Podcasts about Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Meet my amazing friend, Diana Brown. I've taken several Improvised Shakespeareworkshops with Diana and she is a real gem! We had so much to talk about that this is Part ! Diana is an improv artist, teaching artist, actor, producer, director and voiceover talent. She was voted Most Valuable Mentor and Teacher at the San Francisco Improv Festival. Diana was named as one of The Improv Boosts 2025 Sudden Impact Teachers. She leads the improv program at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's School of Theatre. Diana is an instructor, producer and a member of the leadership team with Leela Improv Theatre in San Francisco. She presents the improvised Shakespeare program at All Out Comedy Theatre, is a guest teacher with BATS (Bay Area Theatre Sports) and teaches with Greater Than The Sum. Diana enjoys helping improv artists find and amplify their unique gifts! She genuinely believes everyone is infinitely fascinating and endeavors to instill that belief in her students. She believes the truth is the most compelling thing we can offer up on the stage and encourages her students to bring their truth to their characters whether they're naturalistic or fantastical. She's presented Improv workshops, intensives and “workshop to show” experiences at SAVI Fest, Northwest Improv Fest, Improv Fest Ireland, Belfast Improv Fest, Queen City and Comedy Experience, Uptown Improv Festival, Vancouver Improv Festival, Tucson Comedy Arts Festival, Ocean State Improv Festival, Gather Spring Improv Retreat, Cornerstone Improv, O-Town Improv festival, Countdown Improv Festival, Camp Improv Utopia West, Experience, IMPRIDE, Unscrewed Theatre, 2nd Best Comedy Fest, Denver Improv Festival, Unscrewed Theater in Tucson, AZ, All Out Comedy Theater in Oakland, CA, Sealevel, San Francisco, CA, Phoenix Theater, San Francisco, CA. Diana plays in the Shakespeare inspired, Gamesome Frolic. She's half of the duo Bingewatch, plays in the Tennessee Williams inspired duo Fleeting Reminiscence, the trios POPTOP, Slumber Party, the duos Horrible People, DJ, Secret Lives of Villains, Salt and Pepper, Davenport & Brown, and the Twilight Zone inspired ensemble But of Mind. Diana appeared as a guest artist with BATS Improv in San Francisco and is a member of the acting pool with the San Francisco sketch comedy company Killing My Lobster. She has appeared at Impro Amsterdam, the Liverpool Improv Festival in Mark Smith's Taxi Tales, the Vancouver Improv Festival, Uptown Improv Festival, Improv Fest Ireland, Gather Spring Improv Retreat, Rise Comedy Fest, SF Sketchfest, The Queen City Comedy Experience, San Francisco Improv Fest, Improvaganza Hawaii Festival of Improv, San Diego Improv Fest, O-Town Improv Fest, New York Improv Festival. Vintage Improv Fest, 2nd Best Comedy Fest, New Orleans Improv Fest, Twin Cities Improv Fest, Alaska State Improv Fest, Tucson Comedy Arts Fest and others. Diana also performs in scripted theater productions including Playground Solo Fest 2025 and at theaters and theatre festivals around the country. You can reach Diana at: Check out Bingewatch Improv my duo with Dan Wilson: https://www.contemporarytheatercompany.com/ocean-state-improv-festival Or her website at: https://www.dianalynnbrown.com

Noah Lamanna is a Toronto-based actor with a background in musical theatre, puppetry and drag performance. In 2023, they played the lead role of Eli in John Tiffany's production of Let the Right One In at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Noah is best known for their roles as Chief Jay on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Dev on Beacon 23. They have also made apparances on Shelved, EZRA, Ghostwriter and The Umbrella Academy. Noah can currently be seen on season two of HBO's hit post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us”. They portray Kat, who dated Ellie (Bella Ramsey) before the events of “The Last of Us”, Part II.   Based on the hit video game franchise by Naughty Dog, the series is set 20 years after a fungal pandemic transforms its hosts into zombie-like creatures, collapsing society. The second season, adapting “The Last of Us”, Part II (2020), picks up five years after the first season's events.   Additionally, Noah will appear in season three of Netflix's “Ginny & Georgia” (premiering June 5, 2025) as Tris, a brainy skateboarder and peer tutor who is a close friend of Marcus (Felix Mallard) and Silver (Katelyn Wells).   Want to watch: YouTube Meisterkhan Pod. (Please Subscribe)

Lance Gardner,  Artistic Director of Marin Theatre since October, 2023, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. A long-tme Bay Area actor, Lance Gardner came to Marin Theatre after a stint as a live event producer at KQED, and as Chair of the Board of Aurora Theatre. In this interview, he discusses the theatre's fiscal health, how he hopes to increase the audience, along with details of the various upcoming shows. Lance Gardner has earned dozens of theatre credits over the last 20 years, including six mainstage shows and a school tour at Marin Theatre Company. He has also performed in multiple shows at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks, and more. The post Lance Gardner, Executive Artistic Director of Marin Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Lance Gardner, Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Lance Gardner,  Artistic Director of Marin Theatre since October, 2023, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. A long-tme Bay Area actor, Lance Gardner came to Marin Theatre after a stint as a live event producer at KQED, and as Chair of the Board of Aurora Theatre. In this interview, he discusses the theatre's fiscal health, how he hopes to increase the audience, along with details of the various upcoming shows. Lance Gardner has earned dozens of theatre credits over the last 20 years, including six mainstage shows and a school tour at Marin Theatre Company. He has also performed in multiple shows at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks, and more. Complete Interview.   From the Archive: Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), author of the classic crime novels, “I, The Jury” and “Kiss Me Deadly,” in conversation in 2003 with Richard A. Lupoff, introduced by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff. In this recently discovered recording, best-selling crime/noir novelist Mickey Spillane discusses his career as a professional writer and gives advice to writers. In the introduction, Richard A. Lupoff, the late co-host of KPFA's Probabilities, details how the interview came to be. This was the last interview conducted by Richard A. Lupoff for KPFA. Mickey Spillane Wikipedia page.   Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors' positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended. Book Stores Bay Area Book Festival  See website for highlights from the 10th Annual Bay Area Book Festival, June 1-2, 2024. Book Passage.  Monthly Calendar. Mix of on-line and in-store events. Books Inc.  Mix of on-line and in-store events. The Booksmith.  Monthly Event Calendar. BookShop West Portal. Monthly Event Calendar. Center for Literary Arts, San Jose. See website for Book Club guests in upcoming months. Green Apple Books. Events calendar. Kepler's Books  On-line Refresh the Page program listings. Live Theater Companies Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. See website for specific days and times, and for staged readings at LaVal's Subterranean Theater. Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).   See website for upcoming productions. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Nobody Loves You, a musical, Feb. 28 – March 30, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  The Heart-Sellers by Lloyd Suh, February 9 – March 9, 2025. Awesome Theatre Company. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. The Thing About Jellyfish, based on the novel by Ali Benjamin, adapted by Keith Bunin, January 31 – March 9, World Premiere, Roda Theatre. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Conor McPherson, February 14 – March 23, Peets Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Supergalza: A Shakespeare Cabaret, spring 2025. Boxcar Theatre. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Annie, Feb. 6-9, Orpheum, Back to the Future: The Musical, Feb 12 – March 9. Orpheum. See website for complete listings for the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theaters. Broadway San Jose:  The Cher Show. March 18 – 23. Center Rep: Froggy, Feb. 9 – March 7. Lesher Center. Central Stage. See website for upcoming productions, 5221 Central Avenue, Richmond Central Works  Push/Pull by Harry Davis, March 1 – 30, 2025. Cinnabar Theatre. Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling, February 14-23, 2025, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University. Club Fugazi. SF Sketchfest, Jan. 16 – Feb. 2. Dear San Francisco resumes Feb. 7.. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury. February 1 – 16, 2025. 42nd Street Moon. See website for upcoming productions. Golden Thread  AZAD (The Rabbit and the Wolf) by Sona Tatoyan in collaboration with Jared Mezzocchi, April 11 – May 3. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Daisy by Sean Devine, January 23 – February  9. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. Los Altos Stage Company. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Jan. 23 – Feb. 16. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. the boiling by Sunui Chang  April 3 -20, 2025. See website for additional events. Marin Shakespeare Company: See website for calendar. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Francis Grey and the Case of His Dead Boyfriend by Nathan Tylutkis, February 6-16. Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo, March 7 – April 6. New Performance Traditions. Both Eyes Open, a chamber opera on the Japanese American WWII incarceration, February 15-16, Zellerbach Hall. Oakland Theater Project.  See website for upcoming schedule. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Palace of Fine Arts Theater.  See website for event listings. Pear Theater. The Gods of Comedy by Ken Ludwig,  Feb. 21 – March 16. See website for staged readings and other events. Playful People Productions. See website for upcoming productions and events. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko and upcoming productions.. San Francisco Playhouse. Exotic Deadly, or the MSG Play by Keiko Green, January 30 – March 8. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Cuckoo Edible Magic by Reed Flores, at the Magic in Fort Mason, Feb. 13 – March 8. San Jose Stage Company: An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Feb. 5 – March 2.. Shotgun Players.  Heart Wrench, Feb 14 – 15. Art by Yazmina Reza, starts March 8. South Bay Musical Theatre: Urinetown,  January 15 – February 15, 2025. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: See website for events and productions. Storytime every 4th Saturday. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Lunatico  See website for upcoming productions. Theatre Rhino  Doodler, conceived and directed by John Fisher, February 8- March 2. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Rachmaninoff and the Tsar with Hershey Felder and Jonathan Silvestri, Jan. 8 – Feb. 9, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Word for Word.  See website for upcoming productions. Misc. Listings: BAM/PFA: On View calendar for BAM/PFA. Berkeley Symphony: See website for listings. Chamber Music San Francisco: Calendar, 2025 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Fort Mason Center. Events calendar. Crushing, live monologue show, Feb. 27-28. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Signs of Life? written and performed by Cheyenne Jackson, 2 performances February 14, Chan National Queer Arts Center. See schedule for upcoming SFGMC performances. San Francisco Opera. Calendar listings. San Francisco Symphony. Calendar listings. Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog. If you'd like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write Richard@kpfa.org                                   .   The post January 30, 2025: Lance Gardner – Mickey Spillane appeared first on KPFA.

Mina Morita is on a mission to inspire a new crop of Australian theatre directors and to open our stages to a wider range of audiences and artists. She's in Australia to lead a program called Staging the World, and she's directing the Australian premiere season of Yoga Play at the National Theatre of Parramatta and La Boite Theatre.Also, theatre maker Wang Chong's acclaimed one-man show Made in China 2.0 returns to Australia. We find out what's on his Top Shelf. And we explore the origins of Bollywood dance with Professor Pallabi Chakravorty, and Ashley Lobo, a choreographer of more than 20 Bollywood films and the director of A Passage to Bollywood at the OzAsia Festival.

