Podcasts about los angeles theater

Welcome to our LDI special. In our LDI series we will be speaking to some of the people who will be speaking or exhibiting at this year's LDI show running from November 14 - 20 at the Las Vegas Convention centre. Today our guest is Bob Bonniol. Bob is an Emmy Award winning director, production designer, and producer. He is known for his implementation of extensive media and interactive features in his productions and installations. In 2021, Bob founded metaMODE as a laboratory and consultancy for metaverse based strategy and activation. Since 2020, Bob has served as creative director for Panasonic's massive installations at the Consumer Electronics Show. In 2021 he won multiple Telly Awards for his creation and production of the Panasonic CES Virtual Experience. In 2019 he served as a screens producer and content artist for Occulus' projection mapped takeover of the Los Angeles Theater premiering their new product Quest, appeared as featured VJ at the Amazon re:MARS conference, as well as designing the holographic Light Weave sculpture for Nordstrom's new Manhattan flagship store Broadway Entrance. In 2018 he won the Knight of Illumination award for his creative direction of the massive renovation of The Core at General Motor's World Headquarters in Detroit. The installation, GM World, features the largest AI driven interactive LED screen array on earth and creates a permanent immersive experiential venue for all of GM's brands. In fall of 2018, Bob wrote, directed, and produced the acclaimed work, “Becoming Ailey,” for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 60th Anniversary Season at NY City Center. Utilizing holographic technology alongside classic theatrical craft, the piece put the voice and vision of Alvin Ailey back onstage with his beloved company. In the course of his career he has worked from Broadway to Beijing, helping clients like Disney, NBCU, ABC, Live Nation, AEG, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm gather and dazzle audiences of millions. We want to hear from YOU and provide a forum where you can put in requests for future episodes. What are you interested in listening to? Please fill out the form for future guest suggestions here and if you have suggestions or requests for future themes and topics, let us know here! @theatreartlife Thanks to David Zieher who composed our music.

Kaneza Schaal, recipient of the 2021 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts for Theater, joins a conversation with CNP Producing Artist Daniel Alexander Jones. Schaal's performance works function as profound acts of invitation, presented in a wide range of contexts. The two artists, whose friendship has been furthered by their professional collaborations, discuss Schaal's many fluencies—of language, history, form, cultures, and aesthetics—that have served to build her lexicon as a maker of theater. Hosted by Marissa Chibás, this podcast was produced by CalArts Center for New Performance, the professional producing arm of California Institute of the Arts, Travis Preston Artistic Director and Dean of CalArts School of Theater. Produced by George Lugg and Rory James Leech. Editing and sound engineering by Duncan Woodbury. Podcast theme music by Cristian Amigo. Special thanks to Ravi Rajan, President of CalArts. For more information on these artists and their work, as well as other CNP projects visit centerfornewperformance.org.Subscribe to upcoming episodes by clicking on the podcast name and hitting the subscribe button! 

Jule Selbo is novelist, screenwriter and playwright. Her debut crime mystery novel, 10 DAYS: A DEE ROMMEL MYSTERY (Pandamoon Publishing, August 2021) is the first in a series. She worked in the Los Angeles film world for two decades, writing for HBO's Prison Stories, for George Lucas' Young Indiana Jones, Aaron Spelling's Melrose Place, Universal's Hercules, Fox's Space Above and Beyond, Warner Bros, Life Goes On and other series. Film credits include Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame Part Deux, Cinderella II, Columbia Pictures Hard Promises and more. Her theatre plays include Boxes (produced in regional theaters, including its most recent production in Portland Maine, was recipient of five Los Angeles Theater nominations, winning two) and Isolate, (winner of Best Play in Hollywood's Female Playwrights). She also earned a PhD in Film at University of Exeter, writing her dissertation (now a book) Film Genres for the Screenwriter, which delineates tropes and expectations the audience/reader has for each story genre. Jule became a tenured professor of film at California State University. She moved to Portland Maine a few years ago to concentrate on writing books. Her book, Find Me In Florence garnered First Place Prize in the 2019 Chatelaine Awards/Romance and Women's Fiction. Her historical fiction books include Dreams of Discovery: The Life of Explorer John Cabot and Breaking Barriers: The Life of Laura Bassi (finalist for 2020 Goethe Award).10 Days: A Dee Rommel Mystery, is the first in a series (Pandamoon Publishing). https://www.juleselbo.com Today's episode is brought to you by John's full series of crime thrillers available right now. You can get them through Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/John-A.-Hoda/e/B00BGPXBMM%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share  You can also sign up for the newsletter at http://www.JohnHoda.com to get a free copy of John's new novella Liberty City Nights.Thank you for listening. If you have a moment to spare please leave a rating or comment on Apple Podcasts as that will help us expand the circle around our campfire. If you have any questions please feel to reach out to me via my website http://www.johnhoda.com

