Podcasts about south coast rep

"Directors are authors of a production," is the vision held by Trip Cullman, director of the play, We Had a World. This beautiful play explores intergenerational relationships in a family with complicated dynamics. Starring Joanna Gleason, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Jeanine Serralles and written by Joshua Harmon. Sarah and Trip discuss the play, queer representation on stage, the importances of live theatre, and more! Trip Cullman (Director). Broadway: Cult Of Love, The Rose Tattoo, Choir Boy, Lobby Hero (Tony nom., Best Revival), Six Degrees of Separation (Tony nom., Best Revival), Significant Other. Select Off Broadway: I Can Get It For You Wholesale (Best Revival, Drama Desk and Outer Critics) (CSC); The Lonely Few, Moscow Moscow…, YEN, Punk Rock (Obie), A Funny Thing Happened… (MCC); Days Of Rage, The Layover, The Substance of Fire, Lonely I'm Not, Bachelorette, Some Men, Swimming In The Shallows (Second Stage); Unknown Soldier, The Pain Of My Belligerence, Assistance, A Small Fire (Drama Desk nom.), The Drunken City (Playwrights Horizons); Significant Other (Roundabout); Choir Boy (MTC); Murder Ballad (MTC and Union Square); The Mother, I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Roulette (EST); The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing (Rattlestick); The Last Sunday In June (Rattlestick and Century Center); Dog Sees God (Century Center); US Drag (stageFARM); several productions with The Play Company. Select regional: Berkeley Rep, McCarter, Geffen, Arena, Alliance, Old Globe, La Jolla, South Coast Rep, Bay Street, Williamstown. Connect with GOOD SHOW! Instagram: ⁠@goodshowpodcast⁠  Tik Tok: ⁠@goodshowpodcast ⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor Asher Grodman Interview | The Brett Allan Show | Playing 'Trevor' on 'Ghosts' CBS. SPOILER-FREE WATCH HERE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCKlp-qZeS4&t=182s Connect with us on our website for more amazing conversations! www.brettallanshow.com Have you got some feedback? Let us know! openmicguest@gmail.com Follow us on social media! Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thebrettallanshow Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brettallanshow/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheBrettAllanShow/videos LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-allan-009458168/ Support the show! VENMO @-Brett-Allan-7 Cash App @brettallanshow74  Asher Grodman is an actor, director, writer and producer who has worked across all mediums and currently stars as Trevor on the CBS hit comedy Ghosts. Other recent television appearances include Succession (HBO), Chicago Med (NBC), House of Cards(Netflix), Elementary (CBS) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit(NBC). He's worked extensively in independent film and theater across the country including the title role of Amadeus at South Coast Rep. Asher Grodman is also an award winning filmmaker. He wrote and directed the viral Jacksonville Jaguars 2023 Schedule Release (Webby Award for Best Scripted Video) - a mockumentary about the NFL being scripted. His short film The Train starring Academy Award Winner Eli Wallach, was featured in over 25 festivals and won numerous honors including recognitions for Best Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Sedona International Film Festival.  Asher holds a MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and a BA in Film and English from Columbia University in New York. He also teaches acting in the Hunter College Theater Department and previously to the inmates at Rikers Island.  https://www.ashergrodman.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR: Deutero-Fung, a mold spore with big ideas, attempts to rally his fellow mold spores into blooming immediately and take over the apartment-verse, but Hyphae-Fung, a mold spore with even bigger ideas, warns the community that blooming early will be a mistake. Look out! Cuz it's Happening in your Refrigerator! Written by Greg Kotis Directed by Jonathan Cook Performed by Sol Baird as "Deutero-Fung"; Brad King as "Hyphae-Fung"; and the cast of Urinetown the Musical at Le Chat Noir Theatre as the mold spore community. Intro/Outro music: JK/47 About the writer: GREG KOTIS is a two time Tony™ Award winning author of many plays and musicals including Urinetown (Book/Lyrics), The End of All Flesh, I Am Nobody, The Truth About Santa, The Sting (Lyrics), Lunchtime, Give the People What They Want, Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, and Jobey and Katherine. His work has been produced and developed in theaters across the country and around the world, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater, American Theater Company, The Apollo (West End), The Brick, the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Conference, The Geva Center, Goodspeed, Musicals, Henry Miller's Theatre (Broadway), Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Stage and Film, New Line Theatre, The Old Globe, Perseverance Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep, The Saint James (Off West End), The Tank, and Village Theatre, among others. Future projects include ZM, an original musical about teenaged fast-food workers trying to survive a zombie plague. Greg co-founded Theater of The Apes with his wife Ayun Halliday (www.theater-of-the-apes.com), and is a member of the Neo-Futurists, the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, ASCAP, and the Dramatists Guild. He grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, lives in New York City, and is the proud father of India and Milo. You can watch the full video of this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@GatherbytheGhostLight Gather by the Ghost Light merch is available at www.ghostlightpubs.com (Ghost Light Publications) If you would like to further support this podcast, please visit Gather by the Ghost Light is increasing public knowledge of emerging writers and actors (buymeacoffee.com) If you enjoy this podcast, please please please leave a rating on your preferred podcast app! For more info or if you wish to contact us, please visit www.gatherbytheghostlight.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Lucero is artistic director of Theater Latté Da, in Minneapolis. In addition to nearly a dozen works directed for El Paso Opera,  Justin enjoys a robust freelance directing career for professional and academic stages, including past work with Abingdon Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Creede Repertory Theatre, University of Texas El Paso, UTEP Dinner Theatre, the University of Houston, and Scaffolding Theatre, of which he was also Co-Founding Artistic Director.  As an assistant and associate director, he has worked with such major institutions as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Rep, and Asolo Repertory Theatre under the mentorship of industry leaders including artistic director-producer Bill Rauch, director-playwright Lisa Peterson, director-choreographer Art Manke, artistic director Michael Donald Edwards, director-choreographer Peter Amster, Olivier-winning artistic director Timothy Sheader, Tony-winning playwright-director Mark Medoff, and Tony®-winning director-playwright Frank Galati.  Justin succeeded Theater Latté Da's founding artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who departed the organization at the end of June after 25 years of leadership, to assume a new role as producing artistic director of Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota.

Jeff McKnight, a ruthless corporate executive, discovers that firing the employees of hisrecently acquired company is not so easy as their Christmas spirit is way more ‘real' than even his grinch-heart can handle.Ann Noble is both playwright and director of Right Down Santa Claus Lane. Ann is anaward-winning playwright/new media writer, actor, solo performer, director, arts educator, private acting coach and jail chaplain.  Her work has been produced all over the country and the world, and she has performed/directed in Chicago, NYC, D.C., Edinburgh, Sydney, and extensively in SoCal; theatrical credits here include work with: South Coast Rep, ICT of Long Beach, EST of Santa Barbara, Malibu Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Antaeus (company member), Vs., Moving Arts, LA's LBGT Center, Echo (company member), The Victory, Inkwell, The Road, Rogue Machine (company member), Boston Court, Warriors For Peace, LifeChild Prods, Two Heads Are Better Prods, LA's Holocaust Museum, Museum of Tolerance, YWCA and Homeboy Industries.  IG: @sparksjacks and more info about her work with the incarcerated at  prismjustice.org  Ms. Noble's cast for Right Down Santa Claus Lane includes Kim Hlavac, MichaelPerlmutter, Deidra Edwards, Rob Banks, and Rob Nagle.Founded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception. Open-Door Playhouse has presented Short and One-Act plays from Playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the Play Custody and in 2023 the play What's Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.Plays are produced by Bernadette Armstrong, the Sound Engineer is David Peters, sound effects are provided by Audio Jungle, and music from Karaoke Version. All plays are recorded at The Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA.There's no paywall at the Open-Door Playhouse site, so you can listen to everything for free. Open-Door Playhouse is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and if you would like to support performances of works by new and emerging playwrights, your donation will be gratefully accepted. Your tax-deductible donations help keep our plays on the Podcast Stage. We strive to bring our listeners thoughtful and surprising one-act plays and ten-minute shorts that showcase insightful and new perspectives of the world we share with others. To listen or to donate (or both), go to  https://opendoorplayhouse.orgSupport the show

Today Ledslie talks to Dianah Wynter. Wynter was born and raised in New York. She directed Intimate Betrayal (1999), HappySAD (2009), and Daddy's Girl (1996), for which she received an Emmy nomination. Her stage directing credits include the world premiere of The Interrogation of Nathan Hale at South Coast Rep, Mules at San Francisco's Magic Theatre and American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), the latter starring Anika Noni Rose. She was a regular director for the Mark Taper's New Work Fest, and NEA Director Fellow for The Goodman Theatre. At Princeton, she composed music for Triangle club comedy revues, collaborating with classmates such as Douglas McGrath, David E. Kelley, Eric Schlosser and John Seabrook.A graduate of the Yale school of drama. She was asst director for Lloyd Richards on the world premieres of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Fences. She mounted the second company of Fences at Seattle Rep starring Frances Foster and Samuel L. Jackson. Dianah is an author and co-editor of Referentiality and the Films of Woody Allen (Palgrave Macmillan). Her most recent book is The Post Soul Cinema of Kasi Lemmons.In 2019, she was elected Chair of the Cinema & Television Arts department at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), which consistently ranks in the Hollywood Reporters Top 25 film schools. She is the first black woman to head a Top film school. During her term as Chair, she initiated the virtual production initiative, with the support of strategic partner, Halon Entertainment; by 2021, CSUN made it into the top 20 of The Wraps Top 50 Film Schools, breaking in at #17.

Erik Jensen is an actor, writer and director. As an actor, Erik appeared regularly in both seasons of the ABC series “For Life.” Other TV credits include major arcs on “The Walking Dead,” “Mindhunter” and “Mr. Robot,” appearances on “The Americans,” “House of Cards,” “Elementary,” The Blacklist,” and many more, including his critically acclaimed portrayal of legendary NY Yankee Thurman Munson in “The Bronx is Burning.” Film credits include the upcoming Viral with Blair Underwood and Alfre Woodard, Black Knight, The Love Letter and more than two dozen indie films. His theater credits as an actor include The Collaboration on Broadway opposite Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope, the Pulitzer-Prize winning production of Disgraced at Lincoln Center, The Good Negro at the Public Theater, Arthur Kopit's Y2K and Terrance McNally's Corpus Christi at MTC, and Lester Bangs in his play How To Be A Rock Critic (Kirk Douglas, South Coast Rep, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf, The Public). Erik's sci-fi graphic novel The Reconcilers was published in 2010 to wide acclaim, and he is co-host and co-creator of the podcast BardQuest Empire, which brings together entertainment industry professionals who play Dungeons & Dragons to talk about the intersections of D&D and storytelling. @ejensen123 -instagram @erikjensen123 - twitter https://www.instagram.com/shesallovertheplacepodcast/ https://www.chonacas.com/contact/    

Erik Jensen is an actor, writer and director. As an actor, Erik appeared regularly in both seasons of the ABC series “For Life.” Other TV credits include major arcs on “The Walking Dead,” “Mindhunter” and “Mr. Robot,” appearances on “The Americans,” “House of Cards,” “Elementary,” The Blacklist,” and many more, including his critically acclaimed portrayal of legendary NY Yankee Thurman Munson in “The Bronx is Burning.” Film credits include the upcoming Viral with Blair Underwood and Alfre Woodard, Black Knight, The Love Letter and more than two dozen indie films. His theater credits as an actor include The Collaboration on Broadway opposite Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope, the Pulitzer-Prize winning production of Disgraced at Lincoln Center, The Good Negro at the Public Theater, Arthur Kopit's Y2K and Terrance McNally's Corpus Christi at MTC, and Lester Bangs in his play How To Be A Rock Critic (Kirk Douglas, South Coast Rep, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf, The Public). Erik's sci-fi graphic novel The Reconcilers was published in 2010 to wide acclaim, and he is co-host and co-creator of the podcast BardQuest Empire, which brings together entertainment industry professionals who play Dungeons & Dragons to talk about the intersections of D&D and storytelling. As a writer, Erik has been named by the New Yorker as “among the foremost practitioners of documentary theater in the U.S.” With his wife Jessica Blank, he is author of The Exonerated, a genre-defining play based on interviews they conducted with over 40 wrongly convicted death row inmates across the United States, which Governor George Ryan cited as instrumental in his 2003 decision to clear Illinois' death row. The Exonerated won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards, and was nominated for the Hull-Warriner Award and the John Gassner Playwriting Award; it has also received awards from Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Death Penalty Focus, and Court TV, and was named Best Play of the Year by the New York Times. The Exonerated has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Farsi, Mandarin and Japanese and adapted by Erik and Jessica into an award-winning TV movie starring Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Aidan Quinn and Delroy Lindo. Living Justice, Erik and Jessica's book on the making of The Exonerated, was published by Simon and Schuster. Their documentary play Aftermath, based on interviews they conducted with Iraqi civilian refugees in Jordan, had its Off Broadway premiere at New York Theater Workshop, was a New York Times Critics' Pick, toured internationally for two years and was nominated for two Drama League Awards. Their play How to be a Rock Critic (based on the writings of Lester Bangs) played sold-out runs at the Kirk Douglas, South Coast Rep, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf, and the Public Theater, with Erik starring as Lester Bangs; they are currently developing How To Be A Rock Critic for feature film. Their documentary play Coal Country, about West Virginia's 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, opened at the Public Theater on March 3, 2020, with original music written and performed by three-time Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Earle (Edgerton New Play Award, 2 Drama Desk noms, Lortel Award nom). When its run was cut short by COVID-19, the pair pivoted and wrote The Line, a documentary play based on firsthand interviews with NYC medical first responders at the height of the pandemic, starring Lorraine Toussaint, John Ortiz, Alison Pill, Santino Fontana and more. Also a NYT Critics' Pick, The Line garnered rave reviews from coast to coast and was viewed by over 85,000 people in 50 countries. Coal Country recently reopened commercially at the Cherry Lane Theater in 2022 to massive critical acclaim, produced by the Public and Audible, and was recorded for Audible Theater (Signal Award for Best Drama) . Erik and Jessica currently have a major new musical under commission with the Public Theater. As TV/screenwriters, Erik and Jessica currently have projects in development with David Simon/Blown Deadline, Levinson/Fontana, and Ed Burns (The Wire, Generation Kill). They wrote the pilot The Negotiator for Gaumont TV (EP Tom Fontana) and have developed with Fox TV Studios, 20th Century TV, Levinson/Fontana, Avenue Pictures, Sunswept, Virgin Produced, and Radical Media. Erik and Jessica's first feature as writer/directors, Almost Home, was released by Vertical Entertainment in 2019 and their second scripted feature, How To Be A Rock Critic, is currently in development. They are in pre-production with Meteor17 to co-direct a feature documentary about legendary rock engineer Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones) in collaboration with the Hendrix estate, and in development for a feature documentary about the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, produced by Audrey Rosenberg (I Am Not Your Negro, HBO's Katrina Babies) and executive produced by Steve Earle. Erik lives in Brooklyn with his wife Jessica and their daughter Sadie. Connect more with Erik:  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ejensen123 Twitter https://twitter.com/erikjensen123   Please consider SUPPORTING my SHOW, SUBSCRIBE to the NEWSLETTER, ENTER in the GIVEAWAYS https://www.chonacas.com/contact/ Social media links: https://twitter.com/katiechonacas https://www.instagram.com/chonacas https://www.instagram.com/shesallovertheplacepodcast/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiechonacas   Disclaimer: None of the information in the podcast should be considered as a financial advice. Always do your own research.