Raúl Esparza is an American stage and screen actor, recently starring as “Galileo Galilei” in Galileo in the world-premiere musical at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Since making his Broadway debut as “Riff Raff” in The Rocky Horror Show in 1999, Esparza has become one of Broadway's most acclaimed leading men as well as a respected interpreter of Stephen Sondheim's work. […]

Cliff Mayotte, a seasoned oral historian and co-author of the book Say It Forward: A Guide to Social Justice Storytelling shares invaluable insights from his experiences as a social justice-centered storyteller. Cliff's journey began with a deep love for theater and a transformative encounter with Studs Terkel's oral histories, which ignited his passion for storytelling rooted in social justice.He challenges rigid assumptions about trauma-informed practices, advocating for creating "brave spaces" that embrace nuance, ambiguity, and the full humanity of storytellers. His wisdom extends to navigating power dynamics, historical trauma, and the physical manifestations of intergenerational suffering.Cliff's approach reminds us that trauma-informed storytelling is ultimately about building authentic relationships based on mutual choice and collaboration. By sharing powerful questioning techniques and a deep reverence for storytellers' autonomy, he offers listeners a refreshing perspective on amplifying voices with care, nuance, and a commitment to resisting harm while promoting safety.About Cliff MayotteCliff is an interdisciplinary storyteller and educator who uses oral history, theatre, and journalism in his work. He is the co-author and editor of Say it Forward: A Social Justice Guide to Storytelling. He is a recipient of the Beverly Kees Educator Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. For over 12 years, Cliff served as the Education Program Director for Voice of Witness, a nonprofit that amplifies the voices of people impacted by and fighting against injustice. Cliff is also a former education director for the Tony award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre.He is currently the lead teacher for The Nation Fund's Fellowship for the Future of Journalism, working to nurture diverse voices and support the next generation of independent journalists.Connect with CliffWebsite | LinkedIn | Say It Forward BookAbout Host Maria Bryan Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master's Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place. Connect with MariaSpeaking & Training | LinkedIn | Email

This week I have the wonderful opportunity to talk with my friend, playwright and TV writer, Franky D. Gonzalez. Follow Franky on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/phattheddproductions/ Franky D. Gonzalez is a playwright and TV writer of Colombian descent splitting time between Dallas and Los Angeles. Nationally, his work has appeared with The Lark, the Sundance Institute, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Ground Floor, the NNPN National Showcase of New Plays, the Latinx Playwrights Circle, the Texas State University's Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration, The Sol Project (SolFest 2022), Urbanite Theatre, Visión Latino Theatre Company, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Goodman Theatre (Live @ Five Series), Launch Pad at UC Santa Barbara, The New Harmony Project, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Repertorio Español, LAByrinth Theater Company, Ars Nova (ANT Fest 2021), Dallas Theater Center, the William Inge Theatre Festival, Austin Latinx New Play Festival, Stages Repertory Theatre's Sin Muros Latinx Theatre Festival, the Latino Theatre Company's RE:Encuentro 2021: National Virtual Latina/o/x Theatre Festival, the Latinx Theatre Commons 2022 Comedy Carnaval, Seven Devils New Play Foundry, the HBMG Foundation National Winter Playwrights Retreat, Tofte Lake Center, Ignition Arts, Play4Keeps Podcast, the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, Clamour Theatre Company, Ammunition Theater Company, Greenway Court Theatre, the Cloud Factory, The Mid-America Theatre Conference, The Midwest Dramatists Conference, and the One-Minute Play Festival. Franky was a recipient of the Charles Rowan Beye New Play Commission, an MTC/Sloan Commission, the Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Prize, co-recipient of the MetLife Nuestras Voces Latino Playwriting Award, won the Crossroads Project Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative Award, the Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting, the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival Manila Best Overall Production Prize, and was a staff writer for the fourth season of 13 Reasons Why. The 2023 Chicago Production of his play That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven garnered two Non-Equity Jeff Awards (for Short Run Production and Director). Previously Franky was named the 4 Seasons Resident Playwright, a Sony Pictures Television Diverse Writers Program Fellow, and a Core Writer with the Playwrights Center. Currently Franky serves as the Bishop Arts Theatre Center Playwright-in-Residence, is writing on a Sony/Amazon show, and is developing a series with Sony Pictures Television. He is proudly represented by Valor Entertainment, the Gersh Agency, and the law firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bonn & Dang.  Full Play Reading of Even Flowers Bloom in Hell, Sometimes By Franky D. Gonzalez  -  https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qHu05Z8Wzw6lkAVoR6KmE?si=_yyuEjKCRzeD3zNcPQ2AEw Andy's Past Interview with Franky on the Ashland New Plays Festival Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2M9TDqe7B2hCh9DCBZN81c?si=Ul5g2-g_QSmND2Hxa1U0MQ Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.   Subscribe to my YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠ Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠  Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠ Buy Andy a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adventureisoutthere/message

In this episode, Adam and Budi have a great conversation with director, public speaking coach, and podcaster Adriana BaerAdriana has directed for Alley Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Profile Theatre (Artistic Director, 2012-2015), The Cutting Ball Theater (Associate Artistic Director, 2004-2007), and others. She has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Opera Boston, The Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Circus Center/Pickle Circus, California Shakespeare Theater, and American Conservatory Theater. Among other institutions, she has taught for Portland State University, Columbia University School of the Arts, The Acting Company, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She has lectured as a guest speaker at dozens of colleges and universities nationwide. Adriana holds a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from Columbia University. She is a member of SDC, the professional union of stage directors and choreographers.She is the cohost of The Wellbeing Workshop's podcast and offers online courses and coaching through Adriana Baer Creative.Adriana lives on a two-acre farm just outside Portland, Oregon with her husband and child, and spends most of her free time digging in the dirt, practicing yoga, and reading.Special offer for Theatre of Others listeners! When you purchase Audition Master Class, you'll get free access to Get In: How to Rock Your MFA & URTA Auditions.* https://www.adrianabaercreative.com/others Support the showIf you enjoyed this week´s podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. To submit a question: Voice- http://www.speakpipe.com/theatreofothers Email- podcast@theatreofothers.com Support the Theatre of Others - Check out our Merch!Show Credits Co-Hosts: Adam Marple & Budi MillerProducer: Jack BurmeisterMusic: https://www.purple-planet.comAdditional compositions by @jack_burmeister

An award-winning theatrical costume designer who has collaborated with The American Conservatory Theater, Teatro Zinzanni, The Roundabout Theatre Company, Cabaret Zazou, California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Classic Stage Company, Northlight Theatre, The Papermill Playhouse and The Pasadena Playhouse.  She has created costumes for A Christmas Carol, Comedy of Errors, Test Match, Tales of the City, Scapin, The Government Inspector, The Merry Widow, Crowns, Blue, Everything's Ducky and The Cherry Orchard.  

A lifelong arts maker, Audrey Hoo is the Director of Production of Tony-award winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley California. Originally from Singapore, Audrey ventured to the United States to seek new experiences. Most recently, she has worked at the American Conservatory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She has had the pleasure of working with artists across all performing arts genres such as Tony Taccone, Chay Yew, Christopher Ashley, William Kentridge, Alex Timbers, Catherine Martin, Sam Mendes, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, John Turturro & Elaine Stritch. Outside of work, Audrey strives to be her best self. Always pushing to learn new skills, her main loves include martial arts, hiking, west coast swing and country two-step dances.  Audrey holds a M.F.A in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.     “ATTENTION SPOTIFY LISTENERS: IF you want to WATCH this with VIDEO, you can also subscribe to our video version: https://open.spotify.com/show/5e9KnBRZdjUTXTvCe6Nrqm?si=6639537c61044396” @theatreartlife Thank you to our sponsor @clear-com The TheatreArtLife Podcast is a branch of our larger TheatreArtLife Community. Come visit us at www.theatreartlife.com

A lifelong arts maker, Audrey Hoo is the Director of Production of Tony-award winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley California. Originally from Singapore, Audrey ventured to the United States to seek new experiences. Most recently, she has worked at the American Conservatory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She has had the pleasure of working with artists across all performing arts genres such as Tony Taccone, Chay Yew, Christopher Ashley, William Kentridge, Alex Timbers, Catherine Martin, Sam Mendes, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, John Turturro & Elaine Stritch. Outside of work, Audrey strives to be her best self. Always pushing to learn new skills, her main loves include martial arts, hiking, west coast swing and country two-step dances.  Audrey holds a M.F.A in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.     @theatreartlife Thank you to our sponsor @clear-com The TheatreArtLife Podcast is a branch of our larger TheatreArtLife Community. Come visit us at www.theatreartlife.com

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland, DC and Virginia regional stage. Today, she tells us about the new Arena Stage production of playwright Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, a mesmerizing, music-infused drama about how war and political oppression in the 1960s and 70s ravaged the southeast Asian nation's vibrant rock music culture, and the how the war's violent legacy still haunts a Cambodian family. Directed at Arena Stage by Chay Yew, Cambodian Rock Band 's cast includes Brooke Ishibashi, Francis Jue, Abraham Kim, Kelsey Angel Baehrens, Tim Liu, Jane Lui, Alex Lydon, Joe Ngo and Vi Tran. The show incorporates a live stage band - The Cyclos - covering 1960s- and 70s-era Cambodian psychedelic rock music and Cambodian-influenced songs by the contemporary American band, Dengue Fever. CRB is a Signature Theatre production, in association with Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and ACT Theatre/5th Avenue. Cambodian Rock Band continues at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC through August 27. (Photo by Margot Schulman)Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

In this episode, Adam and Budi speak with the Co-Head of Acting at UC Irvine's Clair Trevor School of the Arts, Andrew Borba. As a stage performer, Andrew has appeared in numerous productions at South Coast Repertory; the Pasadena Playhouse; The Old Globe; the Theatre @ Boston Court; The Antaeus Company and Chalk Rep.; The Rubicon; La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts; Laguna Playhouse; Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the title role in Richard III at the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis. He has spent twelve seasons with The Chautauqua Theatre Company and four seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has also worked with Dallas Theater Center; Portland Stage Company in Maine; Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn.; Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington; Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; and Hangar Theatre, in Ithaca, N.Y., among others.Borba's film credits include The Sweet Life (2016); F. Gary Gray's Straight Outta Compton (2015); Taken 3 (2014); Interstellar (2014); Answers to Nothing (2011); Charlie Wilson's War (2007); Nine Lives (2005); Live from Baghdad (2002), Path to War (2002) and A Bright Shining Lie (1998). He also starred in the 2011 short film Dead in the Room.His TV credits include recurring roles on ABC's Modern Family, CBS's Criminal Minds and Jericho, FX's The Shield, Lifetime's The Client List, UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, and guest appearances on more than 30 television series.As a director, Borba helmed Go West! The Mythology of American Expansion, a multidisciplinary piece with more than 400 performers (dance, opera, theater, visual arts, and a full symphony orchestra) presented in the historic 4000-seat Amphitheater at The Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY. He created and directed a multidisciplinary piece around Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (2016), and directed Peter Boyer's Ellis Island (2015) both with Maestro Rossen Milanov and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra; He has directed Hamlet: The First Quarto at Los Angeles' Theatre of Note (multiple awards including Los Angeles Times: Critics Best 2003, 2 Garland awards (5 nominations), Ovation award nominee. Photos of this production, citations, and quotes from Mr. Borba appear in the current New Cambridge edition of Hamlet: The First Quarto and are referenced in The Arden's most recent edition of Hamlet: The First Quarto; He has served on the faculty of the University of Southern California; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Irvine; Juilliard; University of Tennessee; and New York University. Andrew is the Artistic Director of the prestigious Chautauqua Theater Company and is a member of The Antaeus Theater Company. He is a cum laude graduate of Brown University and received his MFA from New York University.Support the showIf you enjoyed this week´s podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. To submit a question: Voice- http://www.speakpipe.com/theatreofothers Email- podcast@theatreofothers.com Support the Theatre of Others - Check out our Merch!Show Credits Co-Hosts: Adam Marple & Budi MillerProducer: Jack BurmeisterMusic: https://www.purple-planet.comAdditional compositions by @jack_burmeister

