Podcast appearances and mentions of nedra mcclyde

Nedra McClyde is New York based actor born in Maryland. She is a descendant of American Slaves, and this episode focuses on that lineage.  She moved to New York to pursue the arts. Her professional credits include Mr. Burns at Playwrights Horizons, Headstrong at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Macbeth at Classical Theatre of Harlem. Nedra is a recipient of New Dramatists' Charles Bowden Award, two-time AUDELCO Award nominee, NYIT Best Leading Actress nominee, Associate Artist with The Civilians, MFA graduate of The Actors Studio Drama School, Assistant Professor of Acting at the New School for Drama, and Adjunct at Pace School of Performing Arts. Favorite regional theater includes Good People at The Old Globe and Fairfield at Cleveland Play House. Nedra has made television appearances on new Netlfix/Marvel series "Jessica Jones," "Blue Bloods," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "30 Rock," "As the World Turns" and "One Life to Live." Please visit her website.

This is the second episode of Let Me Ascertain You is drawn from “Flops, Failures and Fiascos,” an original cabaret that explored and celebrated disasters of all shades as told by those who have survived the shame, horror and glory of failing big. “Flops, Failures and Fiascos,” was curated by 2015-16 R&D Group directors Sanaz Ghajar and Colette Robert and featured interviews conducted by the Civilians’ Field Research Team. This episode features two original songs and a story about extra special flops that live on as spectacular stories Maria-Christina Oliveras performs “The Only Time,” written by Eric March about an extra bloody production of "Hamlet". Next, we hear Cindy Cheung perform “Lament for a Tuesday (or, Aftermath,” a song written by Sam Chanse and Christopher Larkin that tells the tale of a Tinder date gone spectacularly wrong. Finally, the episode closes with Nic Cory portraying Michael R., a theater critic whose sharp tongued response to a production of "Fiddler on the Roof" garnered him a blow to the head. “Flops, Failures and Fiascos” was performed live at the Metropolitan Room on February 23, 2016. Sanaz Ghajar and Colette Robert directed a cast that featured Ally Bonino, Cindy Cheung, Nic Cory, Cornelius Davidson, Alex Grubbs, Jen Kwok, Nedra McClyde, Maria-Christina Oliveras and Chris Tyler.  The cabaret featured songs written by Adam Cochran, Jo Lampert and Matthew Marsh; Julia Meinwald and Gordon Leary; Eric March; Sam Chanse and Christopher Larkin; and Trevor Bachman. Featured musicians included Trevor Bachman, Alex Grubbs, Cheeyoung Kim, Eric March and Greg Tock.

This episode of Let Me Ascertain You is drawn from Flops, Failures and Fiascos, an original cabaret that explored and celebrated disasters of all shades as told by those who have survived the shame, horror and glory of failing big. Flops, Failures and Fiascos was curated by 2015-16 R&D Group directors Sanaz Ghajar and Colette Robert and featured interviews conducted by the Civilians’ Field Research Team. In this episode we hear two original songs and a pair of intertwined monologues all surrounding epic fails. First, Jen Kwok, Ally Bonino, Cindy Cheung, Nic Cory and Alex Grubbs perform “Go For It,” written by Adam Cochran, Jo Lampert and Matthew Marsh. Next, we hear Ally Bonino sing “Lost and Found,” written by Julia Meinwald and Gordon Leary. This original song draws upon an interview with a woman who flirts with disaster, but makes it by with a little help from her friends. Finally, the episode closes with Maria-Christina Oliveras and Chris Tyler portraying guests at two different, but equally calamitous, wedding celebrations. Flops, Failures and Fiascos was performed live at the Metropolitan Room on February 23, 2016. Sanaz Ghajar and Colette Robert directed a cast that featured Ally Bonino, Cindy Cheung, Nic Cory, Cornelius Davidson, Alex Grubbs, Jen Kwok, Nedra McClyde, Maria-Christina Oliveras and Chris Tyler.  The cabaret featured songs written by Adam Cochran, Jo Lampert and Matthew Marsh; Julia Meinwald and Gordon Leary; Eric March; Sam Chanse and Christopher Larkin; and Trevor Bachman. Featured musicians included Trevor Bachman, Alex Grubbs, Cheeyoung Kim, Eric March and Greg Tock.To hear more of these podcasts, subscribe to Let Me Ascertain You here on Soundcloud, or on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/let-m…cast/id477971690

