Podcasts about Fort Mason

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   William Finn (1951-2025) and James Lapine William Finn, Richard Wolinsky and James Lapine Composer/lyricist William Finn, who died on April 7th, 2025 at the age of 73 and director/librettist James Lapine, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded March 20, 2019 at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco. William Finn is best known for writing the music and lyrics for two Broadway shows, Falsettos, which was the first gay-themed Broadway musical, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which has become a staple of community theatre companies around the world. He also wrote A New Brain, which dealt with his near death experience following brain surgery.  Falsettos was originally three one-act musicals which opened off-Broadway, In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland and the latter two became Falsettos, which opened on Broadway in 1992, co-authored and directed by James Lapine, who'd also co-authored Falsettoland. James Lapine is best known for his work with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. Falsettos was revived on Broadway in 2016 and came to San Francisco in spring of 2019. Richard Wolinsnky had a chance to sit down with both William Finn and James Lapine on March 20, 2019 in the lobby of the Golden Gate Theatre to discuss Falsettos, as well as take a brief look at each man's career.   Martin Amis (1949-2023): The Zone of Interest Martin Amis (1949-2023), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studio on a book tour for “The Zone of Interest,” October 29, 2014. The Zone of Interest focuses on the lives of people who ran the concentration camps, as they chose to avoid thinking about their crimes against humanity. A film adaptation received Oscar nominations a couple of years ago. Novelist and essayist Martin Amis died of cancer on May 19, 2023 at the age of 73, leaving behind such novels as The Rachel Papers, London Fields, The Information, and his last memoir-cum-novel, Inside Story. On October 29th, 2014, Richard Wolinsky conducted the last of five interviews with Martin Amis, about Amis's then most recent novel, The Zone of Interest.   Review of “Here There Are Blueberries” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through May 11, 2025.   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.  Summers at John Hinkel Park: Cymbeline opens July 4; The Taming of the Shrew opens August 16. See website for readings and events. Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).   See website for upcoming productions. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Afro-Solo Theatre Company.See website for calendar. American Conservatory Theatre Eddie Izzard Hamlet, April 1-20 Strand. Two Trains Running by August Wilson, April 15 -May 4, and The Comedy of Errors, April 22 – May 3 with The Acting Company, in repertory, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, April 26-May 25, 2025 Awesome Theatre Company. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Here There Are Blueberries by Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, April 5 – May 11, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company Julius Caesar, June 13-21, Live Oak Theater, Berkeley. y. See website for upcoming events and productions. Boxcar Theatre. The Illusionist with Kevin Blake, live at the Palace Theatre, through April 27. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Six, April 8-20, Curran; Mamma Mia! April 30 – May 11, Orpheum. See website for complete listings for the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theaters. Broadway San Jose:  Six. April 22-27. See website for other events. Center Rep: The Roommate by Jen Silverman, March 30 – April 20. Lesher Center. Central Stage. See website for upcoming productions, 5221 Central Avenue, Richmond Central Works  The Last Goat by Gary Graves, June 28 – July 27. Cinnabar Theatre. Bright Star, June 13-29, Sonoma State. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre Fiddler on the Roof June 7 – 22. See website for other events. 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: Writing Fragments Home by Jeffrey Lo, April 17 – May 4. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Come Thru: A Celebration of Black Artistry, Story Telling and Community, May 5-18, Magic Theatre, Fort Mason. See website for specific workshops and events. Los Altos Stage Company. Cyrano by Edmund Rostand, April 10 – May 4. 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) Simple Mexican Pleasures by Eric Reyes Loo, April 18 – May 11. New Performance Traditions.  See website for upcoming schedule Oakland Theater Project.  I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright, March 21 – April 13, Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Palace of Fine Arts Theater.  See website for event listings. Pear Theater. Henry V by William Shakespeare, April 18 – May 11. See website for staged readings and other events. Playful People Productions. Disney's Frozen Jr., May 16-25, Hoover Theater, San Jose. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Next to Normal. May 30 – June 21. Ross Valley Players: The Book of Will  by Lauren Gunderson, May 9 – June 8. See website for New Works Sunday night readings and other events. San Francisco Playhouse. Fat Ham by James Ijames, March 20 – April 19. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows.  The Day The Sky Turned Orange by Julius Ernesto, Sept 5 – Oct. 5, Z Space. San Jose Stage Company: The Underpants by Steve Martin, April 3 -27. Shotgun Players.  Yellowface by David Henry Hwang, May 10 – June 8. South Bay Musical Theatre:  Brigadoon, May 17-June 7, 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  Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, April 26 – May 18. LaVal's Subterranean Theatre. Theatre Rhino  Gumiho by Nina Ki, April 17 – May 11. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. The Heart-Sellers by Lloyd Suh, April 2-27. Word for Word.  See website for upcoming productions. Misc. Listings: BAM/PFA: On View calendar for Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. 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. 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 April 17, 2025: William Finn & James Lapine: Masters of the Musical appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   David Thomson, Film Critic and Historian David Thomson, film critic and historian, discusses his book, “The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film” with host Richard Wolinsky. Author of over forty books, most of which deal with film and film history, David Thomson here discusses how movies have influenced how our society sees and understands war. In the interview, he talks about how war films rarely focus on the reasons why individual wars are fought, the soldier mentality, the two World Wars on film, fascism and resistance on film, along with such films as Black Hawk Down, The Deer Hunter and A Man Escapes. Recorded a year ago, he also discusses fascism in the United States, and the nature of resistance. Special thanks to AJ Fox and Susan Oxtoby of Pacific Film Archive, where the interview was recorded. Photo of David Thomson: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Review of “Eddie Izzard Hamlet” at ACT Strand Theatre through April 20, 2025.   Review of “The Heart Sellers” at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through April 27, 2025.   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.  Summers at John Hinkel Park: Cymbeline opens July 4; The Taming of the Shrew opens August 16. See website for readings and events. Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).   See website for upcoming productions. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Afro-Solo Theatre Company.See website for calendar. American Conservatory Theatre Eddie Izzard Hamlet, April 1-20 Strand. Two Trains Running by August Wilson, April 15 -May 4, and The Comedy of Errors, April 22 – May 3 with The Acting Company, in repertory, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, April 26-May 25, 2025 Awesome Theatre Company. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Here There Are Blueberries by Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, April 5 – May 11, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company Julius Caesar, June 13-21, Live Oak Theater, Berkeley. y. See website for upcoming events and productions. Boxcar Theatre. The Illusionist with Kevin Blake, live at the Palace Theatre, through April 27. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Six, April 8-20, Curran; Mamma Mia! April 30 – May 11, Orpheum. See website for complete listings for the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theaters. Broadway San Jose:  Six. April 22-27. See website for other events. Center Rep: The Roommate by Jen Silverman, March 30 – April 20. Lesher Center. Central Stage. See website for upcoming productions, 5221 Central Avenue, Richmond Central Works  The Last Goat by Gary Graves, June 28 – July 27. Cinnabar Theatre. Bright Star, June 13-29, Sonoma State. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre Fiddler on the Roof June 7 – 22. See website for other events. 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: Writing Fragments Home by Jeffrey Lo, April 17 – May 4. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Come Thru: A Celebration of Black Artistry, Story Telling and Community, May 5-18, Magic Theatre, Fort Mason. See website for specific workshops and events. Los Altos Stage Company. Cyrano by Edmund Rostand, April 10 – May 4. 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) Simple Mexican Pleasures by Eric Reyes Loo, April 18 – May 11. New Performance Traditions.  See website for upcoming schedule Oakland Theater Project.  I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright, March 21 – April 13, Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Palace of Fine Arts Theater.  See website for event listings. Pear Theater. Henry V by William Shakespeare, April 18 – May 11. See website for staged readings and other events. Playful People Productions. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, April 10-19. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Next to Normal. May 30 – June 21. Ross Valley Players: The Book of Will  by Lauren Gunderson, May 9 – June 8. See website for New Works Sunday night readings and other events. San Francisco Playhouse. Fat Ham by James Ijames, March 20 – April 19. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: The Underpants by Steve Martin, April 3 -27. Shotgun Players.  Art by Yazmina Reza, through April 12. South Bay Musical Theatre: Titanic, a concert presentation, April 12-13. Brigadoon, May 17-June 7, 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  Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, April 26 – May 18. LaVal's Subterranean Theatre. Theatre Rhino  Gumiho by Nina Ki, April 17 – May 11.Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. The Heart-Sellers by Lloyd Suh, April 2-27. Word for Word.  See website for upcoming productions. Misc. Listings: BAM/PFA: On View calendar for Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. 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. 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 David Thomson: A Century of War on Film appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Richard Chamberlain (1934-2025) Richard Wolinsky and Richard Chamberlain outside the KPFA studios, June 10, 2003. Richard Chamberlain, who died on March 29, 2025 two days before his 91st birthday, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 10, 2003 while on tour for his memoir, Shattered Love. Richard Chamberlain achieved fame as the heart-throb star of the 1960s medical drama Doctor Kildare, and went on to a successful career as an actor in the TV miniseries The Thorn Birds and the original Shogun, as well as the Richard Lester Three Musketeers films and Peter Weir's The Last Wave, as well as other TV series and films. He also was on the Broadway stage in a revival of My Fair Lady, and toured with several shows. In 2003, he chose to come out of the closet in his memoir, Shattered Love, in which he discussed his years of self-loathing and his later spiritual awakening. The interview concludes with a discussion of the political scene in 2003, which bears a clear relationship with what is happening in Washington D.C. today.   Michael Moran, Co-Artistic Director, Oakland Theater Project Michael Socrates Moran, Executive and Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via computer, March 26,2025. Michael Moran is one of the founders of Oakland Theater Project, formerly Ubuntu Theatre Project. He is also the director of “I Am My Own Wife” by Doug Wright, playing at Oakland Theater Project through April 13, 2025. In this interview he discusses the origins of the company, how it fared during the pandemic, and the upcoming season. Complete Interview   Review of “Fat Ham” at San Francisco Playhouse through April 19, 2025.   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.  Summers at John Hinkel Park: Cymbeline opens July 4; The Taming of the Shrew opens August 16. See website for readings and events. Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).   See website for upcoming productions. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Afro-Solo Theatre Company.See website for calendar. American Conservatory Theatre Eddie Izzard Hamlet, April 1-20 Strand. Two Trains Running by August Wilson, April 15 -May 4, and The Comedy of Errors, April 22 – May 3 with The Acting Company, in repertory, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, April 26-May 25, 2025 Awesome Theatre Company. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Here There Are Blueberries by Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, April 5 – May 11, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare CompanJulius Caesar, June 13-21, Live Oak Theater, Berkeley. y. See website for upcoming events and productions. Boxcar Theatre. The Illusionist with Kevin Blake, live at the Palace Theatre, through April 27. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Six, April 8-20, Curran; Mamma Mia! April 30 – May 11, Orpheum. See website for complete listings for the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theaters. Broadway San Jose:  Six. April 22-27. See website for other events. Center Rep: The Roommate by Jen Silverman, March 30 – April 20. Lesher Center. Central Stage. See website for upcoming productions, 5221 Central Avenue, Richmond Central Works  Push/Pull by Harry Davis, Extended to April 6, 2025. Cinnabar Theatre. Bright Star, June 13-29, Sonoma State. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre Fiddler on the Roof June 7 – 22. See website for other events. 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: Writing Fragments Home by Jeffrey Lo, April 17 – May 4. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Come Thru: A Celebration of Black Artistry, Story Telling and Community, May 5-18, Magic Theatre, Fort Mason. See website for specific workshops and events. Los Altos Stage Company. Cyrano by Edmund Rostand, April 10 – May 4. 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) Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo, March 7 – April 6. New Performance Traditions.  See website for upcoming schedule Oakland Theater Project.  I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright, March 21 – April 13, Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Palace of Fine Arts Theater.  See website for event listings. Pear Theater. Henry V by William Shakespeare, April 18 – May 11. See website for staged readings and other events. Playful People Productions. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, April 10-19. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Next to Normal. May 30 – June 21. Ross Valley Players: Pet Lingerie, a new musical, March 21- April 6. See website for New Works Sunday night readings and other events. San Francisco Playhouse. Fat Ham by James Ijames, March 20 – April 19. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: The Underpants by Steve Martin, April 3 -27. Shotgun Players.  Art by Yazmina Reza, through April 12. South Bay Musical Theatre: Titanic, a concert presentation, April 12-13. Brigadoon, May 17-June 7, 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  Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, April 26 – May 18. LaVal's Subterranean Theatre. Theatre Rhino  Gumiho by Nina Ki, April 17 – May 11.Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. The Heart-Sellers by Lloyd Suh, April 2-27. Word for Word.  See website for upcoming productions. Misc. Listings: BAM/PFA: On View calendar for Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. 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 April 3, 2025: Richard Chamberlain – Michael Socrates Moran appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Tom Robbins (1932-2025) Tom Robbins (1932-2025, author of the classic novels “Another Roadside Attraction” and “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in the KPFA studios on May 15, 2000 while on tour for the novel “Fierce Invalids, Home from Hot Climates.” Tom Robbins, who died on February 9, 2025 at the age of 92,  was the considered the leading chronicler of the sixties vibe. Over the course of his long life, he only wrote eight novels, one collection of short stories and a memoir over the course of his long life, but he is recognized as one of the most important voices of mid to late twentieth century America. Among his novels are Another Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which became a film by Gus Van Sant, Still Life with Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume. Tom Robbins would only write one more novel after Fierce Invalids, Titled Villa Incognito, it was published in 2003. A collection of his short writings, Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, was published in 2003, and a memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie: A true Account of an Imaginative Life, was published in 2014. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is the only one of his books to be adapted for film. Photo: Creative Commons,   Margot Livesey Margot Livesey, author of the novel, “The Road from Belhaven,” now just out in trade paperback, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Recorded at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. Margot Livesey is the author of ten novels, including “The Missing World,” “Mercury” and “The Boy in the Field,” which range from literary novels to psychological thrillers. Born and raised in Scotland. she currently teaches at the Iowa Writers Workshop. “The Road from Belhaven” is set in the late 1800s in rural Scotland and Glasgow, and concerns a young woman artist with second sight who finds herself in difficult circumstances. It's based on stories of Margot Livesey's great grandmother as told by her grandmother and relatives in Australia. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the folks at Book Passage Bookstore. Photo: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Review of “The Thing About Jellyfish” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through March 9, 2025.   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: 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. Dear San Francisco ongoing. 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: Fly by Night conceived by Kim Rosenstock Written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock, March 6 – 23. 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: Next to Normal. June 2025. 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. Happy Pleasant Valley, Book, Music, and Lyrics by Min Kahng, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto, March 5-30. 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 February 13, 2025: Tom Robbins – Margot Livesey appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   China Mieville China Mieville, author of the Hugo Award winning novel, “The City and the City,” and the classic “Perdido Street Station,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky in this archive interview recorded September 1, 2002. China Mieville is a British author of weird fantasy and science fiction, and a leftist political activist in Britain. Born in 1972, he began his literary career with an urban fantasy novel, King Rat, and followed it up with a novel considered now one of best fantasy works of the 20th Century, Perdido Street Station in 2000. This interview with China Mieville at the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose on September 1, 2002, shortly after the publication of his follow-up to Perdido Street Station, The Scar. Since then, China Mieville wrote a third novel set in that same Bas Lag universe as Perdido Street Station, Iron Council, published in 2004, and then moved on to other worlds with six stand alone novels, the most recent being a collaboration with Keanu Reaves titled The Book of Elsewhere, set in the BRZRKR comic book universe, published in 2024. A new novel is expected some time in 2025. his novel, The City and the City, which tied for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2010, was adapted for television by the BBC in 2018 and is now available streaming on Amazon Prime. Remastered and edited in January 2025 by Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview   Eddie Muller: “Native Son” and International Film Noir Eddie Muller, dubbed the “Czar of Noir” has written three books on film noir and hosts a weekly Noir film festival on Turner Classic Movies every weekend. He discusses 1951 film version of Richard Wright's classic novel, “Native Son,” fllmed in Argentina and recently restored, which is now available to stream on the Criterion app as well as the free library apps, Kanopy and Hoopla, and can be rented via Apple+. In this interview with host Richard Wolinsky, he discusses the film, as well as noir film and international noir, with sidetracks into the French New Wave and other topics. Complete Interview.   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: Next to Normal. June 2025. 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 February 6, 2025: China Mieville – Eddie Muller appeared first on KPFA.

