EPISODE 288 - ELERI WARD

ELERI WARD is an New York City-based actor, singer, and musician whose original pop music has been called “soaring” (Nexus Music Blog), “astonishing” (Rising Artists), and “dreamy” (Neon Music). Her most recent EP, Friction, was released in 2021. She has been singing and acting since she was eight years old, and has always strived to carve out her own space with the uniqueness she brings to the theater. Eleri studied songwriting at Berklee College of Music before transferring and graduating from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theater and an emphasis in Songwriting, which shows itself clearly in the way she has taken on the Sondheim canon. www.eleriward.com @eleriward

Photo Credit - David Noles

EPISODE 287 - STEVEN SATER

Steven Sater is the author and lyricist of Spring Awakening, winner of eight Tony Awards on Broadway and produced in 25 countries around the world. He has also collaborated with Duncan Sheik on Umbrage (HERE); Nero (Magic Theatre, New York Stage and Film); The Nightingale (La Jolla Playhouse and American Conservatory Theater); and the critically acclaimed album Phantom Moon (Nonesuch). Other plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams; Perfect For You, Doll (Rosenthal Prize); Umbrage (Steppenwolf New Play Prize); A Footnote to the Iliad (New York Stage and Film); Asylum (Naked Angels); and a reconceived musical version of Shakespeare’s Tempest (Lyric Hammersmith). He is currently at work with Burt Bacharach on a new musical as well. Additionally, Sater works as a pop/rock lyricist and screenwriter (the forthcoming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang remake for Sony Pictures). Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics’ Circle awards for Best Lyrics, the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and the 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Spring Awakening.

His most recent project includes the Grammy nominated album Some Lovers , co written with Burt Bacharach.

Photo Credit- Nina Subin

EPISODE 286 - JAMIE BERNSTEIN

Jamie Bernstein is a writer, narrator, broadcaster and filmmaker who has transformed a lifetime of loving music into a career of sharing her knowledge and excitement with others. 

Inspired by her father Leonard Bernstein’s lifelong impulse to share and teach, Jamie has devised multiple ways of communicating her own excitement about orchestral music. Beginning 15 years ago with “The Bernstein Beat,” a family concert about her father’s music modeled after his own groundbreaking Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Jamie has gone on to design, write and narrate concerts for worldwide audiences of all ages about the music of Mozart, Copland, Stravinsky, and many others. 

Until the pandemic restricted her travels, Jamie crisscrossed the world as a concert narrator, appearing everywhere from Beijing to London to Vancouver. A frequent speaker on musical topics, Jamie has presented talks around the world, from conferences in Japan to seminars at Harvard University. In Spanish-speaking locations such as Madrid, Sevilla, and Caracas, Jamie narrates en español – thanks to her Chilean-born mother, Felicia Montealegre, who raised her children to be bilingual.

In her role as a broadcaster, Jamie has produced and hosted shows for radio stations in the United States and Great Britain. She has presented the New York Philharmonic’s live national radio broadcasts, as well as live broadcasts from Tanglewood. 

Jamie is the co-director of a film documentary, Crescendo: the Power of Music -- which focuses on children in struggling urban communities who participate in youth orchestra programs for social transformation inspired by Venezuela’s groundbreaking El Sistema movement. The film has won numerous prizes on the festival circuit, and is now viewable on iTunes. More about Crescendo: the Power of Music can be found at http://www.crescendofilmdoc.com

Jamie has also directed her father’s chamber opera, Trouble in Tahiti, in various locations around the country, including the Moab Music Festival, Festival del Sole in Napa, CA, and Tanglewood. 

Jamie’s memoir, Famous Father Girl, was published by HarperCollins in  June of 2018, as the Leonard Bernstein centennial celebrations were at their peak all around the world. The paperback was released in June of 2019. The author also performs the audiobook.

Jamie writes articles and poetry, which have appeared in such publications as Symphony, DoubleTake, the Nation, Opera News, and Musical America. She also edits “Prelude, Fugue & Riffs,” a newsletter about issues and events pertaining to her father’s legacy.