Welcome to the Green Room Meditations Podcast, presented by the Indiana Repertory Theatre and hosted by Devon Ginn. Tune in to hear from IRT's incoming Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director, Benjamin Hanna, as we talk about his hopes for the IRT under his leadership and discuss the 51st Season.  For our season finale, we are in conversation with: Benjamin Hanna (he/him) who begins his tenure as Indiana Repertory Theatre's newest Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director. A director, curator, and avid arts educator, Ben's passion for multigenerational theatre and dedication to equity and access fuels his investment in Indianapolis' community to generate art for–and with–all. As IRT's Associate Artistic Director for the past five years, his recognizable impact on the organization is unmistakable. Hanna inaugurated IRT's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access initiatives for the Board, staff, and community collaborators, directed many acclaimed productions, including Fahrenheit 451, The Book Club Play, and the farcical thriller Clue, evolved season selection and casting processes, and ensured IRT's quick pivot to virtual programming during the pandemic, allowing patrons to remain connected and engaged.   Before the IRT, Hanna's career spanned the country with tenures at the Tony-Award winning theatres Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis (the nation's largest theatre for young audiences) and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.  In his native Minnesota, Hanna served on the staff at the Penumbra Theatre Company, the nation's leading African American theatre, where he expanded education and community engagement programming. Hanna is the recipient of many distinguished awards for both arts and leadership, including a Theatre Communications Group Leadership University Award funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Richard O Morris Award for Exemplary Staff Service at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, and the Trailblazer Award from University High School in Carmel, Indiana. Hanna is also currently a member of the Class of XLVI in the Stanley K. Lacy (SKL) Executive Leadership Series for Leadership Indianapolis. About the Indiana Repertory Theatre: Founded in 1971, the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) is the largest professional not-for-profit theatre in the state and one of the leading regional theatres in the country. The mission of the Indiana Repertory Theatre is to produce top-quality, professional theatre and related activities, providing experiences that will engage, surprise, challenge, and entertain people throughout their lifetimes, helping us build a vital and vibrant community. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA): The IRT strives to celebrate and serve the diverse people and cultures that make up our whole community. The IRT is committed to providing access for all; to creating and maintaining an antiracist theatre that is inclusive, safe, and respectful. https://www.irtlive.com/ 

The transcript for this episode is available here. Ryan J. Haddad is an actor, playwright, and autobiographical performer based in New York. His acclaimed solo play Hi, Are You Single? was presented in The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival and continues to tour the country. Other New York credits include My Straighties (Ars Nova/ANT Fest), Noor and Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers), and the cabaret Falling for Make Believe (Joe's Pub/Under the Radar). Regional theatre: The Maids, Lucy Thurber's Orpheus in the Berkshires (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Hi, Are You Single? (Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Play House, Williamstown Theatre Festival). He has a recurring role on the Netflix series "The Politician." Additional television: "Bull," "Madam Secretary," and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Haddad is a recipient of IAMA Theatre Company's Shonda Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission and Rising Phoenix Repertory's Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award. His work has been developed with The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Noor Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages, and Pride Plays. His writing has been published in the New York Times, Out Magazine, and American Theatre. Ryan is an alum of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group and a former Queer|Art Performance and Playwriting Fellow, under the mentorship of Moe Angelos. @ryanjhaddad and ryanjhaddad.com. Related Links: Ryan's Website Dark Disabled Stories at The Public Theater Tickets and Information Hi, Are You Single? Woolly Mammoth Theatre Trailer The Politician on Netflix For 2023, we're inviting our listeners to participate in Ask Judy in a new way. We want you to send us voice memos with messages and questions for Judy that we'll feature in an episode of The Heumann Perspective. If interested, please send yours to media@judithheumann.com Check out the video version of this episode on Judy's YouTube channel.  Intro music by Lachi. Outro music by Gaelynn Lea.

Anjali Bhimani recently joined host Elias in the cave! You can see Anjali as Auntie Ruby on Disney+ series Ms. Marvel. Anjali is well known to audiences for her roles as Symmetra in Overwatch, Rampart in Apex Legends, Kala in Indivisible, Yasmin Choudhury in Fallout 76, Nisha in Fallout 4, and Mira in Rival Speak. Tabletop gamers will know her as the proud and feisty Miriam on UnDeadwood, a limited series by well-known media company Critical Role, and as the strong-headed sniper Stingray in We're Alive: Frontier on the popular YouTube channel Geek and Sundry. Anjali recently released her first book entitled I Am Fun Size, and So Are YOU: Thoughts from a Tiny Human on Living a Giant Life. The book concept is based off her YouTube series of the same name, where Anjaliinterviews other well-known performers to share experiences and personal lessons from their own journeys. She is also a founding member of What The Vox, a collective of accomplished female voice actors looking to impact change within the voice over industry through meaningful conversations. She also recurs in Season 2 of Netflix's Emmy-nominated comedy series Special. Other notable credits include roles as Nina Patel on Modern Family and Joya in Alex, Inc., as well as roles in The Loud House, Casagrandes, S.W.A.T., Crazy-Ex Girlfriend, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Silicon Valley, NCIS, The Sopranos, Law and Order: SVU, Glitch Techs, Big City Greens, Criminal Minds, Grace and Frankie, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, It's Pony, and more. Anjali earned her degree in theatre from Northwestern University's highly acclaimed theatre school, with a certificate in musical theatre, and spent years performing across the country in top organizations such as Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The McCarter Theatre, The Huntington Theatre Company and more. She was an original cast member of the Tony-nominated Metamorphoses on Broadway, which won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. You can watch this interview on YouTube  https://youtu.be/wKHXNaT4_nY Have a question? Email us  themccpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Social Media for the latest show updates  www.twitter.com/themccpodcast www.instagram.com/themccpodcast www.facebook.com/themancavechroniclespodcast www.themccpodcast.com  www.youtube.com/c/TheManCaveChronicleswElias    

In this week's episode, Jennifer chats with Diana Gonzalez-Morett & Akilah ‘AK' Walker about all things making a short film – from writing and directing to producing and fundraising to casting and shooting to everything in between! They unpack resources and give insight to anyone hoping to embark on the creative undertaking and endeavor of short filmmaking. About Diana: Diana Gonzalez-Morett is a creative producer, writer, actress, and caregiver. Diana finds creative strength in her fluidity as a multi-hyphenate and is passionate about supporting creative visions. In 2020 Diana and partner Akilah ‘AK' Walker co-founded Good Mother Films a BIPOC women-led creative company that specializes in producing personal stories told with emotional depth, bold artistry and always considering its social impact. The company produced its first award-winning short film, ‘Ivar Tunnel: Shook Ones' in 2021. When she is not filmmaking Diana works as a teaching artist/director for Bergen Performing Arts Center and administratively for Lotus Arts Management, one of the country's premier dance agencies. Diana is currently based in New Jersey where she is a caregiver for her mother living with Frontotemporal dementia (FTD). It would be unfair to not acknowledge that she does all of this with the help of her loyal chihuahua, Lupita.   About Akilah: Akilah “AK” Walker is an actress, writer/director, and creative producer fascinated by the performative, the magical and the absurd--especially as it relates to people of the Black diaspora. Akilah is one out of the 16 actors chosen to be a part of the 2020 ABC Discovers Talent Digital Showcase. Chosen out of 25,000 submissions and 2,500 auditions! This is ABC's first-ever digital showcase! Akilah holds an MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as well as a BA in Acting from Fordham University. Akilah has previously performed with Classical Theatre of Harlem, New York Stage & Film, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, just to name a few. On film, she can be seen in 'Under The Lantern Lit Sky' from Emmy-nominated director Jaclyn Bethany and 'Sorry To Bother You' helmed by the legendary Boots Riley. Originally from Atlanta, Akilah A. Walker is now proud to call Los Angeles home. Akilah A. Walker is also a muse, as she posed as the basis of renowned contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley's sculpture 'Bound' which opened at the Brooklyn Museum in 2015. Akilah A. Walker is what you might call "Quad-Coastal", splitting her time between Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Diana IG: @dianalaurengm Akilah IG: @akthewayy ITSO IG: @itsofilm All things “Ivar Tunnel Shook Ones”: https://linktr.ee/IvarTunnelShookOnesFilm Want to coach with Jennifer? Schedule a session here! https://appt.link/jenniferapple Monologue Sourcing Promo Link! https://empoweredartistcollective.com/podcastpromo Learn more: https://www.empoweredartistcollective.com/podcast EAC IG: @EmpoweredArtistCollective  EAC TikTok: @EmpowerArtistCollective EAC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredartistcollective/ Check Out Our Merch! https://www.empoweredartistcollective.threadless.com/ Any thoughts you'd like to share? Email us at EmpoweredArtistCollective@gmail.com

James LeBrecht has over 40 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, filmmaker, author and disability rights activist. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced, with Nicole Newnham, the 2021 Oscar nominated feature length documentary, Crip Camp. Crip Camp received the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for feature length documentary, the 2021 Independent Spirit award for Best Feature Documentary and a 2021 Peabody Award.  Jim began his career in the theater in 1978, working as the resident sound designer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for 10 years. In 1996, LeBrecht founded Berkeley Sound Artists, an audio postproduction house. His film credits include Minding the Gap, The Island President, The Waiting Room, Audrie and Daisy and, of course, Crip Camp. Jim's work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. Some of LeBrecht's additional accomplishments include co-founding FWD-Doc, an organization that supports documentary filmmakers with disabilities and being a character consultant for Pixar Animation Studios for 2 of their films. Jim is a member of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

