Kpfa - Bay Area Theater

This podcast was originally posted on April 9, 2017. Robert Hurwitt, former drama critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and before that the San Francisco Examiner and the East Bay Express, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky. Robert Hurwitt retired in April 2016 after a long and distinguished career as a critic and theater reviewer. Born as a “red diaper baby” and growing up in New York City’s suburbs, his love of theater began early. After moving to San Francisco and working as a free-lance writer, he was hired by the Express and later the Examiner — and when the Examiner was bought by Hearst, the San Francisco Chronicle, where he spent several years as the single most important critic in the region. In this interview, he discusses his life and career, his feelings about criticism, and recommends three shows running in San Francisco at the time of the interview. The post Robert Hurwitt, former theatre critic, SF Chronicle, 2017 appeared first on KPFA.

This is the fourth in a series of interviews about theatre companies during the year of Covid. Bill English and Susi Damilano Bill English is the Artistic Director and co-founder (with Susi Damilano) of San Francisco Playhouse, which had to shut down its theater near Union Square, in the Kensington Park Hotel on Post Street, in March while ready for tech rehearsals for their next show. Since then, the company has had to come up with ways to stay alive — and as with most companies, turned to streaming, first with a series of interviews about theatre, and then with Zoomlets, short plays heard as readings every Monday. Both interviews and most zoomlets are now available on the SF Playhouse website. More recently, SF Playhouse has devised three-play virtual seasons, one in the winter (The Jewelry Box with Brian Copeland closes December 25, 2020 and Songs for a New World closes December 31, 2020) and the next, featuring world premieres comes on line in sequence in February, 2021. The post Theatre in the Time of Co

This interview was first posted in a different form as a Radio Wolinsky podcast on November 27, 2018.  Taylor Mac, writer/performer/co-director of “Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce” which ran at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in late November/early December, 2018. In 2020, Taylor Mac has taken elements from that show and created a streaming show that ran live on December 12, 2020 and runs On Demand through the Curran website until January 3, 2021. The year 2018 was a good one for performer and playwright Taylor Mac. Winner of a MacArthur Genius Grant, he was also a finalist for his performance piece A 24-Decade history of Popular Music. His play Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, starring Nathan Lane, Kristine Nielsen and Julie White, which is discussed in this interview, reviewed mixed reviews (raves and pans) and officially opened on Broadway on April 21, 2019, and closed on June 16, 2019 after 45 previews and 65 performances. Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce … Pandemic! has set design and costumes by his long-t

Han Ong is a playwright whose play  “Grandeur,” was produced at the Magic Theater in San Francisco in June, 2017. He was interviewed by KPFA theater critic Richard Wolinsky. The interview was posted on June 12, 2017, Han Ong has written several plays since the 1990s, and two novels, including the well-reviewed “Fixer Chao” in 2001. This is his second play following a twelve-year absence. “Grandeur” concerns a meeting between a journalist and the late poet and writer Gil Scott-Heron in 2010 upon the release of the album “I’m New Here,” and a year before the poet’s death. Han Ong was born to Chinese parents and spent his first sixteen years in the Philippines before moving to Los Angeles and getting involved in the theater world. A high school dropout who received a MacArthur Genius Award, he is well known for his plays about dislocation and alienation. Magic Theatre website. The post Playwright Interview: Han Ong, 2017 appeared first on KPFA.