We have two segments today!  Part one... we talk to Brennan Suen, the LGBTQ program director at Media Matters, about his article that shows Facebook to be a haven for right-wing anti-trans propaganda.  He has been a vibrant part of Media Matters since July 2015. He has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, and he formerly interned at the Human Rights Campaign and SKDKnickerbocker. In part two of our show, we talk to playwight Daniel MacIvor about the newest productions of his plays The Soldier Dreams and Never Swim Alone.  These productions mark Open Fist Theatre Company returning to live, in-person performances at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles.  The Soldier Dreams is a darkly funny and moving play --As David lies in a virus-induced coma, his lover, Richard, plays host to David's family members, each of whom feel they had the most special connection. In the slyly witty and unexpectedly suspenseful Never Swim Alone, two men, Frank and Bill are locked in a ruthless competition of one-upmanship. Daniel's plays have been seen across Canada and abroad. He has twice won the Dora Mavor Moore Award, is a Chalmers Award laureate, and in 2006 won the Governor General's Award for his collection of five plays, I Still Love You, which includes The Soldier Dreams. He was a recipient of the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Canada's largest annual theater award. Open Fist Theatre Company is a collective, self-producing artistic enterprise with all facets of its operation run by its artist members.  With co-host Brody Levesque

We have two segments today!  Part one... we talk to Brennan Suen, the LGBTQ program director at Media Matters, about his article that shows Facebook to be a haven for right-wing anti-trans propaganda.  He has been a vibrant part of Media Matters since July 2015. He has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, and he formerly interned at the Human Rights Campaign and SKDKnickerbocker. In part two of our show, we talk to playwight Daniel MacIvor about the newest productions of his plays The Soldier Dreams and Never Swim Alone.  These productions mark Open Fist Theatre Company returning to live, in-person performances at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles.  The Soldier Dreams is a darkly funny and moving play --As David lies in a virus-induced coma, his lover, Richard, plays host to David's family members, each of whom feel they had the most special connection. In the slyly witty and unexpectedly suspenseful Never Swim Alone, two men, Frank and Bill are locked in a ruthless competition of one-upmanship. Daniel's plays have been seen across Canada and abroad. He has twice won the Dora Mavor Moore Award, is a Chalmers Award laureate, and in 2006 won the Governor General's Award for his collection of five plays, I Still Love You, which includes The Soldier Dreams. He was a recipient of the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Canada's largest annual theater award. Open Fist Theatre Company is a collective, self-producing artistic enterprise with all facets of its operation run by its artist members.  With co-host Brody Levesque