Episode No. 691 features artists Kota Ezawa and Amy Pleasant.  The Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture is presenting "Kota Ezawa: Here and There - Now and Then," an investigation into the creation of memory in the Bay Area and nationally, through March 9. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, features Ezawa and Julian Brave NoiseCat's Alcatraz Is an Idea (2024), and Merzbau 1, 2, 3 (2021), and Ursonate (2022), which were among 11 Ezawas recently acquired by SFMOMA. "Ezawa" was curated by Frank Smigiel. Fort Mason will publish a catalogue on the closing weekend. SFMOMA is showing Ezawa's National Anthem (2018) in "Count Me In"  through April 27. Ezawa's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at many museums, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Buffalo AKG Art Museum; the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada; and the Saint Louis Art Museum. His work is in the collection most major US art museums, and in museums in seven other countries.  Pleasant is included in "Synchronicities: Intersecting Figuration with Abstraction" at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha. The exhibition examines some of the ways in which nine artists have recently navigated the space between abstraction and figuration. "Synchronicities" was curated by Rachel Adams, and is on view through May 4. Pleasant's work is also on view at The Carnegie, Covington, KY in "Southern Democratic" through February 15, and in "Vivid: A Fresh Take" at the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN through June 1.  Pleasant has been included in exhibitions at the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Montgomery (Ala.) Museum of Fine Arts, the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and more.  Instagram: Amy Pleasant, Tyler Green.

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.

This week we had a car! We head to the Legion of Honor, Fort Mason, and an unnamed gallery. Kate felt too bad about what a scathing review she gave, so she redacted the name of the last place. We also saw frolicing dogs and beautiful vistas.The music in this episode is from Mixtape for Palestine Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, it's Alex. Ok, so mind is officially blown. I was sure this week was going to be wild, but I didn't expect everyone else besides OpenAI to pile on, exactly on ThursdAI. Coming back from Dev Day (number 2) and am still processing, and wanted to actually do a recap by humans, not just the NotebookLM one I posted during the keynote itself (which was awesome and scary in a "will AI replace me as a podcaster" kind of way), and was incredible to have Simon Willison who was sitting just behind me most of Dev Day, join me for the recap! But then the news kept coming, OpenAI released Canvas, which is a whole new way of interacting with chatGPT, BFL released a new Flux version that's 8x faster, Rev released a Whisper killer ASR that does diarizaiton and Google released Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B, and said that with prompt caching (which OpenAI now also has, yay) this will cost a whopping 0.01 / Mtok. That's 1 cent per million tokens, for a multimodal model with 1 million context window.

We all have fond memories of the first Dev Day in 2023:and the blip that followed soon after. As Ben Thompson has noted, this year's DevDay took a quieter, more intimate tone. No Satya, no livestream, (slightly fewer people?). Instead of putting ChatGPT announcements in DevDay as in 2023, o1 was announced 2 weeks prior, and DevDay 2024 was reserved purely for developer-facing API announcements, primarily the Realtime API, Vision Finetuning, Prompt Caching, and Model Distillation.However the larger venue and more spread out schedule did allow a lot more hallway conversations with attendees as well as more community presentations including our recent guest Alistair Pullen of Cosine as well as deeper dives from OpenAI including our recent guest Michelle Pokrass of the API Team. Thanks to OpenAI's warm collaboration (we particularly want to thank Lindsay McCallum Rémy!), we managed to record exclusive interviews with many of the main presenters of both the keynotes and breakout sessions. We present them in full in today's episode, together with a full lightly edited Q&A with Sam Altman.Show notes and related resourcesSome of these used in the final audio episode below* Simon Willison Live Blog* swyx live tweets and videos* Greg Kamradt coverage of Structured Output session, Scaling LLM Apps session* Fireside Chat Q&A with Sam AltmanTimestamps* [00:00:00] Intro by Suno.ai* [00:01:23] NotebookLM Recap of DevDay* [00:09:25] Ilan's Strawberry Demo with Realtime Voice Function Calling* [00:19:16] Olivier Godement, Head of Product, OpenAI* [00:36:57] Romain Huet, Head of DX, OpenAI* [00:47:08] Michelle Pokrass, API Tech Lead at OpenAI ft. Simon Willison* [01:04:45] Alistair Pullen, CEO, Cosine (Genie)* [01:18:31] Sam Altman + Kevin Weill Q&A* [02:03:07] Notebook LM Recap of PodcastTranscript[00:00:00] Suno AI: Under dev daylights, code ignites. Real time voice streams reach new heights. O1 and GPT, 4. 0 in flight. Fine tune the future, data in sight. Schema sync up, outputs precise. Distill the models, efficiency splice.[00:00:33] AI Charlie: Happy October. This is your AI co host, Charlie. One of our longest standing traditions is covering major AI and ML conferences in podcast format. Delving, yes delving, into the vibes of what it is like to be there stitched in with short samples of conversations with key players, just to help you feel like you were there.[00:00:54] AI Charlie: Covering this year's Dev Day was significantly more challenging because we were all requested not to record the opening keynotes. So, in place of the opening keynotes, we had the viral notebook LM Deep Dive crew, my new AI podcast nemesis, Give you a seven minute recap of everything that was announced.[00:01:15] AI Charlie: Of course, you can also check the show notes for details. I'll then come back with an explainer of all the interviews we have for you today. Watch out and take care.[00:01:23] NotebookLM Recap of DevDay[00:01:23] NotebookLM: All right, so we've got a pretty hefty stack of articles and blog posts here all about open ais. Dev day 2024.[00:01:32] NotebookLM 2: Yeah, lots to dig into there.[00:01:34] NotebookLM 2: Seems[00:01:34] NotebookLM: like you're really interested in what's new with AI.[00:01:36] NotebookLM 2: Definitely. And it seems like OpenAI had a lot to announce. New tools, changes to the company. It's a lot.[00:01:43] NotebookLM: It is. And especially since you're interested in how AI can be used in the real world, you know, practical applications, we'll focus on that.[00:01:51] NotebookLM: Perfect. Like, for example, this Real time API, they announced that, right? That seems like a big deal if we want AI to sound, well, less like a robot.[00:01:59] NotebookLM 2: It could be huge. The real time API could completely change how we, like, interact with AI. Like, imagine if your voice assistant could actually handle it if you interrupted it.[00:02:08] NotebookLM: Or, like, have an actual conversation.[00:02:10] NotebookLM 2: Right, not just these clunky back and forth things we're used to.[00:02:14] NotebookLM: And they actually showed it off, didn't they? I read something about a travel app, one for languages. Even one where the AI ordered takeout.[00:02:21] NotebookLM 2: Those demos were really interesting, and I think they show how this real time API can be used in so many ways.[00:02:28] NotebookLM 2: And the tech behind it is fascinating, by the way. It uses persistent WebSocket connections and this thing called function calling, so it can respond in real time.[00:02:38] NotebookLM: So the function calling thing, that sounds kind of complicated. Can you, like, explain how that works?[00:02:42] NotebookLM 2: So imagine giving the AI Access to this whole toolbox, right?[00:02:46] NotebookLM 2: Information, capabilities, all sorts of things. Okay. So take the travel agent demo, for example. With function calling, the AI can pull up details, let's say about Fort Mason, right, from some database. Like nearby restaurants, stuff like that.[00:02:59] NotebookLM: Ah, I get it. So instead of being limited to what it already knows, It can go and find the information it needs, like a human travel agent would.[00:03:07] NotebookLM 2: Precisely. And someone on Hacker News pointed out a cool detail. The API actually gives you a text version of what's being said. So you can store that, analyze it.[00:03:17] NotebookLM: That's smart. It seems like OpenAI put a lot of thought into making this API easy for developers to use. But, while we're on OpenAI, you know, Besides their tech, there's been some news about, like, internal changes, too.[00:03:30] NotebookLM: Didn't they say they're moving away from being a non profit?[00:03:32] NotebookLM 2: They did. And it's got everyone talking. It's a major shift. And it's only natural for people to wonder how that'll change things for OpenAI in the future. I mean, there are definitely some valid questions about this move to for profit. Like, will they have more money for research now?[00:03:46] NotebookLM 2: Probably. But will they, you know, care as much about making sure AI benefits everyone?[00:03:51] NotebookLM: Yeah, that's the big question, especially with all the, like, the leadership changes happening at OpenAI too, right? I read that their Chief Research Officer left, and their VP of Research, and even their CTO.[00:04:03] NotebookLM 2: It's true. A lot of people are connecting those departures with the changes in OpenAI's structure.[00:04:08] NotebookLM: And I guess it makes you wonder what's going on behind the scenes. But they are still putting out new stuff. Like this whole fine tuning thing really caught my eye.[00:04:17] NotebookLM 2: Right, fine tuning. It's essentially taking a pre trained AI model. And, like, customizing it.[00:04:23] NotebookLM: So instead of a general AI, you get one that's tailored for a specific job.[00:04:27] NotebookLM 2: Exactly. And that opens up so many possibilities, especially for businesses. Imagine you could train an AI on your company's data, you know, like how you communicate your brand guidelines.[00:04:37] NotebookLM: So it's like having an AI that's specifically trained for your company?[00:04:41] NotebookLM 2: That's the idea.[00:04:41] NotebookLM: And they're doing it with images now, too, right?[00:04:44] NotebookLM: Fine tuning with vision is what they called it.[00:04:46] NotebookLM 2: It's pretty incredible what they're doing with that, especially in fields like medicine.[00:04:50] NotebookLM: Like using AI to help doctors make diagnoses.[00:04:52] NotebookLM 2: Exactly. And AI could be trained on thousands of medical images, right? And then it could potentially spot things that even a trained doctor might miss.[00:05:03] NotebookLM: That's kind of scary, to be honest. What if it gets it wrong?[00:05:06] NotebookLM 2: Well, the idea isn't to replace doctors, but to give them another tool, you know, help them make better decisions.[00:05:12] NotebookLM: Okay, that makes sense. But training these AI models must be really expensive.[00:05:17] NotebookLM 2: It can be. All those tokens add up. But OpenAI announced something called automatic prompt caching.[00:05:23] Alex Volkov: Automatic what now? I don't think I came across that.[00:05:26] NotebookLM 2: So basically, if your AI sees a prompt that it's already seen before, OpenAI will give you a discount.[00:05:31] NotebookLM: Huh. Like a frequent buyer program for AI.[00:05:35] NotebookLM 2: Kind of, yeah. It's good that they're trying to make it more affordable. And they're also doing something called model distillation.[00:05:41] NotebookLM: Okay, now you're just using big words to sound smart. What's that?[00:05:45] NotebookLM 2: Think of it like like a recipe, right? You can take a really complex recipe and break it down to the essential parts.[00:05:50] NotebookLM: Make it simpler, but it still tastes the same.[00:05:53] NotebookLM 2: Yeah. And that's what model distillation is. You take a big, powerful AI model and create a smaller, more efficient version.[00:06:00] NotebookLM: So it's like lighter weight, but still just as capable.[00:06:03] NotebookLM 2: Exactly. And that means more people can actually use these powerful tools. They don't need, like, a supercomputer to run them.[00:06:10] NotebookLM: So they're making AI more accessible. That's great.[00:06:13] NotebookLM 2: It is. And speaking of powerful tools, they also talked about their new O1 model.[00:06:18] NotebookLM 2: That's the one they've been hyping up. The one that's supposed to be this big leap forward.[00:06:22] NotebookLM: Yeah, O1. It sounds pretty futuristic. Like, from what I read, it's not just a bigger, better language model.[00:06:28] NotebookLM 2: Right. It's a different porch.[00:06:29] NotebookLM: They're saying it can, like, actually reason, right? Think.[00:06:33] NotebookLM 2: It's trained differently.[00:06:34] NotebookLM 2: They used reinforcement learning with O1.[00:06:36] NotebookLM: So it's not just finding patterns in the data it's seen before.[00:06:40] NotebookLM 2: Not just that. It can actually learn from its mistakes. Get better at solving problems.[00:06:46] NotebookLM: So give me an example. What can O1 do that, say, GPT 4 can't?[00:06:51] NotebookLM 2: Well, OpenAI showed it doing some pretty impressive stuff with math, like advanced math.[00:06:56] NotebookLM 2: And coding, too. Complex coding. Things that even GPT 4 struggled with.[00:07:00] NotebookLM: So you're saying if I needed to, like, write a screenplay, I'd stick with GPT 4? But if I wanted to solve some crazy physics problem, O1 is what I'd use.[00:07:08] NotebookLM 2: Something like that, yeah. Although there is a trade off. O1 takes a lot more power to run, and it takes longer to get those impressive results.[00:07:17] NotebookLM: Hmm, makes sense. More power, more time, higher quality.[00:07:21] NotebookLM 2: Exactly.[00:07:22] NotebookLM: It sounds like it's still in development, though, right? Is there anything else they're planning to add to it?[00:07:26] NotebookLM 2: Oh, yeah. They mentioned system prompts, which will let developers, like, set some ground rules for how it behaves. And they're working on adding structured outputs and function calling.[00:07:38] Alex Volkov: Wait, structured outputs? Didn't we just talk about that? We[00:07:41] NotebookLM 2: did. That's the thing where the AI's output is formatted in a way that's easy to use.[00:07:47] NotebookLM: Right, right. So you don't have to spend all day trying to make sense of what it gives you. It's good that they're thinking about that stuff.[00:07:53] NotebookLM 2: It's about making these tools usable.[00:07:56] NotebookLM 2: And speaking of that, Dev Day finished up with this really interesting talk. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, And Kevin Weil, their new chief product officer. They talked about, like, the big picture for AI.[00:08:09] NotebookLM: Yeah, they did, didn't they? Anything interesting come up?[00:08:12] NotebookLM 2: Well, Altman talked about moving past this whole AGI term, Artificial General Intelligence.[00:08:18] NotebookLM: I can see why. It's kind of a loaded term, isn't it?[00:08:20] NotebookLM 2: He thinks it's become a bit of a buzzword, and people don't really understand what it means.[00:08:24] NotebookLM: So are they saying they're not trying to build AGI anymore?[00:08:28] NotebookLM 2: It's more like they're saying they're focused on just Making AI better, constantly improving it, not worrying about putting it in a box.[00:08:36] NotebookLM: That makes sense. Keep pushing the limits.[00:08:38] NotebookLM 2: Exactly. But they were also very clear about doing it responsibly. They talked a lot about safety and ethics.[00:08:43] NotebookLM: Yeah, that's important.[00:08:44] NotebookLM 2: They said they were going to be very careful. About how they release new features.[00:08:48] NotebookLM: Good! Because this stuff is powerful.[00:08:51] NotebookLM 2: It is. It was a lot to take in, this whole Dev Day event.[00:08:54] NotebookLM 2: New tools, big changes at OpenAI, and these big questions about the future of AI.[00:08:59] NotebookLM: It was. But hopefully this deep dive helped make sense of some of it. At least, that's what we try to do here.[00:09:05] AI Charlie: Absolutely.[00:09:06] NotebookLM: Thanks for taking the deep dive with us.[00:09:08] AI Charlie: The biggest demo of the new Realtime API involved function calling with voice mode and buying chocolate covered strawberries from our friendly local OpenAI developer experience engineer and strawberry shop owner, Ilan Biggio.[00:09:21] AI Charlie: We'll first play you the audio of his demo and then go into a little interview with him.[00:09:25] Ilan's Strawberry Demo with Realtime Voice Function Calling[00:09:25] Romain Huet: Could you place a call and see if you could get us 400 strawberries delivered to the venue? But please keep that under 1500. I'm on it. We'll get those strawberries delivered for you.[00:09:47] Ilan: Hello? Hi there. Is this Ilan? I'm Romain's AI assistant. How is it going? Fantastic. Can you tell me what flavors of strawberry dips you have for me? Yeah, we have chocolate, vanilla, and we have peanut butter. Wait, how much would 400 chocolate covered strawberries cost? 400? Are you sure you want 400? Yes, 400 chocolate covered[00:10:14] swyx: strawberries.[00:10:15] Ilan: Wait,[00:10:16] swyx: how much[00:10:16] Ilan: would that be? I think that'll be around, like, 1, 415. 92.[00:10:25] Alex Volkov: Awesome. Let's go ahead and place the order for four chocolate covered strawberries.[00:10:31] Ilan: Great, where would you like that delivered? Please deliver them to the Gateway Pavilion at Fort Mason. And I'll be paying in cash.[00:10:42] Alex Volkov: Okay,[00:10:43] Ilan: sweet. So just to confirm, you want four strawberries?[00:10:45] Ilan: 400 chocolate covered strawberries to the Gateway Pavilion. Yes, that's perfect. And when can we expect delivery? Well, you guys are right nearby, so it'll be like, I don't know, 37 seconds? That's incredibly fast. Cool, you too.