Finding your passion, embracing delayed gratification and becoming a master at your craft – on this episode of THINK Business Exclusives. Douglas Sills can currently be seen in the HBO original series “The Gilded Age.” He received Tony & Drama Desk Award nominations for his performance in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway. Other Broadway/New York: War Paint; Living on Love; Little Shop of Horrors (Drama League Award); Nantucket Sleighride; Mack & Mabel, Hey Look Me Over, Lady Be Good, Music in the Air, Carnival (Encores). National Tour: The Addams Family; The Secret Garden; Into the Woods. Regional: starring roles at La Jolla, Long Wharf, Westport, Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep, Reprise, California Shakespeare Festival. Other TV/Film: “Christmas on the Square” for Netflix, “Katy Keene”, “Chicago Justice,” “CSI,” “The Closer,” “Numb3rs,” “Will & Grace,” “Erotic Fire of the Unattainable,” “Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo.”   Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/  Website: https://jondwoskin.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/  Email: jon@jondwoskin.com  Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!

Tony Award Winning Playwright Itamar Moses stopped by Playwright's Spotlight. Chock full of humorous moments, Itamar shares his experience adapting the cherished animated film An American Tale for the stage, children's ability to suspend disbelief, and avoiding dumbing down the material for a younger audience. We also discuss when it's time for a table read and recognizing when the pace is slowing down during the developmental process. In addition, we talk about the impact of Tony Kushner's Angels in America in Itamar's playwriting career, his journey through NYU and pathway to the Tony's, craft vs voice and ambition, how to make something work, and the importance of always getting the story right first. We close the conversation with getting commissioned and what it entails as well as the death of theatre. I hope you enjoy this latest episode with Itamar Moses.Itamar Moses is the Tony-winning author of the full-length plays OUTRAGE, BACH AT LEIPZIG, CELEBRITY ROW, THE FOUR OF US, YELLOWJACKETS, BACK BACK BACK, COMPLETENESS, and THE WHISTLEBLOWER, the evening of short plays LOVE/STORIES (OR BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT), and the musicals NOBODY LOVES YOU (with Gaby Alter), FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (with Michael Friedman), and THE BAND'S VISIT (with David Yazbek). His work has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and elsewhere in New York, at regional theatres across the country and in Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Venezuela, Turkey and Chile, and is published by Faber & Faber and Samuel French. He's received new play commissions from The McCarter, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Rep, The Wilma Theater, South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, and The Goodman. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. To view the video format of this episode, visit the link below -https://youtu.be/XX_jOKvh3lgLinks to sites and resources mentioned in this episode - Children's Theatre Company -https://childrenstheatre.org/NYU -https://www.nyu.eduHangar Theatre -https://hangartheatre.orgPortland Center Stage -https://www.pcs.orgManhatten Theatre Club -https://www.manhattantheatreclub.comPlaywrights Horizons -https://www.playwrightshorizons.orgBerkley Rep -https://www.berkeleyrep.orgSloan Foundation - https://sloan.orgDrama Book Shop -https://dramabookshop.comWebsites and socials for James Elden, Punk Monkey Productions and Playwright's SpotlightPunk Monkey Productions - www.punkmonkeyproductions.comPLAY Noir -www.playnoir.comPLAY Noir Anthology –www.punkmonkeyproductions.com/contact.htmlJames Elden -Twitter - @jameseldensauerIG - @alakardrakeFB - fb.com/jameseldensauerPunk Monkey Productions and PLAY Noir - Twitter - @punkmonkeyprods                  - @playnoirla IG - @punkmonkeyprods       - @playnoir_la FB - fb.com/playnoir        - fb.com/punkmonkeyproductionsPlaywright's Spotlight -Twitter - @wrightlightpod IG - @playwrights_spotlightPlaywriting services through Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festivalwww.losangelescollegiateplaywrightsfestival.com/services.htmlSupport the show

Jared Mezzocchi (jaredmezzocchi.com)(TW:@JaredMezzocchi) is an two-time Obie Award-winning theater artist, working most notably as a director and multimedia designer. Mezzocchi's work has appeared at theaters nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, the Geffen Playhouse, Vineyard Theater, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth (company member), Milwaukee Rep, South Coast Rep, Portland Centerstage, and many more. In 2016, he received an Obie, Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for his work in Qui Nguyen's “Vietgone” at the Manhattan Theatre club. In 2020, the New York Times spotlighted his multimedia innovations during the pandemic alongside the work of four other theater artists, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paula Vogel. His work on Sarah Gancher's digital premiere of “Russian Troll Farm” (co-director & multimedia designer, and second Obie) was also celebrated as a New York Times critic pick, and praised for being one of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. Mezzocchi is a two-time Macdowell Artist Fellow, a 2012 Princess Grace Award winner, and is an Associate Professor at The University of Maryland, where he teaches in the MFA Design program for the projection and multimedia track. He grew up in New Hampshire, and returns every summer to serve as Producing Artistic Director of Andy's Summer Playhouse, an innovative children's theater producing original work by professional artists from across the country. 

Jared Mezzocchi (jaredmezzocchi.com)(TW:@JaredMezzocchi) is an two-time Obie Award-winning theater artist, working most notably as a director and multimedia designer. Mezzocchi's work has appeared at theaters nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, the Geffen Playhouse, Vineyard Theater, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth (company member), Milwaukee Rep, South Coast Rep, Portland Centerstage, and many more. In 2016, he received an Obie, Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for his work in Qui Nguyen's “Vietgone” at the Manhattan Theatre club. In 2020, the New York Times spotlighted his multimedia innovations during the pandemic alongside the work of four other theater artists, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paula Vogel. His work on Sarah Gancher's digital premiere of “Russian Troll Farm” (co-director & multimedia designer, and second Obie) was also celebrated as a New York Times critic pick, and praised for being one of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. Mezzocchi is a two-time Macdowell Artist Fellow, a 2012 Princess Grace Award winner, and is an Associate Professor at The University of Maryland, where he teaches in the MFA Design program for the projection and multimedia track. He grew up in New Hampshire, and returns every summer to serve as Producing Artistic Director of Andy's Summer Playhouse, an innovative children's theater producing original work by professional artists from across the country. 

Eric Coble is back to answer all the playwriting & adaptation questions that Melissa wanted to ask in Episode 1. (If you haven't listened to that one yet, go check it out!)In this episode, we discuss:How Hollywood can put an already-written stage adaptation on hold indefinitelyIf a playwright really needs to live in New York to get work and make a livingEric's mountain metaphor as it relates to writing a new playAdvice for emerging playwrightsAnd more!Resources MentionedMen are from Mars, Women are from Venus LIVE!Dramatists GuildAbout Our GuestEric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. His scripts have been produced on Broadway (Tony-and Pulitzer-nominated The Velocity of Autumn), Off-Broadway (Bright Ideas, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Side Effects May Include…), in Disney Theme Parks (Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple), in all fifty states of the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Habima Theatre (Israel), Pentacion Productions (Spain), Teatr Polski (Poland), Orange Row (Mexico), and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (U.S.).Awards include two AATE Distinguished Play Awards for Best Adaptation, an Emmy nomination, the Chorpenning Playwriting Award for Body of Work, the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, a TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grants. Thirty of Mr. Coble's scripts have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Krause and others.Connect with Our GuestEric's website Read Eric's plays on New Play Exchange FConnect with host Melissa Schmitz***Sign up for the 101 Stage Adaptations Newsletter***101 Stage AdaptationsFollow the Podcast on Facebook & InstagramRead Melissa's plays on New Play ExchangeConnect with Melissa on LinkedInWays to support the show:- Buy Me a Coffee- Tell us your thoughts in our Listener Survey!- Give a 5-Star rating- Write a glowing review on Apple Podcasts - Send this episode to a friend- Share on social media (Tag us so we can thank you!)Creators: Host your podcast through Buzzsprout using my affiliate link & get a $20 credit on your paid account. Let your fans directly support you via Buy Me a Coffee (affiliate link).