In today's episode, I welcome Doug Motel! Doug expresses himself through a wide variety of mediums, including theater and fine art and song-writing, and his episode contains multiple value bombs of advice for aspiring artists, along with the importance of making every moment count in life. (Fun fact: the cover image of this week's episode is a photo of Doug himself!)   Get in touch with Doug Motel: https://dougmotel.com | www.mindsalad.com  Support Artfully Told: www.paypal.me/elevateart Artfully Told links: www.facebook.com/artfullytold | www.artfullytold.podbean.com | elevateartskc@gmail.com Get a free audiobook through Audible!  http://www.audibletrial.com/ArtfullyTold Schedule your own interview as a featured guest with Artfully Told! https://calendly.com/artfullytold/podcast-interview   Episode 49 - Doug Motel Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art. [00:00:06] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life. [00:00:12]Roman:  All I can do is put my part in to the world. [00:00:15] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It doesn't have to be perfect ever really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it and you're trying your best, that can be good enough. [00:00:23] Elna: Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experiences as so beautiful.  [00:00:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Artfully Told. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I am thrilled to have as my guest today, Doug Motel. He is an artist that expresses himself through a wide variety of mediums, including theater and fine art and song writing. And I cannot wait to hear all about it. So thank you so much for being here today, Doug. [00:00:54] Doug Motel: Lindsey, thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it. [00:00:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I would love to hear how you kind of got started. Maybe just what inspired you and then what you're up to these days? [00:01:06] Doug Motel: Yeah. Well, how I got started-- that really goes really far back. I became really, I would say fascinated, but really the more appropriate word is "obsessed" with portraiture. When I was a little kid, when I was about nine, I used to just draw people's faces all day long, sometimes 20 to 30 portraits a day. And so, you know, when I was 10, 11 you know, I was drawing all the time and I think that, you know, it was a bit of a retreat into a more private space because I didn't, I grew up in an environment that really didn't feel safe to me in my, my family. And I felt like art and drawing was a great refuge. So there was a bit of a, a shift for me when I think I was, I think I was 11. I had done this portrait. It was a political cartoon. And I really, I was really proud of it. And, but I couldn't, I couldn't find it one morning. I woke up and I couldn't find it. It was not in my big stack of drawings. And I asked my mom, you know, "Did you see this cartoon that I had drawn on? I couldn't, I couldn't find it." [00:02:11] And, and my mother said, "Yeah, your, you know, daddy took it to the poker game last night." And I just said, "Why, why, why would he do that?" And she said, "Because he wanted to show the other, you know, dads the drawing." And up until that point, I really felt honestly invisible to my father. I didn't think that he even, you know, had any idea that I loved art or that I, you know, did art and the fact that he had taken that time, the interest to like secretly, without ever saying anything to me, like he never said anything to me. Like that's a really great drawing. He just, behind my back while I was sleeping, took it so that he could show it cause he was proud of it. [00:02:58] And I think that there was like a little thing that went off in my brain and I thought, "Oh, this whole thing about being able to draw is like some kind of currency. You know, it gives me some sort of value." And you know, I have to say sadly as a little boy, I, I didn't feel like I had any value. So that was a moment where I thought, "Oh, okay, I get it. Here's this thing that I do." And so, then I began to really, really nurture it and I had a lot of those, "How to Paint a Landscapes" books and how to paint, you know, in watercolor. And I really dove into watercolor, you know, as a 12 year old. And I started showing my work when I was, yeah, when I was 12. I lied my age so that I could be in an art show that was for adults. [00:03:43] And I actually won a ribbon for a still life that I did. And I just felt like it was the thing that was like the one thing that I could. Do that would give me some sort of value. And that was until I discovered theater also when I was 12, I auditioned for a community theater production. And I got in and that was like, that was kind of like the world going from black and white into Technicolor. The idea of being in a community with other artists and, you know, being in front of an audience too, and getting people clapping for me instead of it feeling so threatening or unsafe as it did at home. That was a big turning point for me. And, and so I would say since then, I I've sort of-- like if you imagine a console where you're like at a sound board and you've got one dimmer switch. You've got two dimmer switches for me. One, the one switch, which would be the fine arts and painting and drawing. And the other dimmer switch would be storytelling. In a theater setting, I would say like my, my life has been kind of a, you know, between moving those two dimmers up and down, back and forth a bit. Was that was that too much? [00:04:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. No, no, no. I love hearing the background. Thank you. Yeah. So, and I like that illustration , they each have their turns, essentially, and which one comes up a little bit brighter today versus the next day. [00:05:06] Doug Motel: Yeah. Like I'll go through these periods where I'll really feel like I've got something that I want to say. You know, there was a time when I was living in Los Angeles and a dear friend of mine had been murdered by just a random person in her apartment building. And I just felt the, you know, the, the sense of grief, not just my own personal grief, but all the people that, that knew her.  She was a very special person. And I felt like I needed to, to process through it some way artistically and I, I thought about doing it in fine art, but ultimately I decided to write, write a play. And I wrote a play that had about 12 characters in it, and I played all the characters and it was really an homage to her spirit and very much about people going on a spiritual Odyssey when something tragic happens. [00:05:59] Kind of like, you know, when something tragic happens, kind of like what we're going through right now, you're always at a fork in the road. You could either use it as a, as a way to affirm how horrible the world can be, or you use it as an opening for some sort of a healing. And so I wanted to  turn that into a story and I was just lucky because it, it wound up becoming you know, it really found an audience and I wound up, you know, being lucky enough to win a lot of awards in Los Angeles Theater for that. And, and it was supposed to move to a New York theater. That's why I moved back here onto the East coast. And, and in fact, if your listeners want to go on Amazon Prime and search "Shiva Arms," "S H I V A" and then "arms," that's the name of the play. And you can see a, a a filming of me performing it in the theater. So that's an example of, you know, I just didn't know. I knew I wanted to do something artistic to express what I, I felt, I discovered about what, what happens when you're faced with this kind of unexpected really horror, horrible. [00:07:06] It felt like a horror, like being in a horror movie and how do we respond? And for me, the the, the, the thing to do at that time was to to make theater out of it. Now, the pandemic has really been a place for me to go back to paint. And I've been doing a lot, a lot of painting and I've been painting abstract watercolors with very carefully chosen colors that I believe suggest healing and calm. And in fact, I'm calling the whole series I'm doing right now, "Remedy Paintings" to remedy from the trauma that many of us are going through from this whole pandemic. [00:07:43]Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. Yeah, that's incredible, and so helpful and so needed right now, because I think, you know, art has always been necessary, but I think in a time like this, it's, it's even more so, or at least there's more awareness to how much it's needed and, and how much transformative power it has. [00:08:03] Doug Motel: Yeah. Yeah. Because art is something that links us, that brings us together.  