Third in a series of interviews about how theatre companies are coping with the Corona Virus shutdown. Evren Odcikin, the Associate Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon discusses how OSF dealt with the shutdown due to Covid-19, followed by the Black Lives Matter movement engendered by the murder of George Floyd, and then the September fires which burned parts of Ashland, as well as the nearby towns of Phoenix and Talent. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Evren’s latest directorial effort is This Is Who I Am by Amir Nizar Zuabi, a co-production of PlayCo and Woolly Mammoth, in association with OSF and other theatre companies, which is performed and broadcast live from December 5, 2020 through January 3, 2021. Evren Odcikin, prior to joining OSF in 2019, was part of the creative team of Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, and has directed several plays around the San Francisco Bay Area. Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a theatre company founded in 1935, which presents five plays,

Second in a series of interviews about how Bay Area theatres are coping with the Corona Virus shutdown. John Fisher, Executive/Artistic Director of Theatre Rhinoceros, based in San Francisco, “The Longest Running Queer Theatre in the World,” since 2003, discusses how his company has managed to survive and move into the digital realm as live theatre, on stage with an audience, vanishes from the American scene. While the subscriber base keeps the company alive, Theatre Rhino now boasts a weekly one-man show from John Fisher, created in his home and sometimes on his bike, on Zoom and Facebook Live, and has begun a digital season that is intended, whenever it happens, to return to the stage. Included in this interview is a five-minute piece focused on the Thanksgiving Battle of Saratoga, written and performed for this podcast and radio show by John Fisher. The post Theatre During Covid: John Fisher, Theatre Rhinoceros appeared first on KPFA.

This podcast was originally posted on December 11th, 2016. The Christmas presentation for Berkeley Rep during the winter of 2015 to 2016 was Kneehigh Theatre’s production of 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, which was adapted and co-directed by Emma Rice, who at the time of this interview had recently left her position as Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, Currently in November 2020, she is artistic director of the theatre company Wise Children in Bristol England. During the pandemic, Wise Children has gone digital. Its next production, in association with Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic is The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, which will be streamed live December 3rd through 5th from England, with a starting time of 11:30 am Pacific. Emma Rice, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Emma Rice is  director/co-adaptor of “946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips,” a Kneehigh production which ran at Berkeley Rep through January 15th, 2016. For several years, Emma served as Artistic Director

First in a series of interviews about how Bay Area theatres are coping with the Corona Virus shutdown. Pam MacKinnon, Artistic Director of A.C.T., American Conservatory Theatre, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Now in her third season as Artistic Director, Pam MacKinnon has had to rearrange her life (which was already in flux, still learning about her new home town of San Francisco) and the work of her organization in order to survive the complete shutdown of live theatre in America. A noted theatre director before joining A.C.T., Pam MacKinnon won an Obie and then was nominated for a Tony on Broadway for Clybourne Park. A leading director of the works of Edward Albee, she won a Tony Award in 2013 for a revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In the Bay Area, most notably, she directed Albee’s Seascape for ACT during the 2018-2019 season, and before that, directed the musical Amelie at Berkeley Rep. In this interview, she discusses the changes A.C.T. was forced to make to deal with the shutdown,

Stephen Greenblatt, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky about his book Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, recorded in 2005. Stephen Greenblatt is a literary historian and an expert on Shakespeare. Among his other books on Shakespeare are  Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England, Hamlet in Purgatory, Shakespeare’s Freedom, and most recently Tyrant: Shakespeare in Politics, set in motion by his feelings about the Trump presidency. Host Richard Wolinsky interviewed Stephen Greenblatt twice afterward, for his award-winning best-seller, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, and in 2016 for The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve. Will in the World focuses on William Shakespeare’s life, and how that life and the events in his world affected his work. The interview looks at, among other plays, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth and Richard III and gives a brief overview of London in the waning days of the 1500s.   The post Stephen Greenblatt: How Shakespe

Richard Wolinsky & Bill Irwin Bill Irwin, creator and performer of “On Beckett,” which was performed at A.C.T.’s Strand Theatre through January 22, 2017, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky. Bill Irwin won the Tony Award for his portrayal of George opposite Kathleen Turner’s Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” on Broadway. He performed as both Lucky and Vladimir in productions on Broadway of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” and performed in A.C.T.’s recent production of Beckett’s “Endgame.” A veteran of several TV shows and films,  currently he appears regularly on the TV show “Law & Order: SVU” and appeared previously on “Sleepy Hollow,” and “Legion,” and will appear in the upcoming film “Lust Life Love.” A founder of the legendary Pickle Family Circus, he has also appeared in San Francisco and New York in the shows “Fool Moon” and “Old Hats.” Bill Irwin’s interest in Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) goes back to college and his performances of Beckett not only include the mentio