As we enter production for Season 1.5, Michael and Jake sit down with the lovely fellows over at Dice in Mind to have a chat about the making of Season 1.0. Learn a bit more about the project's genesis, how the group came together, and get into the nitty gritty in how this thing is put together. If you enjoy the interview, give Dice in Mind a follow. You can also follow them on Twitter or buy them a cup of coffee! If you'd like to support Mythic Thunderlute, join us on Patreon or grab some Merch. CW: Language -- From Dice in Mind's feed: This week we have the good fortune of chatting with Jake Blouch and Michael Doherty, two of the minds and voices behind the wonderfully creative Mythic Thunderlute: A D&D Podcast Musical. If you have listened to MTL, we think you will agree it is one of the most creative things happening in the RPG community today. If you haven't listened to at least a few of their episodes, stop what you are doing and get on over to their feed. Yes, it's that good. Please check out Mythic Thunderlute, and while you're there support their work through Patreon and buy their merchandise: Mythic Thunderlute MTL Patreon MTL Merch Jake Blouch is a Philly based actor, song writer, voiceover artist and future President of the United States. He has performed in theatres across the Philadelphia region, and even a couple times in Delaware! In addition to his "career" as an actor, his songwriting and musical projects include his parody band Jawbone Junction, which aims to give Southern Rock the Spinal Tap treatment (Roscoe Chubb on the drums). His original musical Something Like a War was commissioned by 11th Hour Theatre Co, and received a showcase reading in 2019. For his turn in their production of See What I Wanna See he won the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical. He lives in South Philly with his true love, his wife Sophia, and her true love, their dog Teddy and cats Tobias and Sister Aloicius. Michael Doherty is an east coast-based actor, writer, and comedian. He has participated in nearly 50 theatrical productions across the country, including productions at 59E59 Theaters, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, the Wilma Theater, and more. His television pilot, Los Jarochos, won Best Writing at the 2013 Independent TV Festival. Michael is a published educational researcher in an ongoing collaboration with the University of Denver, studying the thought processes of professional actors. In 2019, he married fellow actor and best friend Alex Keiper during preview week for The Nerd at Milwaukee Rep.  Welcome to Dice in Mind, a weekly podcast in which we explore the meaning of life through the lens of RPGs! In each episode, we will consider everyday stuff like science, religion, philosophy, and economics…through the lens of a specific roleplaying game and its dice mechanic. If you like what you hear, consider buying us a cup of coffee or becoming a patron. You can also join the conversation by following us on Facebook. Music by Kevin McCloud courtesy of Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 license (https://www.youtube.com/c/kmmusic/featured). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadway News: Brittney Johnson made history as the first Black Glinda on Broadway on Valentine's Day! Broadway theaters will still require audience members to wear masks and show proof of vaccination for entry through April 30. “American Utopia” has extended its Broadway run through April 3. This is the final extension of the show, which has been playing the St. James Theatre since Sept. 17, 2021. “American Utopia” was originally scheduled to run through March 6. Cast albums by release date: Love in Hate Nation by Joe Iconis, Witness Uganda and Space Dogs (Feb 11); Flying Over Sunset (Feb 18); Back to the Future (London - March 11); Assassins (March 18)   West Side Story is arriving on Disney+ on March 2. Newsies will celebrate 10 years with a reunion of the Broadway and tour cast at 54 Below on March 28th and 29th. Broadway premiere of Skeleton Crew, written by Tony Award nominee Dominique Morisseau and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, moves into its final week of performances. Casting: Elizabeth Teeter will take on the role of Lydia when Beetlejuice returns to Broadway this spring. Teeter, who recently led the Off-Broadway musical The Secret Life of Bees, will star alongside Alex Brightman as Beetlejuice. Returning original cast members include Kerry Butler, Adam Dannheisser, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Kelvin Moon Loh, Danny Rutigliano and Dana Steingold. Amber Grey will play Banquo in Macbeth this spring. She joins previously announced Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga in the upcoming revival, directed by Sam Gold. Maria Dizzia will play Lady Macduff, opposite Grantham Coleman as Macduff.  SIX North American tour tour will feature Khaila Wilcoxon as Catherine of Aragon, Storm Lever as Anne Boleyn, Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour, Olivia Donalson as Anna of Cleves, Didi Romero as Katherine Howard, and Gabriela Carrillo as Catherine Parr.  The upcoming Broadway musical Paradise Square has announced its complete 40-member cast, which includes Tony nominees Joaquina Kalukango and John Dossett, and Chilina Kennedy. Rehearsals are underway for the production that will begin previews March 15 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Following its 2019 world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Paradise Square will officially open on Broadway April 3. Find co-hosts on Twitter at @AyannaPrescod, @CLewisReviews, and @TheMartinAcuna. Subscribe To BPN's newsletter HERE. Follow @BwayPodNetwork on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode Ruibo opens up about moving from Shanghai to the US at a young age and subsequently experiencing the first of what would become regular and powerful metaphysical and out-of-body experiences. She explains how a painful shyness led her to acting as a vehicle for making sense of her interior life, and how that need has shifted as the tools and modalities of her spiritual practice have grown. It's a fascinating and very intimate discussion. Ruibo Qian is an actor, writer, tarot reader, and interdisciplinary artist. Her lifelong passion for spiritual evolution and discovery has led her down varied paths and modalities which she incorporates into her tarot and intuitive practice, marrying philosophies from varied schools of metaphysical thought with intuitive knowledge, energy work, astrological influences, and channeled messages. As an actor, Ruibo has performed in venues across the country including LCT3, the Signature Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Huntington Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, and more. On screen she has been featured in Black Mirror, Manchester by the Sea, Mozart in The Jungle, Broad City, and others. www.thekingprincess.com Follow her! On IG: @thekingprincess On Twitter: @TheKingPrincess   To download your own noises of all kinds, head to: www.mynoise.net   Support reproductive rights by donating to these or the many other worthy organizations working to keep abortion rights accessible to all women:  NARAL Pro-Choice: https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/ Lilith Fund: https://www.lilithfund.org/ Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund: https://www.msreprofreedomfund.org/   Follow us! On IG: @art.fully.grounded On FB: @art.fully.grounded On Twitter: @AFGpod Podcast's website: www.sweptbythewind.com/podcast  

Nicole Dickerson has been working in the Bay Area as a registered veterinary technician for the last 11 years. Before then, she worked as a free-lance Equity stage manager for theatres such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, and Teatro Zinzanni. After working with cats and dogs in emergency and specialty hospitals for the majority of her career, Nicole recently transitioned into laboratory animal medicine, and now supervises a veterinary technician team through work with multiple species. She serves on the CVMA's House of Delegates and RVT Committee, has been published in the NAVTA journal, hosts the podcast "Cat Disgusted," and is honored to have traveled to Puerto Rico as a volunteer anesthetist for the Humane Society of the United States' Spayathon for PR. We spent some time chatting with Nicole this week about how theater and veterinary medicine parallel. Wondering how that could possibly be?? Give a listen.  To find out more about Nicole and her various interests check out her links below. Cat Disgusted, a podcast about veterinary technicians and the people and animals who love them. Cat Disgusted On SoundCloud, iTunes, and Podbean! soundcloud.com/catdisgusted ‎Cat Disgusted on Apple Podcasts   Cat Disgusted Podcast | Free Listening on Podbean App Beryl and Nicole Beryl and Nicole YouTube channel: Beryl and Nicole Or just search for our channel under "Beryl and Nicole" This Stellar Madness This Stellar Video:  This Stellar Madness This Stellar Audio:  This Stellar Madness This Stellar Merchness:  ThisStellarMadness's Shop | Featuring custom t-shirts, prints, and more   To learn more about our stuff click the links below:   Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vettechcafe Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vettechcafepodcast Like and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMDTKdfOaqSW0Mv3Uoi33qg  Our website: https://www.vettechcafe.com/ Vet Tech Cafe Merch: https://www.vettechcafe.com/merch If you would like to help us cover our podcast expenses, we'd appreciate any support you give through Patreon. We do this podcast and our YouTube channel content to support the veterinary technicians out there and do not expect anything in return! We thank you for all you do.

Margo Hall is an award-winning activist, educator, actor, director, playwright, and newly-appointed Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco's premier African American Theatre. Originally from Detroit, Hall has been an active director and performer in the Bay Area for over 30 years. She recently directed "How I Learned What I Learned" at the Marin Theatre Company and "Barbecue" for SF Playhouse, as well as acted in "Ah, Wilderness!" for the American Conservatory Theater. She was also recently seen in the films "Blindspotting" with Oakland native Daveed Diggs and "All Day and a Night" on Netflix. Her most recent on-stage credit is "Exit Strategy" at the Aurora Theatre. Margo Hall has also won many awards for her outstanding work, including the Glickman Award for best new play in the Bay Area for her play "The People's Temple," featured at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2005. Margo devotes herself not only to the Theatre, but her community as well. She is a founding member of Campo Santo, a multicultural San Francisco-based theater company that collaborates with local theater artists to put on new works for Bay Area audiences. She is also a theatre professor at UC Berkeley and Chabot College, where her mission is to support and mentor young actors and playwrights who are discovering their voice. Through her devotion to the dynamic world of theatre, her students, and her theater community, Margo has been able to enrich not only herself, but the Bay Area at large. We are very excited to have the unique opportunity of interviewing someone who is so passionate about the Theatre! For more information about Margo Hall, please visit: https://www.margohall.com/ Meet Margo Hall!

Hi there, Today, I am overjoyed to catch up with a dear friend and outstanding theater artist and educator. I'm Arts Calling Billy Higgins! About Billy: Currently serving as Artistic Producing Director at Ferndale Repertory Theatre, Billy Higgins (He/They) has worked as a director, producer, actor, devised theatre maker, and circus artist, creating live performance and providing arts leadership throughout the United States and abroad. He serves as a director and teacher on the Movement faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and is the creator of the Arts Justice work The Constitutional Arts Project. Additionally, Billy has worked in various capacities as a performer, director, and movement designer with The Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Turkmen State Circus in partnership with The United States State Department, The Dell'Arte Company, and The Samuel Beckett Center, among others. His work with the Tony Award Winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition as a member of the Artist Impact Team in partnership with Columbia Law School, and Rattestick Playwright's Theater as a member of the creative team of The Pilot For Restorative Justice directly addressed issues of systemic racism and inequity through the lens of inclusive and accessible theatre. Whenever possible, Billy volunteers with Clowns Without Borders, and enjoys sailing and his dog, Norman. When not onstage or in the ring, Billy can most often be found sailing traditionally rigged tall ships and schooners, which he has served on as a professional mariner for over a decade. He received his M.F.A. from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater, M.Ph. from Trinity College, Dublin, B.F.A. from The University of Wyoming, and additional professional certifications in Building Diversity from The University of Pennsylvania. It was such a pleasure catching up and learning from you, my friend. We didn't cover everything this time around, but we must do this again sometime! Thanks again and all the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content! Make art. Much love, j

