Join us at NYC’s Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue, on Wednesday May 21st, 2025 at 6:00PM for a conversation with acclaimed theatre critic David Cote and former Head of Scripted Fiction at Spotify, Mimi O'Donnell.

Together, they’ll explore the importance of criticism in audio fiction, including how it can serve as a guiding framework, foster innovation, and help build a vibrant, engaged community around the genre.

This lively discussion will be moderated by Jocelyn Kuritsky and James Scully as part of their ongoing series, Breaking the Audio Fiction Form.

As always, there is dinner downstairs after the program. Dinner guests need a reservation. There is also a bar room where guests can order drinks and bar food without a reservation.

Bar Opens 5:30PM
Program Starts 6PM
Dinner/Drinks 7PM (a la carte)

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David Cote is a playwright, opera librettist, and theater critic based in New York City. Plays include Saint Joe and Aristotle Punches Down (National Playwrights Conference semifinalist). Recent opera: Lucidity by On Site Opera in NYC; Northwest premiere at Seattle Opera; Blind Injustice at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater; and Meltdown, a solo opera about climate change at National Sawdust. Previous operas include Blind Injustice at Cincinnati Opera and Peak Performances; Three Way at Nashville Opera and BAM; and The Scarlet Ibis at Prototype festival. After the 2015 murder of Michael Brown, David wrote the text for Nkeiru Okoye’s Black Lives Matter monodrama, Invitation to a Die-In. As a journalist, David’s TV and theater writing appears in The A.V. Club, Observer, 4 Columns, American Theatre and elsewhere. He’s the author of popular companion books about the Broadway hits Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Wicked, Jersey Boys and Spring Awakening.

Mimi O'Donnell most recently served as the Head of Scripted Fiction at Spotify Studios where she led the team as Executive Producer and Director on hit audio series such as Case 63 starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, Quiet Part Loud, a co-production with Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions. She also executive produced The Horror of Dolores Roach, now an Amazon Prime Video series, Motherhacker, The Two Princes, Gay Pride and Prejudice, and Sandra. Previously, she worked at the Labyrinth Theater Company for seven seasons as the Artistic Director. She directed the World Premieres of Nice Girl and Thinner Than Water by Melissa Ross and the New York premiere of The Way West by Mona Mansour. As a producer with the Company, she was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of The Motherf**ker with the Hat.

Jocelyn Kuritsky is an actor & creator, with a focus on experimental theater & new forms. She has performed in a wide array of NYC stage productions. She has also appeared on television, in film, & in audio fiction podcasts. Jocelyn is the creator of A Simple Herstory, a Webby Award honored and Anthem & Telly Award winning multi-platform podcast series. She is also a founder & the actor-in-residence of the Drama Desk nominated & Lucille Lortel Award winning immersive theater company, Woodshed Collective. Along with her colleagues at Woodshed, she is one of the original conceivers of Broadway’s groundbreaking, Tony Award nominated KPOP. jocelynkuritsky.com

James Scully is an outgoing native New Yorker who grew up in a home with three generations of family. He had close relationships with both his grandparents and great-grandparents, being exposed to an invaluable amount of local culture. It has helped him become a passionate actor, writer, director, and historian. He’s a graduate of Xavier High School in Manhattan, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and has spent over a decade working in media for companies such as Condé Nast, and Hearst. James is a radio historian and documentary maker, producing/hosting Breaking Walls, the docu-podcast on the history of American network radio broadcasting. He also develops audio fiction productions, like the 2022 official Tribeca audio selection Burning Gotham. He's a S.P.E.R.D.V.A.C board member, and a New York City historian and tour guide.

Breaking The Audio Fiction Form With David Cote& Mimi O’Donnell