Now Playing: March 2026

Our March 2026 edition of Now Playing features mind-blowing podcasts, showtunes, and aspiring auditions for The Traitors!

Todd Honeycutt

I’m continually blown away and rejuvenated by the Poetry Unbound podcast. It exposes me to new voices and poets and views, and Pádraig Ó Tuama’s discussion and exploration of the poems provides an incentive for relistening to them at the end of the podcast. More than once, it’s offered me the gift of a story seed. Short and insightful and uplifting—what more could you want in a podcast?

Carol M. Quinn

I love (love, love) showtunes: the slant rhymes, the storytelling, the opportunities for both performers and characters to full-throatedly declare themselves to an audience. Lately, I’ve been listening to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert featuring the original Broadway cast of Maybe Happy Ending (check it out!), and, separately, Jak Malone’s Operation Mincemeat performance of “Dear Bill.” This one especially gets me: what begins as Malone’s character dictating a fictional-within-the-play love letter transforms into a character revelation that, somehow, also stands as a kind of thesis statement about the value and complexity of every single human being, all in under 6 minutes. Also, not exclusively showtunes, but the Oh, Mary! preshow playlist is very fun. I had no idea so much was happening at the intersection of Broadway and disco.

Shannon Moran

I watched the newest season of The Traitors as it was released, and I kind of can't stop thinking about it. I'm trying my hand and auditioning for the next season because I feel like a writer could crush on the show--we're weird enough to look like a non-threat, but our observance and knack for crafting an argument would see us through. Also, I'm a married woman, but Rob Rausch is a gift to the world. I'm Reality TV obsessed, and I love to write cultural-criticism-personal-essay hybrids about my favorite trash TV shows, and beauty, fashion, and media trends. I do have a Substack dedicated to this called Airhead Academic. You should subscribe!

I've also been re-reading Anne Carson's The Glass Essay. As an Emily Brontë super-fan, I felt like I needed to return to Carson's musings on Wuthering Heights after the Emerald Fennell of it all (I do still love you, Jacob Elorid). Some other books I've polished off or just started lately: Brutes by Dizz Tate, The Girls by Emma Cline, and Celebrity: A History of Fame by Susan J. Douglas and Andrea McDonnell. I feel like there's a very strong thematic thread here, hmm.

Andddd I've been listening to Harry Styles' Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. My husband and I just won the SNL standby lottery and will (hopefully) see him host and perform tonight, which is a dream come true. We moved to NYC in January, and it's been great to see what the city has to offer besides -20 degree blizzards!