The arts can have a profound effect on a person's mental health and can offer a place of hope and healing to many people. Dylan Russell and Jake Blair, Aunt and Nephew, tell us about how the arts offered a safe place to express their emotions after losing their family member to suicide. Dylan is the Director of Education and Outreach at Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA and discusses Laguna Playhouse's program for teens and young adults, talks about some of her favorite teaching experiences, and explains very well how and why art is such a great healing tool. Jake is pursuing his master's degree in Social Work at the University of Denver after working with people who were struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse motivated him to become better educated about how to help people who are struggling. He shares his story of healing through music, what he learned working in the acute residential treatment center, and how mental health caregivers can avoid burnout.   If you are in crisis or know someone who is...please call:   Suicide Lifeline at 1-800- 273-8255 or text the word “help” to 741-741 http://afsp.org/get-help   About Dylan:   Dylan is a director, educator, new play developer, and community engagement specialist whose passion for interactive storytelling has influenced her work with schools and organizations such as Laguna Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Oakland Public Schools, Jewish Community High School, and TheatreFIRST.   Dylan envisioned, created, and leads the OUR STORIES program at Laguna Playhouse, which utilizes generative theatre practices to combat stigma, create awareness about mental health, and amplify the voices of youth and young adults ages 16-25. Dylan was recognized as a KNX Hero in 2020 for her work on Our Stories and the program was a recipient of the Biller Family Foundation COVID-19 Social Impact Theatre Innovation Award 2021.   About Jake:   Jake is currently a 27-year-old grad student at the University of Denver where he's studying to get his Master's degree in Social Work. Before moving to Denver, he was living in San Francisco where he was a counselor at an acute residential treatment center, helping those with mental health conditions and substance abuse issues who were just getting out of crisis situations. Professionally, he's worked with many folks that have had suicide attempts and deal with chronic and acute suicidality as well as having personal history surrounding the topic of suicide.   Timestamps   • Meet this week's guests, Dylan Russel and Jake Blair • How Jake used music to process grief • Art allows people to experience their emotions with others • Laguna Playhouse has created a program that is a safe space for people to share their stories • How sharing your experiences with others is a powerful healing tool • Starting a conversation by exposing your own vulnerability and emotions • What it takes to be a good arts teacher • How can mental health workers avoid compassion fatigue? • Make the time to connect with others   Links   Connect with Shell Pavlis:   AFSP Board Member, Project 2025 Champion for Orange County, CA Realtor® Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties shellpavlis.afsp@gmail.com All Shell's Social: https://linktr.ee/shellseeshell   Connect with our guests, Dylan Russel and Jake Blair:   Laguna Playhouse https://lagunaplayhouse.com/ Our Stories https://lagunaplayhouse.com/education-community-engagement/our-stories/ Council on Aging OC https://www.coasc.org Children's Hospital of Orange County https://www.choc.org/mental-health/ Hoag Hospital https://www.hoag.org/about-hoag/community-benefit/hoag-programs/mental-health-services/ University of California, Irvine https://counseling.uci.edu/services/   Let's Stop Suicide. Mental Health for All. Suicide Prevention. Suicide Support.   American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Orange County, CA: https://afsp.org/chapter/orange-county Become a Volunteer https://afsp.org/chapter/orange-county#volunteer Advocacy https://afsp.org/become-a-suicide-prevention-public-policy-advocate National Alliance on Mental Health https://nami.org/Support-Education DiDi Hirsch Mental Health Services (LA & OC) https://didihirsch.org   Connect with Hope Out of the Darkness:   http://HopeOutoftheDarkness.com Record a Question about mental health or suicide to be answered on an episode of Hope Out of the Darkness: https://www.speakpipe.com/HopeOutoftheDarkness Want to be a guest, or have an idea for a discussion you want to hear? Email Shellpavlis.afsp@gmail.com

Jessica Lea Risco is a Los Angeles-based actress, filmmaker and yoga teacher, originally from Minnesota. Theatrically, Jessica is best known for her role as Dorothy in the Bay Area's immersive project The Speakeasy, for which she was nominated for Broadway World's Best Featured Actress. Jessica recently relocated from the Bay Area where she worked with the SF Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shotgun Players and Golden Thread Productions to name a few. Jessica made her LA film debut in the feature film, 86 Melrose Avenue, which can currently be seen in festivals around the world. A budding filmmaker and lover of new works development, Jessica has written and produced several films to be released in 2021, created a producing collective called All New People and continues to pursue her career in film and television. Jessica also teaches yoga online. To learn more about Jessica, visit her website: www.JessicaRisco.com and follow her on social media (Instagram): @jessica.l.risco.

Pam MacKinnon (TW:@pammackinnon) is a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner and she is no stranger to the Bay Area, having directed Victor Lodato’s 3F, 4F at Magic Theatre in 2005 and Amélie, A New Musical at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2015. MacKinnon grew up in Toronto, Canada as well as just outside Buffalo, New York. She majored in economics and political science at the University of Toronto and UC San Diego, and briefly pursued a Ph.D. in political science, before turning to her other passion: theater. Since then, MacKinnon has become one of American theater’s most beloved directors, a supporter of new American playwrights, and a leading interpreter of playwright Edward Albee’s work. She is an alumna of the Drama League, Women’s Project Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Labs. She is also Executive Board President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC). MacKinnon has directed multiple plays on Broadway, including Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Carrie Coon, and Madison Dirks. MacKinnon won a Tony Award for her direction, and the play received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Other Broadway productions include Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park (Obie Award for Excellence in Directing); Amélie, A New Musical; the world premiere of David Mamet’s China Doll with Al Pacino; Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles with Elizabeth Moss; and Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance with Glenn Close and John Lithgow. MacKinnon has also directed extensively off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Roundabout Theatre Company, as well as around the country at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, San Diego’s Old Globe, and Washington, DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Pam MacKinnon (TW:@pammackinnon) is a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner and she is no stranger to the Bay Area, having directed Victor Lodato’s 3F, 4F at Magic Theatre in 2005 and Amélie, A New Musical at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2015. MacKinnon grew up in Toronto, Canada as well as just outside Buffalo, New York. She majored in economics and political science at the University of Toronto and UC San Diego, and briefly pursued a Ph.D. in political science, before turning to her other passion: theater. Since then, MacKinnon has become one of American theater’s most beloved directors, a supporter of new American playwrights, and a leading interpreter of playwright Edward Albee’s work. She is an alumna of the Drama League, Women’s Project Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Labs. She is also Executive Board President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC). MacKinnon has directed multiple plays on Broadway, including Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Carrie Coon, and Madison Dirks. MacKinnon won a Tony Award for her direction, and the play received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Other Broadway productions include Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park (Obie Award for Excellence in Directing); Amélie, A New Musical; the world premiere of David Mamet’s China Doll with Al Pacino; Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles with Elizabeth Moss; and Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance with Glenn Close and John Lithgow. MacKinnon has also directed extensively off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Roundabout Theatre Company, as well as around the country at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, San Diego’s Old Globe, and Washington, DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

In this episode, I am joined by my friend Chloe O. Davis to talk about her debut book, The Queens' English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases. Chloe has been collecting research for this book through candid conversations with friends and loved ones, since 2006. Join us for a conversation on the transformative power of words to define, refine, and shape who we are. Chloe O. Davis is a proud Black bisexual woman and debut author who works in the entertainment industry in New York. A graduate of Hampton University and Temple University, she has centered her creative platform on amplifying the narratives of Black culture and heightening the awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community. Davis's work as a dancer, actor, and creative has allowed her to travel to all fifty states and internationally. In addition to performing at premier theaters across the country, such as New York City Center, the Apollo Theater, the Kennedy Center, the Muny, and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, she has appeared on PBS Great Performances with Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert on NBC, and Southern Landscape performed by the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!). In tandem with performing, Chloe O. Davis has spent fifteen years researching, writing and creating The Queens' English, The Dictionary for LGBTQIA+ Lingo and Colloquial Phrases. She believes this dictionary is a starting point for important conversations around inclusivity, sexuality, gender expression and identity. Purchase The Queens' English Book a Reading with Nick "In Search of Tarot" written and performed by AJ Ackleson "West" written and performed by AJ Ackleson and Erika Conaway

The Tony Award-Winning SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE debuts a NEW Activist Adaptation of the Dickens Classic as a Radio Play A RED CAROL An Activist Adaptation of the Dickens Classic Written and Directed by Michael Gene Sullivan A 21st. Century SFMT spin on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Online Fri. Dec. 11, 2020 - Jan. 17, 2021 -  FREE (suggested $20 donation) https://www.sfmt.org/   Michael Gene Sullivan (Writer, Director,Actor, SFMT Collective) is an award-winning actor, director, and playwright based in SF. As an actor Michael has worked with the American Conservatory Theatre, the Denver Center Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, CA Shakespeare Theatre, SF Playhouse, SF and the African American Shakespeare Companies, and the Aurora, the Marin, the Magic, the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, and has been a principle actor for the SF Mime Troupe for over 30 years. Michael's directing credits include work with SF Shakespeare Festival, TheatreFirst, the African American Shakespeare Company, Street Of Dreams Theatre Company, and over a dozen shows with SFMT. Michael was also director of the all-woman, all-clown Circus Finelli. From 1992 -1999 Michael was a Contributing Writer for the despite-its-name-never-silent, Tony and OBIE Award-winning SF Mime Troupe before being named SFMT's Resident Playwright 2000 to present. Michael is also a Resident Playwright for the Playwrights Foundation, and in 2017 was playwriting resident at the Djerassi Arts Center. Mr. Sullivan's political dramas, musicals, and satires include Walls (Ningun Humano Es Ilegal!), Treasure Island, For The Greater Good, Freedomland, Red Carol, Too Big To Fail, Did Anyone Ever Tell You-You Look Like Huey P. Newton?, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan (with Josh Kornbluth), Godfellas, Too Big to Fail, Possibilidad or The Death of the Worker, the all-woman farce Recipe, and his one person show, Did Anyone Ever Tell You -- You Look Like Huey P. Newton? Mr. Sullivan's plays have been performed at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the International Festival of Verbal Art (Berlin), The Hong Kong Arts Festival, and in Greece, Spain, Columbia, Argentina, New Zealand, Ukraine, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Mexico, as well as in theaters throughout the USA. 1984, his critically-acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel of the oppressive present/future, had its world premiere in 2006 at the Actors' Gang, directed by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins. After several extended runs in LA, 1984 has gone on to several national and international productions, has been translated into six languages, and published in two. Michael is also a Collective Member and Board Member of the SF Mime Troupe.  www.michaelgenesullivan.com

