Brooklyn-based theater director Hal Brooks has long had a focus on stewarding new plays. In this episode, Brooks talks about working with playwrights such as Don Delillo, involving audiences in the development of new plays, and Rachel Maddow's storytelling rabbinical qualities.

Brooks has been artistic director of the Cape Cod Theatre Project since 2012 and associate artistic director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference since 2010. Among the plays he has directed on and off Broadway are Delillo's Valparaiso and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. He was the Artistic Director of the Obie Award-Winning Pearl Theatre Company. He is a lecturer in theater studies at Yale University.