 More about Jamie’s multifaceted life can be found on her website: jamiebernstein.net 

Photo Credit- Carol Friedman

EPISODE 285- ADAM DURITZ

For more than two decades, the GRAMMY and Academy Award-nominated rock band Counting Crows have enchanted listeners worldwide with their intensely soulful and intricate take on timeless rock & roll. Exploding onto the music scene in 1993 with their multi-platinum breakout album, August and Everything After, the band has gone on to release seven studio albums, selling more than 20 million records worldwide, and is revered as one of the world’s most pre-eminent live touring rock bands. 

In October 1996, the band's double-platinum sophomore studio album, Recovering the Satellites, debuted at number one and further solidified their growing reputation as one of the leading American alternative rock bands in the world. A follow up to their early success; Counting Crows went on to release This Desert Life (1999), Hard Candy (2002), Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008), Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) (2012), Echoes of the Outlaw Roadshow (2013),and Somewhere Under Wonderland (2014.)  In 2004, Counting Crows recorded the chart-topping “Accidentally in Love” for the animated motion picture Shrek 2. The instant success of the track earned them an Academy Award nomination for “Best Original Song” at the 2005 Academy Awards, a Golden Globe nomination for “Best Original Song” and a GRAMMY Award nomination for “Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.” 

In September 2014, Counting Crows released their critically acclaimed seventh studio album, Somewhere Under Wonderland, which debuted at No. 10 on the charts and was heralded by The Daily Telegraph as “… the best collection of songs since their debut.” The album consisted of nine sprawling tracks around rich sonic tapestries, which yielded some of the most grandiose yet intimate songs Counting Crows had recorded to date. 2018 marked 25 years since the band's inception and sent Adam Duritz, Jim Bogios, David Bryson, Charlie Gillingham, David Immergluck, Millard Powers, and Dan Vickrey back on the road for the “25 YEARS AND COUNTING” tour. In 2021, Counting Crows ranked #8 on Billboards’ “Greatest of All Time: Adult Alternative Artists” 25th anniversary chart. 

After seven years, Adam Duritz and Counting Crows have returned with Butter Miracle: Suite One released on May 21,2021.

Photo Credit- Mark Seliger

EPISODE 284 - LORIN LATARRO

Lorin Latarro is the choreographer for Broadway’s MRS. DOUBTFIRE, ALMOST FAMOUS, The Public’s THE VISITOR, and Broadway bound THE OUTSIDERS and LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE.

Lorin choreographed Broadway and London’s WAITRESS and LA TRAVIATA at The Met Opera. Lorin is directing Candace Bushnell’s one woman show, IS THERE STILL SEX IN THE CITY.

Additional Broadway choreography includes Les Liaisons Dangereuse with Janet McTeer and Liev Schreiber, and Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Lorin is the Associate Choreographer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and American Idiot. Rigoletto at The Met Opera (assoc), Huey Lewis’s Heart of Rock And Roll (Old Globe), Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout), Chess (The Kennedy Center), Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street for “This American Life” (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Public Theater’s Twelfth Night and The Odyssey (Delacorte Theater), Queen of the Night which garnered a Drama Desk Award (Diamond Horseshoe), Assassins, Fanny, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (City Center Encores!), Superhero (Second Stage), Beaches (Drury Lane Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre Center).

Lorin directed #DateMe at The Westside Theatre, A Taste Of Things To Come at Chicago On Broadway and The York.

Lorin performed in fourteen Broadway shows including Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, Fosse, Swing!, Kiss Me Kate, A Chorus Line, and Man Of La Mancha. Lorin danced for Robert Wilson, Martha Graham, and Momix. Lorin has also worked with Pina Bausch, Jiri Kylian, Robert Battle, Frankie Manning, Ryan Francois, Pete Townsend, Green Day, Sara Bareilles, Melissa Etheridge, Cameron Crowe, and Charlize Theron.

Ms. Latarro holds a BFA from The Juilliard School where she is also an adjunct professor. She also holds a degree from NYU Tisch Film And Television Directing Fundamentals. She is a Drama Desk, Lortel, and Chita Rivera nominee. Lorin has traveled to India and Africa multiple times to work with The Gates Foundation in family health and planning. Lorin is the founder of ArtAmmmo.org Artists Against Gun Violence as seen in the NY Times, PBS, Rachel Maddow, BBC.

