. And I'm not using the word pejoratively like exposing. It's. It feels like I forget the acting teacher, but there's, you know, like just put it all out there, whatever they say or something. But it feels like. And especially doing that off Broadway in a 299 seat theater, there is a level of intimacy that is happening with the audience and us as well, Nick and myself as Doug and Kayleen. It feels very intimate what we're doing. It's interesting how Neil has directed it because the taking off of the clothes, the getting rid of the putting on the. It feels like we're allowing the audience into the journey as we're going through these changes. I don't know if I answered your question.

[B]

Yeah, no, no. Also like the actors process, like, I think that's what also makes this play really unique is like we like to hide our process and we like to come out from like behind the curtain or whatever, like onto. In front of the camera and be like prepared, be in my, you know, your costume and everything. And here's. Here's what it is. And then cut. And then you go away, you know, and you prepare in your trailer, wherever. Like you just do it. You do it all kind of secretly, you know. And so I think it's cool that audiences will get to see us like find the next age or character by putting on 13 year old clothes or putting on, you know, 38 year old clothes and seeing how that changes us. You know, there's literally in the transition, I think, I mean, we haven't talked about it like that much, but I Think there's, like, a moment where one age goes away and the new age starts to come in. And it's, like, kind of really cool. And the music helps and the lighting helps and all of it. But I think, you know, putting on the makeup in front of people, doing it without a mirror, like, we're just. It's. It is very raw and very exposing to see the act. There's an actor in between the scenes. So we're sort of. You sort of have to suspend your belief in between the scenes, and then the scene will start, and hopefully everyone is locked into the scene and they're back into the story and back into the play. So it's. It's kind of a really cool blend.

[D]

I loved when the beds lock. The hospital beds lock in one. It's a real.

[B]

If we can get it right, if we can do it at the exact same time, it feels really good. You can tell there's a lot of.

[D]

Eye contact between the two. You're like, ready, go. And it locks in and it kind of gets the audience set for, okay, we're on to the next. It's kind of a neat thing. I have to ask one really silly question. There's a huge height difference between the two of you.

[E]

But we're the same.

[D]

But you're the same.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

Okay, explain.

[E]

I'll tell you why. Because Nick is so tall and I am so short. So we actually are very alike. Because everyone wants everybody comments on our height. My entire life it's been about, oh, my God, you're so short. And I'm like, it's an illusion. But I feel like acting with Nick. I don't feel it, actually. I think people see it because that's. Our eyes are trained that way. But I don't feel it. I don't see it until someone points it out.

[D]

How about you?

[B]

It's so true. It's so true.

[D]

Except when you climb on his back.

[E]

I like that.

[D]

I like when she climbs on your back. But it's the greatest hug.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, totally. Only someone cares size could make that so good. Yeah, I feel. I feel the same. I mean, the world's not really made for Carry Young's height and my height. It's like. It's actually not.

[E]

It's really not.

[B]

It's really made for, like, five, two to six, two. Or, you know, like. But we're outside. I don't know. 5, 2, 6, 4. I don't. I don't know. But even, you know, shower heads are below my height usually. And plane Seats are hard. And you know, I'm sure Kara has her own similar things.

[E]

Yeah, I gotta climb on the counter.

[B]

To get to get to the top.

[E]

Shelf so you can get it. But like, you know, yeah, but I'll.

[B]

Hit my head on a doorframe in the same house.

[E]

Or I'm like the last person to get in an elevator because I'm so little. Maybe I just push myself, but you know.

[B]

Yeah. No, so it's. And it's true. Like, I think in the play, she and I somehow, whether through blocking or really just, I don't know. Kara Young also has a big energy, so it's like she brings herself up in that way too. So I think it has really. Yeah. Somehow evened out. We don't think about it or worry about it.

[D]

Reggie, for someone who has already seen this play and decides, yeah, I'm gonna go down to the Lortel and check it out, what would you want them to pay attention to seeing it again the second time?

[C]

Oh, that's such an interesting question. I mean, number one, just these particular performances. I mean, I wrote this play, I've seen it so many times. And when I go and watch these nights, seeing Kara and Nick do it, I'm seeing a different play. A play that surprises me because they're unlocking so many complicated and interesting things in these characters that I haven't seen before. And I think Neil Pepe's production, the wonderful designers who have put this on that stage and that theater is. It's such a beautiful, historic, creaky old downtown theater. It's like the perfect, it's like kind of falling apart. There was a rainstorm. We were in tech rehearsals and it was. Rain was coming through the ceiling and like, it's like, it's a perfect space for this show, you know, and it's so exciting to be down there every night.

[D]

Gruesome Playground Injuries is running at the Lucille Lortel Theater on until Sunday, December 28th. My guests have been Kara Young, Nicholas Braun and Rajeev Joseph. Thanks for coming to the studio.

[B]

Thank you.

[F]

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[A]

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