You know, of course theater brings us together physically when we're in the same room. We can't, we can't be doing that right now, but even just, you know, looking at a piece of art and, you know, right now what I'm doing is abstract art, where, where I'm not painting, I'm not painting things, you know, I'm not painting, you know, people, places or things that are, you know, known. But I'm just using color and shapes and lines to suggest a feeling. But it does connect you when you look at a piece of abstract art and you sort of let your, your mind go. It connects you to the artist and, and, and can, can connect you to the, the, the thought that anyone who looks at this art, also looks at this art is having a shared experience with you. And we need it. We need it now. [00:08:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Now, you know, I know that from the very beginning, it sounds like you taught yourself, and of course you had some resources through books and things like that to help with that. But did you ever go and have some more formal like art classes or anything like that? Or are you really just, you just kept exploring your own art and learning on your own. [00:09:20] Doug Motel: Well, when I was 12, I convinced my parents to let me study privately with a woman. Her name was Lorraine Watson, she has since passed, but you know, kind of like you would drop your kid off at violin lessons every week. They would drop me off at Mrs. Watson's house. And I would, she, she did teach me perspective. She taught me you know, she taught me drawing. She did teach me watercolor. She specialized in a Japanese Sumi painting and she taught me a little bit of that. So yeah, I studied privately. And then when I was in high school, I was enrolled in our local vocational school and I studied commercial art, but that was really the extent of it. I dropped out of high school and just really to get away from my environment and I moved to New York City and I studied acting, but I didn't go to university or in things that. [00:10:17]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And so then from that opportunity in New York city, how did your life trajectory go? 'Cause it sounds like, I mean, obviously you've had so many amazing different experiences, but I'm just curious how, how you got from maybe New York City to LA and just, have you just always been an artist? Is that kind of been your, your path in, in many different forms? [00:10:42] Doug Motel: Well, I mean, I've always been an artist, but I'm very, very little of my time has been making money doing art. So I've had a million jobs. I've had, I honestly have had more jobs than I could even imagine doing all sorts of things. Most of them legal. Some, some of them perhaps morally questionable, but I did what I could do, you know, as a teenager, living in New York City and not knowing anybody. I did what I could do to survive. But when I was 19, I started performing in comedy clubs. So I would write these little plays that always had some sort of message or theme about human nature, you know, unpacking the nature of reality. I've always just been very interested in things like that. And so I would write these little plays and I would do them in cabarets and comedy clubs in New York City. [00:11:42] And so that was the main thrust of my, my art, but, you know, so I was essentially a stand-up comic, but I did very different-- the work I did was more, more like what you might've seen Andy Kaufman. My influences were people like Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, people that would do a lot of character work and not necessarily tell jokes per se, the jokes were locked into the characters. And then one day when I was, I think 24, someone saw me performing and then booked me into a, a place in Santa Monica. And so that was kind of, you know, it, I, I went, I flew to LA and I literally got off the plane. I saw that Hollywood sign. I saw how warm it was. And I was like, "Okay, I am moving here." [00:12:32] And actually within a week, even though I was just out there to reform within a week, I found an apartment. I found a job as an apartment manager where I'd get a free apartment in exchange for, you know, taking care of the building. And then I flew back to New York. I gave my apartment away. I got one of those drive away cars where you, someone asks you to drive their car, you know, for free. But I had never, I had never driven a car before, so I had to get a couple of drivers' license drivers' classes. So I got some class, I took like two driving lessons. And then I packed up one of those drive away cars that I drove across country and I moved to LA and I thought I was, I would live there forever, but when "Shiva Arms" seemed to find an audience and I was encouraged to move back to New York to do it perhaps on Broadway. [00:13:20]I went back to New York, but unfortunately it was just a few days before 9/11. And I happened to been down in front of the World World Trade Center on 9/11, 'cause I had a temp job in an office facing the World Trade Center. And so that that's a whole other, if you ever have me back as a guest, some other time, I can tell you what that was like to look out the window and see all those people jumping. I was really traumatized by that event. 'Cause I had, cause I had left Los Angeles, I left everything that I really had built up to move to New York just to have that happen. And so yeah. So yeah, that changed some things. [00:14:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my gosh. Wow. Well, your story is so incredible how just you've had all these different experiences and opportunities and it's so cool to hear just the way that you got from A to B to Z and all those fun things. And so, yeah, thank you for sharing that. Oh my goodness. And so do you do stand up comedy anymore, or? [00:14:25] Doug Motel: Well, you know, there's no, there's no place to do it now, really, you know and I, I was working on a piece a little bit when this happened . Right now I'm very obsessed with the fine arts and the abstract painting. It's hard for me to think beyond that, but my chances are pretty good that I'll someday write another, I call it, you know, they really are plays, they're solo plays that I just happened to play all the characters. And I've had, I think, seven of these produced. So it's very possible that I'll want to do another one, but right now my focus really is on painting. It's so easy. Like you don't have to, like when you're performing you, I have to like get in shape. You know, I have to, you know, do yoga all the time. I have to make sure I don't get sick. I have to vocalize. I have to run lines every day. You know, and then just, there's a lot of preparation and, and also collaboration. You're dependent on other people, the theaters, the producers, there's so much that's involved in it. It can be very, very rewarding, but it also can be very exhausting and, you know, painting-- it's just so solitary. [00:15:38]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, well, and what a perfect time to be obsessed with this particular project, because it's not like there are tons of opportunities to perform live, so yeah, I think that timing worked out beautifully. [00:15:51] Doug Motel: Yeah, I think so, too. [00:15:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Well, I'm curious. I mean, you obviously-- well, my interpretation is-- you are incredibly brave and all the different things that you've done to step out of your comfort zone time and time again-- or just what you're familiar with, maybe not even comfort zone-- and go for the next thing is just awesome. So I'm curious, how did that come about? Or what advice could you give somebody who is maybe hoping to take, you know, a leap of faith and not there yet? [00:16:23] Doug Motel: Oh yes. So you know, there's some cliches that you know, we hear them all the time. So we've become immune to them. They've lost their impact, but, you know, they're cliches for a reason because they often are true. And the cliche that people have become sort of immune to-- which is very true, though, in spite of that-- is that this isn't the rehearsal. This is the thing. This is life we're living now. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is the show itself. And I just feel like there's so much about our society that has us focused on what's missing. It's almost like, you know, you're given a donut and all we can focus on is that hole in the middle, the empty hole. And we don't see the sugary treat. I feel like our whole society is like a cult and it's like the cult of more, you need to have more, you need to be more successful. You need to have more likes on social media, you need to have more money, more and more, more, and it's like this carrot that's dangled in front of you. Many people don't even know what it is that they're looking for, what it is that they want more of, but they just know like they need to have more. [00:17:36] And I would say that comes a point where you have to understand that there's nothing out there, all, all that this, all that life really is-- it's almost just like a bunch of pearls strung on a string. Like it's just, it's just moments. They're just a bunch of now moments strung together. That's what a life is. And if you don't seize the moment, if you don't give every moment the importance, and approach each moment with a mental posture of "this is the most important moment on my life." This is it. It's not coming. It's not around the bend. You know, it's not when I get this or when I get rid of this or when I change this. No, this is it now, because if there's something that you want or something that you feel is missing, this is the day. This is the moment to be doing something, to bring that into fruition, to bring that into your life. [00:18:42] And I think our culture hypnotizes us into just putting that off and putting it off and any day now, and yes, I'm going to do, you know, when I'm more together or when I'm more healed or when I'm not, when I'm not so messed up or so neurotic or, or whatever. But I just say, come as you are, you know, no matter how messed up you may be or how broken you may feel, you are, you still have the agency to live for this moment, to have this moment right now be the most important moment. You know, I feel like from the beginning of time, people who were dying, people on their death bed have told us the same message year after year after year after millennium, after millennium, they say," You know, don't take it so serious." [00:19:29] That's what they're learning and they give us this message and then they die and then they, you know, they think we're going to, you know, and then we just, we go, "Oh, wow. Yeah, don't take us as seriously." And then we forget. And then we get right back in there and we make it all very serious. And I think if you've made it serious so far, that's okay, that's over now. But right now in this moment, listening to Lindsey and I talking, all that is over, and this is a new moment for you. You're born again and you can choose again and you can take an action right now to, to move yourself closer to the circumstances that you want especially if you understand that your circumstances changing is not going to give you life, is not going to put the play button. The record button for life is on. [00:20:19]Lindsey Dinneen: Well, that was brilliant. [00:20:22]Doug Motel: I've thought a lot about this. I've lost people. And I guess partly because I'm coming out of this whole period, you know, this whole period of this pandemic and I just, you know, this is it. This is it, folks. [00:20:36] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's that realization and it's important and no, I'm absolutely serious. I was sitting here thinking, do you do motivational speaking as well? Because if you don't, you could. [00:20:51]Doug Motel: Sure. I do. I have to confess that I have a, kind of a weird story, a weird backstory that, you know, sometimes I feel funny talking about, but I guess at this point, it just seems natural for me to tell you that when I was four years old, I fell off of a ladder and I had a head injury. And when I came back from the hospital that very night, I had what I guess people would call a mystical experience. And I can't say that I can explain what this is, but there was a a presence. It was like a sphere. It was like an orb, I guess, that came to me. And it said "uni verse, uni, one verse, from a song, all is one." and basically it was telling me that the whole universe was one living thing, and it came and visited me in my room and in our little apartment for a year, every single night. And it never said anything else.  At first I was very scared. I was scared because I was, I mean, that was four years old, you know, and there was this presence, you know, but then by the end of the year,  I became to really welcome it and this orb would appear. And it would just say the same thing, that "the world was one thing." [00:22:03] And I think my whole life, Lindsey, has been unpacking that. My whole life really has been spent looking at that quote unquote "mystical experience" or whatever from that head injury and thinking, you know,  it's kind of true. If you say you look at a tree and we may think of there's, that tree is if that's a separate object, but can you separate a tree from the soil that, that the roots are in, or can you separate a tree from the sun that's coming onto it? You know, like where does tree stop and all that other stuff start? And I know I'm getting super esoteric here but, you know, these are weird things to talk about and yet when you really stop and think about it, we're just told that we're separate from each other. And all the things, but there's no real evidence. There's no evidence. And if you pull back and you look at the earth from space, earth looks like one thing. And if you pull back into farther into space, our solar system looks like it's one kind of a thing you can point to that. And  the ball that visited me when I was four, you know, telling me that everything was one, I've just spent my whole life unpacking that idea. [00:23:19]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Wow. I mean, what an incredible experience. And I love that that's kind of been the catalyst, I guess, for exploration as to your search for truth and meaning, and, right, all those things. That's really cool. [00:23:36] Doug Motel: Yeah. I don't think I've ever done anything artistically that wasn't in some way connected to my trying to really get a deeper understanding of the nature of our reality. [00:23:50]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's cool. Well, my goodness, you have such an inspiring story, not only from your own perspective and all those different experiences that you've had. But again, just your bravery, your willingness to be here and now and live in the moment, and what that's brought you, because you've gotten to do some really cool things. And so I just really appreciate you sharing all of that and sharing your inspiration as far as, you know, "Go for it. This is the show, that there is no dress rehearsal." [00:24:21] Doug Motel: You know, you asked me about motivational speaking and you're right, yes. I have done a lot of that. I, I wrote a play that was about a British screenwriter being plagued by his own mind, his own inner critic. And then I wound up turning that play into a workshop, the play's called "Mind Salad" and the workshop is, you know, about how we can really identify the voice of criticism, right? And the voice in there that's, it's, it's out to get you it's, it's the voice trying to keep you from being in the now. And so I've done that workshop. I've done it for people with life-threatening illnesses. I've done it for, I think, I think if you go to mindsalad.com, there's information about that. I've done it for people in recovery. I've done it for, you know, all kinds of different organizations. I do a retreat every year. [00:25:07]Last year I did it on Hawaii. And this year I had to do it virtually, but "Playing the Game," I did, it's called "Playing the Game" of the year. So it was "Playing the Game of 2021." And it was a three-day Zoom retreat about looking at the previous year and being complete with it, you know, the good, taking a look