Wordwire

Carla Parker (Writer/Director/Lyricist) is an Ochre House Theater company member & Operations Manager with a Masters in Theater Production from Central Washington University. Carla joined Ochre House Theater as a company member in 2011. Ms. Parker has been involved (on & offstage) in over 20 productions at Ochre House Theater. For tickets or more information, please visit, http://www.ochrehousetheater.com Interview recorded by Mark Noble, August 14, 2017 at Ochre House Theater.

Michael Merschel is an editor at the Dallas Morning News. He's also written plays, contributed to A Prairie Home Companion and composed an out-of-office reply that appeared in The New York Times and on NPR. Although he was featured on Humans of New York, he lives in Texas with his wife and three kids, who tell him he is not all that funny, usually. Michael's new book, Revenge of the Star Survivors, is now available at fine booksellers near you. Special thanks to Buzzbrews / Deep Ellum for providing us space to record this interview. Recorded by Mark Noble, August 4, 2017.

Jack Heifner is best known for his play Vanities, which ran for five years in New York and became one of the longest running plays in off-Broadway history. He is also the author of Patio/Porch, Natural Disasters, Running on Empty, Bargains, Boys’ Play, Home Fires, Heartbreak, Comfort and Joy, The Lemon Cookie, Dwarf Tossing and over thirty other plays produced in New York, Los Angeles and theaters around the world. Mr. Heifner has written the book to six musicals, including Leader of the Pack on Broadway and Vanities—A New Musical, which opened in New York in 2009. He has also written for television and film. Mr. Heifner was born in Corsicana, Texas and lives in New York City. Since 1997 he has been playwright-in-residence at SFA where he teaches play, screen and television writing one semester each academic year. He is the director of The Festival of New American Plays at SFA featuring works by major American playwrights. http://www.theatre.sfasu.edu

Selected excerpts from the July 2017, Pandora's Box Poetry Showcase at Deep Vellum Books. Features include: Matt Amott - Sunset Limited, Always Open Todd Cirillo - A Good Strategy, Love Crazy Bill Gainer - It’s late and I’ve been drinking, An Evening Intrusion Recorded by Mark Noble, at Deep Vellum Books, Dallas, Texas on 7/21/2017. Intro and exit music provided by James Vernon, from the James Vernon Trio recording, House of Jazz. Photos by Ryan Snellman, Mark Noble

Bill Gainer interview, recorded by Mark Noble, at Deep Vellum Books, Dallas, Texas on 7/21/2017. Bill Gainer is known for the openness of his confessional poetry and is recognized as one of the founding contributors to the modern movement of "After Hours Poetry". Intro and exit music provided by James Vernon, from the James Vernon Trio recording, House of Jazz. Photo by Ryan Snellman

Joanie Schultz came to WaterTower Theatre in December of 2016. Before WaterTower, Joanie served as Associate Artistic Producer at Victory Gardens Theater, as part of the Leadership U One-on-One Fellowship funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation administered through TCG, the national non-profit regional theatre service organization. She is also a freelance director, with recent productions at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Victory Gardens Theater.  She was a Drama League Fellow, The Goodman Theatre Michael Maggio Director Fellow; the SDSF Denham Fellow; and Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab participant.  She is an ensemble member at Steep Theatre, Artistic Associate at Victory Gardens Theater, and artistic cabinet member at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC.  She is currently on adjunct faculty in directing at Columbia College and University of Chicago.  She received her B.A. in Theatre/Directing at Columbia College and her M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from Northwestern University. This interview was recorded by Mark David Noble, July 25, 2017 in the offices of WaterTower Theatre. For more information, please visit: http://www.watertowertheatre.org Intro and exit music was provided by James Vernon, from the James Vernon Trio recording, House of Jazz. Photo by Joe Mazza

Eddie Dunlap interview, recorded at Mondo Drummers Studio in Ft. Worth, Texas, July 1, 2017. Intro and exit music is titled, Brazil in a Cadillac in 1970 New York, composed by The ArKesTra. http://www.mondodrummers.com

Matthew Posey interview recorded at the Ochre House Theater, June 13, 2017. Intro and exit music from "Elemental," by Calvin Hazen.

Interview with Wes Stephenson, bassist of The Funky Knuckles, recorded June 6, 2017 at Independent Bar & Kitchen, Dallas, Texas. For more info, please visit: https://www.thefunkyknuckles.com http://hoplitemusic.com https://www.ibkdallas.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/new-birth/id1120453264

Rhonda Boutté is an actor and director, well known in the Dallas theater community. In June 2017, Rhonda will direct the world premiere of Br’er Cotton by Tearrance Arville Chisholm at Kitchen Dog Theater. Rhonda’s Independent spirit drives her to seek out unusual roles produced by small independent theaters as well, such as The Shine Plays – The Woman Who Was Tampered with in Youth by Ted Shine (Soul Rep Theatre), Diamond Dick: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (Project X, performed in Dallas as well as at LaMama in New York). Rhonda’s performances at these theaters garnered numerous D-FW Critics Forum Awards over the years.