[00:11:09] swyx: Hi, Ilan, welcome to Lanespace. Oh, thank you. I just saw your amazing demos, had your amazing strawberries. You are dressed up, like, exactly like a strawberry salesman. Gotta have it all. What was the building on demo like? What was the story behind the demo?[00:11:22] swyx: It was really interesting. This is actually something I had been thinking about for months before the launch.[00:11:27] swyx: Like, having a, like, AI that can make phone calls is something like I've personally wanted for a long time. And so as soon as we launched internally, like, I started hacking on it. And then that sort of just started. We made it into like an internal demo, and then people found it really interesting, and then we thought how cool would it be to have this like on stage as, as one of the demos.[00:11:47] swyx: Yeah, would would you call out any technical issues building, like you were basically one of the first people ever to build with a voice mode API. Would you call out any issues like integrating it with Twilio like that, like you did with function calling, with like a form filling elements. I noticed that you had like intents of things to fulfill, and then.[00:12:07] swyx: When there's still missing info, the voice would prompt you, roleplaying the store guy.[00:12:13] swyx: Yeah, yeah, so, I think technically, there's like the whole, just working with audio and streams is a whole different beast. Like, even separate from like AI and this, this like, new capabilities, it's just, it's just tough.[00:12:26] swyx: Yeah, when you have a prompt, conversationally it'll just follow, like the, it was, Instead of like, kind of step by step to like ask the right questions based on like the like what the request was, right? The function calling itself is sort of tangential to that. Like, you have to prompt it to call the functions, but then handling it isn't too much different from, like, what you would do with assistant streaming or, like, chat completion streaming.[00:12:47] swyx: I think, like, the API feels very similar just to, like, if everything in the API was streaming, it actually feels quite familiar to that.[00:12:53] swyx: And then, function calling wise, I mean, does it work the same? I don't know. Like, I saw a lot of logs. You guys showed, like, in the playground, a lot of logs. What is in there?[00:13:03] swyx: What should people know?[00:13:04] swyx: Yeah, I mean, it is, like, the events may have different names than the streaming events that we have in chat completions, but they represent very similar things. It's things like, you know, function call started, argument started, it's like, here's like argument deltas, and then like function call done.[00:13:20] swyx: Conveniently we send one that has the full function, and then I just use that. Nice.[00:13:25] swyx: Yeah and then, like, what restrictions do, should people be aware of? Like, you know, I think, I think, before we recorded, we discussed a little bit about the sensitivities around basically calling random store owners and putting, putting like an AI on them.[00:13:40] swyx: Yeah, so there's, I think there's recent regulation on that, which is why we want to be like very, I guess, aware of, of You know, you can't just call anybody with AI, right? That's like just robocalling. You wouldn't want someone just calling you with AI.[00:13:54] swyx: I'm a developer, I'm about to do this on random people.[00:13:57] swyx: What laws am I about to break?[00:14:00] swyx: I forget what the governing body is, but you should, I think, Having consent of the person you're about to call, it always works. I, as the strawberry owner, have consented to like getting called with AI. I think past that you, you want to be careful. Definitely individuals are more sensitive than businesses.[00:14:19] swyx: I think businesses you have a little bit more leeway. Also, they're like, businesses I think have an incentive to want to receive AI phone calls. Especially if like, they're dealing with it. It's doing business. Right, like, it's more business. It's kind of like getting on a booking platform, right, you're exposed to more.[00:14:33] swyx: But, I think it's still very much like a gray area. Again, so. I think everybody should, you know, tread carefully, like, figure out what it is. I, I, I, the law is so recent, I didn't have enough time to, like, I'm also not a lawyer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah.[00:14:49] swyx: Okay, cool fair enough. One other thing, this is kind of agentic.[00:14:52] swyx: Did you use a state machine at all? Did you use any framework? No. You just stick it in context and then just run it in a loop until it ends call?[00:15:01] swyx: Yeah, there isn't even a loop, like Okay. Because the API is just based on sessions. It's always just going to keep going. Every time you speak, it'll trigger a call.[00:15:11] swyx: And then after every function call was also invoked invoking like a generation. And so that is another difference here. It's like it's inherently almost like in a loop, be just by being in a session, right? No state machines needed. I'd say this is very similar to like, the notion of routines, where it's just like a list of steps.[00:15:29] swyx: And it, like, sticks to them softly, but usually pretty well. And the steps is the prompts? The steps, it's like the prompt, like the steps are in the prompt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, it's like step one, do this, step one, step two, do that. What if I want to change the system prompt halfway through the conversation?[00:15:44] swyx: You can. Okay. You can. To be honest, I have not played without two too much. Yeah,[00:15:47] swyx: yeah.[00:15:48] swyx: But, I know you can.[00:15:49] swyx: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I noticed that you called it real time API, but not voice API. Mm hmm. So I assume that it's like real time API starting with voice. Right, I think that's what he said on the thing.[00:16:00] swyx: I can't imagine, like, what else is real[00:16:02] swyx: time? Well, I guess, to use ChatGPT's voice mode as an example, Like, we've demoed the video, right? Like, real time image, right? So, I'm not actually sure what timelines are, But I would expect, if I had to guess, That, like, that is probably the next thing that we're gonna be making.[00:16:17] swyx: You'd probably have to talk directly with the team building this. Sure. But, You can't promise their timelines. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, exactly. But, like, given that this is the features that currently, Or that exists that we've demoed on Chachapiti. Yeah. There[00:16:29] swyx: will never be a[00:16:29] swyx: case where there's like a real time text API, right?[00:16:31] swyx: I don't Well, this is a real time text API. You can do text only on this. Oh. Yeah. I don't know why you would. But it's actually So text to text here doesn't quite make a lot of sense. I don't think you'll get a lot of latency gain. But, like, speech to text is really interesting. Because you can prevent You can prevent responses, like audio responses.[00:16:54] swyx: And force function calls. And so you can do stuff like UI control. That is like super super reliable. We had a lot of like, you know, un, like, we weren't sure how well this was gonna work because it's like, you have a voice answering. It's like a whole persona, right? Like, that's a little bit more, you know, risky.[00:17:10] swyx: But if you, like, cut out the audio outputs and make it so it always has to output a function, like you can end up with pretty pretty good, like, Pretty reliable, like, command like a command architecture. Yeah,[00:17:21] swyx: actually, that's the way I want to interact with a lot of these things as well. Like, one sided voice.[00:17:26] swyx: Yeah, you don't necessarily want to hear the[00:17:27] swyx: voice back. And like, sometimes it's like, yeah, I think having an output voice is great. But I feel like I don't always want to hear an output voice. I'd say usually I don't. But yeah, exactly, being able to speak to it is super sweet.[00:17:39] swyx: Cool. Do you want to comment on any of the other stuff that you announced?[00:17:41] swyx: From caching I noticed was like, I like the no code change part. I'm looking forward to the docs because I'm sure there's a lot of details on like, what you cache, how long you cache. Cause like, enthalpy caches were like 5 minutes. I was like, okay, but what if I don't make a call every 5 minutes?[00:17:56] swyx: Yeah,[00:17:56] swyx: to be super honest with you, I've been so caught up with the real time API and making the demo that I haven't read up on the other stuff. Launches too much. I mean, I'm aware of them, but I think I'm excited to see how all distillation works. That's something that we've been doing like, I don't know, I've been like doing it between our models for a while And I've seen really good results like I've done back in a day like from GPT 4 to GPT 3.[00:18:19] swyx: 5 And got like, like pretty much the same level of like function calling with like hundreds of functions So that was super super compelling So, I feel like easier distillation, I'm really excited for. I see. Is it a tool?[00:18:31] swyx: So, I saw evals. Yeah. Like, what is the distillation product? It wasn't super clear, to be honest.[00:18:36] swyx: I, I think I want to, I want to let that team, I want to let that team talk about it. Okay,[00:18:40] swyx: alright. Well, I appreciate you jumping on. Yeah, of course. Amazing demo. It was beautifully designed. I'm sure that was part of you and Roman, and[00:18:47] swyx: Yeah, I guess, shout out to like, the first people to like, creators of Wanderlust, originally, were like, Simon and Carolis, and then like, I took it and built the voice component and the voice calling components.[00:18:59] swyx: Yeah, so it's been a big team effort. And like the entire PI team for like Debugging everything as it's been going on. It's been, it's been so good working with them. Yeah, you're the first consumers on the DX[00:19:07] swyx: team. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the classic role of what we do there. Yeah. Okay, yeah, anything else? Any other call to action?[00:19:13] swyx: No, enjoy Dev Day. Thank you. Yeah. That's it.[00:19:16] Olivier Godement, Head of Product, OpenAI[00:19:16] AI Charlie: The latent space crew then talked to Olivier Godmont, head of product for the OpenAI platform, who led the entire Dev Day keynote and introduced all the major new features and updates that we talked about today.[00:19:28] swyx: Okay, so we are here with Olivier Godmont. That's right.[00:19:32] swyx: I don't pronounce French. That's fine. It was perfect. And it was amazing to see your keynote today. What was the back story of, of preparing something like this? Preparing, like, Dev Day? It[00:19:43] Olivier Godement: essentially came from a couple of places. Number one, excellent reception from last year's Dev Day.[00:19:48] Olivier Godement: Developers, startup founders, researchers want to spend more time with OpenAI, and we want to spend more time with them as well. And so for us, like, it was a no brainer, frankly, to do it again, like, you know, like a nice conference. The second thing is going global. We've done a few events like in Paris and like a few other like, you know, non European, non American countries.[00:20:05] Olivier Godement: And so this year we're doing SF, Singapore, and London. To frankly just meet more developers.[00:20:10] swyx: Yeah, I'm very excited for the Singapore one.[00:20:12] Olivier Godement: Ah,[00:20:12] swyx: yeah. Will you be[00:20:13] Olivier Godement: there?[00:20:14] swyx: I don't know. I don't know if I got an invite. No. I can't just talk to you. Yeah, like, and then there was some speculation around October 1st.[00:20:22] Olivier Godement: Yeah. Is it because[00:20:23] swyx: 01, October 1st? It[00:20:25] Olivier Godement: has nothing to do. I discovered the tweet yesterday where like, people are so creative. No one, there was no connection to October 1st. But in hindsight, that would have been a pretty good meme by Tiana. Okay.[00:20:37] swyx: Yeah, and you know, I think like, OpenAI's outreach to developers is something that I felt the whole in 2022, when like, you know, like, people were trying to build a chat GPT, and like, there was no function calling, all that stuff that you talked about in the past.[00:20:51] swyx: And that's why I started my own conference as like like, here's our little developer conference thing. And, but to see this OpenAI Dev Day now, and like to see so many developer oriented products coming to OpenAI, I think it's really encouraging.[00:21:02] Olivier Godement: Yeah, totally. It's that's what I said, essentially, like, developers are basically the people who make the best connection between the technology and, you know, the future, essentially.[00:21:14] Olivier Godement: Like, you know, essentially see a capability, see a low level, like, technology, and are like, hey, I see how that application or that use case that can be enabled. And so, in the direction of enabling, like, AGI, like, all of humanity, it's a no brainer for us, like, frankly, to partner with Devs.[00:21:31] Alessio: And most importantly, you almost never had waitlists, which, compared to like other releases, people usually, usually have.[00:21:38] Alessio: What is the, you know, you had from caching, you had real time voice API, we, you know, Shawn did a long Twitter thread, so people know the releases. Yeah. What is the thing that was like sneakily the hardest to actually get ready for, for that day, or like, what was the kind of like, you know, last 24 hours, anything that you didn't know was gonna work?[00:21:56] Olivier Godement: Yeah. The old Fairly, like, I would say, involved, like, features to ship. So the team has been working for a month, all of them. The one which I would say is the newest for OpenAI is the real time API. For a couple of reasons. I mean, one, you know, it's a new modality. Second, like, it's the first time that we have an actual, like, WebSocket based API.[00:22:16] Olivier Godement: And so, I would say that's the one that required, like, the most work over the month. To get right from a developer perspective and to also make sure that our existing safety mitigation that worked well with like real time audio in and audio out.[00:22:30] swyx: Yeah, what design choices or what was like the sort of design choices that you want to highlight?[00:22:35] swyx: Like, you know, like I think for me, like, WebSockets, you just receive a bunch of events. It's two way. I obviously don't have a ton of experience. I think a lot of developers are going to have to embrace this real time programming. Like, what are you designing for, or like, what advice would you have for developers exploring this?[00:22:51] Olivier Godement: The core design hypothesis was essentially, how do we enable, like, human level latency? We did a bunch of tests, like, on average, like, human beings, like, you know, takes, like, something like 300 milliseconds to converse with each other. And so that was the design principle, essentially. Like, working backward from that, and, you know, making the technology work.[00:23:11] Olivier Godement: And so we evaluated a few options, and WebSockets was the one that we landed on. So that was, like, one design choice. A few other, like, big design choices that we had to make prompt caching. Prompt caching, the design, like, target was automated from the get go. Like, zero code change from the developer.[00:23:27] Olivier Godement: That way you don't have to learn, like, what is a prompt prefix, and, you know, how long does a cache work, like, we just do it as much as we can, essentially. So that was a big design choice as well. And then finally, on distillation, like, and evaluation. The big design choice was something I learned at Skype, like in my previous job, like a philosophy around, like, a pit of success.[00:23:47] Olivier Godement: Like, what is essentially the, the, the minimum number of steps for the majority of developers to do the right thing? Because when you do evals on fat tuning, there are many, many ways, like, to mess it up, frankly, like, you know, and have, like, a crappy model, like, evals that tell, like, a wrong story. And so our whole design was, okay, we actually care about, like, helping people who don't have, like, that much experience, like, evaluating a model, like, get, like, in a few minutes, like, to a good spot.[00:24:11] Olivier Godement: And so how do we essentially enable that bit of success, like, in the product flow?[00:24:15] swyx: Yeah, yeah, I'm a little bit scared to fine tune especially for vision, because I don't know what I don't know for stuff like vision, right? Like, for text, I can evaluate pretty easily. For vision let's say I'm like trying to, one of your examples was grab.[00:24:33] swyx: Which, very close to home, I'm from Singapore. I think your example was like, they identified stop signs better. Why is that hard? Why do I have to fine tune that? If I fine tune that, do I lose other things? You know, like, there's a lot of unknowns with Vision that I think developers have to figure out.[00:24:50] swyx: For[00:24:50] Olivier Godement: sure. Vision is going to open up, like, a new, I would say, evaluation space. Because you're right, like, it's harder, like, you know, to tell correct from incorrect, essentially, with images. What I can say is we've been alpha testing, like, the Vision fine tuning, like, for several weeks at that point. We are seeing, like, even higher performance uplift compared to text fine tuning.[00:25:10] Olivier Godement: So that's, there is something here, like, we've been pretty impressed, like, in a good way, frankly. But, you know, how well it works. But for sure, like, you know, I expect the developers who are moving from one modality to, like, text and images will have, like, more, you know Testing, evaluation, like, you know, to set in place, like, to make sure it works well.[00:25:25] Alessio: The model distillation and evals is definitely, like, the most interesting. Moving away from just being a model provider to being a platform provider. How should people think about being the source of truth? Like, do you want OpenAI to be, like, the system of record of all the prompting? Because people sometimes store it in, like, different data sources.