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Host Miko Lee talks about Theatre & Memory with Bay Area native artists: composer Byron Au Yong and playwright Lauren Yee. They provide behind the scenes news about their upcoming productions at ACT and Berkeley Rep. More info on our guests: Byron Au Yong, composer The Headlands, ACT   Lauren Yee, playwright Cambodian Rock Band, Berkeley Rep   Transcript: Theatre and Memory or Why Art Matters [00:00:00] Miko Lee: Good evening and welcome to APEX Express. I'm your host, Miko Lee, and tonight we're talking about theater and memory or why art matters. So many artists grapple with this concept of memory and how each of us has a different story to share. And tonight we get to hear from two bay area locals, a playwright, and a composer, each share a bit about their creative process and why art matters to them. I have the pleasure of speaking with composer, Byron Au Yong who had been creating music for the Headlands, which opens this weekend at act. And with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band comes back home to Berkeley rep at the end of the month. First off. Let's take a listen to one of Byron Al Yong's compositions called know your rights. This is part of the trilogy of the Activists Songbook. This multi-lingual rap, give steps to know what to do when ice officers come to your door. song That was know your rights performed by Jason Chu with lyrics by Aaron Jeffries and composed by my guest, Byron Au Yong. Welcome, Byron Au Yong to Apex Express. We're so happy to hear from you. [00:04:11] Byron Au Yong: Thanks, Miko. It's so great to be here. [00:04:13] Miko Lee: I wanna talk to you about a couple of things. First and foremost, you have the Headlands that is opening up at ACT really soon. Tell me about who your people are and where you come from. [00:04:27] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, left China in the late thirties and they both immigrated to the Philippines. And so both my parents were born to Philippines in different areas. And so I come from a family of refugees who then settled into Philippines and my parents were not the first in their family. They were actually both the fourth and they left and immigrated to the United States when the United States opened up immigration in post 1965. So they were part of that wave. And then I was born in Pittsburgh. They, they were actually introduced here in Seattle. And I was born in Pittsburgh because my dad was in school there. And then they moved back to Seattle. So I'm from Seattle and in 2016 I moved to San Francisco. [00:05:17] Miko Lee: Thank you. So you are a composer. Have you always played music and have you always been attuned to audio? Tell me about how you got started as a composer. [00:05:28] Byron Au Yong: Sure. As a kid my parents divorced when I was age seven and I was an only child up until age 16. My mom worked. In the evenings. And my dad wasn't in the household and so I had a lot of time to myself and I would sing a lot to myself. And then my next door neighbor was a piano teacher, and so I started to play the piano at age nine, and then at age 11 I started to write stuff down. And yeah, so I've been doing music for a bit. [00:05:59] Miko Lee: So music has always been a part of your life, essentially. It's been your playmate since you were young. [00:06:04] Byron Au Yong: Yes, absolutely [00:06:05] Miko Lee: Love that. So tell us about the Headlands that's gonna be opening at ACT pretty soon. [00:06:11] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so The Headlands is a play by Christopher Chen, who you may know is playwright, who is born and raised and continues to live in San Francisco. And it's his love letter to San Francisco. It's a San Francisco noir play. It's a whodunit play. It's a play about a main character who's trying to figure out who he is after the death of his dad. Which causes him to wonder who he is and where he is from. I'm doing original music for the show, this is gonna be an American Conservatory Theater, and Pam McKinnon, who's the artistic director, will be stage directing this production as well. I actually met Chris Chen in 2013 when I had a show called Stuck Elevator that was at ACT. And I've been really fascinated with his work as a playwright for a while, and so I was thrilled when ACT invited me to join the creative team to work on music. Miko Lee: Oh, fun. Okay. I wanna talk to you about Stuck Elevator next, but first let's stick with the headlines.This is a play that's about memory and storytelling. I'm wondering if there is a story that has framed your creative process. Byron Au Yong: Yeah. Thinking about this show as a memory play, and, memory as something, we go back in our memories to try and figure stuff out, which is very much what this play is. And also to claim and to. figure out if something from our memory was recalled maybe in completely. And so the main character is, piecing together fragments of his memory to figure out who he is in the present. And considering this I actually went back to music. I composed when I was still a teenager. I actually dropped outta school and was working a lot. I think I realized early on that I was indeed, I wanted to dedicate myself to being an artist and was very concerned about how I would make a living as an artist in the United States. And so I thought I'll figure out how to make money away from the music. And so I had a lot of jobs and I was trying to write music, but, I was in a sad place, and so I never finished anything. I have a bunch of fragments from this time. But on Memorial Day I woke up and, it was sunny in Seattle and so I said, I'm gonna finish a piece of music today. And that became part of a project in mine where every Memorial Day I finish a piece of music and it's a solo piano piece that I finish. And so, going back in my personal history, I found one of these Memorial Day pieces and thought, oh, this actually works. Because it's a bit awkward and it doesn't resolve, and I remember who I was back then, but it's also me piecing together things and so I used that as the foundation for the music, for The Headlands, which is a different thing. If you didn't know that was my source material, that's in some ways irrelevant. But that's my personal connection in thinking about music for this. And of course I've also done a lot of research on film noir. A lot of noir films were set in San Francisco. And and the music is awesome, amazing of this genre. And, it's mysterious it is a certain urban Americana music. And so I include those elements as well. [00:09:36] Miko Lee: Thank you. That's so interesting that you have a Memorial Day ritual to create a piece of music. I'm wondering if, aside from the Headlands, have you used the Memorial Day Music in other pieces you've created? [00:09:48] Byron Au Yong: No this is the first time. [00:09:51] Miko Lee: Wow. Yeah. That's great. [00:09:53] Byron Au Yong: I think Miko is because, it's a private thing for me. I think the other thing too is as you mentioned, music was my friend growing up. The piano was. Definitely one of my best friends. And so solo piano pieces for me are, it's where you can have an audience of one. And one of the things that helped me, when I was not in school was. Playing through a lot of different other solo piano pieces. And so part of these Memorial Day pieces too are that they're meant to be simple enough that they could be sight read. And so if, if there's a musician who you know, is in a similar state of, oh, I'm not able to really do anything, but I want to be with music. I can sight read through, these different Memorial Day pieces. [00:10:38] Miko Lee: And do you have them set in a specific part of your house or where, how, where do you keep your Memorial Day projects and when do you open them up to look at them? [00:10:48] Byron Au Yong: Oh yeah. They're handwritten in a folder. None of the things so special. [00:10:54] Miko Lee: What was it that inspired you to go back and look at them for the headlands? [00:10:58] Byron Au Yong: Oh, you know what it is there are, be, because I know you, you also create stuff too in your memory of your catalog.I'm wondering if you have. If you have works that, that you remember that you made and then tho those works may remind you of a certain mood you were in or a certain room or and so I think they're musical things from certain or, things I was experimenting with for these Memorial Day. Said, I'm like, oh, I remember this. Let me go back to the folder where I collect this stuff every year and look through it. And I think that parallels actually the headlands and what the main character is doing because he recalls, and what's so cool about the production is we go into the same scene, but there's like a clue that's been revealed. And so we as an audience get to revisit the scene again. And there's a different interpretation of what was happening in the scene. And so what might have been like a scene between Henry's parents, Lena and George, which he thought, oh, this is how it was when I was a kid, when I was 10 years old. Thinking about it, remembering it, but now with this new information, this is how I'm gonna interpret the scene. And so I think similarly with, music from my past, these Memorial Day pieces, I'm like, oh, this is what I was interested in working on. But now as a older composer, I'm like, ah, and I can do this with this material. [00:12:26] Miko Lee: I love that. And I also really appreciate that this play about memory you pulled from your Memorial Day pieces, that it goes with this whole flow of just re-envisioning things with your own frame and based on where you're at in any given time. [00:12:42] Byron Au Yong: Totally. [00:12:43] Miko Lee: I know that the show was created 2020, is that right? Yes. Is that when, first? Yeah, Byron Au Yong: I think it's right before the pandemic. Miko Lee: Yeah. And you've had several different directors, and now in a way you both are coming home to San Francisco and artistic director, Pam McKinnon is directing it. I wonder if you have thoughts about some of the difference approaches that these directors have brought to the process. [00:13:06] Byron Au Yong: Oh, yeah. And, miko, this is the first time I'm working on the headlands. And so when it was at Lincoln Center, there was a different creative team. [00:13:12] Miko Lee: Oh, so the music, you're just creating the music for this version of the show. [00:13:16] Byron Au Yong: Yes, correct. Wow. And it is a new production because that Lincoln Center was in a stage called LCT 3, which is a smaller venue. Whereas this is gonna be in a Toni Rembe theater, which is, on Geary. It's a 1100 seat theater. And the set is quite fabulous and large . And what's also great is, aside from Johnny, all the cast is local. And like it will have the feel of a San Francisco production because many of us live here, have lived here and know these places that are referenced in the show. [00:13:51] Miko Lee: Thanks for that clarification. So that's really different to go from a small house at Lincoln Center to the big house at a c t Yes. With local folks with, your local music. That brings a very different approach to it. I'm excited to see it. That sounds really interesting. And now I wanna go back to talk about Stuck Elevator, which I was so delighted to learn about. Which was your first piece That was at ACT what, back in 2013? So tell our audience first about where Stuck Elevator came from and then tell what it's about. [00:14:23] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So stuck elevator. So I was living in New York in 2005 and there were some there were some images of like photos in the newspaper, initially it was local news because it was a Chinese delivery man who was missing. And most of the delivery people at the time, they carry cash, they won't go to the police. And there, there had been a string of muggings and then one was actually beaten to death. And so it was local news that this guy was missing. And then a few days later, and in New York Times, there was a big article because he was found in an elevator in the Bronx and he had been trapped in his elevator which had become stuck. And he was trapped for 81 hours, which that's like over three days. And so it made international news. And then when I read the article and learned more about him, there were many parallels like where he was from in China, which is Fujan Province, which is where my grandparents left that he was paying a debt to human smugglers to be in the United States. And different things that I thought, wow, if my grandparents hadn't left I wonder if, I would be the one who was, paying to be smuggled here rather than paying for grad school. And so I became quite fascinated with them. And then also, realized at the time, in 2005, this is like YouTube was just starting, and so all like the Asian American YouTube stars, they weren't as prominent in the news. And, BTS wasn't around then. So for me to see an Asian male. In the US media there was always this feeling of oh why is this Asian male in the news? And then realized, oh, it's actually part of a larger story about being trapped in America about family obligation, about labor, about fear of, in his specific case because he's an undocumented immigrant, fear of deportation. So there were many issues that, that I thought were broader than the specific story. And so I thought, this would be a great opera slash musical. So that's what it became at [00:16:23] Miko Lee: you, you basically read a story and said, whoa, what is this? I feel this is so wild. And then created it into an opera. Yes. Also, it just resonated with me so much as a person who has been trapped in elevators, in broken elevators six different times, . Oh my goodness. Yes. I'm like, wow. And his story, that many hours, that has to be like a record. Byron Au Yong: Right? Nobody else has been trapped that long. Yeah. It's a record. Miko Lee: So you created this piece, it premiered at ACT? Yes. Did you ever connect with the guy that was stuck in the elevator? [00:16:59] Byron Au Yong: No. So the New York Times did something which is actually not cool. They they revealed his immigration status and that at the time I'm not sure if it's still the case,but at the time, you're not allowed to reveal people's immigration status. Especially, in such a public way. And so what was cool was that the AALEDF, which is the Asian American Legal Education and Defense Fund, they the volunteer attorneys there step forward to represent Ming Kuang Chen and his case and ensure that he had legal representation so he would not be deported. The thing is, he was suffering from PTSD and there was also another case at the time it was a different un undocumented immigrant case that AALEDF was representing that had a bit more visibility and so he actually didn't want to be so much into public eye, and so he went back into hiding. And so while I didn't meet him specifically, I met his translator. I met other people at AALEDF met with other people who were related to the stories that he was a part of. So for example, used to be an organization, which I think they've changed their name, but they were the Fujanese Restaurant Workers Association. Most of the undocumented immigrants who worked in restaurants at the time are from Fujan Province. Also, Asian Pacific American Studies at New York University. Is a mix o f people who were working in restaurants as well as people, scholars who were studying this issue. [00:18:46] Miko Lee: Can you describe a little bit about Stuck Elevator for folks that haven't seen it? Sure. How did you conceive of this piece, that song? [00:18:53] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so it's a thru sung piece about a guy who's trapped in America. He's a Chinese food delivery man, and he's, delivering food in the Bronx. And what I think is You know what I didn't realize when I started it. And then I realized working on it was the thing about being stuck in the elevator is, especially for so long, is that you and I don't know if this is your case, Miko it's so fascinating to hear you've been trapped six different times. There's the initial shock and initial oh my gosh, I have to get out. And then there's this. Maybe not resignation but there's this, okay. Okay. I'm gonna be here so now what? Now what I'm going to do and the time actually, especially for someone who works so much delivering food and sending money back home to his wife and son in China and his family is that he actually is not working, right? And so he has time to consider what his life has been like in New York for the past, the two years he's been there. And to consider the choices he's made as well as to remember his family who are back in China. And part of this too is you're not awake the entire time. Sometimes you go to sleep, and so in his sleep he dreams. He has hallucinations. He has nightmares. And this is where the music theater opera really starts to confront and navigate through the various issues of being trapped in America. [00:20:22] Miko Lee: Any chance this will come into production, somewhere? [00:20:26] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, hopefully, we were just at Nashville Opera last week, two weeks ago. [00:20:30] Miko Lee: Oh, fun. [00:20:31] Byron Au Yong: so Nashville Opera. So the lead Julius Ahn who was in ACT's production is an opera singer. And and he had told the artistic director of Nashville Opera about this project years ago. And John Hoomes, who's the artistic director there had remembered it. Last year John Hoomes reached out to me and said, you know, I think it's the time for to be an operatic premiere of Stuck Elevator. And so we had an amazing run there. [00:20:58] Miko Lee: Great. Wow. I look forward to seeing that too somewhere soon. Yes. I also wanted to chat with you about this last week, a lot of things have been happening in our A P I community with these mass shootings that have been just so painful. Yes. And I know that you worked on a piece that was called The Activist Songbook. Are you, can you talk a little bit about that process and the Know Your Rights project? [00:21:23] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm gonna back up because so Activist Song Book is actually the third in a trilogy of which Stuck Elevator is the first, and related to the recent tragedies that have happened in Half Moon Bay and also in Monterey Park. The second in the trilogy is it's called the Ones. It was originally called Trigger, and it also has the name Belonging. And I can go through why it has so many different names, but the first in the trilogy was Stuck Elevator, and it was prompted by me again, seeing an Asian male in the US media. So the second actually all three are from seeing Asian males in the US media. And the second one was an incident that happened in 2007 where a creative writing major shot 49 people killing 32, and then himself at Virginia Tech. And and when this happened I realized, oh shoot Stuck elevator's part of a trilogy. I have to figure out how to do this show called Trigger or what was called Trigger. And then realized of the different layers in a trilogy. Yes. There's this initial thing about Asian men in the US media, but then there's this other thing about ways out of oppression. And so with Stuck Elevator, the way out of oppression is through the main character's imagination, right? His dreams, his what ifs, right? The possibilities and the different choices he can make with the second one, what me and the creative team realized is that, the way out of oppression is that the creative writing major who you may remember was a Korean American he was so isolated at Virginia Tech and the tragedy of him being able to purchase firearms and then kill so many people, including himself in working on it, I was like, I need to understand, but it's not this story I necessarily want to put on stage. And so what it became is it became a story, and this is also the national conversation changed around mass violence in America. The conversation became less about the perpetrator and more about the victims. And so it became a choral work for community performers. So rather than a music theater opera, like Stuck Elevator, it's a music theater forum with local singers. And this was actually performed at Virginia Tech during the 10 year memorial of the tragedy. And this one I did eight site visits to Virginia Tech and met with people including the chief of police of Blacksburg. First responder to director of threat assessment to family members whose children were lost. A child of, teachers were also killed that day to counselors who were there to Nikki Giovanni, who was one of the faculty members. So yeah so many people. But this one, the second one, the way out of oppression is from isolation into community, into belonging. And Virginia Tech Administration said we could not call the work trigger. And so the work there was called (Be)longing with the be in parentheses. And now we've done a new revision called The Ones partially influenced by the writer, one of his teachers was June Jordan who was at UC Berkeley. And she has a phrase, we are the ones we've been waiting for. And so the ones which is a 2019 revision, the show, what it does is Act three youth takeover, right? It's about coming of age and an age of guns, and the youth have become activists because they have no choice because they are being shot in places of learning, and so Parkland in Chicago and other places have been influential in this work. And then the third in the trilogy is Activist Songbook. And for this one we went back to an earlier asian male who was in the US media, and that was Vincent Chin who you may know was murdered 40 years ago. And so activist song book is to counteract hate and energize movements. And it's a collection of different songs that is even further away from musical theater opera production in that the rally component of the songs can be taught within 10 minutes to a group of people outdoors to be used right away. And that one, the way out of repression is through organizing. [00:25:49] Miko Lee: Well, Byron Au Young, thank you so much for sharing with us about all the different projects you've been working on. We'll put a link in the show notes to the headlands that folks can see at a c t. Tell our audience how else they can find out more about you and your life as a composer and more about your work. [00:26:05] Byron Au Yong: Sure. I have a website. It's my name.com or b y r o n a u y o n g.com. [00:26:12] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for spending so much time with me. [00:26:14] Byron Au Yong: Of course. [00:26:15] Miko Lee: You are tuned into apex express on 94.1, KPFA an 89.3 K P F B in Berkeley and online@kpfa.org. We're going to hear one more piece by composer, Byron Al young called This is the Beginning, which was prompted by Lilly and Vincent chin and inspired by Helen Zia and other organizers. song That was, This is the Beginning by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jeffrey's. Featuring Christine Toi Johnson on voice and Tobias Wong on voice and guitar. This is a beginning is prompted by organizing in response to the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. This hate crime was a turning point for Asian American solidarity in the fight for federal civil rights. Lily chin Vincent's mom refused to let her son's death be invisible. Next up, I have the chance to speak with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band. Returns to Berkeley rep where it first got its workshop and it will be there from February 25th through April 2nd. And here's a teaser from Cambodian rock band by Lauren Yee. Take a listen to seek CLO. song Miko Lee: Welcome Lauren Yee to Apex express. [00:34:35] Lauren Yee: Thank you so much, Miko. [00:34:37] Miko Lee: We're so happy to have you a local Bay Area person. Award-winning playwright. Coming back to town at Berkeley Rep with your show, Cambodian Rock Band. Yay. Tell us about the show. [00:34:51] Lauren Yee: Yes so Cambodian Rock Band. Is actually a piece that has some of its like earliest development roots in the Bay Area and also like specifically at Berkeley Rep. Getting to bring the show to Berkeley rep really feels like some sort of poetic justice. In addition to the fact, that it's like my old stomping grounds. . Essentially Cambodian rock Band started in 2015, or at least the writing of it. It actually started, if I'm being honest much earlier than that. I think it was about 2010 2011. I was down in San Diego in grad school and one of my friends was just like dying to go see this band play at a music festival. She was like, I saw this band play. They're amazing. You should totally come. And I was like, sure. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but it's like, going somewhere, hearing a band, and even before you know anything about them or their story, you just fall in love. You fall like head over heels in love and you say, oh my God who are these people? And I wanna know everything about them. And that band was Dengue Fever. Which is amazing. You fell in love with the band first. Yep. Before the play. Yes. And it was the band Dengue Fever which is an LA band. And their front woman Choni Mall is Cambodian American and she leads this sound that I think started in covers of Cambodian oldies from that golden age of rock for them, and has over time morphed into Dengue Fever's own original sound. Like we're nowadays, they're coming out with an album soon, their own original songs. But I fell in love with Dengue Fever and I was like, oh, okay, who are these people inspired by? And I just went down that rabbit hole of learning about this whole musical history that I never knew about. My own background is Chinese American. I'm not Cambodian American. And so a lot of kids who grew up in the public school system, I did not get basically any education about Cambodian history and America's role in seeding the elements that led to the Khmer Rouge's takeover the country, and the ensuing genocide. [00:37:12] Miko Lee: So you first fell in love with the band and then you went down an artist rabbit hole. We love those artist rabbit holes. Yes. And then what was your inspiration for the play itself? The musical? [00:37:22] Lauren Yee: Yeah so I fell in love with the music and I was like, there is something here because you had all these musicians in Cambodia who like, when 1975 hit and the communists took over the country there was just a time when like the country was a hostile place for artists where artists were specifically targeted among other groups. And so much of Cambodia's musicians and its musical history, was snuffed out, and I was like, there is a story here, that I find deeply compelling. And for a long time I didn't know how to tell that story because there's just so much in it. And then came 2015 where two things happened. One was that I was commissioned by a theater in Orange County called South Coast Rep, and they invited me to come down to their theater and just do research in the community for two weeks on anything you want. So I was like, I wanna look at malls, I wanna look at the video game culture down there, all kinds of things. And one of the things that I was interested in and just bubbled to the surface was the Cambodian American community, which is not in Orange County proper, but in, situated largely in Long Beach, right next door. And it just so happened that while I was there, There were just a lot of Cambodian American music related events that were going on. So the second annual Cambodian Music Festival, the Cambodia Town Fundraiser, Dengue Fever, was playing a gig in Long Beach. Like all these things were happening, that intersected me, with the Kamai or Cambodian community in Long Beach. And the other thing that happened coming out of that trip is that I started beginning to write the seeds of the play. And I did a very early workshop of it up at Seattle Rap. And I'm the sort of playwright. probably like writes and brings in collaborators like actors and a director sooner than a lot of other people. Most people probably wait until they have a first draft that they're comfortable with, whereas I'm like, I have 20 pages and I think if I go up and get some collaborators, I think I can generate the rest of it. So I went up to Seattle with kind of my, 20 or 30 pages and we brought in some actors. And that workshop had an actor named Joe No in it, and I knew Joe from previous work I'd done in Seattle. But during our first rehearsal when we were just like chatting he said to me like, this is my story. And I was like, oh, it's a story that calls out to me too. Thank you. And he was like no. You don't understand. Like, So my parents were born in Battambang Cambodia. They were survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I feel deeply connected to this material. And that conversation sparked. a very long relationship, between me and Joe and this play. That I, I think of him as like the soul, of this play. He became just like an integral part. And in the South coast rep production and in subsequent productions he's kind of been like our lead. He is Chum, and it's a role that I think is like perfectly suited for who he is as a human being and what his like essence is. And also he plays electric guitar which I think influenced things a lot because initially it was a play about music, right? It wasn't a musical, it was just people like talking about a music scene that they loved. And as I went along and found like the perfect people for these roles it was like, Joe plays electric guitar. It would be crazy not to have him try to play a little electric guitar in the show. And that kind of began that, the evolution of this play into a piece where music is not only talked about, but is an integral part of the show. You know that it's become a show that has a live band. The actors play the instruments. They play about a dozen songs. And it's a mix of Dengue, half Dengue Fever songs, half mostly Cambodian oldies. It's kind of been an incredible journey and I could not have imagined what that journey would be, it's hard to replicate. [00:41:53] Miko Lee: I love that. So has Joe been in every production you've done of the show so far? [00:41:57] Lauren Yee: So he hasn't been able to be in everyone. There were two productions happening at the same time, and so he could only be in one place at one time. But I bet you he would've tried to be in two places at once. But he's basically been in almost every production. And the production that he's in currently running at the Alley Theater in Houston is is like the production, the original production directed by Chay Yew. [00:42:24] Miko Lee: Wow. And was it difficult to cast all actors that were also musicians? [00:42:30] Lauren Yee: In some ways there there's I think if you were starting from scratch and you like open your window and you're like, where could I find some actors? I think it would be tough. But I just kept running into kind of like crazy happenstance where I would find a person and I wasn't even thinking about them musically. And they'd be like, yeah, like I've played bass, for 15 years. and I could kind of do drums, right? That what was remarkable is that there were all these Asian American actors who were like known as actors. But then once you like, dig down into their biographies, you're like, Hey, I see like you've actually played drums for X number of years, or, Hey, I see that you play like guitar and bass. Miko Lee: Tell me more about that. Lauren Yee: So it's almost like finding all these stealth musicians and like helping them dust the instruments off and being like, Hey, come back here. Fun. And so it's just been, it's just been like a joy. [00:43:27] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so great. I know the play is about music and also about memory, and I'm wondering if there's a story that has framed your creative process that stands out to you. [00:43:39] Lauren Yee: I don't know if it's one specific memory, but I find that just a lot of my stories I think they deal with family. I think they deal with parents and their grown children trying to reconnect with each other, trying to overcome family secrets and generational struggles. I would say I have a great relationship with my father. But I think, in every parent and child relationship, one thing that I'm fascinated by are these attempts to get to know someone, like especially your own parent, even when you know them well, and especially when you know them well. That kind of is able to penetrate that barrier that sometimes you hit in generations, right? That there's a wall that your parents put up. Or that there's this impossibility of knowing who your parents were before you had them because they had a whole life. And you only know this like tiny bit of it. And I think I'm just like fascinated by that. I'm fascinated by the impact of time. I'm fascinated by extraordinary circumstances and the ordinary people who lived through those times. And I think for a large part, even though Cambodian rock band features a family whose lived experience is different from my own. I think there's a lot of my own relationship with my father that I put into that relationship. This desire to know your parent better, this desire to know them even as they're trying to protect you. So yeah. [00:45:06] Miko Lee: What do your parents think about your work? [00:45:10] Lauren Yee: I think my parents are incredibly supportive, but like different in the way that one might think because my parents aren't arts people they of course like enjoy a story or enjoy a show, but they're not people who are like, I have a subscription to this theater, or I'm gonna go to this museum opening. and so their intersection with the arts, I feel like has been out of a sense of like love for me. Their ways of supporting me early on when like I was interested in theater and trying to figure out a way to go about it, like in high school when I was trying to like, put on a show with my friends and they were like in the back folding the programs or like building, the door to the set. And hauling away, all the furniture, so we could bring it to the theater. So like my parents have been supportive, but in a very, like nuts and bolts kind of way. Miko Lee: That's so sweet and that's so important. When I was doing the theater, my mom would come to every single show. Lauren Yee: Just Oh, bless that is, bless her. [00:46:14] Miko Lee: Ridiculous commitment. Yeah. I don't that for my kids, like every show. I wanna back up a little bit cuz we're talking about family. Can you tell me who are your people and where do you come from? [00:46:27] Lauren Yee: Ooh. That's such a great question. I think there are like many ways of answering that. When I think of home, I think of San Francisco, I live in New York now. But my whole youth, I grew up in San Francisco. My parents were both born there. My grandmother was born and raised there, one of my grandfathers was, born more like up the Delta and the other side of my family, my grandparents came from Toisan China. So on one hand, my family's from like that Pearl River Delta part of China. And at various times, like made a break for the United States. I think starting in the 1870s and spanning into the early 20th century you know, so we've been here for a while. And another way of thinking about it is we're all very, I think, suffused in our family's history in San Francisco. It's hard for me to go to a Chinese restaurant with my family without somebody from our table knowing somebody else in the restaurant, like inevitable. And it's something that never happens to me. I don't think it's ever happened to me when living in New York. Yeah. And I think And that's fun. That's fun. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think b eing able to be Chinese American. Growing up in San Francisco, it's different than other, Asian Americans living in other parts of the country. Like in a strange way, it allows you to like be more of whoever you wanna be, right? When you're like not the only one. That it allows you to like, potentially choose a different path and not have to worry about. I don't know, just like carrying that load. [00:48:01] Miko Lee: That is so interesting. Do you mean because there's safety, because you're around so many other Chinese Americans, Asian Americans, that you can bring forth a greater sense of your individuality? [00:48:13] Lauren Yee: Yeah, I think so, like I went to Lowell High School where, you know, two thirds of the class is Asian American. There's just such a wide range of what an Asian American student at Lowell looks like. And what we're interested in and how our weird obsessions manifest so I think I just felt more freedom in differentiating myself cuz I like theater and I like storytelling. [00:48:36] Miko Lee: That's really interesting. Thanks so much for sharing that. I'm wondering, because Cambodian rock band is partially about when the communists took over Cambodia. If, when you were growing up as a multi-generational Chinese American, did you hear very much about communism and the impact on China? [00:48:57] Lauren Yee: I did not. And possibly it was swirling around. And I was too young to really understand the impacts. But when I look back on it, a lot of my plays, Cambodian Rock Band included, have to do with the intersection of Communism and American culture. Like another play I have called The Great Leap which was at ACT in San Francisco, also dealt with American culture like basketball, intersecting in communist China in the 1970s and then the 1980s. And like, honestly, in retrospect, the effects of communism were all around me growing up in San Francisco in the nineties. That the kids that I went to school with, like in elementary school, came there in various waves, but a lot of them pushed from Asia because of the influences of communism that you had of a wave of kids who came over. In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, you had kids who came preempting, the Hong Kong handover back to China. You had kids, who came to San Francisco in the wake of the fall of the Vietnam War. So there were like all these, political movements the effects of war that were like shaping the people around me. And I didn't realize it until like very much later. [00:50:19] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so interesting. Thank you so much. By the way. I really loved the Great Leap. It was such an interesting thank you way of really talking about some deep issues, but through such an American sport like basketball I enjoyed that so much. So thank you so much for sharing about your San Francisco influence. I'm curious because you've been writing TV now limited series like Pachinko and also congrats on writing the musical for Wrinkle In Time. Amazing. Thank you. [00:50:49] Lauren Yee: That is a book that I loved and just shook me, I forget what grade I was in, but I was probably like, 10 or 11 or something. So I think the fact that I get to interface and get to dig into such an iconic work as Wrinkle in Time, blows my mind. [00:51:05] Miko Lee: That is going to be so exciting. I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah. Yeah. But my question was really about you working on Pachinko and these other series, how different is playwriting to screen versus TV writing? [00:51:17] Lauren Yee: Yeah. I think in a way like the work that I did on Pachinko, for instance, like I was on the writing staff, that's a role where you're like supporting the creator of the show, which in this instance is Sue Hugh, who is just an incredible mind. And she had like kind of this vision for what she wanted to do with the adaptation of Pachinko. And, you know, you, as a writer on staff you're really helping to support that. So I think your role is a little bit different when you're brought on staff for tv that you're helping to birth the thing along and contribute your part. Whereas when you're a playwright like the piece remains with you, and you just have I think a greater sense of control over what happens to it. [00:52:00] Miko Lee: What surprised you in your creative process while you were working on this play, this musical? [00:52:08] Lauren Yee: I think the thing that I realized when I was writing Cambodian Rock Band is that in order for the play to really click together is that joy has to be at the center of it. That Cambodian rock band is a piece about art and artists and family surviving really horrific events. And in order to tell that story, you need to fall in love with the music. You need to understand why these people might have risked their lives. For art, you need to understand why art matters. And I think a feature of my work is finding the light in dark places that there is a lot, in the play that is heavy. There are points where it is surprisingly and shockingly funny and that there are moments of just incredible heart in places like you probably won't be expecting. And I think that's been a big lesson of developing this piece. [00:53:14] Miko Lee: Lauren Yee thank you so much for talking with me and sharing about Cambodian Rock Band and your artistic process. I know it's gonna be running at Berkeley rep February 25th through April 2nd. Where else is it running for folks that might not live in the Bay? [00:53:30] Lauren Yee: Yeah, so if you live in the Bay Area, or if you want just see it again, which is totally fine. Lots of people see it again. This same production is going to travel to arena stage in DC over the summer in the fall it'll be at Fifth Avenue and Act Theater up in Seattle, and then at the very beginning of 2024 it will be at Center Theater Group. [00:53:54] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I really appreciate you and your work out there in the world. [00:54:00] Lauren Yee: Thank you, Miko. [00:54:02] Miko Lee: That was playwright Lauren Yee. And I'm going to play you out, hearing one song from Dengue Fever, which is in Cambodian rock band. This is Uku. song [00:56:55] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us. Please check out our website, kpfa.org backslash program, backslash apex express to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex express is produced by Miko Lee Jalena Keane-Lee and Paige Chung and special editing by Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the KPFA staff for their support have a great night. The post APEX Express – 2.9.23 Theatre & Memory or Why Art Matters appeared first on KPFA.

Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko is lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio focused around AAPI activists and artists. She is Director of Programs for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko's career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theatre actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and as an arts education leader.Miko was executive director of Youth in Arts for over a decade and prior to that was Director of Arts and Public Education at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to Teaching Artists Guild, Miko is an artsEquity BIPOC leader and serves on California's Special Education + Arts Working Group and the Public Will Committee of CREATE CA. Miko's extensive background in theatre includes working on shows at Berkeley, Seattle and South Coast Rep, Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and many others.Annie Lee is the Director of Policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, CA. In her role, Annie advocates for systemic change that protects workers' and immigrants' rights and promotes language diversity and education equity. CAA is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, and Annie develops policy solutions to address discrimination against the AAPI community.Annie previously worked as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Center for Youth Law, where she specialized in foster youth education rights, special education, and school discipline. Her passion for serving students stems from her experience as an 11th grade United States history teacher in the Bronx. Annie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Fordham's Graduate School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual's race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Guests: Miko Lee and Annie LeeHosts: Jon-Barrett IngelsProduced by: Past Forward

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. Please join us for a career Conversations with Michael Urie moderated by Broadway World's Richard Ridge of "Backstage with Richard Ridge!" About Michael Urie For originating the role of Alex More in Buyer & Cellar at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater this spring, Michael Urie received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle awards. New York theatre credits include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway), The Cherry Orchard (CSC), Angels in America(Signature), The Temperamentals (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, Drama League nomination), The Revenger's Tragedy (Red Bull), Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). Regionally, Urie has worked for The Old Globe, Vineyard Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Folger Shakespeare, Barrington Stage, Hyde Park (Austin) and The Blank (L.A.). Film: He's Way More Famous Than You(also directed), Thank You for Judging (co-director/exec. producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, Petunia and the upcoming Such Good People, The Hyperglot (director) and Grantham & Rose (exec. producer). TV: "Hot in Cleveland," "Partners" and Marc St. James on "Ugly Betty." Training: Juilliard.