This week on Aurora Connects, Josh and Dawn are joined by Berkeley Artistic Directors Khalia Davis of Bay Area Children's Theatre, Patrick Dooley of Shotgun Players, and Johanna Pfaelzer of Berkeley Repertory Theatre. We'll get to know the ADs, their backgrounds, and more about their jobs, including how they select projects, how they spend their days, and how they balance their artistic vision with hard realities. We'll also learn what each company is doing to dismantle racism and systems of oppression, and how each is handling the pandemic.For more information on artists: https://auroratheatre.org/auroraconnectsTo Donate please go to https://bit.ly/SupportAuroraTheatreCo... or email Development Coordinator Kendra Johnson, kjohnson@auroratheatre.orgFor Technical Support please email techsupport@auroratheatre.orgSend us questions to answer or topics to discuss in future episodes, or ideas for what we can do. connects@auroratheatre.orgAurora Theatre Company Staff: Josh Costello, Julie Saltzman Kellner, Dawn Monique Williams, Dayna Kalakau, Cameron Swartzell, Amanda Mason, Betsy Ruck, Dave Shultz, Katherine Sanderlin, Kendra Johnson, Molly Conway

ABOUT SANDRA SANDRA TSING LOH is the author of six books, including THE MADWOMAN IN THE VOLVO: MY YEAR OF RAGING HORMONES (2014, W.W. Norton), which was selected as one of the New York Times’ 100 Most Notable Books. It is based on her Best American Essay 2012 on menopause, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly. The Madwoman in the Volvo has inspired Sandra's new stand-up show, The B**** Is Back: An All-Too Intimate Conversation, running at The Broad Stage in July, 2015, as well as a multi-character play, which will premiere at South Coast Repertory Theatre in January, 2016. SANDRA TSING LOH is the author of the THE MADWOMAN IN THE VOLVO: MY YEAR OF RAGING HORMONES (2014, W.W. Norton), which was selected as one of the New York Times' 100 Most Notable Books. It is based on her Best American Essay 2012 on menopause, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her previous book, MOTHER ON FIRE, was inspired by her hit solo show about Los Angeles public education. During that time, she was named one of the 50 most influential comedians by Variety. Her other solo shows include "Aliens in America" and "Bad Sex With Bud Kemp" (both off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre), "Sugar Plum Fairy" (Geffen Playhouse, Seattle Rep), and "I Worry" (Kennedy Center, Actor's Theatre of Louisville). Her short story, "My Father's Chinese Wives," won a Pushcart Prize in 1996, and is also featured in the Norton Anthology of Modern Literature. Loh's previous books include A Year in Van Nuys, Aliens in America, Depth Takes a Holiday, and a novel, If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now, which was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the 100 best fiction books of 1998. She has been a regular commentator on NPR's "Morning Edition," and on PRI's "This American Life" and "Marketplace"; currently, her weekly segment "The Loh Life"" is heard on KPCC. Loh's education includes a BS in physics from the California Institute of Technology, an institution which granted her a Distinguished Alumna Award, its highest honor, and for whom she was the first alumna to give a now-famous commencement speech. Loh's combining of her communication and science skills continue with her syndicated daily minute "The Loh Down on Science," which is heard weekly by 4 million people. Excerpts from her solo piano CD Pianovision has been heard on several NPR shows, and she also scored the music for the 1998 Oscar-winning documentary Breathing Lessons. A Pushcart Prize winner, MacDowell Fellow and three-time National Magazine Award nominee, she is a contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly and adjunct professor of visual art and science communication at the University of California, Irvine. Sandra's stand-up show, The B**** Is Back: An All-Too Intimate Conversation, ran at The Broad Stage in July, 2015. Her multi-character play based on The Madwoman in the Volvo premiered at South Coast Repertory Theatre (SCR) in January, 2016, and enjoyed subsequent runs at The Pasadena Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Loh workshopped a new piece, "Blue State," at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in August, 2017. A new three-actor version of "Sugar Plum Fairy" will be produced by SCR in December, 2017. Loh is an adjunct associate professor of Drama at UC Irvine, where she also teaches Science Communication.

John Collins and Scott Shepherd, in conversation with KPFA associate theater critic C. S. Soong. John Collins directs and Scott Shepherd performs in “Gatz,” now on stage at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In “Gatz,” an office worker comes across a copy of “The Great Gatsby” and begins reading it aloud; over time, his co-workers associate themselves with the novel's characters. “Gatz” was created by Elevator Repair Service; Collins is the theatre ensemble's artistic director and Shepherd has performed with ERS since 1994. “Gatz” runs through March 1. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is located at 2025 Addison Street in Berkeley. The post Interview: John Collins and Scott Shepherd about “Gatz” at Berkeley Rep appeared first on KPFA.

1. Mina Morita joins us to talk about Crowded Fire's Matchbox Play Reading Series: http://www.crowdedfire.org/2019-Matchbox-Reading-Series/ Ms. Morita is the Artistic Director of Crowded Fire Theater, a critically acclaimed, intrepid, female-led company dedicated to developing a fierce contemporary theater canon that reflects the plurality of our world. Previously, she served as the Artistic Associate at Berkeley Repertory Theatre—and a founding member of its Ground Floor program; as Board President of Shotgun Players; as a 2014 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab participant; as one of the founding members of Bay Area Children's Theatre; as Community Arts Panelist with the Zellerbach Family Foundation; Panelist for the Getty Leadership Summit; and Guest Artist at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. She is a recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s 2014 award for Best Director of a Musical: Tier II and TBA's 2016, 40@40 award for her impact on Bay Area Theater. In 2015, Mina was honored to share her story on TEDx, and in 2016, she was chosen as one of the YBCA100, for "asking questions and making provocations that will shape the future of culture."  2. We speak to Tamika Baptiste and Paige Mayers, Single Black Female 1 & 2, in Lorrianne Hansberry Theatre's production of Lisa B. Thompson's play, directed by AeJay Mitchell. Runs Friday-Sunday, 8 p.m. Sat. (matinee at 3 p.m. too) and Sun. matinee only. Visit https://www.lhtsf.org/single-black-female  

Yurié Collins and Sharon Omi, in conversation with KPFA associate theater critic C.S. Soong. Sharon Omi and Yurié Collins play a mother and daughter residing in a Japanese coastal town in “The Great Wave,” a play by Francis Turnly now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In “The Great Wave,” the family tragedy of a young woman's disappearance takes on the added dimension of a political thriller, one rooted in the fraught relationship between Japan and North Korea. Turnly's play, directed by Mark Wing-Davey, runs through October 27. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is located at 2025 Addison Street in Berkeley. [photo by Kevin Berne] The post Interview: Yurié Collins and Sharon Omi about “The Great Wave” at Berkeley Rep appeared first on KPFA.

Yi Zhao is a Beijing-born, Paris-raised and U.S.-educated lighting designer currently based in Berlin and working internationally, whose designs for theater, opera, live music and dance are informed by a rigorous background in fine art photography and a passion for music. His lighting designs have been seen at Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre, Soho Rep., Ars Nova, the Guthrie Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, The Wilma Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Opera Omaha, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Curtis Institute of Music, ArtsEmerson, Philadelphia FringeArts, Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and Ballet de Lorraine in France, among others. He has collaborated with directors & choreographers Lileana Blain-Cruz, Sarah Benson, Blanka Zizka, Les Waters, Liz Diamond, Joel Ferrell, James Bundy, Miguel Guttierrez, Michael Counts, Desdemona Chiang, Ralph Peña, Chris Bayes, Alec Duffy, Charlotte Brathwaite, and Nicole Canuso, among others. He holds degrees from the Yale School of Drama and the University of Chicago, and is a recipient of the 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Theatre.

Emily Fassler is a production manager and sound designer based in the Bay Area. Emily has had a love of the theater since she was young, playing James in James and the Giant Peach when she was just five years old! Later in life, with the help of a few key mentors, she discovered aspects of theater other than being on stage that she loved. She now is on the production management team in the theater department at UC Berkeley and spends her summers as a production manager at The Ground Floor, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's incubator program. Connect with Vania Vananina at vaniavananina.com and on Instagram @vaniavananina! Produced by Puddle Creative Music by Megan Diana Art by Vania Vananina and Maia Buzbee

Nilaja Sun, in conversation with KPFA associate theater critic C.S. Soong. Nilaja Sun portrays a dozen people living on New York's Lower East Side in her one-woman show “Pike St.,” now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In “Pike St.” three generations of a Puerto Rican family await, along with neighbors and friends, the arrival of a hurricane. The play, directed by Ron Russell, runs through December 9. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is located at 2025 Addison Street in Berkeley. The post Interview: Nilaja Sun about “Pike St.” at Berkeley Rep appeared first on KPFA.

In this week's program, I tell you why this didn't post on Thursday and why it has to do with Theresa Rebeck & my day job. Four theatres announce their upcoming seasons. Two theatres choose new ADs. The Horton Foote prizes for plays are announced. Theresa Rebeck, Theresa Rebeck, Theresa Rebeck which is also Something I Had To Share With You... JOIN THE MAILING LIST SEASON ANNOUNCEMENTS Red Bull Theater, NYC Soho Rep, NYC Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, MO Washington Stage Guild, DC WHO'S IN AND WHO'S OUT Shakepeare Theatre Company in DC chooses Simon Godwin as new AD Johanna Pfaelzer will be the new AD at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in CA ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS Lauren Yee & Jaclyn Backhaus win Horton Foote Prize for Plays NYTimes.com article about Theresa Rebeck, "She's not revered, and she should be." SOMETHING I HAD TO SHARE WITH YOU... I discuss seeing Theresa Rebeck's new play, Bernhardt/Hamlet and provide an additional article about Sarah Bernhardt from BBC.COM  THANKS FOR LISTENING AND HAVE A CREATIVE DAY!!!  

Everybody loves a hero. But villains can be much more interesting.  Meredith Talusan is the Executive Editor at them. She wrote an essay about trans villains in film for BuzzFeed.    Dan Kois and Isaac Butler are co-authors of The World Only Spins Forward, an oral history of Angels in America. Andrea Bernstein is the co-host of Trump, Inc., a podcast about the Trump family business from WNYC Studios and Pro Publica. Stephen Spinella plays Roy Cohn in the Berkeley Rep production of Angels in America. Stephen Spinella (Roy Cohn) in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s production of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre) Episode scoring by Jeremy Bloom with additional music by Lee Rosevere ("I Was Waiting for Him" and "Featherlight"). Theme by Alexander Overington. Support our work! Become a Nancy member today at Nancypodcast.org/donate.