EPISODE 283- CARLA STICKLER

​​​Carla Stickler is a woman of many talents. She is currently a Software Engineer at G2 in Chicago. She is an advocate for artists looking to make a career change into tech and a member of Artists Who Code. She loves chatting with folks interested in shifting gears from the arts to programming and especially hopes to get more women into the field!

She spent over 10 years performing in Broadway musicals, most notably, Wicked. She is a world traveler having performed the role of Liesl in The Sound of Music-Asia Tour and the role of Sophie Sheridan in Mamma Mia! on the National Tour throughout Canada and the US. Carla has headlined as a Guest Entertainer onboard Norwegian Cruise Lines and Disney Cruise Lines.

Photo Credit- Dirty Sugar

EPISODE 282 - EMMA LAIRD

Emma Laird is quickly establishing herself as one to watch with her powerful performances as an actress on the rise.  She was most recently recognized by Variety as one of the “Ten Brits To Watch” in 2021.

Laird can currently be seen as a lead in the Paramount + series Mayor of Kingstown opposite Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest. The series, co-created by Taylor Sheridan and Antonie Fuqua, follows the McLusky family – power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. She plays Iris, a dancer who uses her charms to her benefit, until those charms are used against her. The series will drop on the streaming platform November 14th, 2021. 

Emma began her acting career starring in various short films, including Florence Kosky’s In Conversation With A Goddess which was a an official selection at Shorts On Tap X Time Out London in 2019. 

Photo Credit- Max Irons

EPISODE 281 - BESS KALB

Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and the bestselling author of “Nobody Will Tell You This But Me,” a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She wrote for eight years on Jimmy Kimmel Live. She also writes for The New Yorker's "Daily Shouts." She received a WGA Award in 2016. She has written for the Emmy Awards, the Oscars, and the 2020 DNC. She is the head writer and EP of Yearly Departed on Amazon Prime.

Photo credit Lucas Foglia

EPISODE 280 - ARIAN MOAYED

Iranian-born, Award-winning actor Arian Moayed is a Tony nominated, Award winning actor and is the co-Founder of WATERWELL, as well as a Partner at the for-profit Waterwell Films.

Moayed is well-known for his portrayal as Stewy in HBO’s “Succession,” now in its third season. He was also recently seen in the sophomore season of HBO Max’s “Love Life.”

As part of Waterwell Films, Moayed wrote and directed the digital series ”Accidental Wolf,” which was acquired by Topic Studios (Spencer, 100 Foot Wave, Spotlight). The Emmy-nominated short form thriller will have its second season premiere on December 30th.

In February 2021, he will be seen in Netflix and Shonda Rhimes’ ”Inventing Anna.” The series follows a journalist as she investigates New York scammer Anna Delvey. He will be starring as the male lead, Todd, Delvey’s lawyer.

Moayed co-founded Waterwell in 2002 along with Tom Ridgely. Waterwell is a civic-minded theater company that inspires audience through education. Recent Waterwell productions include The Courtroom, a reenactment of deportation proceedings in active legal spaces, The Flores Exhibits, a series of videos in which artists, lawyers, advocates, and immigrants read the sworn testimonies of children held in detention facilities at the U.S./Mexico border, dual-language Hamlet, as well as the Fleet Week Follies. The Fleet Week Follies is an annual festival of music, food, and kid-friendly activities, free to military service members and their families.

The Waterwell Drama Program, provide over 250 students per year with world-class arts training and education in advocacy at the Professional Performing Arts School, all free of charge. The company’s special blend of music, theater and social dialogue has been nominated for three IT awards, a Drama Desk, a New York Magazine Culture Award and Village Voice Best of NYC.

Additional credits include, The Humans (Drama Desk Award), Guards at the Taj (Obie Award), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony nomination), Emmy Winning Succession (HBO), and a Song for a Sloth (Gravitas Ventures) a live-action comedy.