at the good, the bad and the ugly and really putting it to bed. And then looking at what do you want the coming year to feel like much more, I'm much more interested nowadays and how do you want it to feel? Because ultimately that's what really matters more than, you know, what do you want to accomplish? So yeah, so I do these workshops. I do coach people on this stuff too. Sometimes I say that I'm a storyteller who helps people look at the story that they're telling themselves about themselves. And I work with people in that way, so yeah, that's a whole other component of it that's, that's pretty important to me. I have a TEDx talk called "Using the Present to Create the Future." You might, you could look for that on YouTube as well. [00:26:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Cool. Awesome. Yeah, I'm definitely going to check that out. Well, this is very exciting and I'm sure that some of our listeners would want to connect with you, follow some of your work, just see what's going on. Do you have a way for us to do that? [00:26:25] Doug Motel: Yeah. So there's dougmotel.com. There's also dougmartel.art. And then on Instagram, there's Doug Motel Art. [00:26:34]Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. [00:26:35] Doug Motel: Yeah. And I'd love to hear from people. If any of this conversation got you thinking about seizing the moment, actually, it's funny, you said "This is the Show." Actually I did write a one man, a musical memoir called "This is the Show." So there's also songs. I wrote some pop songs and there's one is called, "This is the Show." [00:26:55]Lindsey Dinneen: Very nice. Perfect. I love it. Well, okay. So I have three questions that I always like to ask my guests if you're okay with that. [00:27:05] Doug Motel: Yeah, sure. [00:27:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Okay. So first of all, how do you personally define art or what is art to you? [00:27:13]Doug Motel: I think that art is when you actively step into creation and extend that, whatever, you know, whatever it is that created us has, I believe that whatever it is that created us has endowed us with the very same abilities, which is to create. And whenever you step into that and make a choice to create you are partaking in art. You are making art. [00:27:45]Lindsey Dinneen:  I like it. Perfect. Okay. And then w what do you think is the most important role of an artist? [00:27:53]Doug Motel: Well, I think the, the role of the artist is to lead us in our evolution. I think that you know, Darwin pointed out that we evolved from creatures in the sea, you know, we keep evolving and I think that there's an assumption that evolution is just kind of like on autopilot, but I don't. I believe that we could actually hasten the pace of our evolution. We can you know steer and direct our evolution and the ones that do that are the artists. So the role of the artist is nothing short of saving humanity. [00:28:34]Lindsey Dinneen: I love that so much. Okay. And then my final question, and I'll define my terms a little bit, but do you think that art should be inclusive or exclusive? And inclusive referring to an artist who puts their work out there and includes some context behind that, whether it's inspiration or program notes or title, something, versus exclusive referring to an artist who puts their work out there, but it doesn't provide context. And so it's left entirely up to the viewer as to its interpretation. [00:29:09] Doug Motel: Oh, well, as a multi- medium artist, I think it depends on the medium. You know, sometimes for theater, some kind of context may be very helpful to people, whether it's program notes or a prologue or something like that. It can be, you know, really helped the artist to convey the idea. As an abstract painter, I try to stay out of the way. I try not to talk too much about what I was thinking or what was behind when I was making a painting and instead just, you know, I, I feel like my paintings are similar, well, it's kind of similar to-- well, it's funny. I never thought about that til right now, but I always say, you know, people say, "Oh, you do one man shows." And I said, "Well, not really, cause like I do my bit." And then the audience does their bit because I feed off of that energy, you know, I'll throw out something into the audience and then they'll give me back some, you know, laughter or whatever, and then I'll throw it back to them. It's like a game, a toss, you know, like a game of just tossing the ball. [00:30:14]But I just realized now that I think that's what I'm going for also with my painting, because I, half of it is me doing the painting, but then the other half of it is allowing the, the viewer to have their own experience. Sometimes people look at my paintings and they may have a  whole story. And I love that, you know, you can project onto it, you know like Rorschach tests. So in that medium it's best if I get out of the way, but I used to do very real, very, very realistic portraits. And sometimes it was helpful for me to write a little story about who the person was that I was, you know, doing the portrait of  because they were important to me historically, but maybe not a famous person.  Giving people context for who they were made their experience of enjoying the artwork even greater. So it really depends on the medium. [00:31:07]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. That makes complete sense. And I love that you have like an unpacking moment right now about your art. That's really fun. I love it. Perfect. Well, this was incredible. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for sharing your art. Thank you for what you've brought to the world and helping us to evolve. As you mentioned, I really appreciate that you've devoted your life to that and that you've stayed consistent in your mission to bring art to the world. So that's important and valuable. And thank you for doing that. [00:31:44] Doug Motel: Thank you, Lindsey, so much for allowing me to talk about this today. [00:31:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I would highly encourage all of our listeners to check out Doug's website, see some of the work that he's done, go watch the video on Amazon, and all of the other opportunities you have to connect with him. Obviously he is incredibly inspiring and I'm sure that all of us will be so excited to continue to follow his journey. So thank you again, Doug, for being here and thank you to everyone who has listened to this episode. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am, I would love if you would share this with a friend or two and we will catch you next time. [00:32:27]If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much. And I hope your day has been Artfully Told. [00:32:35]Hey, Artfully Told listeners, Lindsey here. And I just want to share with you a little bit more about the SpeakEasy Method. Now, if you've had a chance to listen to Gregg Gonzalez' interview on Artfully Told, you're already a little familiar with the process that is so unique, so cool that is the SpeakEasy Method is for people who are ready to write their books, but maybe aren't super confident about their own writing ability, or just want a more streamlined way of doing it. Gregg and his team at SpeakEasy are experts at these amazing questions that help your authentic voice to shine through. So what they do is they go through recorded audio interviews with you and these recordings are then transcribed and put into manuscript format ready to go. So what's cool about that is instead of months and months, or years and years of you writing a book, they will actually take you from concept to published and it can be as little as nine months. That is one of the most recent success stories that they have accomplished. And it is just a really innovative method that I am personally so excited to help represent and help share the word about because what Gregg and his team are doing is absolutely life-changing for prospective authors. And I highly encourage you to book a discovery call with Gregg  or another member of his team to learn more and see if this could be the perfect fit for you. It's a hundred percent complimentary and you can do so easily by going to his website and that's www.joy-ful-iving.com/speakeasy. And again, that spelled out is J O Y dash F U L living.com/speakeasy.

