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Coen's comedy/drama Flesh and Blood is set in a Jewish cemetery in Queens, N.Y.  It is pre-dawn. Three headstones have been marked with swastikas.  Shelia Krickstein appears and crosses to the desecrated grave of her mother.  She’s looking for the caretaker who called her with the news, but instead, encounters an older grieving woman in 50s attire and, later, a judgmental Rabbi.  Pregnant, overdue, abandoned by her husband, and scarred by her upbringing, Shelia has little patience with these unwelcome representatives of a culture that she believes has failed her.  As tensions rise, and her long repressed grievances emerge, Shelia suddenly finds herself in an unexpected moment of spiritual and physical salvation.

Flesh and Blood was written and directed by Dana Coen staring Lisa Robins as Shelia Krickstein, Sharron Shayne as Joy Levine, Alex Wasserman as Hy Graber, and Anne Cooper as Rose Krickstein. Produced by Bernadette Armstrong, mixed by Sound Engineer David Peters at Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA.

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Founded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception. Open-Door Playhouse has presented Short and One-Act plays from Playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the Play Custody and in 2023 the play What’s Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.

Plays are produced by Bernadette Armstrong, Sound Engineer is David Peters, sound effects are provided by Audio Jungle, and music from Karaoke Version. All plays are recorded at The Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA.

There’s no paywall at the Open-Door Playhouse site, so you could listen to everything for free. Open-Door Playhouse is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and if you would like to support performances of works by new and emerging playwrights, your donation will be gratefully accepted. Your tax-deductible donations help keep our plays on the Podcast Stage. We strive to bring our listeners thoughtful and surprising one-act plays and ten-minute shorts that showcase insightful and new perspectives of the world we share with others. To listen or to donate (or both), go to https://opend...