Tanya Wardell interviewed by Mark David Noble, recorded at Deep Vellum Books, Dallas, TX, 05/16/2017. Special thanks to James Vernon and the James Vernon Trio / house of jazz(South Padre Island), used by permission.

Performances by: A. Kendra Greene, Stevie Edwards and Courtney Marie with Lauren Belmore Special thanks to James Vernon and the James Vernon Trio (JVT-house of jazz, South Padre Island) used by permission This program was recorded live at Deep Vellum Books, Dallas, TX Recorded and produced by Mark David Noble

"Untitled" a new poem by Robin Turner

Renee Rossi on writing

Renee Rossi reading Loving, Meticulously

Robin Turner discusses current writing projects, Nov 2016.

Robert Torres has been performing poetry since 2009. He started the Words Reading Series in San Antonio before moving to Denton, where he ran the Punk Poet Society until 2014. He now runs the Pegasus Reading Series in Dallas with Sebastian Paramo. He previously hosted the Free Word webcast with Erica GDLR  a.k.a. Edyka Chilome. He studied creative writing and theatre performance at the University of North Texas, graduating in 2013, the same year he published his chapbook, The Year of the Slut. This segment was recorded at the Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas, Texas, May 18, 2015.

Lucas Jacob's poems have appeared in journals including Southwest Review, Barrow Street, Evansville Review, and Western Humanities Review. His first collection, the chapbook A Hole in the Light, came out through Anchor & Plume Press in March of this year. He is a teacher and administrator at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth. This segment was recorded at the Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas, Texas, May 18, 2015.

Since winning Southwest Review’s Morton Marr Poetry Prize in 2008, Lisa Huffaker’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in Southwest Review, Poet Lore, Measure, Southern Poetry Review, Mezzo Cammin, The Texas Observer, Able Muse, and Southern Humanities Review, which recently nominated her for the Pushcart Prize. Lisa’s primary background is classical singing; she holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory, and has sung with The Dallas Opera since 1999. She teaches creative writing at Yavneh Academy of Dallas. Lisa Huffaker's poem, "Sun Swallowers" was recorded at the Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas, Texas, April 20, 2015.

Chris George lives and works in Dallas, Texas, where he is the resident writer at Two Bronze Doors art gallery and editor-in-chief of the literary journal Disembodied Text. His work has been featured in a number of journals, including The Arts United, Spiderweb Salon, and Sarah Lawrence's LUX. "To Redding, California" was recorded at the Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas, Texas, April 20, 2015.

Bruce Bond is the author of fifteen books, most recently Choir of the Wells: A Tetralogy (Etruscan, 2013), The Visible (LSU, 2012), Peal (Etruscan, 2009), and Blind Rain (LSU, 2008). His forthcoming books include For the Lost Cathedral (LSU Press), Black Anthem (Tampa Review Prize, University of Tampa Press), Gold Bee (Crab Orchard Open Competition Prize, University of Southern Illinois Press), Sacrum (Four Way Books), The Other Sky (poems in collaboration with the painter Aron Wiesenfeld, intro by Stephen Dunn; Etruscan Press), and a book of literary criticism: Immanent Distance: Poetry and the Metaphysics of the Near at Hand (University of Michigan). He has won numerous recognitions for his poems, including the Allen Tate Award, the TIL Best Book of Poetry Prize, the Colladay Award, the Richard Peterson Prize, the Knightville Poetry Award, and fellowships from the NEA and the Texas Institute for the Arts. At University of North Texas, he has won the Kesterson Award for Graduate Teaching, the Toulouse Scholars Award, the Creative Impact Award, and the inaugural Eminent Faculty Award. Presently he is Regents Professor of English at UNT, poetry co-editor for American Literary Review, and co-judge for the annual Rilke Book Award. Bruce Bond's poem, "Pill" was recorded at the Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas, Texas, April 20, 2015.

"Duende" by Cyrus Cassells Cyrus Cassells has five books: The Mud Actor, a National Poetry Series winner and finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award; Soul Make a Path Through Shouting, hailed as one of the Best Books of 1994 by Publishers Weekly, a winner of the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award and a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Prize for the outstanding book of the year; Beautiful Signor, winner of the Lambda Literary Award, the Sister Circle Book Award (for African-American literature), and finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award; More Than Peace and Cypresses, a Lannan Literary Selection, named one of the Best Poetry Books of 2004 by Library Journal; and The Crossed-Out Swastika, a finalist for the Balcones Prize for Best Poetry Book of 2012. Among his honors are a Lannan Literary Award and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a tenured Professor of English at Texas-State University. Recorded live at The Wild Detectives, Dallas, Texas, April 23, 2015. Recorded & edited by Mark David Noble for Pandora's Box Poetry Showcase.