He was born in Iran and moved to Chicago when he was 5 years old.

Photo Credit - Chris Loupos

EPISODE 279 - TODD ALMOND

TODD ALMOND is known for his singular songwriting in addition to his work as an accomplished performer. He recently toured the U.S. in his original musical Kansas City Choir Boy starring alongside rock icon Courtney Love, and starred in three of his original musicals at the famed Delacorte Theater in Central Park (The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, and The Odyssey). His musical Girlfriend – based on the Matthew Sweet album of the same title – is a perennial favorite for theater companies around the country, and he is currently collaborating with producer David Foster on a new, original musical. He has previously collaborated with Sarah Ruhl (Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical), Jenny Schwartz (Iowa), Laura Benanti (In Constant Search for the Right Kind of Attention), Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz (“Twohander”), Kelli O’Hara (“Live at Carnegie Hall”), and Andrew Rannells (“Live from Lincoln Center”).

Photo Credit -Atisha Paulson

EPISODE 278 - Andréa Burns

ANDRÉA BURNS  received an Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for her portrayal of Gloria Fajardo in Broadway’s On Your Feet! She is a winner of a Drama Desk Award for her creation of the role of Daniela, the saucy hairdresser in the Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. 

Ms. Burns began her career touring the opera houses of Europe as Maria in West Side Story when she was 18 years old. She has appeared on Broadway as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as Vicki Nichols in The Full Monty, as Googie Gomez in The Ritz and has sung concerts at Carnegie Hall. She starred opposite Nathan Lane on Broadway in the Lincoln Center production of The Nance  which subsequently broadcast on PBS' "Great Performances". Ms. Burns was in the original company of Jason Robert Brown’s critically acclaimed Songs for a New World and has since become one of the foremost interpreters of his work. Burns portrayed Lucille Frank in the national tour of Jason Robert Brown's Parade, directed by Harold Prince, for which she received a Touring Broadway Awards nomination for Best Actress. She was also selected by Stephen Sondheim to create the role of Celeste in his musical Saturday Night in its New York premiere. 

Ms. Burns' debut solo album A Deeper Shade Of Red was described by Playbill as "superb on all counts”. “100 Stories," a single she co-wrote with her brother, music producer Mike Burns, rose to the #2 spot on the 2006 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play charts. A favorite at 54 Below Broadway Supper Club,  Andréa performs her one woman show all of over the world, which has been hailed by the New York Times as “ uproarious, ebullient and playful”.

Television credits include Mad About You (Reboot), Jessica Jones, Kevin Can Wait, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, Rescue Me, The Electric Company (2009 TV series), and Wonder Pets. She can also be heard on the original cast recordings of On Your Feet!, In The Heights, Songs for a New World, This Ordinary Thursday - The Songs of Georgia Stitt, Saturday Night, It’s Only Life, Dear Edwina, Shine, Broadway Bound, and Broadway Musicals of 1953.

Ms. Burns can be heard as the voice of Elaine Stritch in Alexandra Jacob’s new biography, “Still Here - The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch.”

Most recently she appears in the 2021 film West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg

She is married to director Peter Flynn. Their son, Hudson, is featured on the cover art of her solo album, A Deeper Shade of Red.

EPISODE 277- DARBY STANCHFIELD

Darby Stanchfield stars as ‘Nina Locke’ in the Netflix hit show Locke and Key.

Stanchfield is well-known for her role as ‘Abby Whelan,” the spunky and outspoken investigator on all seven seasons of the Shonda Rhimes hit ABC show “Scandal” alongside ‘Olivia Pope’ (Kerry Washington). She also r stars in the Disney+’s film “Stargirl” which was adapted from the best-selling novel.

Prior to “Scandal,” Darby was featured in season two of AMC’s Emmy ® Award winning drama “Mad Men.” In the hit series, Darby played the role of Helen Bishop, a liberal single mother who relishes in stirring up controversy with Betty Draper, the wife of an iconic advertising guru. Other television credits include starring opposite Nathan Fillion in ABC’s crime thriller “Castle,” a recurring role as Shannon Gibbs on CBS’s military drama “NCIS,” and a spot on CBS’s action packed series Jericho where she played “April Green.” In addition, Darby has appeared in roles across a host of successful television series including “Burn Notice,” “CSI: Miami,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “CSI: New York,” “The Mentalist,” “Private Practice,” “Bones,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Without a Trace,” and Monk .