Finding your passion, embracing delayed gratification, and becoming a master at your craft – on this episode of THINK Business Exclusives. Douglas Sills can currently be seen in the HBO original series “The Gilded Age.” He received Tony & Drama Desk Award nominations for his performance in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway. Other Broadway/New York: War Paint; Living on Love; Little Shop of Horrors (Drama League Award); Nantucket Sleighride; Mack & Mabel, Hey Look Me Over, Lady Be Good, Music in the Air, Carnival (Encores). National Tour: The Addams Family; The Secret Garden; Into the Woods. Regional: starring roles at La Jolla, Long Wharf, Westport, Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep, Reprise, California Shakespeare Festival. Other TV/Film: “Christmas on the Square” for Netflix, “Katy Keene”, “Chicago Justice,” “CSI,” “The Closer,” “Numb3rs,” “Will & Grace,” “Erotic Fire of the Unattainable,” “Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo.” Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!

In this episode, we discuss:What it's like to adapt a beloved novel for the stage, especially when the author is still alive Questions from Melissa's professor Mark Branner, who directed The Giver at UH Mānoa When a playwright should solve design problemsHow Eric got a gig writing for Disney Theme Parks! And more!About Our GuestEric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. His scripts have been produced on Broadway (Tony-and Pulitzer-nominated The Velocity of Autumn), Off-Broadway (Bright Ideas, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Side Effects May Include…), in Disney Theme Parks (Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple), in all fifty states of the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Habima Theatre (Israel), Pentacion Productions (Spain), Teatr Polski (Poland), Orange Row (Mexico), and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (U.S.).Awards include two AATE Distinguished Play Awards for Best Adaptation, an Emmy nomination, the Chorpenning Playwriting Award for Body of Work, the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, a TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grants. Thirty of Mr. Coble's scripts have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Krause and others.Connect with Our Guest Purchase The Giver by Eric Coble at https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/the-giver-gc9000 Learn more about Eric Coble at www.ericcoble.comRead his plays on NPX at https://newplayexchange.org/users/3205/eric-coble Connect with host Melissa Schmitz***Sign up for the 101 Stage Adaptations Newsletter***101 Stage AdaptationsFollow the Podcast on Facebook & InstagramRead Melissa's plays on New Play ExchangeConnect with Melissa on LinkedInWays to support the show:- Buy Me a Coffee- Tell us your thoughts in our Listener Survey!- Give a 5-Star rating- Write a glowing review on Apple Podcasts - Send this episode to a friend- Share on social media (Tag us so we can thank you!)Creators: Host your podcast through Buzzsprout using my affiliate link & get a $20 credit on your paid account. Let your fans directly support you via Buy Me a Coffee (affiliate link).

Daniel Messé is the founder and principal songwriter of the band Hem. Along with Craig Lucas (book) and Nathan Tysen (co-lyrics), Daniel wrote the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of the French film Amélie, which debuted on Broadway in 2017. He is also working together again with Craig Lucas (book) along with Sean Hartley (co-lyrics) on adapting Craig's play, Prelude to a Kiss, for South Coast Rep. Education includes a BA from Carleton College and an MFA from NYU's Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.---Sister Wendy's American Collection---Mike Mills' advice from TBAS: Loving Anything---Call Zak with your relationship advice at 844-935-BEST---bestadvice.show---twitter: @muzacharyIG: @bestadviceshow 

This week on Finding Your Bliss, Life Coach and Bliss Expert Judy Librach is joined by the brilliantly talented Britta Johnson! Heralded by the Toronto Star as

As we gear up for the Booking Magnet LIVE 2022 Annual Actors Conference, I'm pleased to introduce you to Laura Niemi. Enjoy this interview and be sure to connect with us on social media to share your takeaways. Xo! - Christine Connect with Laura Niemi here: Instagram- lauraniemi Website- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0631146/ About Laura… A native Angelino, Laura has been in the performing arts for over 30 years. She was selected at 9 years of age to study piano at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y and then her teenage years at The National Academy of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. As a musician she played bass alongside such bands as Marilyn Manson, Laundry and members of Tool. She is active in the theatre community having performed at The Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep and The Odyssey Theatre among others. She is the Artistic Director of Lost Angels Theatre Company which has garnered her many awards as both an actor as well as a producer. Best known for her performance as "Marilyn Pearson" on the NBC series "This Is Us (2016)". As the mother in Jack's (Milo Ventimiglia) struggling and dysfunctional working class family, her character gained recognition in the critically acclaimed season 3 episode "This Is Us: Vietnam (2018)", which landed Niemi an FYC Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. She landed her first TV credit in Joss Whedon's "Firefly (2002)" and has been continuously working in television and film ever since. Join us at the BOOKING MAGNET LIVE 2022 - Actors Conference Learn more: https://bookingmagnetlive.com/ CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actresschristinehorn/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/actresschristinehorn HBA Website: http://hollywoodboundactors.com/ My Official Website: http://christinehorn.com/ JOIN OUR HOLLYWOOD BOUND ACTORS ONLINE COMMUNITY: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hollywoodboundactors/ JOIN OUR HOLLYWOOD BOUND ACTORS TEXT COMMUNITY: Text the word HBA to (470) 666-7011. Standard messaging and data rates apply. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-hollywood-bound-actor/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-hollywood-bound-actor/support

Getting Out of the Way with Matthew Arkin Today we welcome Broadway, film and TV actor Matthew Arkin.  Matthew is also an author, acting teacher, writing coach, and co-host of the podcast The Arkin Brothers Talk about Movies. Recently, he has added booze entrepreneur to the many hats he wears, and we'll hear about that today as well! Our conversation includes:- Matthew's background and his new project, the grain-based spirit business, Batch 22 - A story about walking out on stage and doing absolutely nothing - The lesson and gift of his story:  not controlling the experience - The only way to make it happen is to stay out of the way and let it happen - Matthew's book The Country of the Blind, and a script about...lava babies!-  Learn about his booze entrepreneurship, Batch 22 and creativity with cocktails - The Batch 22 Road Trip:  16 cities in two weeks = a lot of craft cocktail drinking- Connect with Matthew at the links below Guest Bio: Matthew Arkin is an actor, author, and educator. Among his extensive television credits are Get Shorty, Hawaii Five-0, Bull, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Aquarius, and Law and Order. Film credits include indies Margot at the Wedding, Second Best, Raising Flagg, The Curse, and Bittersweet Place, as well as Death to Smoochy, Liar, Liar, North, and An Unmarried Woman. His Broadway credits include Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, Mr. Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Manhattan Theater Club's Losing Louie. Other New York credits include originating the role of Gabe in Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends (Drama Desk nomination), Moonlight and Magnolias at MTC, Rounding Third and War in Paramus. Among his regional theater credits are The Sisters Rosenswieg, The Siegel, All the Way, The Whale, The Prince of Atlantis, and Our Mother's Brief Affair, all at South Coast Rep, Surf Report at La Jolla Playhouse, and The Scene at Hartford Stage Company. He teaches acting in Los Angeles, and is Director of the Acting Intensive Program at South Coast Repertory and an adjunct professor at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. He is also the author of the suspense novel In the Country of the Blind.Matthew's website: https://www.matthewarkin.com/Matthew Arkin Studio: http://matthewarkinstudio.com/Drink Batch 22:  DrinkBatch22.comThe Arkin Brothers Talk about Movies Podcast: https://apple.co/3wluNw2Sign up for Matthew's newsletterConnect with Story and HorseFacebook: @storyandhorseInstagram: @storyandhorse

Shem Bitterman studied acting at New York's High School of Performing Arts and Juilliard and got an MFA in playwriting from The University of Iowa. His work has been produced and developed at theaters across the country including the Mark Taper Forum, the Actor's Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Rep, Geva, Steppenwolf, Sundance, Midwest Playlabs, the WPA Theatre, Padua Playwrights Festival, the Unicorn Theatre and Circus Theatricals in Los Angeles where he is also an associate artist. City Garage Theatre, based in Santa Monica, California, is excited to present “Animal Farm: Conversations on Theater and Politics with Steven Leigh Morris and Guests.” Episodes offer an engaging and thought-provoking look at current issues and ideas in world politics and how they're reflected in theater. Viewer participation is encouraged and desired. As we navigate these troubled times and attempt to find solutions or simply a way to just communicate the best we can right now, we want to hear from you! Submit your questions here: https://citygarage.org/animalfarm This episode of "Animal Farm" originally appeared on YouTube on Sept 30, 2021. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/citygarage/message

Host Luisa Lyons chats with a leader in digital theatre, Jared Mezzocchi.  Topics include the intersection of theatre and film, how Jared's mom (who was also his 8th grade math teacher), helped him see the world through numbers and story-telling, we deep dive into the world of digital theatre - what it is, what should we do with it, and delve into Luisa's favorite question “what should we call it?!”Jared Mezzocchi is an Obie award winning director and multimedia designer, playwright, and actor. Mezzocchi's work spans the United States at notable theaters such as: The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth, Cornerstone, Portland Centerstage, South Coast Rep, HERE Arts, and 3LD. In 2016, he received The Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for his work in Qui Nguyen's Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In December of 2020, The New York Times highlighted Jared on a list of the top 5 national artists making an impact during the pandemic. His work on Sarah Gancher's Russian Troll Farm, Caryl Churchill's What If If Then and his own work Someone Else's House was all praised for being some of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. He is a two-time Macdowell Artist Fellow, a Princess Grace Award winner, Artistic Director of Andy's Summer Playhouse, and an Associate Professor at The University of Maryland. Learn more at www.jaredmezzocchi.com and follow on Twitter. Filmed Live Musicals is the most comprehensive online searchable database for musicals that have been filmed live on stage. Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to content, no matter how much you pledge. Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons. Luisa is an Australian actor, writer, and musician. She holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com or follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Enjoyed this podcast? Leave a review and help spread the word!

Continuing your introduction to our hosts, Jaina Alexander sits down with Thumbprint Co-Founder (and co-host) April Sigman-Marx to chat about establishing yourself as an artist in a new city. Listen to them talk about the challenges has April faced moving and reestablishing herself in multiple cities, as well as offer advice learned from years of experience. April Sigman-Marx is a multi-regional actor, director, writer, educator, entrepreneur, and cat mom currently living a nomadic lifestyle—most recently residing in LA, Chicago & Denver. April spends her days providing support to the Fornés Institute as a research assistant, exploring the intersection of performance & technology as a virtual theatre director and wearing all the hats required in her duties as a Founding Artistic Director of training program - theatre company – artistic community, Thumbprint Studios. Specializing in new work development, April has created/ written, directed, produced and performed in several original solo shows, web series, films and plays--Many of which focus on social justice issues. Select projects include: Directing her original children's play Rover the Bear as a new works workshop with Cal Rep. Affinity Series, assistant directed the world premiere of Sheepdog at South Coast Rep. with director to Leah C Gardiner, Directed virtual production of Antigone Now with South Florida fringe fine arts festival, Assistant directed virtual staged reading of Fefu and Her Friends as a fundraiser Seasons of Concern with Director to Stacy Stoltz, wrote directed and performed one-woman show Permed at the Tower Theatre in Miami and the Uptown Theatre in Virginia, originated the role of Julia in the world premiere of Making Up History at the DC Fringe Festival, performed a lead role in improvised feature film Open Door and is currently developing a dreamy clown show Pathways. Edited by: Rachel Post Intro & Outro Music by: Marc Young Transcript: TBA --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/prints-unedited/support

Created by Latino Theater Co., "Offstage/Unmasked" are bravely curious conversations with Latinx theater artists across the country. Join us once a month as we talk about the State of Latinx Theater a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. We shut down, we masked up, went online, we connected and we're still here. How has covid impacted our programming? What kept us going? When are we coming back to the stage and what changes do we need to make to get there? This week we interview José Luis Valenzuela, Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Co at The LATC in Los Angeles, CA., and Rosalba Rolón, Artistic Director of Pregone PRTT in Bronx, NYC. JOSÉ LUIS VALENZUELA is the Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company (LTC), and The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and is also a Distinguished Professor at UCLA's School of Theater, Film & Television. Valenzuela is an award-winning theater director, and has been a visionary and an advocate for Chicanx/Latinx Theater for over 30 years. He has directed critically acclaimed productions at major theaters both internationally and nationally including the LATC where he created the Latino Theatre Lab in 1985 and the Mark Taper Forum where he established the Latino Theater Initiative in 1991. He has directed, The Mother of Henry, Solitude, Premeditation, Dementia, and A Mexican Trilogy for the Latino Theatre Company. Most recently he also directed Macbeth at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Karen Zacarias' Destiny of Desire at Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, The Goodman Theatre, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His international directing credits include Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt at the Norland Theatre in Norway and Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman at the National Theatre of Norway. He produced the national Encuentro Festival in 2014 and national and international Encuentro de las Americas in 2017. ROSALBA ROLÓN is the Artistic Director of Pregones + Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (PregonesPRTT). She is an accomplished director and dramaturg specializing in the adaptation of literary and non-literary texts for stage performance with live music. Recent productions include ¡Guaracha!, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2019, We Have Iré (with playwright Paul S. Flores and composer Yosvani Terry), which premiered at YBCA/San Francisco, Dancing In My Cockroach Killers, Betsy! (with Roadside Theater/KY), Brides (with partners in Belgium and the Slovak Republic), and others. Recent distinctions include 2019 Creative Capital Award, and 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award. She is a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee and co-Chair of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals 2021 National Conference. With PregonesPRTT Ensemble she has traveled to 37 states/500+ cities in the U.S., and 18 countries.