The nerds are honored to have with them for this mini-series an esteemed guest, Rafeal Clements, who was present at Yale Rep during the development of mulitple Wilson plays. RAFEAL CLEMENTS has worked as an actor, teacher, and director since 1985 - performing the works of playwrights as varied as William Shakespeare, Tony Kushner, Caryl Churchill, Lynn Nottage, Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Anton Chekov, Kia Cothron, Romulus Linney, Timberlake Wertenbaker, and Michael Henry Brown.  Rafeal has performed regionally with Houston's Alley Theater, Yale Repertory Theater, Hartford Stage Company, Indiana Repertory Theater, Portland Stage Company, Berkshire Theater Festival, Playmakers Repertory Company, The Clarence Brown Company, Playhouse on the Green, and the Carpetbag Theater. New York Theater credits include stints with the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, New Federal Theater, Target Margin, Circle Rep Company, HERE, Prospect Theater Company, The Hotel Savant, Ensemble Studio Theater East, and The Lark Play Development Center. Los Angeles Theater includes time with Sacred Fools, Company of Angels, City Garage, and Independent Shakespeare Company. Film and TV credits include roles on “Law and Order”, "As the World Turns”, “Another World”, “New York News”, “Bandwagon”, “Fireflies”, and “The Heartland Series.” . Rafeal has taught acting, scene study, voice, and speech on the high-school level and in acting schools. He currently has spent the past 15 years working with a public charity that provides healthcare to low-income communities in Los Angeles. Rafeal is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Yale School of Drama. On PART 1 we cover: Introduce Rafeal Clements Context MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Film vs Play SUBSCRIBE. RATE. REVIEW!! SCENE: The Piano Lesson - performed by Rafeal Clements as Boy Willie THEME and Stingers: Ryan Thomas Johnson Original Song: Pamela Quinn IG: @theatre_theater_pod Twitter: @the_theatre_pod Gmail: theatretheaterpod@gmail.com tiktok: @theatre_of_the_absurd Resources below BLM Donation and Education LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/NationalResourcesList Black Owned Businesses in LA: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18w-0RBhwBBlXDN9kRV9DVSCAGSCjtHb9K0Pq2YBv18U/htmlview?usp=sharing&pru=AAABcpXptV0*XfoiE2Ay5SJUCEO3tXROGQ&urp=gmail_link MPJI https://marshap.org/ Petitions https://linktr.ee/petitions_123 https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor https://www.change.org/p/adams-county-district-attorney-justice-for-elijah-mcclain-48a81830-f891-4b04-ba28-c2625b916b96 Update Description (https://audioboom.com/posts/7781037-sam-shepard-part-2/edit)