Her feature film credits include Adrienne Shelley's critically acclaimed “Waitress,” opposite Nathan Fillion and Keri Russell, and an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's “The Picture of Dorian Gray” co-starring opposite Josh Duhamel.

Darby can be heard in a recording of Neil Simon's “Biloxi Blues” with Josh Radnor and Justine Bateman, part of an ongoing series of radio plays that LA Theatre Works produces for NPR.

Originally from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Darby is a graduate of The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco where she received a Master Of Fine Arts degree.

EPSIODE 276 - EMMA NELSON

Emma Nelson’s powerful performances have established her as a young actress on the rise.

Nelson can be seen in the Netflix drama film The Unforgiveable alongside Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and Viola Davis. The film follows a woman who attempts to rebuild her life after serving time in prison for committing a violent crime. 

Nelson made her big screen debut in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel Where’d You Go Bernadette, helmed by Academy Award nominee Richard Linklater. Emma played the character of Bee, the daughter of the eponymous Bernadette, portrayed by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett and also starred Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne and Kristen Wiig.

A native of the Chicago area, Emma has participated in many local theater productions including a lead role in the pre-Broadway production of Trevor! The Musical, which was produced and directed by the renowned Marc Bruni.

EPISODE 276 - CAISSIE LEVY

Caissie Levy stars in her seventh Broadway show, as Rose Stopnick Gellman in Roundabout’s revival of Caroline, Or Change, after originating the role of Elsa in Disney's blockbuster hit, Frozen. She recreated the iconic role of Fantine in the 2014 revival of Les Misérables on Broadway, and is known to New York and London audiences for originating the roles of Molly in Ghost, and Sheila in the Tony Award winning revival of Hair. Her other Broadway credits include Elphaba in the Broadway and Los Angeles productions of Wicked, Penny in the Broadway, 1st National Tour and Toronto companies of Hairspray and Maureen in the national tour of Rent. Off-Broadway, she played Patti Davis and Julie Nixon in the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's First Daughter Suite at The Public Theater, and Sara in the Off-Broadway production of Murder Ballad. She has starred in the short films Options and Ms. Bula Banerjee, and guest starred opposite Sean Pertwee on Fox's Gotham. In concert, she headlined Carnegie Hall with the NY Pops, backed up Sir Rod Stewart during his Las Vegas residency, guested with The United States Military Academy at West Point, and performed solo shows to sold-out audiences across the US and the UK. Recordings include Frozen, Ghost, Hair, First Daughter Suite and over twenty singer/songwriter's albums, including her own EP, With You, available everywhere. 

Photo Credit- Justin Patterson

EPISODE 275 - MARC J. FRANKLIN

Marc J. Franklin is a New York City-based photographer specializing in portrait and editorial photography, currently working as the Photo Editor and Principal Photographer for Playbill. His photos have been featured in The New York Times, The LA Times, Vogue, Elle, The Paris Review, Out Magazine, The Boston Globe, Mashable, People Magazine, and more. Highlight subjects include Hilary Clinton, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Tina Fey, Jeremy Pope, Darren Criss, Lauren Ridloff, and many others.

EPISODE 274 - JAMES CALLERI

JAMES CALLERI along with his partners Paul Davis and Erica Jensen own Calleri Jensen Davis, a creative casting partnership.  They have been awarded 16 Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting. James proudly served on the Board of the Casting Society of America for many years. He is an Associate Professor of Theater at Columbia University School of the Arts where he co-heads the Graduate MFA Acting Program. He is the co-author with Robert Cohen of ACTING PROFESSIONALLY: RAW FACTS ABOUT CAREERS IN ACTING published by Palgrave MacMillan, in it’s eighth edition it is one of the leading books in the country for young actors. He also runs his studio www.calleristudio.com where he coaches and explores the craft with professional actors.  He resides in New York City and Saugerties, New York.

