The Arena: A Radio Play
November 13th, 2026
The Bronx Music Hall | 438 E 163rd St, Bronx, NY 10451
A re-imagined work of documentary theatre, an out-of-work composer finds inspiration in the successes (and failures) of Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theatre Project.
In 1938, the Federal Theatre Project, helmed by Hallie Flanagan, was shuttered in a closed committee hearing. The Arena, a documentary radio play based on Hallie Flanagan’s memoir, re-imagines that hearing as a series of vaudevillian sketches that gives artists their proverbial day in court. Set within a fictional dream sequence of an out-of-work composer after she discovers Flanagan’s memoir, The Arena interrogates the value of art and artists within society.
Written and Directed by Ash Singer
Music Composition by Shira Bouskila
Based on Hallie Flanagan's out-of-print memoir Arena, artist testimonies, and congressional hearing transcripts.
Starring Jacqueline Knapp*, Esther Ayomide Akinsanya, Ryan Pollock-Comer, Aaron David Kapner
Produced by Kate Szekely
Presented in partnership with The Bronx Music Hall
This project is made possible with public funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and with funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, both administered by the Bronx Council on the Arts.