We are back for more with LA-based theatrical lighting designer Elizabeth Harper! This time we got to get into the details of her work on the world premiere of Kemp Powers’ Little Black Shadows at South Coast Rep, and the West Coast run of Sarah Jones’ Sell / Buy / Date at the Geffen Playhouse. We discussed what she’s done to teach her lighting design students at the University of Southern California remotely during the pandemic, and how the situation helped both her and her students see the most essential elements required to make their statements with light. We also discussed her work on the finale of HBO’s Silicon Valley, which included lighting a theatrical corporate event for camera.You can visit Elizabeth’s home on the web at eharperdesign.com/ to see more info on many of the shows she’s lit. We also discussed her interest in Catholic mysticism and how it applies to storytelling and theater; you can learn more about her research and publications on the subject at All The Saints You Should Know.Thanks for downloading and listening!

Jane Bruce is an actor and songwriter originally from Utah. She is a graduate of Umich for Musical Theatre, and currently Covid-paused from performing in "Jagged Little Pill". Other credits include "The Other Josh Cohen" (Off-Broadway), "The Ballad of Little Jo" (Two River/ Cast Recording) and "Original Sound" (Cherry Lane/ Drama Desk Nomination- Best Original Music in a Play". Her ep of original songs "It's You" was released in 2017 and she has an indie/folk album coming out this year, as well as a commission from South Coast Rep for an original folk musical. @janeybrucey  In episode 122, you'll hear Jane chatting with host Maggie Bera about college auditions, her training at University of Michigan, her honest transition from college to the "real world," NYC, songwriting, and of course, Jagged Little Pill. To join the Actor Aesthetic Alliance Facebook group, click here. Spread love and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the Actor Aesthetic Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Visit actoraesthetic.com for more info. Follow Maggie Bera on social media Instagram: @actoraesthetic / @maggiebera Facebook: www.facebook.com/ActorAesthetic/ Email: maggie@actoraesthetic.com

Herbert Siguenza is a founding member of the performance group Culture Clash. Along with Richard Montoya and Ric Salinas ,Culture Clash is the most produced Latino theatre troupe in the United States. Founded in San Francisco in 1984, Culture Clash has performed on the stages of America's top regional theaters including the Mark Taper Forum, The Kennedy Center, The Arena Stage, The Alley Theatre, The Berkeley Repertory, Yale Repertory, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Syracuse Stage, The Huntington Stage and countless universities and colleges. Mr. Siguenza has co-written, and or performed in the following Culture Clash plays: American Night (Commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival) ,Palestine New Mexico, Water and Power, Chavez Ravine (all three commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum) , Peace (Commissioned by The Getty Villa), Zorro in Hell! (Commissioned by the Berkeley Rep), The Birds (Commissioned by the Berkeley Rep and South Coast Rep), Bordertown (commissioned by the San Diego Rep), Radio Mambo, Nuyorican Stories, Anthems, S.O.S., A Bowl of Beings, The Mission and others. As a solo writer and performer Mr. Siguenza has produced Cantinflas! and A Weekend with Pablo Picasso on national tour. His latest plays Steal Heaven and El Henry (Best new play San Diego Critics Circle Award 2014) have been produced at the San Diego Repertory and La Jolla Playhouse. Mr. Siguenza is also an accomplished visual artist and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He has a BFA in printmaking from the California College of Arts, Oakland, California. TV and Film credits: "Ben Ten Alien Swarm" for the Cartoon Network, "Larry Crowne" feature film directed by Tom Hanks. Various short films. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

His plays have been premiered by the Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre, South Coast Rep, and Soho Theatre, and later seen regionally in the United States and around the world. In 2009, his adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway at the Roundabout (American Airlines Theatre) and he has also written short plays for Naked Angels, the 24 Hour Plays, and the New York International Fringe Festival (2002 winner, Best Overall Production). He has received grants from the NEA/TCG Residency Program and the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and he is a recipient of the Robert S. Chesley Award. https://www.christophershinn.co Join the newsletter and be part of the East Forest Council Community. Listen to East Forest guided meditations on Spotify & Apple. Check out the East Forest x Ram Dass album on (Spotify & Apple) + East Forest's Music For Mushrooms: A Soundtrack For The Psychedelic Practitioner 5hr album (Spotify & Apple). *****Please rate Ten Laws w/East Forest on iTunes.  It helps us get the guests you want to hear.  Stay in the East Forest flow:Mothership:  http://eastforest.org/IG:  https://www.instagram.com/eastforest/FB:  https://www.facebook.com/EastForestMusic/TW:  https://twitter.com/eastforestmusic

Hello listeners! This week, we chat with Oakland-based playwright JONATHAN SPECTOR and learn about his remarkable journey into theater. We dig deep into his play "Eureka Day" as he shares his thoughts on playwriting. Be sure to read "Eureka Day" when it becomes available! We're so excited for you to listen to this episode. Check it out! Jonathan Spector is a playwright based in Oakland, California. His play "Eureka Day" was a New York Times 'Critics' Pick' and received all of the San Francisco Bay Area's new play Awards: Glickman Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre Bay Area Award, and Rella Lossy Award. This and other plays including "This Much I Know", "What Comes Next", and "Siesta Key" have been produced and developed across the country. He is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Core Writer at Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, and a recipient of South Coast Rep's Elizabeth George Commission. In October, his audio drama "The Flats" (co-written with Lauren Gunderson and Cleavon Smith) will premiere with Aurora Theater. To learn more about Jonathan and his work, be sure to check out his website www.jonathanspector.org/ or follow him on Twitter twitter.com/spectorjon Jonathan also shared with us his favorite playwriting exercise. Be sure to check out our website to find out what it is and start writing today! GLISTENS: Sarah - RBG's passing / Sam leaving Instagram / Hulu's Pen15 is back!!! / Play I want to highlight this week's from all my play reading is Caridad Svich's "RED BIKE"! Sam - Documentary film "Gunda" Jonathan - Enjoying the air outside since the fires / Netflix's Cobra Kai ________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beckettsbabies/support

Hello listeners! This week, we chat with Oakland-based playwright JONATHAN SPECTOR and learn about his remarkable journey into theater. We dig deep into his play "Eureka Day" as he shares his thoughts on playwriting. Be sure to read "Eureka Day" when it becomes available! We're so excited for you to listen to this episode. Check it out! Jonathan Spector is a playwright based in Oakland, California. His play "Eureka Day" was a New York Times 'Critics’ Pick' and received all of the San Francisco Bay Area’s new play Awards: Glickman Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre Bay Area Award, and Rella Lossy Award. This and other plays including "This Much I Know", "What Comes Next", and "Siesta Key" have been produced and developed across the country. He is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Core Writer at Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, and a recipient of South Coast Rep's Elizabeth George Commission. In October, his audio drama "The Flats" (co-written with Lauren Gunderson and Cleavon Smith) will premiere with Aurora Theater. To learn more about Jonathan and his work, be sure to check out his website https://www.jonathanspector.org/ or follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/spectorjon GLISTENS: Sarah - RBG's passing / Sam leaving Instagram / Hulu’s Pen15 is back!!! / Play I want to highlight this week's from all my play reading is Caridad Svich's "RED BIKE"! Sam - Documentary film "Gunda" Jonathan - Enjoying the air outside since the fires / Netflix's Cobra Kai Jonathan also shared with us his favorite playwriting exercise. Be sure to check out our website to find out what it is and start writing today! ________________________ Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

This week we continue our conversation about the moral dilemma, THE SURROGATE (2020 SXSW Official Selection). J Jessica (Jasmine Batchelor) a 29 year old web designer for a nonprofit in Brooklyn, is ecstatic to be the surrogate and egg-donor for her best friend Josh (Chris Perfetti, "Looking") and his husband Aaron (Sullivan Jones, Slave Play). Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, a prenatal test comes back with unexpected results that pose a moral dilemma. As they all consider the best course of action, the relationship between the three friends is put to the test. We are joined this week for PART II with the cast behind this moral drama that brings up conversations surrounding race, sexuality, class and activism while taking a glimpse into the down syndrome community.  In this first part, writer/director, Jeremey Hersh, introduces us to Brooke Bloom: Theatre credits: Cloud Nine at Atlantic Theatre Company (2016 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play), You Got Older with Page 73 (Obie Award Winner & 2015 Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress in a Play)...I’m Looking For Helen Twelvetrees at the Abron Arts Center, Somewhere Fun at Vineyard Theatre, Lungs at the Studio Theatre in D.C. and Barrington Stage, Becky Shaw at the Wilma, The Grown-Up at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Marie Antoinette at ART, as well as A Feminine Ending, Completeness and Hamlet all at South Coast Rep. Film: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Ceremony, He’s Just Not That Into You, Gabbi on the Roof in July, Swim Little Fish Swim (SXSW 2013) and She's Lost Control (Berlinale 2014). Television: Series Regular roles on Netflix's "Gypsy" and "Amazon's Alpha House," guest appearances on the USA series "Falling Water," "Louie," "The New Normal," "Person of Interest," "Law & Order: SVU," "The Good Wife," a recurring role on "CSI: Miami" and various pilots for NBC. The recipient of the 2012 Barrymore and 2013 IRNE awards for Best Actress, Brooke also received a 2013 Elliot Norton nomination. And, finally, the star of THE SURROGATE Jasmine Batchelor sits with us to discuss filling the shoes of Jessica and what life has been like for her after her first big film role: Jasmine Batchelor currently stars as Jess in THE SURROGATE, a feature film written and directed by Jeremy Hersh. She is an actor, writer, producer, and teaching artist residing in New York City, and an alumnus of The Juilliard School. She has been seen on stage at The Public Theater, Playwrights Realm, Manhattan Theatre Club, Two River Theater, and Baltimore Center Stage, among others. She is a major Lorraine Hansberry fan. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Jeremy Hersh is a New York-based filmmaker whose first feature, The Surrogate, was an Official Selection of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival. His 2015 short, Actresses, screened at Sundance, SXSW, BAMCinemafest and the New Orleans Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best narrative short. Jeremy’s undergraduate thesis short, Natives, premiered at SXSW in 2013. THE SURROGATE is available on VOD. Rate and Review Pink Among Men wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Insta @pinkamongmen.

Samuel D. Hunter’s plays include The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest, Pocatello, Lewiston, Clarkston, and most recently, The Healing and The Harvest. He is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award, the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the 2011 Sky Cooper Prize, the 2008 PONY/Lark Fellowship, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho. His plays have been produced in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Clubbed Thumb and Page 73, and around the country at such theaters as Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep, Victory Gardens, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Old Globe, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theater Company, and elsewhere. Samuel's work has been developed at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils, and PlayPenn. A published anthology of his work, including The Whale and A Bright New Boise, is available from TCG books. He is a member of New Dramatists, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, a member of Partial Comfort Productions, and was a 2013 Resident Playwright at Arena Stage. A native of northern Idaho, Sam lives in Inwood, NYC. He holds degrees in playwriting from NYU, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard. Watch for new Inwood Art Works On Air episodes! Live N' Local episodes drop the first Thursday of each month, and Artist Spotlight episodes drop two weeks later. Subscribe so you don't miss a thing! And please, show local artists (and us!) some love by leaving some stars and a review on Apple Podcasts. Inwood Art Works On Air is produced by Inwood Art Works. If you would like to support this this podcast by setting up a $2 to $20 monthly tax-deductible donation to Inwood Art Works please visit www.inwoodartworks.nyc/support/donate-now. If you would like to feature your small business and support Inwood Art Works On Air by sponsoring an episode, contact us. Corporate and neighborhood small business sponsorships are available; email info@inwooodartworks.nyc for more info.

MUSE LIVE! Special Guest VIDA'S Tanya Saracho: On today's MUSE Live! Mike Sandoval welcomes the Creator/Executive Producer of STARZ Vida, Tanya Saracho. Vida is currently on its' third and final season of the show. Saracho is a Chicago playwright who currently writes for Television (HBO's "Looking," "Girls," and "Devious Maids."). Named "Best New Playwright" by Chicago Magazine, Saracho has had plays produced at: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater. Saracho was named one of nine national Latino "Luminarios" by Café magazine and given the first "Revolucionario" Award in Theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art. She is currently in development with HBO and has commissions with the following theatres: Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Two Rivers Theatre, Denver Theater Center, South Coast Rep. Tanya is also a successful Spanish Voice-Over artist and a SAG/AFTRA actress. You can watch the final season of STARZ Vida by clicking the link https://www.starz.com/us/en/series/37707/episodes?season=1 Host: Mike Sandoval For more coverage, follow MUSE at: Website: https://www.musetv.net Website: https://www.culturallyobsessed.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MUSETVNews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/culturallyobsessed Twitter: @MUSETV1 Twitter: @Culturallyo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musetv Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CulturallyObsessed ©2020 MUSE --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musecast/support

Christina Elmore is a film, televison and theater performer living and working in Los Angeles. With an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater, Christina has performed roles across all genres. After five seasons as a series regular on TNT's hit series, The Last Ship, she now stars as Marie in Lena Waithe's newest scripted series, Twenties, on BET. She has a recurring role as Condola on HBO's Insecure and can be seen in Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station, Lady Bouncer on HBO and the CBS pilot, Under the Bridge. Her favorite roles in the theater include Juliet at Los Angeles Shakespeare Company and Monique in the world premiere of Adam Rapp's "The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois" at South Coast Rep. She is repped by SDB Partners. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theactorslounge/support

Adam Szymkowicz, playwright, stopped by to talk with Padraic at the SETC. Adam's work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others. Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists, Incendiary, Clown Bar, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Kodachrome, Mercy and Nerve. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing, Original Works Publishing, and featured in New York Theatre Review, the Dionysian, NYTE's Cino Nights, Geek Theater, and numerous Smith and Kraus books. He's the Playwrights Program Manager at The Juilliard School. Adam has interviewed over 1000 playwrights on his blog.