Broadway Theater: Broadway credits include the current running Thoughts of a Colored Man and his office will cast the upcoming revival of For Colored Girls…this Spring. Other credits include Burn This starring Adam Driver and Keri Russell, Fool for Love starring Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell, and Hughie starring Forest Whitaker, The Visit starring Chita Rivera and Roger Rees, Renee Fleming in Living on Love, the Tony winning revival Hedwig & The Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall, the revival of The Elephant Man starring Bradley Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola which traveled to London's West End as well and Of Mice and Men with James Franco, Chris O'Dowd and Leighton Meester. 

Other Favorite Broadway credits include: Venus in Fur with Tony-winner Nina Arianda and Hugh Dancy, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda, A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Combs, Audra MacDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Chicago with Usher, and James Joyce’s The Dead starring Christopher Walken.

Off-Broadway includes Ives Lives of Saints and his revival of All in the Timing, Buyer & Cellar, Murder for Two, The Hilltown Plays, Satchmo at the Waldorf, My Name is Asher Lev, the long-running Fuerza Bruta and The Revisionist with Vanessa Redgrave and Jesse Eisenberg.  

Most proud of long terms collaborations with : Playwrights Horizons (10 seasons) including such premieres as Betty’s Summer Vacation, Lobby Hero, Small Tragedy, Goodnight Children Everywhere, Violet to name a few. Over 10 years with Classic Stage Company- including A Month in the Country with Peter Dinklage & Taylor Schilling,  Peter Sarsgaard as Hamlet, Passion, New Jerusalem, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya with Maggie Gyllenhaal & Peter Sarsgaard and The Seagull with Dianne Wiest & Alan Cumming.

and was Resident Casting Director ... for CSC, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Long Wharf Theater, The Flea, Keen Company, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Playwrights Realm.  Other: City Theater, Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakes, Naked Angels, New Georges, stageFARM, Epic Theater Ensemble and many seasons of SPF (Summer Play Festival) and NY Stage & Film Company.

Some long running past productions... include Fuerza Bruta, Lobby Hero, The Guys, Fully Committed, Dinah Was, and The Vagina Monologues Nat’l Tour.

TV: Love Life for HBO, Dickinson for Apple+, Queens for ABC , NY casting for When They See Us for Netflix, The Path for Hulu, Army Wives, Lipstick Jungle, Z Rock on IFC, the critically acclaimed A Raisin in the Sun on ABC also the hit series Ed, Hope & Faith, and Monk.

 Film: Beautiful Darkness, I Origins, Emoticon ;), Saint Janet, Another Earth, Refuge, Merchant Ivory’s The City of Your Final Destination, Heights, and The White Countess, Yearbook, Lisa Picard is Famous, The Jimmy Show, Ready? OK!, Trouble Every Day, Peter & Vandy and Armless.

EPISODE 273 - KIMBER ELAYNE SPRAWL

Kimber Elayne Sprawl  originated the role of Marianne in Girl From The North Country at The Public Theater and on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include A Bronx Tale, and Beautiful:The Carole King Musical.  She  performed in the National tour of The Lion King  and regionally she appeared in The Niceties at the Milwaukee Rep and Memphis at the Walnut Street Theater. She is a graduate of CCM.

EPISODE 272 - BONNIE McKEE

Bonnie McKee made a name for herself as a pop songwriter, writing 10 #1 hit songs for the chart topping stars of the past decade, and for her own career as an indie pop artist. After years of packing big emotional stories into tidy 3 1/2 minute songs and creating her own colorful music videos, she is finally expanding into a new realm of story telling. April Kills The Vibe is Bonnie’s screenwriting and directing debut.

Hello, World!

EPISODE 271 - DORI BERINSTEIN

Dori is a four-time Tony-winning Broadway producer, an Emmy-award-winning director, producer and writer of film and television, a Golden Globe Nominee and the founder and CEO of The Broadway Podcast Network .

Dori joined Ryan Murphy as Producer on the Netflix movie adaptation The Prom (Golden Globe Nominee), based on Dori’s Broadway musical The Prom (Best Musical – Drama Desk Award).

