641. What Does It Cost to Lead a Creative Life?

For years, the playwright David Adjmi was considered “polarizing and difficult.” But creating Stereophonic seems to have healed him. Stephen Dubner gets the story — and sorts out what Adjmi has in common with Richard Wagner.

SOURCES:David Adjmi, author and playwright.RESOURCES:"The West End is enjoying a theatre revival. Can Broadway keep up?" by Daniel Thomas (Financial Times, 2025).Lot Six: A Memoir, by David Adjmi (2020).Stereophonic, (2023).EXTRAS:"How Is Live Theater Still Alive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025)."How to Make the Coolest Show on Broadway," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.

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• No. of episodes: 846
• Latest episode: 2025-07-18
• Society & Culture Documentary

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