[00:25:41] Alessio: And then, is that going to be the same as the models evolve? So you don't have to worry about, you know, refactoring the data, like, things like that, or like future model structures.[00:25:51] Olivier Godement: The vision is if you want to be a source of truth, you have to earn it, right? Like, we're not going to force people, like, to pass us data.[00:25:57] Olivier Godement: There is no value prop, like, you know, for us to store the data. The vision here is at the moment, like, most developers, like, use like a one size fits all model, like be off the shelf, like GP40 essentially. The vision we have is fast forward a couple of years. I think, like, most developers will essentially, like, have a.[00:26:15] Olivier Godement: An automated, continuous, fine tuned model. The more, like, you use the model, the more data you pass to the model provider, like, the model is automatically, like, fine tuned, evaluated against some eval sets, and essentially, like, you don't have to every month, when there is a new snapshot, like, you know, to go online and, you know, try a few new things.[00:26:34] Olivier Godement: That's a direction. We are pretty far away from it. But I think, like, that evaluation and decision product are essentially a first good step in that direction. It's like, hey, it's you. I set it by that direction, and you give us the evaluation data. We can actually log your completion data and start to do some automation on your behalf.[00:26:52] Alessio: And then you can do evals for free if you share data with OpenAI. How should people think about when it's worth it, when it's not? Sometimes people get overly protective of their data when it's actually not that useful. But how should developers think about when it's right to do it, when not, or[00:27:07] Olivier Godement: if you have any thoughts on it?[00:27:08] Olivier Godement: The default policy is still the same, like, you know, we don't train on, like, any API data unless you opt in. What we've seen from feedback is evaluation can be expensive. Like, if you run, like, O1 evals on, like, thousands of samples Like, your build will get increased, like, you know, pretty pretty significantly.[00:27:22] Olivier Godement: That's problem statement number one. Problem statement number two is, essentially, I want to get to a world where whenever OpenAI ships a new model snapshot, we have full confidence that there is no regression for the task that developers care about. And for that to be the case, essentially, we need to get evals.[00:27:39] Olivier Godement: And so that, essentially, is a sort of a two bugs one stone. It's like, we subsidize, basically, the evals. And we also use the evals when we ship new models to make sure that we keep going in the right direction. So, in my sense, it's a win win, but again, completely opt in. I expect that many developers will not want to share their data, and that's perfectly fine to me.[00:27:56] swyx: Yeah, I think free evals though, very, very good incentive. I mean, it's a fair trade. You get data, we get free evals. Exactly,[00:28:04] Olivier Godement: and we sanitize PII, everything. We have no interest in the actual sensitive data. We just want to have good evaluation on the real use cases.[00:28:13] swyx: Like, I always want to eval the eval. I don't know if that ever came up.[00:28:17] swyx: Like, sometimes the evals themselves are wrong, and there's no way for me to tell you.[00:28:22] Olivier Godement: Everyone who is starting with LLM, teaching with LLM, is like, Yeah, evaluation, easy, you know, I've done testing, like, all my life. And then you start to actually be able to eval, understand, like, all the corner cases, And you realize, wow, there's like a whole field in itself.[00:28:35] Olivier Godement: So, yeah, good evaluation is hard and so, yeah. Yeah, yeah.[00:28:38] swyx: But I think there's a, you know, I just talked to Brain Trust which I think is one of your partners. Mm-Hmm. . They also emphasize code based evals versus your sort of low code. What I see is like, I don't know, maybe there's some more that you didn't demo.[00:28:53] swyx: YC is kind of like a low code experience, right, for evals. Would you ever support like a more code based, like, would I run code on OpenAI's eval platform?[00:29:02] Olivier Godement: For sure. I mean, we meet developers where they are, you know. At the moment, the demand was more for like, you know, easy to get started, like eval. But, you know, if we need to expose like an evaluation API, for instance, for people like, you know, to pass, like, you know, their existing test data we'll do it.[00:29:15] Olivier Godement: So yeah, there is no, you know, philosophical, I would say, like, you know, misalignment on that. Yeah,[00:29:19] swyx: yeah, yeah. What I think this is becoming, by the way, and I don't, like it's basically, like, you're becoming AWS. Like, the AI cloud. And I don't know if, like, that's a conscious strategy, or it's, like, It doesn't even have to be a conscious strategy.[00:29:33] swyx: Like, you're going to offer storage. You're going to offer compute. You're going to offer networking. I don't know what networking looks like. Networking is maybe, like, Caching or like it's a CDN. It's a prompt CDN.[00:29:45] Alex Volkov: Yeah,[00:29:45] swyx: but it's the AI versions of everything, right? Do you like do you see the analogies or?[00:29:52] Olivier Godement: Whatever Whatever I took to developers. I feel like Good models are just half of the story to build a good app There's a third model you need to do Evaluation is the perfect example. Like, you know, you can have the best model in the world If you're in the dark, like, you know, it's really hard to gain the confidence and so Our philosophy is[00:30:11] Olivier Godement: The whole like software development stack is being basically reinvented, you know, with LLMs. There is no freaking way that open AI can build everything. Like there is just too much to build, frankly. And so my philosophy is, essentially, we'll focus on like the tools which are like the closest to the model itself.[00:30:28] Olivier Godement: So that's why you see us like, you know, investing quite a bit in like fine tuning, distillation, our evaluation, because we think that it actually makes sense to have like in one spot, Like, you know, all of that. Like, there is some sort of virtual circle, essentially, that you can set in place. But stuff like, you know, LLMOps, like tools which are, like, further away from the model, I don't know if you want to do, like, you know, super elaborate, like, prompt management, or, you know, like, tooling, like, I'm not sure, like, you know, OpenAI has, like, such a big edge, frankly, like, you know, to build this sort of tools.[00:30:56] Olivier Godement: So that's how we view it at the moment. But again, frankly, the philosophy is super simple. The strategy is super simple. It's meeting developers where they want us to be. And so, you know that's frankly, like, you know, day in, day out, like, you know, what I try to do.[00:31:08] Alessio: Cool. Thank you so much for the time.[00:31:10] Alessio: I'm sure you,[00:31:10] swyx: Yeah, I have more questions on, a couple questions on voice, and then also, like, your call to action, like, what you want feedback on, right? So, I think we should spend a bit more time on voice, because I feel like that's, like, the big splash thing. I talked well Well, I mean, I mean, just what is the future of real time for OpenAI?[00:31:28] swyx: Yeah. Because I think obviously video is next. You already have it in the, the ChatGPT desktop app. Do we just have a permanent, like, you know, like, are developers just going to be, like, sending sockets back and forth with OpenAI? Like how do we program for that? Like, what what is the future?[00:31:44] Olivier Godement: Yeah, that makes sense. I think with multimodality, like, real time is quickly becoming, like, you know, essentially the right experience, like, to build an application. Yeah. So my expectation is that we'll see like a non trivial, like a volume of applications like moving to a real time API. Like if you zoom out, like, audio is really simple, like, audio until basically now.[00:32:05] Olivier Godement: Audio on the web, in apps, was basically very much like a second class citizen. Like, you basically did like an audio chatbot for users who did not have a choice. You know, they were like struggling to read, or I don't know, they were like not super educated with technology. And so, frankly, it was like the crappy option, you know, compared to text.[00:32:25] Olivier Godement: But when you talk to people in the real world, the vast majority of people, like, prefer to talk and listen instead of typing and writing.[00:32:34] swyx: We speak before we write.[00:32:35] Olivier Godement: Exactly. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure it's the case for you in Singapore. For me, my friends in Europe, the number of, like, WhatsApp, like, voice notes they receive every day, I mean, just people, it makes sense, frankly, like, you know.[00:32:45] Olivier Godement: Chinese. Chinese, yeah.[00:32:46] swyx: Yeah,[00:32:47] Olivier Godement: all voice. You know, it's easier. There is more emotions. I mean, you know, you get the point across, like, pretty well. And so my personal ambition for, like, the real time API and, like, audio in general is to make, like, audio and, like, multimodality, like, truly a first class experience.[00:33:01] Olivier Godement: Like, you know, if you're, like, you know, the amazing, like, super bold, like, start up out of YC, you want to build, like, the next, like, billion, like, you know, user application to make it, like, truly your first and make it feel, like, you know, an actual good, like, you know, product experience. So that's essentially the ambition, and I think, like, yeah, it could be pretty big.[00:33:17] swyx: Yeah. I think one, one people, one issue that people have with the voice so far as, as released in advanced voice mode is the refusals.[00:33:24] Alex Volkov: Yeah.[00:33:24] swyx: You guys had a very inspiring model spec. I think Joanne worked on that. Where you said, like, yeah, we don't want to overly refuse all the time. In fact, like, even if, like, not safe for work, like, in some occasions, it's okay.[00:33:38] swyx: How, is there an API that we can say, not safe for work, okay?[00:33:41] Olivier Godement: I think we'll get there. I think we'll get there. The mobile spec, like, nailed it, like, you know. It nailed it! It's so good! Yeah, we are not in the business of, like, policing, you know, if you can say, like, vulgar words or whatever. You know, there are some use cases, like, you know, I'm writing, like, a Hollywood, like, script I want to say, like, will go on, and it's perfectly fine, you know?[00:33:59] Olivier Godement: And so I think the direction where we'll go here is that basically There will always be like, you know, a set of behavior that we will, you know, just like forbid, frankly, because they're illegal against our terms of services. But then there will be like, you know, some more like risky, like themes, which are completely legal, like, you know, vulgar words or, you know, not safe for work stuff.[00:34:17] Olivier Godement: Where basically we'll expose like a controllable, like safety, like knobs in the API to basically allow you to say, hey, that theme okay, that theme not okay. How sensitive do you want the threshold to be on safety refusals? I think that's the Dijkstra. So a[00:34:31] swyx: safety API.[00:34:32] Olivier Godement: Yeah, in a way, yeah.[00:34:33] swyx: Yeah, we've never had that.[00:34:34] Olivier Godement: Yeah. '[00:34:35] swyx: cause right now is you, it is whatever you decide. And then it's, that's it. That, that, that would be the main reason I don't use opening a voice is because of[00:34:42] Olivier Godement: it's over police. Over refuse over refusals. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, we gotta fix that. Yeah. Like singing,[00:34:47] Alessio: we're trying to do voice. I'm a singer.[00:34:49] swyx: And you, you locked off singing.[00:34:51] swyx: Yeah,[00:34:51] Alessio: yeah, yeah.[00:34:52] swyx: But I, I understand music gets you in trouble. Okay. Yeah. So then, and then just generally, like, what do you want to hear from developers? Right? We have, we have all developers watching you know, what feedback do you want? Any, anything specific as well, like from, especially from today anything that you are unsure about, that you are like, Our feedback could really help you decide.[00:35:09] swyx: For sure.[00:35:10] Olivier Godement: I think, essentially, it's becoming pretty clear after today that, you know, I would say the open end direction has become pretty clear, like, you know, after today. Investment in reasoning, investment in multimodality, Investment as well, like in, I would say, tool use, like function calling. To me, the biggest question I have is, you know, Where should we put the cursor next?[00:35:30] Olivier Godement: I think we need all three of them, frankly, like, you know, so we'll keep pushing.[00:35:33] swyx: Hire 10, 000 people, or actually, no need, build a bunch of bots.[00:35:37] Olivier Godement: Exactly, and so let's take O1 smart enough, like, for your problems? Like, you know, let's set aside for a second the existing models, like, for the apps that you would love to build, is O1 basically it in reasoning, or do we still have, like, you know, a step to do?[00:35:50] Olivier Godement: Preview is not enough, I[00:35:52] swyx: need the full one.[00:35:53] Olivier Godement: Yeah, so that's exactly that sort of feedback. Essentially what they would love to do is for developers I mean, there's a thing that Sam has been saying like over and over again, like, you know, it's easier said than done, but I think it's directionally correct. As a developer, as a founder, you basically want to build an app which is a bit too difficult for the model today, right?[00:36:12] Olivier Godement: Like, what you think is right, it's like, sort of working, sometimes not working. And that way, you know, that basically gives us like a goalpost, and be like, okay, that's what you need to enable with the next model release, like in a few months. And so I would say that Usually, like, that's the sort of feedback which is like the most useful that I can, like, directly, like, you know, incorporate.[00:36:33] swyx: Awesome. I think that's our time. Thank you so much, guys. Yeah, thank you so much.[00:36:38] AI Charlie: Thank you. We were particularly impressed that Olivier addressed the not safe for work moderation policy question head on, as that had only previously been picked up on in Reddit forums. This is an encouraging sign that we will return to in the closing candor with Sam Altman at the end of this episode.[00:36:57] Romain Huet, Head of DX, OpenAI[00:36:57] AI Charlie: Next, a chat with Roman Hewitt, friend of the pod, AI Engineer World's fair closing keynote speaker, and head of developer experience at OpenAI on his incredible live demos And advice to AI engineers on all the new modalities.[00:37:12] Alessio: Alright, we're live from OpenAI Dev Day. We're with Juan, who just did two great demos on, on stage.[00:37:17] Alessio: And he's been a friend of Latentspace, so thanks for taking some of the time.[00:37:20] Romain Huet: Of course, yeah, thank you for being here and spending the time with us today.[00:37:23] swyx: Yeah, I appreciate appreciate you guys putting this on. I, I know it's like extra work, but it really shows the developers that you're, Care and about reaching out.[00:37:31] Romain Huet: Yeah, of course, I think when you go back to the OpenAI mission, I think for us it's super important that we have the developers involved in everything we do. Making sure that you know, they have all of the tools they need to build successful apps. And we really believe that the developers are always going to invent the ideas, the prototypes, the fun factors of AI that we can't build ourselves.[00:37:49] Romain Huet: So it's really cool to have everyone here.[00:37:51] swyx: We had Michelle from you guys on. Yes, great episode. She very seriously said API is the path to AGI. Correct. And people in our YouTube comments were like, API is not AGI. I'm like, no, she's very serious. API is the path to AGI. Like, you're not going to build everything like the developers are, right?[00:38:08] swyx: Of[00:38:08] Romain Huet: course, yeah, that's the whole value of having a platform and an ecosystem of amazing builders who can, like, in turn, create all of these apps. I'm sure we talked about this before, but there's now more than 3 million developers building on OpenAI, so it's pretty exciting to see all of that energy into creating new things.[00:38:26] Alessio: I was going to say, you built two apps on stage today, an international space station tracker and then a drone. The hardest thing must have been opening Xcode and setting that up. Now, like, the models are so good that they can do everything else. Yes. You had two modes of interaction. You had kind of like a GPT app to get the plan with one, and then you had a cursor to do apply some of the changes.[00:38:47] Alessio: Correct. How should people think about the best way to consume the coding models, especially both for You know, brand new projects and then existing projects that you're trying to modify.[00:38:56] Romain Huet: Yeah. I mean, one of the things that's really cool about O1 Preview and O1 Mini being available in the API is that you can use it in your favorite tools like cursor like I did, right?[00:39:06] Romain Huet: And that's also what like Devin from Cognition can use in their own software engineering agents. In the case of Xcode, like, it's not quite deeply integrated in Xcode, so that's why I had like chat GPT side by side. But it's cool, right, because I could instruct O1 Preview to be, like, my coding partner and brainstorming partner for this app, but also consolidate all of the, the files and architect the app the way I wanted.