Everything Theater Podcast

"Showcase: A Rehearsal Musical" is kickstarting Carpe Diem Theater's New Works program. Kevin Renn and Erin J. Reifler have written this new musical focusing on theater students fitting in one last rehearsal before their big college senior showcase in NYC. We talk to Kevin Renn (book and lyrics) about writing the musical, workshopping the piece, and putting it on its feet at Carpe Diem.

The Table Read Co. is a New York based one-year old nonprofit dedicated to empowering emerging theatre voices and creating opportunities for new plays and musicals to grow. We talk to the founder, Kristen Eliza Brock, who produces table and staged readings, creates spaces for feedback and collaboration, and works to network emerging writers, actors, and theatrical creatives.  

In the Capital Region, a handful of people truly embody our show title - "Everything Theater." Laura Darling is one of those people. Actor, director, playwright, lighting designer, costumer... you name it, Laura has done it. And done it well! We talk to Laura about balancing theater with a non-theater career, supporting the tech needs in the Capital Region, developing new work, and working on her current project, the "Scottish Play" (if you know, you know).

You may not recognize his name, but Buddy Bradley was an artistic genius whose talent reshaped Broadway musicals, the West End, jazz dance, and classical ballet, creating a new language of movement that endures today. American dance history has long overlooked Black performers and choreographers, but Buddy Bradley taught white stars such as Eleanor Powell, Ruby Keeler, and Adele Astaire and influenced every major choreographer who followed, including George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse. We speak to Maureen Footer who wrote "Feel the Floor: Restoring the Life and Legacy of Jazz Choreographer Buddy Bradley" to shine light on this incredible choreographer. https://maureenfooter.net/about/books/feel-the-floor-restoring-the-life-and-legacy-of-jazz-choreographer-buddy-bradley/ Find the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Floor-Restoring-Choreographer-Bradley/dp/0807045241

"Unreconciled" is based on the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest. The story chronicles a survivor's journey as he confronts his past, navigates a victims' reparations program set up by the Catholic Church, and discovers the courage to use his voice. We chat with writer and performer, Jay Sefton, about developing the piece, telling his real story onstage, and the therapeutic nature of theater. https://www.unreconciledtheplay.com/