Jackie Chung, in conversation with KPFA associate theater critic C.S. Soong. In Julia Cho's play “Office Hour,” now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Jackie Chung plays a writing professor named Gina who speaks to a troubled student who, in the view of Gina's colleagues, fits the profile of a mass shooter. “Office Hour,” directed by Lisa Peterson, runs through March 25. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is located at 2025 Addison Street in Berkeley. [photo by Kevin Berne] The post Interview: Jackie Chung about “Office Hour” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

Joy Carlin, noted actor and director, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. A former member of ACT's acting company and interim Artistic Director at Berkeley Rep, Joy Carlin has a noted career as both actor and director. She currently directs George Bernard Shaw's first produced play, “Widowers' Houses” at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley. The play, which focuses on housing, slum lords, urban development and the gap between rich and poor, was written in 1895 and produced three years later, and began a long and lengthy career for Shaw, recognized today as one of the greatest playwrights in the English language. Joy Carlin has directed several plays for Aurora and A.C.T. and has acted in television and film along with theater, including a recent role in “Blue Jasmine.” Later this spring she will star in the play “Marjorie Prime” at Marin Theatre Company. Aurora Theatre website Joy Carlin's biography: Joy Carlin was born in Boston, grew up in Chicago, was graduated from the University of Chicago, attended Yale Drama School, and studied with Lee Strasberg in New York City.  An original member of Chicago's Playwrights' Theatre, she has appeared on Broadway with FROM THE SECOND CITY, in off-Broadway productions, with regional and summer theatres and in television and films.  From 1964-69 she was a lecturer and taught acting in the Drama Department at UC Berkeley.  Since 1969 she has been a leading actress, director and teacher with the American Conservatory Theater where she was an Associate Artistic Director from 1987 until 1992, heading up their Plays-in-Progress program (producing 5 new plays a season), and organizing community outreach activities. There she directed THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA, THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING, THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA, GOLDEN BOY, MARCO MILLIONS, HAPGOOD and the premiere of Jane Anderson's FOOD AND SHELTER, and she performed many roles, winning seventeen Bay Area Critics Circle and L.A. Dramalogue Awards for both her acting and directing. From 1981-84 she was an Actor and Resident Director at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and served as its Interim Artistic Director from January 1983 to August 1984. She is the recipient of the 1997 Bay Area Critics Circle Barbara Bladen Porter award for continued excellence in her career as actor and director. A few of her favorite roles have been Bananas in THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, Birdie in THE LITTLE FOXES, Mme. Ranevskaya in THE CHERRY ORCHARD, Emily Dickinson in THE BELLE OF AMHERST, Amanda in THE GLASS MENAGERIE, Enid in THE FLOATING LIGHTBULB, Lady Wishfort in THE WAY OF THE WORLD, Big Mama in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, Addie in MISSING PERSONS and Mag Folan in THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE. Ms. Carlin has served on many panels and advisory committees, among them the California Arts Council, Educational Theatre Association, Artists Alliance, Ashland's OSFA Artistic Director Search Committee, Regional Vice President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She has also directed for The San Jose Repertory Theatre (PASSION PLAY, THE COUNTRY GIRL, DEATH OF A SALESMAN and THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG), the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, the Berkeley Stage Company, the Pacific Jewish Theatre, The Aurora Theatre, THE San Francisco Playhouse, The Jewel Theatre of Santa Cruz and the Shanghai Youth Drama Troupe where she directed YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU. Most recently she appeared in Woody Allen's film  BLUE JASMINE, directed WIDOWERS' HOUSES running at TheAurora Theatre and will appear as MARJORIE PRIME at MarinTheatre Co. in May. The post Interview: Joy Carlin, director, “Widowers' Houses” at Aurora appeared first on KPFA.

Theatre director Les Waters’ interest in contemporary art and new plays drives him in his career. Born to a working class family in rural England, Waters is an award-winning, British theatre director. He has numerous theatre credits in New York and around the U.S., including winning an Obie for the premier of “Big Love” at the Humana Festival. Waters headed the M.F.A. directing program at UC San Diego from 1995 to 2003. He also served as the associate artistic director with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003 to 2011. In 2000, and again in 2004, Waters came to Louisville to direct shows for the Humana Festival. In 2012, he was hired as artistic director of the Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL) and took charge of the Humana Festival, succeeding Mark Masterson. In its previous 50 years, ATL only had three artistic directors. ATL is considered one of the most prestigious professional theatre companies in the United States. It has introduced over 400 plays and earned many awards, including a Tony award. Waters is married to set designer, Annie Smart; They have two daughters and one son.

I’m not sure what it is, but there’s just something appealing—if that’s the word—about watching a puppet – especially a cute puppet – talking dirty … dropping F-bombs, describing sex acts, saying things that puppets don’t normally get to say. Maybe that’s because, over the last seventy-five years or so — beginning with Kukla Fran and Ollie and Howdy Doody, all the way to Sesame Street and Mister Rogers — television has enforced the idea that puppets are for kids. That’s not true. Consider Punch and Judy, who in medieval times were anything but kid-friendly. That’s just the tip of a dark and dirty iceberg of puppet-powered adult-oriented entertainment. Well, in recent years, puppets have been regaining their adult voice through such inappropriate inanimate objects as Greg the bunny, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, those murderous marionettes from “Team America: World Police,” and good old Trekkie Monster - and all the other foul-mouthed porn-surfing residents of “Avenue Q,” the hit Broadway show that gave the world the songs, ‘The Internet is for Porn’ and ‘Everyone’s a little bit racist.’ To that list of celebrated, envelope-pushing puppets, we may now add Tyrone, the hilariously devilish sock puppet who rules over playwright Robert Askin’s remarkable new stage play, ‘Hand to God’ (now running at Berkeley Repertory Theater). Blending clever one-liners, expert slapstick and shocking (but funny) acts of violence, with outrageously pointed observations about faith, guilt, parenthood, and the notions of good and evil, “Hand to God” is extraordinary. It’s obviously not the first show to feature puppets saying and doing bad things. But as written by Robert Askins – who was nominated for a 2015 Tony award for this play— “Hand to God’ is always feels fresh and inventive, even a bit transgressive in its willingness to go places very few puppet-shows have ever dared to go. Directed with spot-on precision by David Ivers, “Hand to God” is set in a small-town Texas church, where a troubled, sweet-spirited teenager named Jason—brilliantly played by Michael Doherty—has just created Tyrone. Innocent-looking enough, at first, Tyrone was made of socks and yarn – and eventually, teeth - part of the youth puppet ministry run by his recently-widowed mother Margery. Also in the club is the gentle-but-resourceful Jessica, and Timothy, a confrontational teen punk with a serious case of the hots for Jason’s recently widowed mother. Hoping that a church project might help snap Margery out of her grief, the church’s painfully lonely pastor Greg has basically forced the puppet club on her. It’s not a great fit. All hell breaks loose, literally, when Tyrone begins exhibiting strong anti-social behavior, dropping those aforementioned F-bombs alongside some brutally escalating observations about Jason, his mother, and the other basement-dwelling “Christ-keteers.” These puppety outbursts begin gradually, with Tyrone tagging inappropriately sexual comments onto a performance of the famous “Who’s on first?” routine, occasionally reciting vaguely threatening facts: “The smallest of cuts to the Achilles tendon will cripple a man for life!” Before long, though, Jason has to accept the fact that his Id-driven puppet just might be … Lucifer himself. It’s very funny, but also genuinely scary, a testament to Askins’ skill as a writer, and the actors skills as a tight, energetic ensemble. As Jason/Tyrone, Doherty is a marvel, pivoting between characters with breathtaking speed and precision. The play does go to some very dark places, but the show never loses its inherent sense of humor and heart, or the story’s staunch commitment to the idea that those things out there that we loathe and fear the most, might be closer to home than we prefer to imagine. ‘Hand to God’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through March 19 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, www.berkeleyrep.org

A Conversation with Tony Taccone, Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is one of the country's leading regional theaters. In this in-depth interview, Artistic Director Tony Taccone talks about the plays that were produced in the 2015-2016 season, and gives a preview of plays coming up in the 2016-2017 season, including his own adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's powerful novel, It Can't Happen Here. He also discusses the effects of the new Peets Theatre sound system, along with a look inside how he views audience response to Berkeley Rep shows, and the process of creating a new play through the company's playwrighting wing, The Ground Floor. He also discusses the future of two successful productions, Amelie and Aubergine, and some of the work involved in finding plays to produce. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky and recorded at Berkeley Rep on July 15, 2016. Currently running at Berkeley Rep: Latin History for Morons starring John Leguizamo, through August 14, 2016. Berkeley Rep website The post Berkeley Rep: Tony Taccone appeared first on KPFA.

One recently-opened Bay Area stage show takes place under the Sea, where fish creatures dwell, another takes place on the Sea, where dangerous men scheme and battle for buried gold. One show features fish on roller skates; the other presents pirates and parrots. Both have singing and dancing—though only one is a musical. One is in Berkeley. One’s in Rohnert Park. One is Disney’s ‘The little Mermaid.’ The other is a brand new adaptation of ‘Treasure Island.’ Both are well worth a voyage to the theater. First, let’s talk about ‘Treasure Island.’ Writer-director Mary Zimmerman’s richly reimagined action adventure—adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved novel—is visually inventive and surprisingly emotional. And it rocks. Literally. As presented at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, in Berkeley, the show employs a stunningly well-engineered stage that—during scenes where the characters take to the open sea—actually rocks, swinging back-and-forth from side to side like a pirate ship rolling on the ocean. That is just one of many eye-popping delights that await, as director Zimmerman launches a wildly unexpected, subversively psychological adaptation that might skimp a bit on the sword-fighting and swashbuckling, but makes up for it with beauty, pathos and rich human comedy. Now, there’s no doubt that Treasure Island is a good book, but it would be hard to make the case that it is a very deep book—despite the fathomless depths of fondness many, including me, still feel for it. It’s a great story, but not exactly packed with psychological insight. That’s why it’s such a surprise that Zimmerman has so deftly managed to turn the tale into something so humanely perceptive and emotionally rewarding. Packed with poetic touches—including a an odd but effective bit of dreamy piratical ballet—this rollicking interpretation is stirring and fun, achingly lovely, frequently sweet, occasionally a bit weird, and a tad upsetting. Which is to say that, for a story about ships and pirates, with a set that swings into the action, it’s practically perfect. Meanwhile, in Spreckels Theater Company’s splashy new production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, colorful costumed fish on wheels appear to swim across the stage. Seagulls fly and mermaids frolic, huge waves splash and crash, octopus women grow to six times their normal size, while six-foot strands of seaweed bob and wiggle in time to the music, thanks to dancers dressed up in seaweed suits. It is, in a word, dazzling. But of all the special effects unfurled in Spreckels elaborate production, directed with charm and energy by Gene Abravaya, the most impressive is the strong-voiced, agile and energetic cast. Led by Julianne Thompson Bretan as the adventurous title character, Ariel, with memorable turns by Mary Gannon Graham as the villainous sea-witch Ursula and Fernando Sui as Flounder, Ariel’s BFF (that’s “best fish friend”), the show is made colorful and clever by the costumes and set pieces, but succeeds on an emotional level primarily due to the delightfully cartoonish, occasionally quite moving performances. Despite some glaring script flaws, an over-stuffed score and a confusing, undercooked climax, this Mermaid still delivers a level of onstage dazzle-dazzle that is pretty much unmatched in ambition and spectacle by any other local stage musical in recent memory. ‘Treasure Island’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through June 17 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, www.berkeleyrep.org. ‘Disney’s The Little Mermaid’ runs through May 22 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, www.spreckelsonline.com.