[00:39:28] Romain Huet: So, all I had to do was just, like, port the code over to Xcode and zero shot the app build. I don't think I conveyed, by the way, how big a deal that is, but, like, you can now create an iPhone app from scratch, describing a lot of intricate details that you want, and your vision comes to life in, like, a minute.[00:39:47] Romain Huet: It's pretty outstanding.[00:39:48] swyx: I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical because if I open up SQL, I don't know anything about iOS programming. You know which file to paste it in. You probably set it up a little bit. So I'm like, I have to go home and test it. And I need the ChatGPT desktop app so that it can tell me where to click.[00:40:04] Romain Huet: Yeah, I mean like, Xcode and iOS development has become easier over the years since they introduced Swift and SwiftUI. I think back in the days of Objective C, or like, you know, the storyboard, it was a bit harder to get in for someone new. But now with Swift and SwiftUI, their dev tools are really exceptional.[00:40:23] Romain Huet: But now when you combine that with O1, as your brainstorming and coding partner, it's like your architect, effectively. That's the best way, I think, to describe O1. People ask me, like, can GPT 4 do some of that? And it certainly can. But I think it will just start spitting out code, right? And I think what's great about O1, is that it can, like, make up a plan.[00:40:42] Romain Huet: In this case, for instance, the iOS app had to fetch data from an API, it had to look at the docs, it had to look at, like, how do I parse this JSON, where do I store this thing, and kind of wire things up together. So that's where it really shines. Is mini or preview the better model that people should be using?[00:40:58] Romain Huet: Like, how? I think people should try both. We're obviously very excited about the upcoming O1 that we shared the evals for. But we noticed that O1 Mini is very, very good at everything math, coding, everything STEM. If you need for your kind of brainstorming or your kind of science part, you need some broader knowledge than reaching for O1 previews better.[00:41:20] Romain Huet: But yeah, I used O1 Mini for my second demo. And it worked perfectly. All I needed was very much like something rooted in code, architecting and wiring up like a front end, a backend, some UDP packets, some web sockets, something very specific. And it did that perfectly.[00:41:35] swyx: And then maybe just talking about voice and Wanderlust, the app that keeps on giving, what's the backstory behind like preparing for all of that?[00:41:44] Romain Huet: You know, it's funny because when last year for Dev Day, we were trying to think about what could be a great demo app to show like an assistive experience. I've always thought travel is a kind of a great use case because you have, like, pictures, you have locations, you have the need for translations, potentially.[00:42:01] Romain Huet: There's like so many use cases that are bounded to travel that I thought last year, let's use a travel app. And that's how Wanderlust came to be. But of course, a year ago, all we had was a text based assistant. And now we thought, well, if there's a voice modality, what if we just bring this app back as a wink.[00:42:19] Romain Huet: And what if we were interacting better with voice? And so with this new demo, what I showed was the ability to like, So, we wanted to have a complete conversation in real time with the app, but also the thing we wanted to highlight was the ability to call tools and functions, right? So, like in this case, we placed a phone call using the Twilio API, interfacing with our AI agents, but developers are so smart that they'll come up with so many great ideas that we could not think of ourselves, right?[00:42:48] Romain Huet: But what if you could have like a, you know, a 911 dispatcher? What if you could have like a customer service? Like center, that is much smarter than what we've been used to today. There's gonna be so many use cases for real time, it's awesome.[00:43:00] swyx: Yeah, and sometimes actually you, you, like this should kill phone trees.[00:43:04] swyx: Like there should not be like dial one[00:43:07] Romain Huet: of course para[00:43:08] swyx: espanol, you know? Yeah, exactly. Or whatever. I dunno.[00:43:12] Romain Huet: I mean, even you starting speaking Spanish would just do the thing, you know you don't even have to ask. So yeah, I'm excited for this future where we don't have to interact with those legacy systems.[00:43:22] swyx: Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything, so you are doing function calling in a streaming environment. So basically it's, it's web sockets. It's UDP, I think. It's basically not guaranteed to be exactly once delivery. Like, is there any coding challenges that you encountered when building this?[00:43:39] Romain Huet: Yeah, it's a bit more delicate to get into it.[00:43:41] Romain Huet: We also think that for now, what we, what we shipped is a, is a beta of this API. I think there's much more to build onto it. It does have the function calling and the tools. But we think that for instance, if you want to have something very robust, On your client side, maybe you want to have web RTC as a client, right?[00:43:58] Romain Huet: And, and as opposed to like directly working with the sockets at scale. So that's why we have partners like Life Kit and Agora if you want to, if you want to use them. And I'm sure we'll have many mores in the, in many more in the future. But yeah, we keep on iterating on that, and I'm sure the feedback of developers in the weeks to come is going to be super critical for us to get it right.[00:44:16] swyx: Yeah, I think LiveKit has been fairly public that they are used in, in the Chachapiti app. Like, is it, it's just all open source, and we just use it directly with OpenAI, or do we use LiveKit Cloud or something?[00:44:28] Romain Huet: So right now we, we released the API, we released some sample code also, and referenced clients for people to get started with our API.[00:44:35] Romain Huet: And we also partnered with LifeKit and Agora, so they also have their own, like ways to help you get started that plugs natively with the real time API. So depending on the use case, people can, can can decide what to use. If you're working on something that's completely client or if you're working on something on the server side, for the voice interaction, you may have different needs, so we want to support all of those.[00:44:55] Alessio: I know you gotta run. Is there anything that you want the AI engineering community to give feedback on specifically, like even down to like, you know, a specific API end point or like, what, what's like the thing that you want? Yeah. I[00:45:08] Romain Huet: mean, you know, if we take a step back, I think dev Day this year is all different from last year and, and in, in a few different ways.[00:45:15] Romain Huet: But one way is that we wanted to keep it intimate, even more intimate than last year. We wanted to make sure that the community is. Thank you very much for joining us on the Spotlight. That's why we have community talks and everything. And the takeaway here is like learning from the very best developers and AI engineers.[00:45:31] Romain Huet: And so, you know we want to learn from them. Most of what we shipped this morning, including things like prompt caching the ability to generate prompts quickly in the playground, or even things like vision fine tuning. These are all things that developers have been asking of us. And so, the takeaway I would, I would leave them with is to say like, Hey, the roadmap that we're working on is heavily influenced by them and their work.[00:45:53] Romain Huet: And so we love feedback From high feature requests, as you say, down to, like, very intricate details of an API endpoint, we love feedback, so yes that's, that's how we, that's how we build this API.[00:46:05] swyx: Yeah, I think the, the model distillation thing as well, it might be, like, the, the most boring, but, like, actually used a lot.[00:46:12] Romain Huet: True, yeah. And I think maybe the most unexpected, right, because I think if I, if I read Twitter correctly the past few days, a lot of people were expecting us. To shape the real time API for speech to speech. I don't think developers were expecting us to have more tools for distillation, and we really think that's gonna be a big deal, right?[00:46:30] Romain Huet: If you're building apps that have you know, you, you want high, like like low latency, low cost, but high performance, high quality on the use case distillation is gonna be amazing.[00:46:40] swyx: Yeah. I sat in the distillation session just now and they showed how they distilled from four oh to four mini and it was like only like a 2% hit in the performance and 50 next.[00:46:49] swyx: Yeah,[00:46:50] Romain Huet: I was there as well for the superhuman kind of use case inspired for an Ebola client. Yeah, this was really good. Cool man! so much for having me. Thanks again for being here today. It's always[00:47:00] AI Charlie: great to have you. As you might have picked up at the end of that chat, there were many sessions throughout the day focused on specific new capabilities.[00:47:08] Michelle Pokrass, Head of API at OpenAI ft. Simon Willison[00:47:08] AI Charlie: Like the new model distillation features combining EVOLs and fine tuning. For our next session, we are delighted to bring back two former guests of the pod, which is something listeners have been greatly enjoying in our second year of doing the Latent Space podcast. Michelle Pokras of the API team joined us recently to talk about structured outputs, and today gave an updated long form session at Dev Day, describing the implementation details of the new structured output mode.[00:47:39] AI Charlie: We also got her updated thoughts on the VoiceMode API we discussed in her episode, now that it is finally announced. She is joined by friend of the pod and super blogger, Simon Willison, who also came back as guest co host in our Dev Day. 2023 episode.[00:47:56] Alessio: Great, we're back live at Dev Day returning guest Michelle and then returning guest co host Fork.[00:48:03] Alessio: Fork, yeah, I don't know. I've lost count. I think it's been a few. Simon Willison is back. Yeah, we just wrapped, we just wrapped everything up. Congrats on, on getting everything everything live. Simon did a great, like, blog, so if you haven't caught up, I[00:48:17] Simon Willison: wrote my, I implemented it. Now, I'm starting my live blog while waiting for the first talk to start, using like GPT 4, I wrote me the Javascript, and I got that live just in time and then, yeah, I was live blogging the whole day.[00:48:28] swyx: Are you a cursor enjoyer?[00:48:29] Simon Willison: I haven't really gotten into cursor yet to be honest. I just haven't spent enough time for it to click, I think. I'm more a copy and paste things out of Cloud and chat GPT. Yeah. It's interesting.[00:48:39] swyx: Yeah. I've converted to cursor and 01 is so easy to just toggle on and off.[00:48:45] Alessio: What's your workflow?[00:48:46] Alessio: VS[00:48:48] Michelle Pokrass: Code co pilot, so Yep, same here. Team co pilot. Co pilot is actually the reason I joined OpenAI. It was, you know, before ChatGPT, this is the thing that really got me. So I'm still into it, but I keep meaning to try out Cursor, and I think now that things have calmed down, I'm gonna give it a real go.[00:49:03] swyx: Yeah, it's a big thing to change your tool of choice.[00:49:06] swyx: Yes,[00:49:06] Michelle Pokrass: yeah, I'm pretty dialed, so.[00:49:09] swyx: I mean, you know, if you want, you can just fork VS Code and make your own. That's the thing to dumb thing, right? We joked about doing a hackathon where the only thing you do is fork VS Code and bet me the best fork win.[00:49:20] Michelle Pokrass: Nice.[00:49:22] swyx: That's actually a really good idea. Yeah, what's up?[00:49:26] swyx: I mean, congrats on launching everything today. I know, like, we touched on it a little bit, but, like, everyone was kind of guessing that Voice API was coming, and, like, we talked about it in our episode. How do you feel going into the launch? Like, any design decisions that you want to highlight?[00:49:41] Michelle Pokrass: Yeah, super jazzed about it. The team has been working on it for a while. It's, like, a very different API for us. It's the first WebSocket API, so a lot of different design decisions to be made. It's, like, what kind of events do you send? When do you send an event? What are the event names? What do you send, like, on connection versus on future messages?[00:49:57] Michelle Pokrass: So there have been a lot of interesting decisions there. The team has also hacked together really cool projects as we've been testing it. One that I really liked is we had an internal hack a thon for the API team. And some folks built like a little hack that you could use to, like VIM with voice mode, so like, control vim, and you would tell them on like, nice, write a file and it would, you know, know all the vim commands and, and pipe those in.[00:50:18] Michelle Pokrass: So yeah, a lot of cool stuff we've been hacking on and really excited to see what people build with it.[00:50:23] Simon Willison: I've gotta call out a demo from today. I think it was Katja had a 3D visualization of the solar system, like WebGL solar system, you could talk to. That is one of the coolest conference demos I've ever seen.[00:50:33] Simon Willison: That was so convincing. I really want the code. I really want the code for that to get put out there. I'll talk[00:50:39] Michelle Pokrass: to the team. I think we can[00:50:40] Simon Willison: probably

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Francine Prose, “1974: A Personal History” Francine Prose, author of “1974, A Personal History” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. The author of twenty novels and ten books of non fiction, Francine Prose is best known for such novels as “Lovers at the Chameleon Club, 1932,” “The Vixen,” “Household Saints” and “Mister Monkey,” and non-fiction such as “Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, The Afterlife,” Francine Prose has also written two short story collections , and a picture book. Two of her novels have become films, and one, “The Glorious Ones,” became a Broadway musical. In this book, she recalls her time hanging out with Anthony Russo, who along with Daniel Ellsberg, was responsible for The Pentagon Papers, in San Francisco in 1974 and then a few months later, in New York, capturing the vibe of what it was like to live in that time and place, and differences between then and now. Complete Interview.   Josh Costello, Artistic Director, Aurora Theatre Company Josh Costello, the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre in Berkeley since 2019, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Second of two parts. Before taking on the role of Artistic Director at Aurora, Josh Costello was the founding Artistic Director of Impact Theatre and Artistic Director of Explanded Programs at Marin Theatre Company. He directed several plays at Aurora prior to becoming Artistic Director, and was Director of “Eureka Day,” which is opening on Broadway in a few months. Recorded August 22. 2024 in the KPFA studios. Complete Interview.   Review of “Private Lives” by Noel Coward, directed by KJ Sanchez, at ACT Tony Rembe (Geary) Theater through October 6, 2024.   Review of “Mexodus” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through October 20, 2024.     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 readings. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. A Whynot Christmas Carol, November 26-December 24, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peets Theatre. The Matchbox Magic Flute, October 18 – December 9, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. Nightmare House on Franklin Street, October 18 – November 1. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: New Roots Theatre Festival, November 14-17. See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Wicked, August 28 – October 13, Orpheum. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Peter Pan, October 29 – November 3, Golden Gate. Kimberley Akimbo, November 6 – December 1, Golden Gate. See website for special events. Broadway San Jose:  Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse in Concert, October 9-10. 2024. Clue, October 29 – November 3, 2024. California Shakespeare Theatre Upcoming season to be announced. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29.  Dragon Lady, written and performed by Sara Porkalob, October 27 – November 24. Central Works  The Contest by Gary Graves, Oct. 19 – Nov. 17. Cinnabar Theatre. Gutenberg! The Musical January 17-26, 2025, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre See website for upcoming shows. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for information and notice of a final production. 42nd Street Moon. See website for upcoming productions. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Wait Until Dark, October 17 – November 3. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Tigerbear Productions presents Ghost Rave. October 17-27.. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 27 (extended). The Gulf, An Elegy by Audrey Cefaly, October 18 – November 24. My Brother's Gift, based on the writings of Eva Geiringer Schloss and the poetry and paintings of Heinz Geiringer, every Sunday in October at 1 pm. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. Once On This Island, September 13 – October 13, 2024. Playful People Productions. Everybody's Talking about Jamie,  October 26-November 3, Hoover Theatre. San Jose. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: The Rocky Horror Show, October 10-31, Oasis Nightclub. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The Play That Goes Wrong, September 21 – November 9. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Choir Boy by Tarrell Alvin McCraney. September 24 – October 26 (extended). South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Cabaret, November 21 – December 15. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 October 3, 2024: Francine Prose, Reflections on 1974 and the Pentagon Papers appeared first on KPFA.