For this episode of Let Me Ascertain You, we bring you back to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where The Civilians are artists in residence. As part of our research, we were wandering through some of the museum's halls like the Petrie Court, looking at nude sculptures that fill that space, like Jacques Sarazin’s gentle Leda and the Swan and Antonio Canova’s indifferent Paris. Surrounded by such a rich history of the representation of the human form, we questioned how the human body and what we find beautiful have changed through time. In our last podcast, we brought you some of our interviews with Met curators who spoke about these dynamic human representations. For this episode, we've gathered other conversations from the past couple of years that also examine these intertwining themes of beauty, love, and the body. First, Jeanine Serralles brings us to the El Buen Pastor Women’s Prison with Ana Yolanda, a contestant in the prison’s annual beauty pageant. Nedra McClyde performs Pookie, from our investigation into Weddings in America, and Damian Bladet gives us an interview with the founder of NYC’s Hot Nude Yoga. Finally, Alyse Louis closes with a performance of the original song “Pretty Monster,” written by Robin Eaton and Jill Sobule for our new musical “Times Square.” We’ll be closing out our year as artists-in-residence at the Met with one more cabaret in mid-May. Taking its title — “The Way They Live” — from Thomas Anschutz’s painting, the original play with music will explore concepts of America and how American art reflects those ideas. For more information about the Met residency, please visit The Civilians’ website: www.thecivilians.org

This is our fourth and final episode of our Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941, taking inspiration from a study conducted in the 1930’s by Dr. George Henry in which he interviewed a couple hundred individuals and cataloged data such as a complete family history with symbols to indicate who had what venereal disease, tuberculosis, alcoholism, who committed suicide, who was psychotic. We set some of these personal histories to song and brought others to life with monologues performed at Joe’s Pub in NYC. To kick us off, we’ll start with a song written and performed by Max Vernon taking inspiration from the case study of Moses I. And the little intro you’ll hear is taken from Dr. Henry’s own words, performed by Trey Lyford. Also featured, actor Nedra McClyde performing the case study of Myrtle K, a vaudeville comedian. After that, we’ll wrap things up with a sea shanty, “Odd Girl Out” written by Jill Sobule, inspired by Roberta H., and performed by Marykate O’Neil. Many thanks to everyone involved in this project and our project contributors Ian Daniel, Joel Glassman, Amina Henry, Leicester Landon, and Benjamin Viertel. For more, please visit http://www.thecivilians.org.To leave a comment, please visit The Civilians' blog http://blogforthecivilians.blogspot.com/!

We’re starting up a new series here at Let Me Ascertain You called “Holy Matrimony!" With DOMA getting taken down by the Supreme Court this past summer and with marriage equality spreading state by state, we thought it was a good time to look in our own Civiliansy way at that very special occasion – the wedding. For the past few months, our intrepid team of interviewers gathered stories from all over America for glimpses into weddings in a Vegas Wedding Chapel, a Courthouse in Louisiana, and even a Taco Bell in Normal, Illinois. Everything was recorded live at Joe’s Pub here in New York City. We start this first podcast episode with a couple from own home turf, Brooklyn: Becca and Jon, portrayed by Jess Watkins and Trey Lyford. Then, Nedra McClyde plays Ashley, a bride in Michigan who gets into all the details about her wedding night (you might want to send the kids outside to play during that one). To close things out, we’ve got a song by Michael Friedman. This is “Little Match Girl,” a song that has nothing to do with Hans Christian Andersen. This one’s taken from an interview we did with supposedly the number one matchmaker to the rich and powerful here in New York. Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Amina Henry and Talya Klein . If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to hear upcoming episodes in this “Holy Matrimony” series. For more, please visit http://www.thecivilians.org.To leave a comment, please visit The Civilians' blog http://blogforthecivilians.blogspot.com/!