A conversation with Tim Kang, with guest host C.S. Soong. Aubergine, a play by Julia Cho about family, food, and forgiveness, is having its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Tim Kang, who plays the lead character, joined C.S. Soong in-studio to discuss the play and also his perspective as an Asian American actor. More information about Aubergine, which runs through March 27, can be found at Berkeley Rep's website. The post Aubergine at Berkeley Rep appeared first on KPFA.

A story is an illusion, a series of events that are not really taking place, presented in a way that fools its audience into believing, for a moment, that it is all really happening. Telling that story in a book or movie is a certain kind of trick, with its own rules and traditions, and telling the same story on the stage is quite another. But transferring a story from one medium to another—say, from the screen to the stage—that may be the hardest trick of all. Which brings us to ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘Amélie.’ Two beloved stories, one a classic book and the other a beloved modern masterpiece of cinema, have both landed on stage in the Bay Area, and each carries its own unique kind of cross-media magic. At Spreckels Performing Arts Center, in Rohnert Park, Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic pirate adventure ‘Treasure Island’ hits the stage in a compact, robust adaptation by Ken Ludwig. Someone give me an Arrrrrrr? Directed with humor and charm by David Yen, staged in the intimate studio theater with exhilarating in-your-face inventiveness and plenty of robust, swashbuckling energy, the crafty condensation of Stevenson’s classic works surprisingly well. The story, though stripped down a bit, is quite faithful to the book, with the exception of a few lady pirates thrown in here and there—something that might have shocked Robert Louis Stevenson and possibly some of the pirates. The strong, versatile cast is led by a grounded, impressively non-cartoonish John Rathjen as Long John Silver, often played a bit too over the top, but not here. In this production, the whole cast slips gracefully in and out of dozens of characters. Animated projections combine with cleverly adaptable set pieces to turn the stage into a ship’s decking with rolling waves over the stern, to an island jungle filled with waving foliage. The effects works well, and if some of the book’s detail and depth of character are swept overboard in the process of translation, the loss is more than made up for in sense of rollicking, high-spirited, double-crossing, sword-clashing fun the able-bodied cast and crew bring to the stage. Translating the beloved 2001 French comedy Amélie to the stage is a different kind of trick altogether, and turning it into a musical only makes the challenge harder. But with a book by Craig Lucas—he wrote the play Prelude to a Kiss—and with lovely, ethereal tunes by Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen, this supremely satisfying adaptation—directed with immense creativity by Tony-winner Pam MacKinnon—is a sweet, sneaky surprise of a show. As Amélie, the café worker who sets out to make the world a happier place, Samantha Barks is everything an Amélie should be—beautiful, sweet, a little wacky, and thoroughly beguiling. There is a marvelously whimsical sense of innocence in the play, even when incorporating such things as sex shops and orgasms, and the story’s transformation into a musical—rather than proving distracting or cluttered—is so deftly done you might think that the story of Amelie and her bumpy road to finding her own true happiness, was always meant to become a musical. If anything, it’s become better this way. And that’s not an easy trick to pull off. ‘Treasure Island’ runs Thursday–Sunday through October 4 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, www.spreckelsonline.com 'Amelie’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through October 11 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, www.berkeleyrep.org

Let’s face it - it’s not always easy to look on the bright side of life. Laughter helps, but getting there often requires a helpful boost. If you are looking for something to give your laughing-and-smiling impulses a comedic kick in the pants, you are currently in luck. Right now, there are two shows running in the Bay Area, each one designed to make you feel a bit lighter and a touch happier - a stunt made possible by daredevil actors committed body-and-soul to the fine art of stage comedy, confident in the uplifting power generated through the sheer ridiculous joy of watching a skilled comedian tumbling down a flight of stairs. In downtown Sonoma, on the Rotary stage at the Sonoma Community Center, Narrow Way Stage Company has pulled out all the stops with Michael Frayn’s high-energy farce "Noises Off" Running weekends through May 31. Though a bit loose and lumpy here and there, the Narrow Way actors bring a strong, pulse-quickening dose of their patented theater-punk sensibility to this rollicking play-within-a-play, the meta-level story of dysfunctional actors rehearsing and performing a wild sex farce called ‘Nothing On.’ Tony Ginesi’s rotating two-story set let’s us see both sides of the action, front-of-stage and back-of-stage, as the hapless actors present the same ridiculous story three times over the course of its months long run, which - true to the longstanding rules of comedy - goes anything but smoothly. Directed by Nick Christenson, with a bring-it-on, anything-goes sense of heightened performance and comedic timing, this high-energy roller-coaster of a show benefits from a cast willing to do just about anything, from romping about in underwear to falling down stairs - I told you - to slipping on a plate of sardines or sitting on a cactus. Meanwhile, just beyond the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Berkeley Repertory Theater is presenting the West Coast premiere of "One Man, Two Guvnors," Richard Bean’s joyously madcap assault on the average funny-bone, running through June 21. A bawdy British adaptation of the classic Italian farce A Servant of Two Masters, "One Man, Two Guvnors" is set in Brighton, circa 1963, where a poor, hungry musician, desperate for a sandwich or a plate of eggs, finds himself working for two different criminals, one rich, one on the lam. With original tunes played by a “skiffle” band along the lines of John Lennon’s pre-Beatles band The Quarrymen, this show caused a sensation in London and New York, making a star of James Corden (The Late Late Show), whose shoes are capably filled in Berkeley by actor Dan Donohue, acclaimed for his work with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The show is brilliantly performed by every single member of the ensemble, playing an assortment of oddballs from the cross-dressing woman pretending to be her dead brother, to the jittery servant who keeps falling down stairs - there it is again. Even the poor guy with only three lines as a waiter makes comic gold of his brief moment in the spotlight. Directed by David Ivers with a sense of controlled mania, the show incorporates ingenious audience participation and musical interludes that both set the tone and add a specific flavor of riotous party-time mayhem to the proceedings. Easily one of the best new-but-based-on-something-old comedies of the year, "One Man, Two Guvnors" is a happy smile of a show that, like Noises Off, brings its characters right to edge of tragedy before winging wackily back to the land of happy endings. It’s hard not to feel happy after something like that. "Noises Off" runs through May 31st at the Sonoma Community Center (sonomaartslive.org) and "One Man, Two Guvnors" runs through June 21st at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (BerkeleyRep.org) I’m David Templeton, Second Row Center, for KRCB.

This week: We kick off with the most depressing intro ever (yet still hilarious) and then get to the good stuff. We talk to Shannon Jackson at the Open Engagement conference, preceded by a (unfortunately) truncated conversation with Jen Delos Reyes. Shannon Jackson is Professor of Rhetoric and of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies. She is also currently the Director of the Arts Research Center. Her most recent book is Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics, and she is also working on a book about The Builders Association. Other awards and grants include: Lilla Heston Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Performance Studies (NCA); Junior Faculty Fellowship, Radcliffe College; the Kahan Scholar’s Prize in Theatre History (ASTR); the Spencer Foundation Dissertation fellowship; the Black Theater Network; the National Endowment for the Humanities, and several project grants from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, UCIRA, the San Francisco Foundation, and the LEF Foundation. Selected adaptation, performance, and directing credits: White Noises, The Smell of Death and Flowers, Hull-House Women, Catastrophe, The Successful Life of 3. Jackson serves on the boards of Cal Performances, the Berkeley Art Museum, and the Berkeley Center for New Media.  She serves on the editorial boards of several journals, has been a keynote speaker at a variety of international symposia, and has co-organized conferences and residencies with the Arts Research Center, The Builders Association, Touchable Stories, American Society of Theatre Research, the American Studies Association, the Women and Theatre Project, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Multi-campus Research Group on International Performance, and UCB’s Center for Community Innovation.  Jackson was an Erasmus Mundus visiting professor in Paris at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Nord and at the Université Libre de Bruxelles for the 2008-09 academic year. Before moving to Berkeley, Jackson was an assistant professor of English and Literature at Harvard University from 1995 to 1998. Jen Delos Reyes is an artist originally from Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Her research interests include the history of socially engaged art, group work, and artists' social roles. She has exhibited works across North America and Europe, and has contributed writing to various catalogues and institutional publications. In 2008 she contributed writing to Decentre: Concerning Artist-Run Culture published by YYZBOOKS. In 2006 she completed an intensive workshop, Come Together: Art and Social Engagement, at The Kitchen in New York. She has received numerous grants and awards including a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant. She is the founder and organizer of Open Engagement, a conference on socially engaged art practices. She is currently an Assistant Professor and teaches in the Art and Social Practice MFA concentration at Portland State University.

Kalani is an internationally acclaimed percussionist, educator, and presenter. With over 30 years of professional experience in a variety of fields, Kalani's work honors past traditions while expanding the fields of music education, music therapy, and wellness. Kalani began his professional career at the age of 15, playing for several local bands in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1982, he expanded on his work to include orchestral and world percussion genres. After graduating from Cal State University Northridge with a BA in Music, Kalani went on to co-produce music for a Vegas-style show, Night Magic. In 1988 Kalani worked with legendary drummer Max Roach to create the soundtrack for a Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of The Hairy Ape (Eugene O'Neil), eventually returning to LA to tour with Vic Damone in 1990. In 1991 Kalani was invited to tour with Multi-Platinum recording artist, Yanni, performing on the widely acclaimed “Live at the Acropolis” video, which sold over 7 million copies world-wide. Kalani has also toured nationally and internationally with Barry Manilow, Suzanne Cianni, Benise, and a host of other artists. Kalani can be heard on CDs and soundtracks for the Nature Company, Jim Hensen Records, Paramount Pictures, Sony Records, Tri-Star, Disney, Warner Brothers, and others. He has released three original music CD; Pangea, Insights, and Origins (the last with Kevin Winard and Mike Faue). http://www.kalanimusic.com/index.html

Kalani is an internationally acclaimed percussionist, educator, and presenter. With over 30 years of professional experience in a variety of fields, Kalani's work honors past traditions while expanding the fields of music education, music therapy, and wellness. Kalani began his professional career at the age of 15, playing for several local bands in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1982, he expanded on his work to include orchestral and world percussion genres. After graduating from Cal State University Northridge with a BA in Music, Kalani went on to co-produce music for a Vegas-style show, Night Magic. In 1988 Kalani worked with legendary drummer Max Roach to create the soundtrack for a Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of The Hairy Ape (Eugene O'Neil), eventually returning to LA to tour with Vic Damone in 1990. In 1991 Kalani was invited to tour with Multi-Platinum recording artist, Yanni, performing on the widely acclaimed “Live at the Acropolis” video, which sold over 7 million copies world-wide. Kalani has also toured nationally and internationally with Barry Manilow, Suzanne Cianni, Benise, and a host of other artists. Kalani can be heard on CDs and soundtracks for the Nature Company, Jim Hensen Records, Paramount Pictures, Sony Records, Tri-Star, Disney, Warner Brothers, and others. He has released three original music CD; Pangea, Insights, and Origins (the last with Kevin Winard and Mike Faue). http://www.kalanimusic.com/index.html