J.T. Rogers is a playwright whose plays include  (Lincoln Center Theater, then Broadway; National Theatre, London, then West End); Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center Theater; National Theatre); The Overwhelming (National Theatre, then UK tour with Out of Joint; Roundabout Theatre); White People (Off-Broadwaywith Starry Night Productions); and Madagascar (Theatre 503, London; Melbourne Theatre Company). For Oslo he won the Tony, New York Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk, Drama League, Lortel, and Obie awards. As one of the playwrights for the Tricycle Theatre of London’s The Great Game: Afghanistan he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He is a Guggenheim fellow and has received three NYFA fellowships in playwriting. Rogers is a member of the Dramatist Guild, where he is a founding board member of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund. On December 5th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Forman Jr, David Friend, and Laura Lippman  (tickets). We spoke to JT ahead of the show   Current projects: I’m writing the screenplay of my play OSLO, creating a series for Netflix, and digging into a new play. What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing?: Pouring over “Dick and Jane” books in preschool, staying in at recess so […]

Lev Grossman is the author of Warp, Codex, and The Magicians series, the first of which was one The New Yorker‘s best books of the year. The Magicians books have now been published in twenty-five countries. Grossman was both the lead technology writer and the book critic for Time magazine for fifteen years, from 2002 through 2016, and The New York Times described him as “among this country’s smartest and reliable critics.” On November 1, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside David Kilcullen, Julie Scelfo, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths (tickets). We spoke to Lev ahead of the show… Name: Lev Grossman What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? The first thing I can remember reading is the immortal Ant and Bee Go Shopping. I wanted so badly to taste the plums they put in those neat clear boxes. I still do. What is your favorite first line of a novel? Off the top of my head, I’ll give it to M.T. Anderson’s Feed: “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” What are you reading right now? I’m re-reading Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies. Also Alan Moore’s Watchmen. If you […]

David Kilcullen is the Chairman of Caerus Associates. Before founding Caerus, he was Special Advisor to the Secretary of State from 2007-2009 and Senior Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq in 2007. He is the author of bestselling books The Accidental Guerrilla, Counterinsurgency and Out of the Mountains. His most recent book is The Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism. On November 1, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Julie Scelfo, and Lev Grossman (tickets). We spoke to David ahead of the show…   Name: David Kilcullen What is your favorite first line of a novel? “He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees.” –For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1941 What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Write what you know, what you see first hand, and what people tell you, directly, in their own words. What writer, past or present, do you wish you could eat dinner with? William Gibson What are you reading right now? I always have a lot of books on the go at once, and always a mix […]

Loudon Wainwright III is a singer-songwriter and actor. In 1968,  he began to write songs, and in 1969 recorded his first album. Wainwright has recorded twenty-seven albums, including his 2010 Grammy Award–winning High, Wide, & Handsome. His songs have been covered by Johnny Cash, Mose Allison, Rufus Wainwright, Bonnie Raitt, and Earl Scruggs, among others. As an actor he has appeared on TV (M*A*S*H, Ally McBeal, Undeclared), in movies (Big Fish, The Aviator, Knocked Up), on Broadway (Pump Boys and Dinettes) and Off Broadway (Hot Lunch Apostles, Surviving Twin). On September 26th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, One for the Road alongside Ann Brashares, Adam Begley, and Erica Wagner (tickets). We spoke to Loudon ahead of the show…   Name: Loudon Wainwright III Title of most recent work: Liner Notes- About Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & and A Few Of My Other Favorite Things (Read a review from the NY Times) What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Get up every morning and do it (write) for 2 hours What writer past or present do you wish you could eat dinner with? John Updike & Anton Chekhov What writer do you wish you could share with the world The songwriter Tom Lehrer What […]