From never being on a TV staff, to becoming the creator and showrunner of “House of Cards,” Netflix's original foray into dramatic television and the corrupted world of politics… this week's interview with screenwriter, painter, and playwright Beau Willimon is sure to inspire you! Beau Willimon is a screenwriter, playwright, producer and most recently, an executive producer, showrunner and creator of Netflix's original series “House of Cards,” a wicked one-hour drama, from Media Rights Capital, that slithers behind the curtain of power, sex, ambition, love, greed and corruption in modern Washington D.C. His play “Farragut North,” became the basis for the motion picture screenplay “Ides of March,” which he co-wrote with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. “Ides of March” earned Willimon Academy Award®, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it won The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Award for Best Screenplay. Other plays include “Lower Ninth” (Flea Theater, 2008; UK premiere, Donmar Warehouse, 2010), and “Spirit Control” (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2010). Subsequent productions of his plays have been mounted across the U.S. and overseas. Willimon was a recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship, named 2008 Playwright-in-Residence at the Donmar Warehouse, and he is a two-time winner of the Lincoln Center Le Comte du Nouy Award. Current theater commissions include works for the National Theatre of Great Britain, South Coast Rep, and the Flea Theater. His most recent play, “The Parisian Woman,” premieres at South Coast Repertory in the spring and will star Dana Delany, Steven Culp, Linda Gehringer and Rebecca Mozo. The play was inspired by Henri Becque's “La Parisienne.” Recently Willimon co-founded Westward Productions, a film and television production company, with co-founder Jordan Tappis. Among Westward Production's current projects is the forthcoming “Wally and Andre Shoot Ibsen” – a film adaption of Ibsen's play “Master Builder” developed by Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, directed by Jonathan Demme. Willimon is an Executive Producer on the film. Other projects in development include a documentary about adventure traveler Karl Bushby's quest to circumnavigate the globe on foot over the course of two decades, and a documentary about Westerly Windina, a transgender Australian woman formerly known as legendary pro-surfer Peter Drouyn. In addition to his career as a writer and producer, Willimon served on a number of political campaigns, including Chuck Schumer's 1998 senate race, Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential race, Hillary Clinton's 2000 senate race and Howard Dean's 2004 presidential race. Willimon graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University in 1999 and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University's School of the Arts in 2003. A St. Louis native, he now resides in Brooklyn, NY. Beau's Twitter: @BeauWillimon Buy Gray's book for only $4.99! Look for it on Amazon – How To Break In To TV Writing: Insider Interviews. Didn't get your questions asked? Make sure you follow Gray on Twitter (@GrayJones) so you can get the scoop on who is being interviewed and how to get your questions in. Also check out our TV Writer Twitter Database to find Twitter addresses for over 1,200 TV writers. Find our previous episodes and other resources at www.tvwriterpodcast.com or on Gray's YouTube channel. First published April 14, 2013.

From never being on a TV staff, to becoming the creator and showrunner of “House of Cards,” Netflix’s original foray into dramatic television and the corrupted world of politics… this week’s interview with screenwriter, painter, and playwright Beau Willimon is sure to inspire you!Beau Willimon is a screenwriter, playwright, producer and most recently, an executive producer, showrunner and creator of Netflix’s original series “House of Cards,” a wicked one-hour drama, from Media Rights Capital, that slithers behind the curtain of power, sex, ambition, love, greed and corruption in modern Washington D.C.His play “Farragut North,” became the basis for the motion picture screenplay “Ides of March,” which he co-wrote with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. “Ides of March” earned Willimon Academy Award®, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it won The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Award for Best Screenplay.Other plays include “Lower Ninth” (Flea Theater, 2008; UK premiere, Donmar Warehouse, 2010), and “Spirit Control” (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2010). Subsequent productions of his plays have been mounted across the U.S. and overseas. Willimon was a recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship, named 2008 Playwright-in-Residence at the Donmar Warehouse, and he is a two-time winner of the Lincoln Center Le Comte du Nouy Award. Current theater commissions include works for the National Theatre of Great Britain, South Coast Rep, and the Flea Theater.His most recent play, “The Parisian Woman,” premieres at South Coast Repertory in the spring and will star Dana Delany, Steven Culp, Linda Gehringer and Rebecca Mozo. The play was inspired by Henri Becque’s “La Parisienne.”Recently Willimon co-founded Westward Productions, a film and television production company, with co-founder Jordan Tappis. Among Westward Production’s current projects is the forthcoming “Wally and Andre Shoot Ibsen” – a film adaption of Ibsen’s play “Master Builder” developed by Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, directed by Jonathan Demme. Willimon is an Executive Producer on the film. Other projects in development include a documentary about adventure traveler Karl Bushby’s quest to circumnavigate the globe on foot over the course of two decades, and a documentary about Westerly Windina, a transgender Australian woman formerly known as legendary pro-surfer Peter Drouyn.In addition to his career as a writer and producer, Willimon served on a number of political campaigns, including Chuck Schumer’s 1998 senate race, Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential race, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 senate race and Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential race.Willimon graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University in 1999 and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in 2003. A St. Louis native, he now resides in Brooklyn, NY.Beau’s Twitter: @BeauWillimonBuy Gray’s book for only $4.99! Look for it on Amazon – How To Break In To TV Writing: Insider Interviews.Didn’t get your questions asked? Make sure you follow Gray on Twitter (@GrayJones) so you can get the scoop on who is being interviewed and how to get your questions in. Also check out our TV Writer Twitter Database to find Twitter addresses for over 1,200 TV writers. Find our previous episodes and other resources at www.tvwriterpodcast.com or on Gray’s YouTube channel.First published April 14, 2013.

Episode 3 of City Theatre's CitySpeaks podcast features City Theatre's Clare Drobot in conversation with Lauren Yee, whose play, Cambodian Rock Band, with music by Dengue Fever, premiered at South Coast Rep. and is now at City Theatre on Pittsburgh's Southside.Get your tickets here:  https://citytheatre.culturaldistrict.org/production/62854/cambodian-rock-band Lauren and Clare discuss life as a playwright, and how research and a trip to Cambodia inspired an incredible story.More about Lauren: Subsequent productions of Cambodian Rock Band have appeared at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Merrimack Rep, Signature Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Jungle Theatre. Yee's play The Great Leap, has been produced at the Denver Center, Seattle Repertory, Atlantic Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, and InterAct Theatre, with future productions at Steppenwolf, Long Wharf, and Asolo Rep. Honors include the Doris Duke Artists Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, Primus Prize, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. She’s a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists members, Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. TV credits include: PACHINKO (Apple) and SOUNDTRACK (Netflix). Current commissions include Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep. She received her bachelor's degree from Yale. MFA: UCSD. laurenyee.com

Christopher Shinn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and lives in New York. His plays have been premiered by the Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre, South Coast Rep, and Soho Theatre, and later seen regionally in the United States and around the world. He is the winner of an OBIE in Playwriting (2004-2005) and a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting (2005), was a Pulitzer Prize finalist (2008), was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play (2008), and has also been nominated for an Olivier Award for Most Promising Playwright (2003), a TMA Award for Best New Play (2006), a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play (2007), and a South Bank Show Award for Theatre (2009). In 2009, his adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway at the Roundabout (American Airlines Theatre) and he has also written short plays for Naked Angels, the 24 Hour Plays, and the New York International Fringe Festival (2002 winner, Best Overall Production). He has received grants from the NEA/TCG Residency Program and the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and he is a recipient of the Robert S. Chesley Award. He teaches playwriting at the New School for Drama. https://www.christophershinn.co eastforest.org

Lewis Flinn is the composer and lyricist of the Broadway musical Lysistrata Jones (with a book by Douglas Carter Beane). Other current projects with Beane include the Broadway bound Hood which debuted at the Dallas Theater Center and won Best Musical 0f Dallas 2017, and a musical version of Beane’s hit film, To Wong Foo. Flinn has composed scores and songs for over 50 Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions including TONY nominated The Little Dog Laughed, Charles Busch’s Off-Broadway Die Mommie Die, The Divine Sister, The Tribute Artist (Drama Desk nom for Best Music) and The Third Story. Other theaters where he has worked included Playwright’s Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, South Coast Rep, The Geffen Playhouse, The Cleveland Play House, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Center Theater, 2nd Stage Theater, and the Drama Dept.  He has been a guest artist at Cornell, Dartmouth, The Boston Conservatory, The Royal Academy of Arts - London, and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

  From Witcher to Whisper, LA Native, Actor, Writer, Artist and host of Pangeekery podcast,  Jenapher Zheng joins us for this installment of Celebrity gamer! We dive deep into her gaming interests and interactive theater creations! We see a Strength in Gaming Mahjong tournament in our future! CELEBRITY GUEST: Jenapher Zheng HOSTS: Cat McGuire, Salvador Madrigal, Samson Lancaster  Music: n8bit   Become a Patron of STR CAST Jenapher's Bio: Jenapher Zheng is an actor, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. She is an exuberant personality with an insatiable desire to create. At CalArts, she trained intensively in various schools of acting- along with vocal and physical technique- to earn her conservatory degree. Her skills include singing, playing the piano, physical theatre, character voices, speaking fluent Mandarin, and playing video games. A few acting credits include Sylvie the Cat in "Kentucky" at the East West Players, Ama Miyuki in the workshop of "Tokyo Fish Story" at South Coast Rep, and Alex in "The Misanthrope" directed by DIane Rodriguez of Center Theatre Group. She frequently acts for film and for the Hollywood Fringe Festival, where her productions have won awards each year. Every day, she holds to her personal motto, "Excelsior", which means "ever upward".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jenapher Zheng Interview Questions by category:  -------- VIDEO GAMES Your preferred video game genre? FPS, RTS, RPG etc. What is a video game you are currently obsessed with? What's the one video game you find yourself playing over and over again? Who would you consider your top three female leads in video games?  If you could be a video game character in real life, no restrictions who would it be? What game has had the best single player experience for you thus far?  -------------  Acting / Writing What do you like most about Interactive Theatre? Who is your inspiration for acting / writing? Oblivous what was your experience creating your own interactive theater show? ---------------- Cosplay Are you working on any Cosplay now?What is one Cosplay you would really like to do? -----------------  Current / Upcoming PROJECTS Pangeekery; did you know any of the hosts / crew before the shows inception? Speaking of Pangeekery, who is the best Karaoke? -----------------  RANDOM (time permitting / curve-balls) What is your Power Karaoke song? Have you seen AggretsukoWhat is your Pottermore House?  Star Wars or Star Trek? ----------- PLUG Before ending, we will be sure to give ample time to plug latest or current projects, events, notable appearances etc.

ISABELLE HUPPERT is a multi-award winning screen and stage actress. Throughout her career Isabelle Huppert has worked with many French and international directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Maurice Pialat, Patrice Chéreau, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, the Taviani brothers, David O’Russell, Marco Ferreri, Michael Cimino, Harl Hartley, Neil Jordan, Hong Sang Soo and more. Awards won include: a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Feature Films for her work in The Lacemaker, two Venice Film Festival Best Actress Awards for Claude Chabrol’s Story of Women and The Ceremony, Venice Film Festival’s Special Jury Lion d’Or for her performance in Patrice Chéreau’s Gabrielle and for her entire body of work; two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards for Claude Chabrol’s Violette and for Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher; in France she received the César (Best Actress Award) for Claude Chabrol’s The Ceremony and Paul Verhoeven’s Elle – a film for which she also received a Gotham Award, a Golden Globe and a Spirit Award in addition to being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She received a Molière Award for her career (honoring achievements in French theater; equivalent to the Tony Awards); and the prestigious “XVI Prix Europe pour le Théâtre” in Rome. Isabelle Huppert has also pursued her theatrical career in France and internationally, including BAM (4:48 Psychosis, Quartet, and Phaedra). She has acted under the direction of Bob Wilson (Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Heiner Müller’s Quartet), Peter Zadek (Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure), Claude Régy (Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis), and Howard Davies (Friedrich von Schiller’s Mary Stuart). TRIP CULLMAN (Director). Broadway: Choir Boy, Lobby Hero, Six Degrees of Separation, Significant Other. Select off Broadway: I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Days of Rage, The Layover, Lonely I’m Not, The Substance of Fire, Some Men, Bachelorette, Swimming in the Shallows (Second Stage); Punk Rock (Obie Award), Yen, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Gynecologic Oncology Unit At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Of New York City (MCC); Significant Other (Roundabout); Choir Boy, Murder Ballad (MTC); A Small Fire (Drama Desk nom.), Assistance, The Drunken City (Playwrights Horizons); The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing, The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick); Dog Sees God (Century Center); Roulette (EST); US Drag(stageFARM); and several productions with The Play Company. London: The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, PA (Tricycle). Select regional: Geffen, Alliance, Old Globe, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Bay Street, Williamstown Theater Festival.