Welcome to the Hidden History of Texas. This is Episode 46 – Frontier Forts 1850 - 1856Frontier Forts 1850 - 1856 -  I'm your host and guide Hank Wilson. And as always, brought to you by Ashby Navis and Tennyson Media Publishers, producers of  a comprehensive catalog of  audiobooks and high-quality games, productivity, and mental health apps. Visit AshbyNavis.com for more information. Following the death of Maj. Gen. George Mercer Brooke in 1851, his successor, Brevet Maj. Gen. Persifor F. Smith, added Forts Ewell and Merrill in South Texas. Pushing the military line further west, Smith authorized construction of Forts Clark, Terrett, Mason July 6, 1851, McKavett March 1852, Chadbourne, Phantom Hill November 14, 1851, and Belknap June 24, 1851. To help plug gaps in the northwest, Camp Cooper was erected in 1856. A double line of forts now protected Texas' southern and western frontiers. Let's take a look at four of these forts, and I'm going to start with Fort Belknap. Fort McKavett - Quarters Fort Belknap was established at the site of what is now Newcastle in Young County Texas. Newcastle is located in what is known as North Central Texas and is very near the headwaters of the Brazos River. In June of 1851, Brigadier General William Belknap established the fort in the area because there was adequate water. The fort was what is known as a four-company post, there were members of the 2nd  unit of the U.S. Dragoons, the 7th U.S. Infantry, the 2nd U.S. Calvary, and the 6th U.S. Calvary. Fort Belknap was the northern anchor of the central Texas chain of forts which had been established to protect the Texas frontier from the Red River to the Rio Grande. It had no defensive walls or works and the troops that inhabited it were used to pursue raiding bands from the various tribes that inhabited the area. At times, troops from the fort trailed into Kansas to do battle with their enemies. One of the results of the fort's presence, was the creation  of a centralized hub of roads that made travel throughout the region easier, including the Butterfield Overland Mail route from St. Louis to San Francisco. At the start of the civil war, troops were moved and union troops finally returned in April of 1867. It was finally abandoned for good in September of 1867. In the 1970s the citizens restored and rebuilt some of the buildings and today it is open to visitors.  One other frontier fort that was opened in 1851and did not receive the same care and consideration from latter generations, was Fort Mason. Fort Mason was established in July of 1851 in Mason Texas. Mason is one of the most picturesque towns in perhaps the most picturesque regions of the  State. It's about 60 miles from where I currently live and while the town itself is well worth a visit, the remains of the fort, not so much. There's only one  building left and it's very disappointing if you're interested in Texas history. Fort Martin Scott in Fredericksburg or Fort Croghan in Burnet are both much more informative and easier to visit. Anyway, Fort Mason was established in 1851 atop a hill that offered the soldiers an expansive view of the land around. Maj. Hamilton W. Merrill and companies A and B of the Second Dragoons were the first solders to occupy the fort. There is no clear record of who the  post was named after, and it appears that it most likely was named either for Lt. George T. Mason, who was killed at Brownsville during the Mexican War, or for Gen. Richard Barnes Mason, who died only a year before the fort was established. The fort was occupied on and off until 1861 at which time it was taken over by secessionist forces of Texas. A couple of notable officers who served at Fort Mason when it was in Union hands was Robert E. Lee and John Bell Hood. After the civil war the union took  control of the fort and was finally abandoned in 1869.  One fort that was never officially a fort is known locally as  Phantom Hill which was established on November 14,

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Mick Herron, “Slow Horses” and “The Secret Hours”. Mick Herron discusses his latest novel, “The Secret Hours,” now out in trade paperback, and the Slough House series of of spy novels and stories with host Richard Wolinsky. Mick Herron has written eight books in the Slough House series of novels about a tiny corner of MI5 for rejects and misfits, people who have screwed up but not been fired. They are known collectively as “Slow Horses,” which is the title of the television series starring Gary Oldman as their boss, Jackson Lamb. A new season of “Slow Horses” began this week on Apple+. “The Secret Hours” is located in the same world as the series, but serves as a stand-alone novel about an inquiry into MI5's past, set up by a conservative government out to rein in the Secret Service. In the interview, Mick Herron discusses the origins of the book and of the Slough House series, as well as his career as a writer, and his writing process. Recorded via Zencastr September 22, 2023 Complete Interview.   Naomi Iizuka, Playwright and Television Writer Naomi Iizuka, playwright and screenwriter, “translator” of Shakespeare's Richard II, at the Magic Theatre through September 15, 2024, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, While known for plays such as Good Kids and Polaroid Stories, she has also worked in the writers' rooms of several television shows, including Bosch: Legacy, The Terror, and The Sympathizer. In this Part Two of a two part interview, she talks about her work in television, as well as her work as drama professor at UC San Diego. Complete Intervew.     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. The Imaginary Invalid. Free Moliere in the Park,  August 24 – Sept. 8. John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre. 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 readings. Actors Reading Writers. Four Legs Good: Stories about bipedal and quadripedal creatures. September 9, 7 pm. Berkeley City Club. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Eureka Day staged reading to celebrate Broadway debut, September 23, 2024. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: New Roots Theatre Festival, November 14-17. See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Wicked, August 28 -October 13, Orpheum. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse in Concert, October 9-10. 2024. Clue, October 29 – November 3, 2024. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  The Contest by Gary Graves, Oct. 19 – Nov. 17. Cinnabar Theatre. Oklahoma! Sept 13 – 29, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for information and notice of a final production. 42nd Street Moon. See website for upcoming productions. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Wait Until Dark, October 17 – November 3. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Richard II by William Shakespeare, translated by Naomi Iizuka. August 21 – September 15, extended. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. My Brother's Gift, based on the writings of Eva Geiringer Schloss and the poetry and paintings of Heinz Geiringer, every Sunday in October at 1 pm. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. Once On This Island, September 13 – October 13, 2024. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. The Play That Goes Wrong, September 21 – November 9. SFBATCO.  Ten Year Turn-Up, September 20, Verdi Club, SF. See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Choir Boy by Tarrell Alvin McCraney. September 24 – October 20. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Fallin written and directed by John Fisher, August 29 – September 15. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 September 5, 2024: Mick Herron, Master of Spy Thrillers appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bay Area Theatre Interviews Josh Costello, the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre in Berkeley since 2019, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Before taking on the role of Artistic Director at Aurora, Josh Costello was the founding Artistic Director of Impact Theatre and Artistic Director of Explanded Programs at Marin Theatre Company. He directed several plays at Aurora prior to becoming Artistic Director, and was Director of “Eureka Day,” which is opening on Broadway in a few months. In this interview, he discusses the impact of the pandemic on Aurora's finances (and the finances of all local theatres), along with a look at the upcoming season and other topics. Recorded August 22. 2024 in the KPFA studios. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Naomi Iizuka, playwright and screenwriter, “translator” of Shakespeare's Richard II, at the Magic Theatre through September 8, 2024, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, Noted playwright Naomi Iizuka discusses her translation and adaptation of Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, a play written in verse, into a theatrical piece in which the language is comprehensible to a modern audience while maintaining the essence of the story, the characterization, and the poetry. While known for plays such as Good Kids and Polaroid Stories, she has also worked in the writers' rooms of several television shows, including Bosch: Legacy, The Terror, and The Sympathizer. She teaches drama and playwrighting at UC San Diego. Naomi Iizuka 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. The Imaginary Invalid. Free Moliere in the Park,  August 24 – Sept. 8. John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre. 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 readings. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Eureka Day staged reading to celebrate Broadway debut, September 23, 2024. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: New Roots Theatre Festival, November 14-17. See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Wicked, August 28 -October 13, Orpheum. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Disney's Frozen, August 21 – September 1. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  The Contest by Gary Graves, Oct. 19 – Nov. 17. Cinnabar Theatre. Oklahoma! Sept 13 – 29, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for information and notice of a final production. 42nd Street Moon. See website for upcoming productions. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Wait Until Dark, October 17 – November 3. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Richard II by William Shakespeare, translated by Naomi Iizuka. August 21 – September 8. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. My Brother's Gift, based on the writings of Eva Geiringer Schloss and the poetry and paintings of Heinz Geiringer, every Sunday in October at 1 pm. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. Once On This Island, September 13 – October 13, 2024. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. SFBATCO.  Ten Year Turn-Up, September 20, Verdi Club, SF. See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Choir Boy by Tarrell Alvin McCraney. September 24 – October 20. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Fallin written and directed by John Fisher, August 29 – September 15. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 August 29, 2024: Bay Area Theatre: Josh Costello – Naomi Iizuka appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Erik Larson, “The Demon of Unrest,” 2024 ​​Erik Larson, author of “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Book Passage Bookstre on May 31, 2024. Erik Larson is the author of several bestsellers of non-fiction narrative, including The Devil in the White City, The Splendid and the Vile, and In The Garden of Beasts. His latest book concerns the days and months preceding the start of the Civil War, focusing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, along with what life was like in the antebellum South at the time, the march to war, the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the various triggers that led to the Civil War. In this interview he discusses how he came to write the book, some of the more interesting facts about the time of the Civil War, and how he became an author of these best-sellling narratives. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.     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. The Imaginary Invalid. Free Moliere in the Park,  August 24 – Sept. 8. John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre. See website for specific days and times, and for staged readings at LaVal's Subterranean Theater. Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  Outside the Box, July 1 – August 26. summer reading series. See website for dates. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Eureka Day staged reading to celebrate Broadway debut, September 23, 2024. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: New Roots Theatre Festival, November 14-17. See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Wicked, August 28 -October 13, Orpheum. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Disney's Frozen, August 21 – September 1. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  The Contest by Gary Graves, Oct. 19 – Nov. 17. Cinnabar Theatre. Oklahoma! Sept 13 – 29, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for information and notice of a final production. 42nd Street Moon. Laurie Roldan benefit for 42nd Street Moon, August 25, 3 pm. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Wait Until Dark, October 17 – November 3. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Richard II by William Shakespeare, August 21 – September 8. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. The Black Experience Festival, August 9 – 25. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. SFBATCO.  Ten Year Turn-Up, September 20, Verdi Club, SF. See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Collective Rage by Jen Silverman. July 20 – August 24. Extended. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Fallin written and directed by John Fisher, August 29 – September 15. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. New Works Festival, August 9-18, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 August 22, 2024: Erik Larson: The Start of the Civil War appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Edna O'Brien (1930-2024) ​​​​​The great Irish novelist and playwright Edna O'Brien died at the age of 93 on July 27, 2024 after a long illness. A controversial figure from the start, her first novel from 1960, The Country Girls, which dealt with sexual and social issues in Ireland following World War II, was banned in Ireland and denounced on the pulpit, and while she moved to London with her husband before publication, she never moved back to her native land. This interview was conducted in the KPFA studios on April 28, 2000 while she was on tour for her novel, “Wild Decembers,” third in a thematic trilogy of novels set in the recent past in Ireland. It was later adapted for television in 2008.. Of Edna O'Brien, from Wikipedia, the novelist Andrew O'Hagan wrote, “She changed the nature of Irish fiction, she brought the woman's experience and sex and internal lives of those people on to the page, and she did it with style, and she made those concerns international.” In her lifetime, Edna O'Brien wrote seventeen novels, several plays, eight short story collections, eight works of non-fiction, four children's books and a collection of poems. Edna O'Brien continued to write novels and plays well into her nineties. Her final novel, Girl, was published in 2019. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in August 2024 and is heard for the first time in its entirety. A second interview, recorded in 2003 while in San Francisco working on her play “Triptych” at the Magic Theatre will be posted on a later date.     John Sayles discusses his latest novel, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade's Journey,” along with his work as a writer and film-maker, with host Richard Wolinsky. Second of two parts. John Sayles is best known for his work as a director, screenwriter and actor, though this is his sixth novel. Among the films he directed are Lone Star, Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, The Brother from Another Planet, Baby It's You and Passion Fish. His acting credits include small roles in several films, and he wrote the screenplay for the films he directed. Complete Interview.     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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  Outside the Box, July 1 – August 26. summer reading series. See website for dates. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Eureka Day staged reading to celebrate Broadway debut, September 23, 2024. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: New Roots Theatre Festival, November 14-17. See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Girl from the North Country, July 30-Aug 18, Golden Gate. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Disney's Frozen, August 21 – September 1. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 18. Extended. Cinnabar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. 42nd Street Moon. Bright Star postponed. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Always…Patsy Cline, August 22 – September 15. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Richard II by William Shakespeare, August 21 – September 8. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. The Black Experience Festival, August 9 – 25. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. SFBATCO.  Ten Year Turn-Up, September 20, Verdi Club, SF. See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Collective Rage by Jen Silverman. July 20 – August 24. Extended. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. New Works Festival, August 9-18, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 August 15, 2024: Edna O'Brien, Rebel Daughter of Ireland appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues John Sayles discusses his latest novel, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade's Journey,” along with his work as a writer and film-maker, with host Richard Wolinsky. John Sayles is best known for his work as a director, screenwriter and actor, though this is his sixth novel. Among the films he directed are Lone Star, Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, The Brother from Another Planet, Baby It's You and Passion Fish. His acting credits include small roles in several films, and he wrote the screenplay for the films he directed. His novel “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade's Journey” follows the characters of Jamie, a Scotsman captured by the English after the Battle of Culloden, and Jenny, another captured refugee from Scotland, as they make their way to the New World, Jamie winding up in a Native American village and Jenny moving from the Caribbean to Quebec, both of them involved in the French and Indian Wars.  Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Recorded March 1, 2023 at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the staff at the bookstore. Complete 45-minute Interview. Nora Ephron (1941-2012) in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 21, 2010 in the KPFA studios, while on tour for her book, “I Remember Nothing.” Known as one of the finest screenplay writers Hollywood ever saw, she is best known for such films as Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, and Sleepless in Seattle. Her final film was Julie & Julia. A playwright and essayist, her influence is still felt in the entertainment business. Complete Interview.     Review of “Girl from the North Country” at BroadwaySF Golden Gate Theatre through August 18, 2024.   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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  Calendar of upcoming readings. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Carrie, The Musical, The Reuff at The Strand, August 1-11. Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Girl from the North Country, July 30-Aug 18, Golden Gate. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Disney's Frozen, August 21 – September 1. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 18. Extended. Cinnabar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. 42nd Street Moon. Bright Star postponed. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Always…Patsy Cline, August 22 – September 15. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Magic Gala, August 8, 2024.  Richard II by William Shakespeare, August 21 – September 8. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. The Black Experience Festival, August 9 – 25. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko (It's Britney, Bitch, July 24). San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Collective Rage by Jen Silverman. July 20 – August 24. Extended. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. New Works Festival, August 9-18, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 August 8, 2024: John Sayles – Nora Ephron appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   John Barth (1930-2024), who died on April 2, 2024 at the age of 93, was America's leading writer of metafictional and post-modern fiction. This interview was conducted by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff on November 12, 2001 in the KPFA studios, while on the book tour for the novel Coming Soon. John Barth began to receive notice for his two earliest novels, The Floating Opera and End of the Road in the late 1950s, but burst on the scene with his epic comic novel about colonial life in Maryland, The Sot-Weed Factor, and his allegory of the Cold War, set on a university campus, Giles Goat-Boy. His short story collection, Lost in the Funhouse and novella collection Chimera cemented his reputation as a writer of meta-fiction, as the stories zoom back on themselves and on the writing of those stories. From Wikipedia: “In his epistolary novel LETTERS (1979), Barth corresponds with characters from his other books. Later novels such as The Tidewater Tales (1987) and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991) continue in the metafictional vein, using writers as protagonists who interact with their own and other stories in elaborate ways. His 1994 Once Upon a Time: A Floating Opera casts Barth himself as the protagonist who on a sailing trip encounters characters and situations from previous works.” After the 2001 interview, he continued to work in the same vein with a triptych of novellas, Where Three Roads Meet in 2005, interrelated short stories set in a retirement community, The Development: Nine Stories in 2008, and Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons in 2011. A, book of collected stories was released in 2015 and Postscripts (or Just Desserts): Some Final Scribbling came out in 2022. This interview was both the last interview conducted with Richard Lupoff as co-host, and the final interview recorded and edited on analog tape. This program was digitized and edited in July 2024 by Richard Wolinsky, and is heard in full for the first time.   Lorrie Moore is a celebrated short story writer and novelist. In this excerpt from an interview recorded April 8, 2014 while on tour for her collection, Bark, she discusses her writing and research process. Complete 40-minute Interview.   Review of “Collective Rage: A Play in 4 Betties” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through August 18, 2024.   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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  Calendar of upcoming readings. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Carrie, The Musical, The Reuff at The Strand, August 1-11. Noel Coward's Private Lives, September 12 – October 6, Toni Rembe Theatre. Aurora Theatre  Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, October 19 – November 17. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2024. See website for information. Berkeley Rep. Mexodus, September 13 – October 20, Peet's Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Boxcar Theatre. New Years Eve at the Speakeasy, Jan. 1, 2025. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Girl from the North Country, July 30-Aug 18, Golden Gate. See website for events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Disney's Frozen, August 21 – September 1. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring September 8 -29. Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 18. Extended. Cinnabar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Check website for Music Mondays listings. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for special events.. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. 42nd Street Moon. Bright Star postponed. Golden Thread  11 Reflections: San Francisco, October 4-5, Brava Theatre Center. See website for other events. Hillbarn Theatre: Always…Patsy Cline, August 22 – September 15. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body by Lisa B. Thompson, directed by Margo Hall. September 19 – October 6, 2024.  Fort Mason. Lower Bottom Playaz  See website for upcoming productions. Magic Theatre. Magic Gala, August 8, 2024.  Richard II by William Shakespeare, August 21 – September 8. See website for other events. Marin Theatre Company Yaga by by Kat Sandler, October 10 – November 3, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell, September 20 – October 20. Oakland Theater Project.  Angels in America, Parts I & II, September 27 – October 26, Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. The Black Experience Festival, August 9 – 25. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Legally Blonde, September 7-29, 2024, Victoria Theatre. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko (It's Britney, Bitch, July 24). San Francisco Playhouse. Evita, June 27-September 7. 2024. SFBATCO.  See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: See website for upcoming schedule. Shotgun Players.  Collective Rage by Jen Silverman. July 20 – August 18. South Bay Musical Theatre: No, No Nanette,  Sept 28 – Oct. 19. 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  Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. New Works Festival, August 9-18, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto. King James by Rajiv Joseph, October 9 – November 3,  2024. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 August 1, 2024: John Barth (1930-2024), Master of Metafiction appeared first on KPFA.