Gamal Abdel Chasten, the artistic director of “The Breath Project,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Gamal Abdel Chasten is co-founder of the project, along with Marieke Gaboury. “The Breath Project” focuses on several short works of 8 minutes and 46 seconds in length, the time it took George Floyd to die at the hands of the Minneapolis Police, which focus on social issues seen from the perspective of people of color. Twenty-four of those works can be seen in sequence on Saturday October 24, 2020 at 2 pm and 5 pm Pacific, and Sunday October 25 at 5 pm Pacific and the entire collection of  pieces can all be heard on demand on the website, thebreathproject2020.com. Gamal Abdel Chasten is an actor, musician, playwright and poet, and co-founder of Universes Theatre ensemble. “The Breath Project” is sponsred by a host of theatre companies, including Marin Theatre Company and Palo Alto Children’s Theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area. The post Gamal Abdel Chasten: “The Breath Project” appeared first on K

This encore podcast with Jeannie Sakata was first posted on July 16, 2018. Playwright and actress Jeanne Sakata in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Jeanne Sakata is the author of the play “Hold These Truths” which played at TheatreWorks Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto, July 11 – August 5, 2018, and is now available streaming through November 3, 2020. For more information on how to watch, go to the TheatreWorks website. Jeanne Sakata is an actress who has appeared on several TV shows and films, and on stage at both ACT and Berkeley Rep. Hold These Truths is the true true story following Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student who fought internment to a relocation camp during World War II. This Northern California premiere celebrates the human spirit as it chronicles Hirabayashi’s journey from college in Seattle all the way to the Supreme Court, and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Directed by Lisa Rothe, with Joel de la Fuente starring as Hirabayashi, Hold These Truths made

Kathleen Turner, star of “Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins,” discusses her work in this 2014 interview with host Richard Wolinsky. Kathleen Turner first broke into Hollywood legend big time with her first film role, that of the ultimate noir blonde in the 1981 film Body Heat. She followed that up with several other successful roles, including Romancing the Stone, Prizzi’s Honor, The War of the Roses, the voice of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and more recently as a frequent guest on such TV series as The Kaminsky Method, and Mom. Starting in 2012, she began portraying the great Molly Ivins in a stage play, “”Red Hot Patriot: The Kick Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. Kathleen Turner was interviewed in the office of artistic director Tony Taccone when her one-woman show hit Berkeley Rep in the late winter of 2014 to 2015. This interview aired on KPFA on November 24, 2014 and has not aired since. The post Kathleen Turner: “Red Hot Patriot”, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Delroy Lindo, noted actor and theatre director, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 2008. Delroy Lindo is a giant of American theatre, film and television. After two early film roles, he debuted on Broadway in Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys in 1982 and earned a Tony nomination for his role as Harold Loomis in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, directed by August Wilson. He has carved an impressive career in film, appearing in such movies as Get Shorty and Cider House Rules and in television, where he is currently a regular on The Good Fight. He has appeared in four films directed by Spike Lee, Crooklyn, Malcolm X, Clockers and the new Netflix film, Da 5 Bloods. In the fall of 2008, he directed a production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at Berkeley Rep, and in this interview he discusses his direction of the play, his career and his affinity for the work of August Wilson. The interview originally aired on KPFA on November 14, 2008.       The post Delroy Lindo, 2008: On