Join us on a little experiment from our Emerging Artists of NEXT @ The Braid! In this episode, you will hear 3 stories that materialized out of a writing exercise that took place during a recent meeting of the council. The stories are loosely inspired by the theme of NEXT's upcoming Salon, For Goodness' Sake [...]

Join us on a little experiment from our Emerging Artists of NEXT @ The Braid! In this episode, you will hear 3 stories that materialized out of a writing exercise that took place during a recent meeting of the council. The stories are loosely inspired by the theme of NEXT's upcoming Salon, For Goodness' Sake [...]

“A window into his soul.” On this episode, Andrew sits down with Laura Ornest, Co-Producer of Mapping of the Mind, to discuss her late brother Maury Ornest. His story is one of several featured in our latest Salon which has been received with such incredible support as we shed light on humorous, heartfelt and hopeful [...]

“A window into his soul.” On this episode, Andrew sits down with Laura Ornest, Co-Producer of Mapping of the Mind, to discuss her late brother Maury Ornest. His story is one of several featured in our latest Salon which has been received with such incredible support as we shed light on humorous, heartfelt and hopeful [...]

We are standing up to cancer during National Breast Cancer Awareness month with two very special performances of a brand new show, Living After! It is a moving, funny, and poignant collection of stories and songs that will uplift and create a conversation around this challenging subject. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS FOR LIVING AFTER [...]

We are standing up to cancer during National Breast Cancer Awareness month with two very special performances of a brand new show, Living After! It is a moving, funny, and poignant collection of stories and songs that will uplift and create a conversation around this challenging subject. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS FOR LIVING AFTER [...]

Don't miss the Crazy Funny Asianz SPECIAL BTS EXCLUSIVE interview with AMY SHU from Artists At Play's OVATION RECOMMENDED production of THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh. Amy talks about her process in building her tour de force performance of 'The Chinese Lady' a two-person play that tells the story of the very first Chinese Immigrant woman, Afong Moy. Amy and Erick get into the details of the character and her story but still manage not to drop any spoilers. The conversation is so elevated Erick doesn't even swear once, until the end. If you're in the SOCAL (and judging from the location STATS a lot of you are) go see 'The Chinese Lady' by Lloyd Suh produced by Artists At Play at the Greenway Court Theater THIS WEEKEND!!! Get your tickets today!!! http://greenwaycourttheatre.org/thechineselady/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/erickesteban)

Everyone loves the movie Love, Actually. Listen to your girls review the live stage musical version that made it's world premier in LA!

In this episode, Maureen is joined by guest host Andrew Fromer to chat with two actors from our first salon of the season, Debbie Kaspar and Rosie Moss! Debbie is a two-time Emmy-nominated writer and an award-winning comedian who has written for Roseanne, The Rosie O'Donnel Show among others. Rosie is a JWT veteran having [...]

In this episode, Maureen is joined by guest host Andrew Fromer to chat with two actors from our first salon of the season, Debbie Kaspar and Rosie Moss! Debbie is a two-time Emmy-nominated writer and an award-winning comedian who has written for Roseanne, The Rosie O'Donnel Show among others. Rosie is a JWT veteran having [...]

Recorded live at the Los Angeles Theater, this episode features Erin Gruwell's conversation with Eva Schloss, Holocaust survivor and step-sister of Anne Frank. Eva talks about her friendship with Anne when they were young girls, the terror of living in hiding during the Nazi regime, and the tragedy of being captured and sent to Auschwitz. After Eva was liberated with her mother, their story took a surprising twist when they were reunited with Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father. What followed is a tender story of healing and hope. Links and Resources: Buy Eva Schloss's Book, "Eva's Story" https://amzn.to/2JnecRq Eva Returns to Rescue Her Brother's Paintings: https://bit.ly/2iVZ25a "Living In the Shadow of Anne Frank" https://bit.ly/2sMFYOT http://www.annefrank.org/en/ Holocaust Education www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust www.museumoftolerance.com www.holocaust.org.uk Learn more about the Freedom Writers Foundation: www.freedomwritersfoundation.org Buy Signed Copies of Freedom Writers Books www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Vicki Schairer and Andrew Fromer are two young artists making their way through the Los Angeles entertainment industry. They also happen to be original members of JWT's cutting edge fellowship known as NEXT @ The Braid, a program through which JWT gives voice, support and resources to emerging artists thanks to a very generous grant [...]

Vicki Schairer and Andrew Fromer are two young artists making their way through the Los Angeles entertainment industry. They also happen to be original members of JWT's cutting edge fellowship known as NEXT @ The Braid, a program through which JWT gives voice, support and resources to emerging artists thanks to a very generous grant [...]

In today's episode, Lisa and Maureen sit down with Shelly Goldstein and Melanie Chartoff (see below for bios), two incredibly funny women that have written and performed in several of JWT's shows throughout the years including The Matzo Ball Diaries and Reckoning with Dad. Join us to find out how Shelly and Melanie got their [...]

In today's episode, Lisa and Maureen sit down with Shelly Goldstein and Melanie Chartoff (see below for bios), two incredibly funny women that have written and performed in several of JWT's shows throughout the years including The Matzo Ball Diaries and Reckoning with Dad. Join us to find out how Shelly and Melanie got their [...]

The Space Between explores humorous, heartbreaking and surprising stories that cut to the heart of what divides us and illuminate the yearnings and struggles, successes and failures of reaching out to find common ground. In this episode, we are bringing you a selection of pieces from the show. To hear the show in its entirety, check [...]

The Space Between explores humorous, heartbreaking and surprising stories that cut to the heart of what divides us and illuminate the yearnings and struggles, successes and failures of reaching out to find common ground. In this episode, we are bringing you a selection of pieces from the show. To hear the show in its entirety, check [...]

A Los Angeles Theater of the Ear production of a play by Corrado Costa, translated and directed by Paul Vangelisti. Special thanks to the Pacifica Radio Archive for their generous support on this episode. Explore their extensive collections here: https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org

Dennis and Tony catch a screening of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the historic Los Angeles Theater.  While Dennis and his friend Glenn explore the theater, Tony saves seats and fights off interlopers and a self-described "really good top."  Dennis cowboys up for his return to country two-stepping while Tony contends with Facebook drama and Flaky Date-age.