David Chiu talks about the upcoming Supreme Court decision on Grants Pass, and how it will impact Bay Area homeless, Oakland A's face new dramas while winning, Artist Yunfei Ren at the Guardhouse in Fort Mason

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Joan Baez, legendary singer, songwriter and activist, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded while on remote tour for her book of poetry, “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance.” Recorded April 26, 2024 via zencastr. Joan Baez is an internationally renowned singer, songwriter and activist who burst on the folk music scene as a teenager in the late 1950s. She has two autobiographies, Daybreak, along with And A Voice to Sing With. There are over thirty albums, including her now classic “Diamonds and Rust” from 1975, she has appeared in numerous documentaries about music and activism, won the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys, and is the subject of a recent documentary, Joan Baez, I Am A Noise, which is on Hulu and can be rented on several apps. Photos courtesy Joan Baez. Complete Interview.   Ty Burr, former film critic for the Boston Globe, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky discussing his book Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame, recorded in the KPFA studio, November 2012. Ty Burr was film critic for the Boston Globe from 2002 to 2021, and he writes a popular culture newsletter,  Ty Burr's Watchlist. formerly on Substack. In the interview he discusses the origins of Hollywood stardom, the nature of “branding,” and ideas about fame and why people want to be famous.   Review of A Strange Loop at ACT Toni Rembe Theatre through May 12, 2024. Review of Blue Door at Aurora Theatre Company through May 19, 2024.   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  Family Day, May 4th, events around Berkeley. 2025 Festival: June 1-2, guests include Joan Baez, Naomi Klein, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jonathan Lethem. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Por La Noche (By Night), October 11 – 26, 2924. See website for information. Berkeley Rep Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, May 10-26, Live Oak Theater. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Funny Girl, April 30 – May 26, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. La Boheme June 21 – July 5. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. Karaoke for a Cause, with Lauren Gunderson. May 13, 6 pm. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. The Giver, adapted by Eric Coble from the Newbery Award-winning book by Lois Lowry, April 26 – May 5. Oakland Theater Project.  Red, Red, Red by Amilio Garcia, conceived by Lisa Ramirez, World Premiere, April 26 – May 19. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, May 2 – June 15. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  June 5 – 30. Shotgun Players.  Best Available by Jonathan Spector. May 18 – June 16. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare, May 23 – June 2. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration June 5-20, 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 2, 2024: Joan Baez – Ty Burr appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Trina Robbins (1938-2024) who died following a stroke on April 10, 2024, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded at her home in San Francisco on February 6, 2018. Trina Robbins was a legend in comic book circles, an artist at a time when hardly any women drew comics. In this interview, she discusses her 2017 memoir, “Last Girl Standing,” which deals with her life as an artist, author, and clothing designer. She was the first woman to edit a comic book created by women, “It Ain't Me Babe,” the first woman to draw “Wonder Woman,” and the single most influential historian chronicling the women who created comics and cartoons. In this interview, she also talks about her other recent books including a history of women drawing comics during World War II, a graphic novel version of a short story collection originally written by her father in Yiddish, and a graphic novel based on a work by British author Sax Rohmer. Trina Robbins was clothing designer for Los Angeles rock and roll bands in the 1960s and for the Warhol factory in New York. She also was a regular contributor to “Wimmens Comix,” a series of comic books created by women from the 1970s through 1990s. Photo: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Robert MacNeil (1931-2024), who died at the age of 93 on April 12, 2003, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios while on tour for the memoir, Looking for My Country. Robert MacNeil spent several years as a correspondent and news anchor for NBC, the BBC, and PBS before becoming the co-host of the PBS evening news show, originally the Robert MacNeil Report, and later the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour from 1975 to 1995. Since that time, he wrote novels and plays as well as continuing to work in television. In this interview he talks about his feelings about the United States from the vantage point of being born in Canada as well as his views on meeting various American presidents. Robert MacNeil 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  Family Day, May 4th, events around Berkeley. 2025 Festival: June 1-2, guests include Joan Baez, Naomi Klein, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jonathan Lethem. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming schedule. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Funny Girl, April 30 – May 26, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind by Martha Gonzalez and Virginia Grise, April 18-21. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. The Giver, adapted by Eric Coble from the Newbery Award-winning book by Lois Lowry, April 26 – May 5. Oakland Theater Project.  Red, Red, Red by Amilio Garcia, conceived by Lisa Ramirez, World Premiere, April 26 – May 19. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, May 2 – June 15. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 27. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Tiger Style by Mike Lew, April 6-28, 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 25, 2024: Trina Robbins – Robert MacNeil appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Don Winslow, author of “City in Ruins,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on April 10, 2024 Don Winslow is the author of 22 novels, many of which focus on crime and the criminal underworld, including The Cartel, The Force, Savages (which became an Oliver Stone film), and The Border. His latest novel,  “City in Ruins”, concludes the trilogy of “City on Fire” and “City of Dreams,” which told of a mob war using as a template the story of the Trojan War, The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and other works. In this latest novel, we follow the character of Danny Ryan, (Aeneas) as he winds up in Las Vegas (the founding of Rome), with forays into the Odyssey and the greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Europides.  Don Winslow has stated that these will be his final novels. Don Winslow also produces political videos aimed at saving the American democracy from Donald Trump, and is a vital force on Twitter. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   A conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, The Sympathizer, which has now been adapted into a television miniseries. The interview was recorded in the KPFA studios, May 5, 2016. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky Viet Thanh Nguyen came over from Vietnam with his family at the time of the fall of Saigon. The Sympathizer is the story of a Communist exile in America following the end of the Vietnam War, both a spy and in some respects, a lover of American culture. An Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of two non-fiction books, Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America and Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, a non-fiction bookend to his novel. A sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed, was published in 2021. Complete 40-minute interview.   Review of “Tiger Style!” at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through April 28, 2024. 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  Family Day, May 4th, events around Berkeley. 2025 Festival: June 1-2, guests include Joan Baez, Naomi Klein, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jonathan Lethem. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming schedule. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind by Martha Gonzalez and Virginia Grise, April 18-21. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Red, Red, Red by Amilio Garcia, conceived by Lisa Ramirez, World Premiere, April 26 – May 19.h Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Tiger Style by Mike Lew, April 6-28, 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 18, 2024: Don Winslow – Viet Thanh Nguyen appeared first on KPFA.

The Playwrights Foundation 46th Playwrights Festival is beginning at the Magic Theater at the Fort Mason in San Francisco, from April 12th to April 21st. The centerpiece of the festival are readings from four resident playwrights with the Playwrights Foundation along with workshops, parties and a meet and greet as well as a bit of reading with the new Playwrights Foundation Resident Playwright Cohort – which includes our host Cat Brooks. Joining us to discuss are Jason Tseng, a queer, non-binary Chinese-American playwright with roots in New York City and Washington D.C. Their play with the Playwrights Festival is called Fear & Wonder, a play in which two boys of color navigate a Christian summer camp together in the early 2000s. Also joining us is Aidaa Peerzada, a writer and performer whose background as the descendant of two artists from different cultural traditions – an African American and First Generation American Pakistani – is at the heart of her artistic practice. Her play with the Playwrights Festival is called Children of the Wise, in which the main character visits her familial homeland, now Pakistan, and confronts the legacy of her grandfather's anti-colonial activism during the British-ruled subcontinent a century earlier. Check out the Playwrights Foundation's website: http://playwrights.org/ — Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Playwrights Festival Begins in SF w/ Aidaa Peerzada and Jason Tseng appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Margot Livesey, author of the novel, “The Road from Belhaven,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Recorded March 19, 2024 at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. Margot Livesey is the author of ten novels, including “The Missing World,” “Mercury” and “The Boy in the Field,” which range from literary novels to psychological thrillers. Born and raised in Scotland. she currently teaches at the Iowa Writers Workshop. “The Road from Belhaven” is set in the late 1800s in rural Scotland and Glasgow, and concerns a young woman artist with second sight who finds herself in difficult circumstances. It's based on stories of Margot Livesey's great grandmother as told by her grandmother and relatives in Australia. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the folks at Book Passage Bookstore. Photo: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Review of “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord” at ACT Strand Theatre through May 5, 2024. 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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. Dine Nishli (i am a sacred being) or A Boarding School Play by Blossom Johnson, April 11-13. See website for time and location. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, March 8 – April 14, Peets Theatre. Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming schedule. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Boss McGreedy, written and directed by Gary Graves, extended to April 7. Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind by Martha Gonzalez and Virginia Grise, April 18-21. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Red, Red, Red by Amilio Garcia, conceived by Lisa Ramirez, World Premiere, April 26 – May 19.h Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Tiger Style by Mike Lew, April 6-28, 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 11, 2024: Margot Livesey, “The Road from Belhaven” appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Rebecca Makkai, whose latest novel is “I Have Some Questions for You,” just released in trade paperback, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Rebecca Makkai is the author of three earlier novels, The Great Believers, The Hundred Year House and The Borrowers, and one collection of stories, Music for Wartime. This latest novel is a mystery of sorts that takes place in a New England boarding school and involves a murder that took place twenty years earlier, a murder in which an athletic coach was arrested and convicted, but likely isn't the guilty party. In this fast-paced book, Rebecca Makkai takes on the #MeToo movement, misogyny in high school, true crime podcasts, and hidden abuse. The interview was recorded on March 2, 2023 at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   ​​ Otessa Moshfegh, recorded while on tour for the acclaimed short story collection, “Homesick for Another World, in the KPFA studios on February 2, 2017. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. First posted March 28, 2017. The author of the highly acclaimed novel, short-listed for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, “Eileen,” Otessa Moshfegh is the daughter of an Iranian father and Croatian mother, both forced out of Iran following the 1979 revolution. Her stories are filled with dark humor, focusing on how we feel about our bodies and our lives in this physical universe. Her vision is very idiosyncratic. She is currently the author of four novels, most recently Death in her Hands in 2020 and Lapvona in 2022. Otessa Moshfegh is also listed as co-writer for the 2022 film “Causeway,” which is now streaming via an Apple+ subscription. Complete Interview 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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, March 8 – April 14, Peets Theatre. Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming schedule. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: The Great Leap by Lauren Yee. March 16 – April 7. Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Boss McGreedy, written and directed by Gary Graves, extended to April 7. Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: once,  March 21 – April 7. Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind by Martha Gonzalez and Virginia Grise, April 18-21. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Dan Hoyle's “Takes All Kinds”, April 6-7, workshop performances. Red, Red, Red by Amilio Garcia, conceived by Lisa Ramirez, World Premiere, April 26 – May 19.h Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. SFArtsED Players' The Little Mermaid April 5-7. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Tiger Style by Mike Lew, April 6-28, 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 4, 2024: Rebecca Makkai – Otessa Moshfegh appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    The Films of Agnes Varda Susan Oxtoby and Agnes Varda in Berkeley, November 2013. Photo: Mariana Lopez courtesy BAMPFA. Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), discusses the current retrospective of the films of the great Belgian-French film maker Agnes Varda (1928-2019) with host Richard Wolinsky. Agnes Varda began her career as a stills photographer and became a director with La Point Courte (1954), having seen very few films in her life. She went on to international fame with Cleo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, but her late life films The Beaches of Agnes and Faces, Places established her as one of the most important directors of the modern era. All the films discussed in this interview (except the new documentary Viva Varda!) are available to stream on the Criterion app, save for Faces, Places, which can be streamed on Kanopy. Cleo from 5 to 7 can also be streamed on Max.   ​​​​​Burton Lane, Broadway and Hollywood composer and sometime lyricist, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, April 1992 in New York, second of two parts. Burton Lane, who died at the age of 84 in 1997, was best known for composing the scores for the hit Broadway shows Finian's Rainbow (with E.Y. (Yip) Harburg) and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (with Alan J. Lerner). As a teenager, he was considered a protégé of George Gershwin, and was close to the Gershwin family until he moved to Los Angeles to compose songs for a variety of different musicals, including the Fred Astaire film, Royal Wedding . His other Broadway show, Carmelina, was produced in 1979. The Gershwin Project Interview I: English Strunsky, Ira Gershwin's brother-in-law and George's wingman in the 1920s. Interview II: Musicologist Deena Rosenberg and Michael Strunsky, Ira Gershwin's nephew. Interview III: Kitty Carlisle. Interview IV: Michael Feinstein. Interview V: Burton Lane   Review of “The 39 Steps” at San Francisco Playhouse through April 20, 2024.   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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, March 8 – April 14, Peets Theatre. Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming schedule. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Peter Pan, June 25-30. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: The Great Leap by Lauren Yee. March 16 – April 7. Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Boss McGreedy, written and directed by Gary Graves, extended to April 7. Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  VOD: What Do Women Say? March 12 – 29. Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: once,  March 21 – April 7. Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind by Martha Gonzalez and Virginia Grise, April 18-21. Garuda's Wing by Naomi Iizuka, June 5-23. Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC)  Unpacking in P'Town by Jewelle Gomez, March 1 – 31. The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Cost of Living by Martyna Majek, March 1-30, 2024. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. SFArtsED Players' The Little Mermaid April 5-7. See website for complete schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Queen by Madhuri Shekar, March 8 -31, Lucie Stern Theatre. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 28, 2024: The Films of Agnes Varda – Burton Lane Part Two appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    ​​​​​Burton Lane, Broadway and Hollywood composer and sometime lyricist, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, April 1992 in New York. Burton Lane, who died at the age of 84 in 1997, was best known for composing the scores for the hit Broadway shows Finian's Rainbow (with E.Y. (Yip) Harburg) and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (with Alan J. Lerner). As a teenager, he was considered a protégé of George Gershwin, and was close to the Gershwin family until he moved to Los Angeles to compose songs for a variety of different musicals, including the Fred Astaire film, Royal Wedding . His other Broadway show, Carmelina, was produced in 1979. In 1992, after creating a radio documentary about Leonard Bernstein, Richard Wolinsky embarked on another documentary on the life and music of George Gershwin, which started with a Morning Concert program featuring Ira Gershwin's nephew Michael Strunsky and Gershwin expert Deena Rosenberg. That was followed followed with interviews with Michael's father English Strunsky, with Ira Gershwin's archivist, later a noted cabaret performer, Michael Feinstein, and New York Grande Dame Kitty Carlisle, who dated George Gershwin in the 1930s. This interview as the fifth of seven interviews, after which for personal reasons, the project was abandoned. Special thanks to Ernie Harburg, son of Burton Lane's lyricist E.Y. Yip Harburg, and to Gershwin historian Deena Rosenberg Harburg for their assistance in setting up this, and the other interviews in the Gershwin Project. George Gershwin was born in 1898 and his brother Ira two years earlier. At the age of 15 he took a job as a song-plugger, playing other people's songs on a piano for Remick Music Publisher for the sale of their sheet music. His first composed song was published when he was 17, and at 21 he scored his first big hit, Swanee. But it wasn't until 1924 when he teamed up with his brother Ira as lyricist that George Gershwin became, what we might call a superstar, which he remained until his untimely death from a brain tumor in 1937. Ira Gershwin, who went on to work with other composers until he retired in the early 1960s, died in 1983. The Gershwin Project Interview I: English Strunsky, Ira Gershwin's brother-in-law and George's wingman in the 1920s. Interview II: Musicologist Deena Rosenberg and Michael Strunsky, Ira Gershwin's nephew. Interview III: Kitty Carlisle. Interview IV: Michael Feinstein.   Review of “The Far Country” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through April 14, 2024.   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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Steven Adly Guirgis, May 4, 7 pm, Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, March 8 – April 14, Peets Theatre. Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. Cymbeline, adapted and directed by Stuart Bousel, May 10 – 26, Live Oak Theatre. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Mean Girls, March 19-24. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: The Great Leap by Lauren Yee. March 16 – April 7. Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Boss McGreedy, written and directed by Gary Graves, extended to April 7. Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. The Soul Never Dwells in a Dry Place by Rotimi Agbabiaka, March 22 – 24. 42nd Street Moon. Forever Plaid, April 18 – May 5, 2024. Golden Thread  VOD: What Do Women Say? March 12 – 29. Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: once,  March 21 – April 7. Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley, February 28 – March 24 (extended three performances). Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC)  Unpacking in P'Town by Jewelle Gomez, March 1 – 31. The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Cost of Living by Martyna Majek, March 1-30, 2024. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20.. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Queen by Madhuri Shekar, March 8 -31, Lucie Stern Theatre. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 21, 2024: Burton Lane (1912-1997) appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    David Thomson, film critic and historian, discusses his latest book, “The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film” with host Richard Wolinsky. Author of over forty books, most of which deal with film and film history, David Thomson here discusses how movies have influenced how our society sees and understands war. He is hosting war films at Pacific Film Archive on March 13 (Paths of Glory), March 20 (They Shall Not Grow Old) and March 27 (1917). In the interview, he talks about how war films rarely focus on the reasons why individual wars are fought, the soldier mentality, the two World Wars on film, fascism and resistance on film, along with such films as Black Hawk Down, The Deer Hunter and A Man Escapes. Special thanks to AJ Fox and Susan Oxtoby of Pacific Film Archive, where the interview was recorded. Photo of David Thomson: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.   Review of “Queen” at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Lucie Stern Theatre through March 31, 2024.   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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  See website for past streams. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Kristina Wong Sweatshop Overlord, March 30 – May 5, 2024, Strand Theater. A Strange Loop, April 18 – May 12, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, April 19 – May 19. Streaming:  March 14-19. Awesome Theatre Company. Awesome High: A Sketch Comedy Play, directed by Nikki Menez,  April 12-27, Eclectic Box, 446 Valencia, SF. Berkeley Rep The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, March 8 – April 14, Peets Theatre. Galileo, World Premiere Musical, book by Danny Strong, with Raul Esparza, May 5 – June 10, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. Cymbeline, adapted and directed by Stuart Bousel, May 10 – 26, Live Oak Theatre. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: Haispray, April 16-21, Orpheum. See website for special events at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate. Broadway San Jose:  Mean Girls, March 19-24. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). Terrapin Roadshow, June 1-2; As You Like it, September 12 – 29. Center Rep: The Great Leap by Lauren Yee. March 16 – April 7. Cabaret, May 26 – June 23, Lesher Center for the Arts. Central Works  Boss McGreedy, written and directed by Gary Graves, March 2 – 31. Accused by Patricia Milton, July 13 – August 11. Cinnabar Theatre. Shipwrecked! April 12 – 28. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre In Repertory: Hamlet and Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead, September 7 – 22. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. The Soul Never Dwells in a Dry Place by Rotimi Agbabiaka March 22 – 24. 42nd Street Moon. Falsettos, February 29 – March 17, 2024. Golden Thread  VOD: What Do Women Say? March 12 – 29. Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani, April 12 – May 4, Potrero Stage. Hillbarn Theatre: once,  March 21 – April 7. Something Rotten, April 25 – May 12. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley, February 28 – March 24 (extended three performances). Marin Theatre Company Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC)  Unpacking in P'Town by Jewelle Gomez, March 1 – 31. The Tutor by Torange Yeghiazarian, April 5 – May 12. Oakland Theater Project.  Cost of Living by Martyna Majek, March 1-24, 2024. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. In Repertory: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. April 19 – May 20. Presidio Theatre. See website for schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. The 39 Steps, March 7 – April 20.. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. Regional premiere. April 3 – 28. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, May 18 – June 8. Saratoga Civic Theater. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Pride of Lions, by Roger Q. Mason, March 28 – April 21. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Queen by Madhuri Shekar, March 8 -31, Lucie Stern Theatre. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 David Thomson on How Films Influence Our View of War appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues    Walter Mosley and Richard Wolinsky, 2009. Walter Mosley in conversation with Richard Woinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded October 25, 1992 in the KPFA studios while on tour for the novel, “White Butterfly.” Today, Walter Mosley is one of America's leading authors. He is best known for his series of mystery novels featuring the characters of Easy Rawlins and Mouse, now numbering fifteen, seventeen novels in other series, sixteen other novels, a collection of short stories, six works of non-fiction, plus screenplays and teleplays. But on October 25th, 1992, he was at the beginning of his career when Probabilities co-hosts Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky spoke with Walter Mosley in the KPFA studios about his latest Easy Rawlings novel, White Butterfly, his third book and the third in the series following Devil in a Blue Dress and A Red Death. Black Betty would follow White Butterfly in 1994. The most recent Easy Rawlins novel is Blood Grove, published in 2021. Devil in a Blue Dress became a film released in 1995 using the screenplay discussed in the interview, directed by Carl Franklin and starring Denzel Washington. Mouse was played by Don Cheadle in a career breakout role. Thus far, that's the only Easy Rawlins film. In 2022, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a TV miniseries titled The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray, based on Walter Mosley's book, and primarily written by Walter Mosley. At present, an adaptation of his novel The Man in My Basement is in pre-production. The next Easy Rawlins novel, Farewell Amethystine will be published in June 2024. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited on February 10, 2024 by Richard Wolinsky. It has not aired in thirty years. This is the first of five interviews, to date, with Walter Mosley. Complete Interview.  front photo Larry D. Moore,CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.   Jack O'Brien, theatre director and author of Jack in the Box, or How to Goddamn Direct, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Jack O'Brien has won three Tony Awards and has been nominated seven times. The former artistic director of The Old Globe in San Diego, from 1981 to 2007, he's one of the premier directors working in America today. Among his Broadway shows are The Full Monty, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Catch Me If You Can and The Coast of Utopia. He directed the much lauded 2018 revival of Carousel on Broadway. Most recently, in 2021, he directed Hairspray in London. The interview focuses on what a director does, along with his own history becoming a director, and anecdotes about his work. Complete Interview   Review of “My Home on the Moon” at San Francisco Playhouse through February 24, 2024.     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  Event calendar and links to previous events. 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. 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 Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  See website for past streams. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  Big Data by Kate Attwell, February 15 – March 10, 2024, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle, February 9 – March 10. Streaming:  March 5-10. Awesome Theatre Company. See website for upcoming productions. Berkeley Rep Cult of Love by Leslye Headland, January 28 – March 3, Roda Theatre. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming productions. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: MJ The Musical, January 30 – February 25, Orpheum. Broadway San Jose:  Chicago, February 23-25. Mean Girls, March 19-24. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). See website for events. Center Rep: Mystic Pizza, a new musical. February 15-25. Central Works  Boss McGreedy written and directed by Gary Graves, March 2-13. Cinnabar Theatre. Dream House by Eliana Pipes, February 9-25. Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco ongoing. Contra Costa Civic Theatre Upcoming season to be announced. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming one-night only live events, including the Unscripted series with various celebrities. Custom Made Theatre. In hibernation. Cutting Ball Theatre. Variety Pack 2024. Staged readings, directors shorts, cabaret shows. February 1-18. 42nd Street Moon. Falsettos, February 29 – March 17, 2024. Golden Thread  Upcoming season to be announced. Hillbarn Theatre: RENT, February 8 – 24. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (NO MORE) adjustments: A Black Queer Woman Evolves in Real Time, written and performed by Champagne Hughes, May 1-5, 2024. Fort Mason. Magic Theatre. Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley, February 28 – March 17. Marin Theatre Company Bees & Honey by Guadalis Del Carmen, February 15 – March 10. Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein, May 9 – June 2, 2024. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC)  Unpacking in P'Town by Jewelle Gomez, March 1 – 31. See website for theatre classes. Oakland Theater Project.  Cost of Living by Martyna Majek, March 1-24, 2024. Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming. Pear Theater. For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday by Sarah Ruhl. February 9 – March 3, 2024. Presidio Theatre. See website for schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. My Home on the Moon by Minna Lee, January 25 – February 24. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, March 29 – April 13. San Jose Stage Company: People Where They Are by Antony Clarvoe. January 31 – February 25, 2024. Shotgun Players.  A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. March 15 – April 14. Website also lists one night only events at the Ashby Stage. South Bay Musical Theatre: A Little Night Music, January 27 – February 17, 2024. Stagebridge: Shady Manor, a musical play by Prescott Cole. June 14-16. 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Billy, written and directed by John Fisher, February 1-18, 2024. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Queen by Madhuri Shekar, March 8 -31, Lucie Stern Theatre. 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, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 15, 2024: Walter Mosley – Jack O'Brien appeared first on KPFA.

Even though we're apart, we're all in this together.Produced by Emily Shaw in April, 2020. Engineering assistance from Seira McCarthy.Sounds:“Quarantine” by Oneirine Electronic (Tommy York, Brooklyn, New York)Romeo and Mia's Quarantine Horse Race (Phil Cox, Palermo, Sicily, Italy)“Cuando el Viento” by Maggie Taurick (Maggie Taurick, Villa De Leyva, Colombia)Baker Beach (Nina Cestaro, San Francisco, California)Moka (Jolanda Moletta, Mondovì, Italy)Coffee Lockdown (Phil Cox, Palermo, Sicily, Italy)Rain (Kendall Crakow, San Francisco, California)Piano in the Rain #1 (Emily Shaw, San Francisco, California)Piano in the Rain #2 (Anna, Davis, California)Mamun's Call to Prayer (Phil Cox, Palermo, Sicily, Italy)Yacht Jangles in Fort Mason (Emily Shaw, San Francisco, California)Wind Chimes (Alice Woelfle, Fruitvale, Oakland, California)“Krishna Mantra” sung by Lakshmi (Maggie Taurick, Villa De Leyva, Colombia)Nightly Cheers for Healthcare Workers (Gary Hardcastle & Steva Stowell-Hardcastle, Inwood, Manhattan, New York)“Quarantine Love Song” (Marley Feuerwerker-Otto, Pasadena, California)Tape Hiss, Clicks, and Hums (Jeff Emtman, Providence, Rhode Island)“Song in Seoul for Zoe” (Luiz Gustavo Givisiez & Zoe Yungmi Blank, Seoul, South Korea)Photos (clockwise from top):Yacht Jangles in Fort Mason, San Francisco (Emily Shaw)View from Quarantine: Mamun and Azad in Palermo Ballaro, Sicily (Phil Cox)View from Quarantine: Inwood, Manhattan (Gary Hardcastle & Steva Stowell-Hardcastle)View from Quarantine: Pasadena (Marley Feuerwerker-Otto)Blank Tape (Jeff Emtman)Baker Beach, San Francisco (Nina Cestaro)Romeo and Mia's Quarantine Horse Race, Palermo Ballaro, Sicily (Phil Cox)Making Music, Seoul (Luiz Gustavo Givisiez & Zoe Yungmi Blank)Synthesizer (Oneirine Electronic AKA Tommy York)Audio Art Day, San Francisco (Emily Shaw)Moka in Mondovì (Jolanda Moletta)View from Quarantine: Villa De Leyva (Maggie Taurick)