This podcast originally posted on May 31, 2020. At the time, Laurel Ollstein’s play “Pandora” was scheduled to stream in early June, but was postponed due to the power of the Black Lives Matter movement. It will now stream Friday, September 24, 2020, starting at 6 pm, and will continue until Monday, September 28, 2020 at 6 pm, through the TheatreWorks Silicon Valley website. Laurel Ollstein, whose latest play, “Pandora,” will be streaming on the theatreworks.org website, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. Laurel Ollstein is also the author of “They Promised Her the Moon,” which was produced at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and shut down prematurely due to the pandemic. She has been a theatre and television actress, short story writer and director over the course of her career, and worked with Tim Robbins’ Actors Gang in Los Angeles for fifteen years. This latest project is a theatrical retelling of the myth of Pandora, the first human woman in Greek Mythology, who was said to have opened a box which allow

Playwright Terry Baum, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in December 2014, just prior to her solo show, HICK: A Love Story, The Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt, co writtten by Pat Bond, played at the Berkeley City Club the following month. Since those performances, the play has been performed around the country, most recently at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in September 2019. where it was selected to have a run at an off-Broadway theatre. Terry Baum is the author of several other plays, and was the founder of Lilith, a San Francisco women’s theatre collective, in 1974. She ran against Nancy Pelosi for Congress in 2004 as a write-in candidate, and ran for Mayor of San Francisco as a Green Party candidate in 2011. The post Playwright Interview: Terry Baum,”Hick: A Love Story” 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Hershey Felder, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, 2013. George Gershwin Alone will be performed live from Florence, Italy on Sunday September 13, 2020 at 5 pm Pacific. For tickets and information, go to Berkeley Rep or TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Hershey Felder has made a career of creating solo shows in which he portrays different composers performing their work on piano. His first show, George Gershwin Alone, began in 1999 at a Los Angeles workshop. He later went on to portray Leonard Bernstein, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, and Ludwig Beethoven. This interview was recorded in the offices of Berkeley Rep on April 12, 2013, during the run of George Gershwin Alone. Photos: Hershey Felder Presents. The post Performer Interview: Hershey Felder, “George Gershwin Alone” appeared first on KPFA.

Madhuri Shekar‘s play, “In Love and Warcraft” will be seen in live performance as part of ACT’s InterAct Home Initiative, September 4-12, 2020, and then streaming September 18-25. She is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky. “In Love and Warcraft” concerns a young woman who spends much of her time in the World of Warcraft game, and on the side writes love letters for her friends. Along the way, she discovers she has feelings for one of her clients. Madhuri Shekar’s other plays include “House of Joy,” which played at Cal Shakes last summer, along with “A Nice Indian Boy,” “Queen,” and “Dhaba on Devon Avenue,” which was having its premiere at the New Victory Theatre in Chicago and was shut down due to the novel corona virus. Her web TV series, “Titus and Andronicus” can be found on You Tube. She was part of the writers’ room of Joss Whedon’s new series, “The Nevers,” which will have its premiere on HBO. Born in California, she spent most of her formative years in Chenmai, India, and currently lives in New Jersey. Ve

Rachel Bonds is a young playwright whose work, Swimmers, played at at Marin Theatre Company in March 2016. She talks about the play and its development, and about her career as a playwright with host Richard Wolinsky. Rachel Bonds website   The post Playwright Interview: Rachel Bonds, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Richard Wolinsky and John Leguizamo at Berkeley Rep. John Leguizamo, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded July 7, 2016 in the offices at Berkeley Rep, where Latin History for Morons had opened to rave reviews. Growing up in Jackson Heights, New York, John Leguizamo got his start as a stand-up comedian in 1984. His earliest credit was in the TV show Miami Vice in 1988, followed by small film roles. His first major role was in the big budget Super Mario Brothers film opposite Bob Hoskins. Though critical and commercial flop, it led to a variety of interesting roles, most notably the Baz Luhrmann films Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, as the drag queen Chi Chi in To Wong Foo, thanks for everything Julie Newmar, as Vinny in Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam, and as the voice of Sid in the Ice Age animated films. His one-man shows have won great acclaim and several of them have been filmed for HBO, including Freak, directed by Spike Lee and Ghetto Klown. His memoir, Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas and All the Rest of M