This weeks episode I interview one of my oldest and dearest friends, Qui Nguyen. Qui is a playwright and screenwriter and has worked on numerous television shows, has had his plays produced across the nation and has even gotten to play with the big boys over at Marvel and now with Disney. We talk about how he developed his brand of theater coined by his wife Abby called "Geek Theatre" way before it was cool to be a geek. He talks about juggling multiple projects at one time, finding life balance as an artist between work and family, and talks about some of his upcoming projects. His newest production Poor Yella Rednecks premieres this weekend at the South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, CA. and tickets can be purchased by following the link below. Poor Yella Rednecks Tickets Qui's Twitter Profile Website As always you can find additional details about this interview and a host of others at barrow.blog. If you would like regular updates on the podcast as well as other mayhem I can get myself into then subscribe here. Opening and closing music provided for by Broke for Free - Night Owl  

https://rduonstage.com/2019/03/24/transcript-lauren-gunderson-on-science-and-storytelling/ (To read a transcript of the RDU on Stage interview with Lauren Gunderson, click here.) Note: The music used in this episode was written by https://www.jennygiering.com/ (Jenny Giering) for the play Silent Sky. About the Guests Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, GA. She received her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University and her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch. She was named the most produced playwright in America by ‘American Theatre Magazine’ in 2017, was awarded the 2016 Lanford Wilson Award from the Dramatist Guild, the 2016 Otis Gurnsey Award for Emerging Writer, and was awarded the prestigious 2014 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for her play, I and You. By my count, she has written or co-authored 20 plays, including The Revolutionists, Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight (https://sonorousroadrep.org/emilie (Sonorous Road), March 29th – April 14th), and Silent Sky (https://burningcoal.org/ (Burning Coal), April 2020). She has been commissioned by South Coast Rep (3 times), San Francisco Playhouse (2 times), The Denver Center Theatre Company, Crowded Fire, CentralWorks, The Kennedy Center, The Alliance Theatre’s Collision Project, Marin Theatre Company, Actors Express Theatre, Dad’s Garage Theatre, Theatrical Outfit, City University of New York and Synchronicity Performance Group. Gunderson lives in California with her husband (a scientist) and two children. Egla Hassan is an accomplished director and professor of theatre whose 34-year career at Western Illinois University included heading the Master of Fine Arts in Directing program and helping young theatre artists to find their own voice. She has spent most of her adult life engaged in some form of theatrical pursuit. Whether that was exploring the relationship between religion and drama during her time at Christian Theological Seminary, performing with a small theatrical group in Pennsylvania, or writing plays for special audiences, Hassan says that she has always looked for the ways in which theatre speaks about the human condition. Hassan is now retired from teaching but still works as a freelance director. In 2017, Hassan directed Sonorous Road’s production of Straight, White, Men.' Connect with RDU on Stage Facebook – @rduonstage Twitter – @rduonstage Instagram – @rduonstage Web http://www.rduonstage.com/ (www.rduonstage.com) Support this podcast

Tony Amendola (@tmamendola) was an associate artist, actor and director at the Berkeley Rep Theater for ten years. Regional theatre work includes the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, ACT, the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Williamstown Theater, CenterStage and the Oregon, California and Utah Shakespeare Festivals. He has 120+ credits on film/TV, including as a series regular on Continuum, and recurring work on Stargate SG-1 and Once Upon a Time as Pinocchio's father Geppetto. He's appeared as the title character in Uncle Vanya and King Lear, as King Henry in Lion in Winter, and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Voiceover work includes video games World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 15, and Call of Duty, and as the narrator of The Land Before Time XIV. Just a bit of what we cover in this episode: Getting nervous about auditions and loving it Being petrified over a particular role, and having no faith in himself to do it His first TV job in LA and how the director helped him through it What he learned coming back to Merchant of Venice, 25 years later, as an actor Tony's daily routine of body, mind, and spirit Advice he would give to smart, driven students of acting Surrounding yourself with people you respect One of his favorite failure stories, and how it led him to LA Plus a whole lot more, and Tony also lets us in on how he works through Shakespeare's sonnet #130!   Click here for full show notes and links. Get your copy of "12 Top Acting Tips from Season One" See additional content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Anne E. McMills’ career extends across the many facets of the lighting world—from theatre (including Broadway and the West End) to television and theme parks to architectural lighting, industrials, concerts, cruise ships, award shows, dance, and opera. In addition to designing her own work, Anne has assisted many Tony Award-winning Broadway designers, mounting productions throughout the world. Anne is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, as well as the author of The Assistant Lighting Designer's Toolkit and 3D Printing Basics for Entertainment Design. She is also the Head of Lighting Design at San Diego State University. Recent work includes Noel Noel with the San Diego Symphony, All is Calm with the San Diego Opera, Sense and Sensibility with South Coast Rep, and Beachtown with the San Diego Rep. For further information, visit www.annemcmillslighting.com.

Trip Cullman is a theatrical director who graduated from the Yale School of Drama. His Broadway credits include Six Degrees of Separation, and Significant Other. Other credits include Swimming in the Shallows, Bachelorette, Some Men, Bad Jazz, Arabian Night, Smashing, Dog Sees God, Dark Matters, The Last Sunday in June, and The Wooden Breeks. Regional credits include the World Premiere of Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap, the World Premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Injured Party at South Coast Rep, Keith Huff's A Steady Rain, and Lauren Weedman's Rash. Trip and I talked about how he got to the major leagues as well as  . . . Why the first thing he does when he takes a job is make a mixtape! The super-secret, age-old blocking technique that you’ve got to try. What shocked him about directing on Broadway. Who he likes working with the most when he develops a new work (it’s not who you think). Why he reads reviews but doesn’t read chat boards.   The Tony Award-winning director of Urinetown returns to Broadway with Gettin’ The Band Back Together, a musical about a recently fired 40 year old man who wants to make it big with his band. Check it out here: gettinthebandbacktogether.com Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway www.theproducersperspective.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Chatting With Sherri we welcome the creative team for the audio book for Battlefield Earth! Jim Meskimen, Director of Battlefield Earth; is a well-known film, animation and TV actor whose credits include Apollo 13, The Grinch, Friends, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Jim provided the political impressions in JibJab's internet shorts including the sensation This Land and Clarence's speech from Shakespeare's Richard III. Jim also has the distinction as the senior director, and major creative force behind the audio recording of Battlefield Earth. Phil Proctor, Swiss banker  Baron von Roth; Phil is an award-winning actor, singer, writer and producer, a 45-year member of the thrice-Grammy-nominated Firesign Theatre comedy group. He's appeared in numerous films and TV shows and voices the Drunken French Monkey in the Dr. Dolittle series, Howard in the Emmy-winning Rugrats and Seahorse Bob in Finding Nemo.and has played on Broadway and off-Broadway, at the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, the Falcon Theatre and the Theatre @ Boston Court and is a proud member of the Antaeus Classical Theatre Company.   Fred Tatasciore, performed the Psychlo midget Ker;  is a professional Hollywood voice actor most known for portrayal of the Hulk in several animated roles, including Ultimate Avengers, Next Avengers, Hulk Vs. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Author Gay Toltl Kinman is my first children's mystery writer, with ten books so far in that arena. But she is also a playwright, a teacher, and an incredibly prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. We talk about so many interesting things, I'll see if I can squeeze them all in the show notes. First off, here is Gay's Author Page on Amazon and here is the link to some pics of Gay on her many adventures -- including one taken in Alaska by the real Alison, the inspiration for her series. And let's not forget to link to Hearst Castle, the inspiration for her first YA novel, Wolf Castle (fka Castle Reiner).  Gay's second mystery series for children, The Adventures of Lauren MacPhearson, is also inspired by another granddaughter. Both the real and fictional Laurens barely spoke at all, and yet both have had marvelous adventures. For more information on Elective Mutism (now called Selective Mutism), check out the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Gay worked with miniature books at the spectacular Huntington Library, and that experience was the inspiration for The Mystery of the Missing Miniature Books. If you like mysteries where you learn something new, this one fills the bill. I had never imagined there were so many rare and antique books under four inches tall. Here's a link to the Huntington's own collection, but if you want more details, check out the Miniature Book Society. It's impossible to talk about children's mysteries without a nod to Carolyn Keene. Both Nancy Drew and The Dana Girls mysteries were written under that name. And I gave a shout-out to Shoshona Freedman. When we talked about Gay's work as a playwright, she gave a shout-out to South Coast Rep and Cecilia Fannon. Here is a link to the video The Read, the cold reading Gay talks about, of her play on Grace Nicholson. Up next is her book on women heroines, featuring never-before-published material from letters and journals, and includes a vignette on Julia Morgan, architect of the Hearst Castle. Which brings us back full circle to Gay's original inspiration. We did it! As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is a transcript. Enjoy! -- Laura Transcript of Interview with Gay Toltl Kinman Laura Brennan: My guest today is Dr. Gay Toltl Kinman. Her career is nothing short of epic: ten children’s books, a YA gothic novel, several adult mysteries, two nonfiction books, numerous short plays and short stories, three Agatha Award nominations and an EPPIE win. Add to that over one hundred and fifty articles in professional journals and newspapers, book reviews, a children’s book column, a teaching load that includes law, library science and writing, and I simply don’t know how she has time to chat with me. But I’m glad she does. Gay, thank you for joining me. Gay Toltl Kinman: Well, thank you for asking me. LB: I barely know where to start here, so let's first talk about you. You have a Master of science in Library Science, right? GTK: Right. LB: Did you always want to be a writer? GTK: Yes, I did. Because my mother was also. But it seemed to me so lofty and esoteric to say that I wanted to be a writer, so I don't think I ever said that I wanted to be anything specific because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. But I knew eventually I wanted to write. LB: What was the impetus there, for that first book? GTK: I was reading a lot of Gothic novels at the time. And I had an idea for a story, because I like Hearst Castle very much and we been up there a few times, and I just thought that whole setting was so fantastic. And I was working full time, and I said well I'm going to put aside Saturday morning and I'm going to write. I tried to do that but it's just impossible. So I did write it. It was originally called Castle Reiner, and then we changed it with the second publisher of the book, we changed it to Wolf Castle because it involves wolves. So I wrote that,

2011 DCN: Scenic Designers: On Monday, June 27th, 2011, SDC's Gretchen Michelfeld talked to veteran scenic designers Rachel Hauck (The Public, BAM, The Vineyard, South Coast Rep, and Eugene O'Neill Resident Set Designer) and Nick Francone (Prospect Theater Company, SPF, Six Figures, New Georges, E.S.T., Santa Fe Opera, assistant on Wicked and Opera) about their experiences collaborating with a variety of directors. They discussed aspects of successful production meetings, dealing with repertory sets, the strangest designs they have made, and offer advice to young directors. This is an enlightening discussion on the successes and struggles in the lives of professional scenic designers. Originally recorded - June 27, 2011. Running Time - 1:21:43 © 2011 SDCF

Matthew Arkin's Broadway credits include Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, Mr. Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Manhattan Theater Club's Losing Louie. Other New York credits include originating the role of Gabe in Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize winning Dinner with Friends(Drama Desk nomination, Drama League Honoree), Manhattan Theatre Club'sMoonlight and Magnolias, and Richard Dresser's Rounding Third. Regional Theater includes Our Mother's Brief Affair at South Coast Rep., Surf Report at La Jolla Playhouse, The Scene at Hartford Stage Company, Around the World in 80 Days at the Cape Playhouse, Rounding Third at Chicago's Northlight Theatre, Talley's Follyat The Bay Street Theatre, Guys and Dolls at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater, and Sight Unseen at The George Street Playhouse. Film credits include indies Margot at the Wedding, Second Best, Raising Flagg, The Curse, and Bittersweet Place, as well as Death to Smoochy, Liar, Liar, North, An Unmarried Woman, and Chu Chu and the Philly Flash. Matthew appeared in recurring roles as Dr. Thompkins on the hit FX drama Rescue Me and as Legal Aid Attorney Paul Bernard on A&E's 100 Centre Street. Other television credits include the PBS pilot Copshop, Medium, Third Watch, Hack, The Education of Max Bickford, Ed, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: SVU, Kojak, and All My Children. Matthew chats with Take 2 Radio on July 7th at 5pm EDT about his career and his new suspense book on kickstarter called "In the Country of the Blind" 

On Monday, June 27th, 2011, SDC's Gretchen Michelfeld talked to veteran scenic designers Rachel Hauck (The Public, BAM, The Vineyard, South Coast Rep, Eugene O'Neill Resident Set Designer) and Nick Francone (Prospect Theater Company, SPF, Six Figures, New Georges, E.S.T., Santa Fe Opera, assistant on Wicked and Opera) about their experiences collaborating with a variety of directors. They discussed aspects of successful production meetings, dealing with repertory sets, the strangest designs they have made, and offer advice to young directors. This is an enlightening discussion on the successes and struggles in the lives of professional scenic designers.

Carlos Murillo is a Chicago-based playwright, director and teacher. He is a Visiting Professor at the Theatre School of DePaul University. His play Mimesophobia (or before and after) was produced at Arielle Tepper’s 2005 NYC Summer Play Festival after previous workshops at J.A.W. West Festival at Portland Center Stage (2004), South Coast Rep’s Hispanic Playwrights Project (2003), the Chautauqua Institution Theatre Conservatory (2002) and A.S.K. Theatre Project in Los Angeles (2002). In NY Carlos’ plays have been seen at the Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, En Garde Arts, Lincoln Center, Soho Rep, the Hangar Theatre, the Chautauqua Institute Conservatory, the Flea,INTAR and Nada, Inc. Regionally his work has been seen at South Coast Rep, Theatre at Boston Court, Circle X Theatre, Son of Semele Ensemble and A.S.K.Theatre Projects all in southern California, Red Eye Collaboration and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, The Group Theatre and Annex Theater in Seattle, Portland Center Stage, Madison Repertory Theatre, the Sundance Institute, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Boston Theatre Works, Salvage Vanguard and the dirigo group in Austin, and others. In Chicago his plays have been produced at Walkabout Theatre and Barat College of DePaul University. Recently, dark play was presented in the 2006 Latino Theatre Festival at the Goodman Theatre.

Carlos Murillo is a Chicago-based playwright, director and teacher. He is a Visiting Professor at the Theatre School of DePaul University. His play Mimesophobia (or before and after) was produced at Arielle Tepper’s 2005 NYC Summer Play Festival after previous workshops at J.A.W. West Festival at Portland Center Stage (2004), South Coast Rep’s Hispanic Playwrights Project (2003), the Chautauqua Institution Theatre Conservatory (2002) and A.S.K. Theatre Project in Los Angeles (2002). In NY Carlos’ plays have been seen at the Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, En Garde Arts, Lincoln Center, Soho Rep, the Hangar Theatre, the Chautauqua Institute Conservatory, the Flea,INTAR and Nada, Inc. Regionally his work has been seen at South Coast Rep, Theatre at Boston Court, Circle X Theatre, Son of Semele Ensemble and A.S.K.Theatre Projects all in southern California, Red Eye Collaboration and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, The Group Theatre and Annex Theater in Seattle, Portland Center Stage, Madison Repertory Theatre, the Sundance Institute, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Boston Theatre Works, Salvage Vanguard and the dirigo group in Austin, and others. In Chicago his plays have been produced at Walkabout Theatre and Barat College of DePaul University. Recently, dark play was presented in the 2006 Latino Theatre Festival at the Goodman Theatre.