Dori’s other Broadway Shows include: Is This A Room, Dana H., the 2021 revival of Company, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Tony Award – Best Play Revival); Legally Blonde: The Musical (Olivier Award – Best Musical), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award – Best Musical), The Crucible, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award – Best Play Revival), Fool Moon (Special Tony Award), Flower Drum Song, Enchanted April and Golden Child.

As a Documentary Filmmaker, Dori directed, wrote and produced: The Show Must Go On (launching November 2021), ShowBusiness: The Road To Broadway (Showtime); Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love (Emmy Award / American Masters); Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (Showtime); Gotta Dance (adapted for the stage as Half Time); Some Assembly and The Last Blintz.

For Television, Dori directed and produced Joshua Bell: Music at Home (PBS - 2020), Eavesdropping with Alan Cumming (Oxygen) and The Isaac Mizrahi Show (Oxygen).

Dori is the recipient of Broadway’s Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theatre Producing and the Jacob Burns Vision Award. She is the curator and moderator of The Jacob Burns Actor’s Fund “Life On Stage” series. Dori is also partnered with illustrator Justin “Squigs” Robertson on the creation of the Lights of Broadway Trading Cards (www.lightsofbroadway.nyc) and is the co-founded Camp Broadway, an immersive behind-the-scenes Theatre Camp for kids.

Dori executive produced and/or supervised over 50 feature, special f/x and/or animated productions, including Isaac Mizrahi’s award-winning documentary Unzipped, Dirty Dancing) and Jim Henson’s MuppetVision 3-D. She has executive produced websites for Oprah and President Clinton. Dori has worked as a Producer and/or an Executive for DreamWorks Theatricals, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, NBC, MTV, Sesame Workshop, Oxygen Media, Vestron Pictures, and Walt Disney Imagineering. Dori began her professional career as an Investment Banker in Mergers & Acquisitions for Morgan Stanley

EPISODE 270 - JANE KACZMAREK

Jane Kaczmarek is best known for her role as Lois on Malcolm in the Middle, for which she received 7 consecutive Emmy nominations, 2 Televisions Critics Awards (the only woman to receive such recognition), and nominations for the Golden Globe and SAG Award .Her television career began with The Paper Chase, St. Elsewhere, and Hill Street Blues after graduating from The University of Wisconsin and the Yale School of Drama .

In New York Kaczmarek has  appeared both On and Off Broadway and at the Berkshire Theatre Festival ,the Eugene O'Neill Playwright Conference, The Williamstown Theatre Festival where she and Alfred Molina appeared in Tom Holloways ' AND NO MORE SHALL WE PART  directed by Ann Kauffman . Also at Williamstown  , with S. Epatha Merkerson   in Jen Silverman's THE ROOMATE. Most recently she appeared as the Stage Manager in the Deaf West  - Pasadena Playhouse production of Our Town .  . Jane frequently hosts and reads on the Symphony Space Radio program SELECTED SHORTS .

Los Angeles  credits include KINDERTRANSPORT (Ovation Award), the premiere of Pulitzer Prize winning DINNER WITH FRIENDS and RAISED IN CAPTIVITY(L.A. Drama Critics Award)  HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES (Mark Taper), GOOD PEOPLE (Geffen, Ovation nomination), and at L.A.Theatre Works -AWAKE AND SING , DEATH OF A SALESMAN with Stacey Keach and as Inge Morath in ARTHUR MILLER: A LIFE  . She and Alfred Molina recorded A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE  for BBC Radio and   appeared as James and Mary Tyrone in LONG DAY'S  JOURNEY INTO NIGHT at the Geffen Theatre . The production was filmed and is available for viewing on BROADWAY HD .  

Jane  is the founder of Clothes Off Our Back , an online auction that raised over 4 million dollars for children's charities by selling celebrity finery. She has traveled k to India , Tanzania and Rwanda to visit their hospitals and the children they help. She serves on the Board of the Pasadena Educational Foundation ,the Pasadena Conservatory of Music and the Pasadena Playhouse .She lives in Pasadena . with her 3 children  .