Circle This

Oscar nominee and three-time Tony nominee Amy Ryan joins Dre and Em for a conversation about the people who know our history, the questions that bring us closer, and insights behind the scenes of her remarkable career.       You may know Amy from The Office, The Wire, Gone Baby Gone, or Only Murders in the Building, but Dre and Amy's history begins in high school in New York. Through breakups, babies, Broadway, and all the life in between, their friendship has remained a place they keep circling back to.       We circle around the value of old friends as our longest witnesses, presence for a parent's passing, finding compassion for complicated women, and how learning to ask better questions can change the way we connect. Plus, a traveling pair of underwear and a backstage friendship story you'll never forget and inspire you to up your joke game!     --       Stay connected with the Circle This team:
 @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia   Share your takeaways, questions, and post-pod processing with us. DM @circlethispodcast or email [email protected]. For sponsorship inquiries: [email protected]

Dre witnessed Ava Delaney's birth. Twenty-five years later, she sat in Ava's women's circle and found herself learning from the young woman she had watched grow up.       This week, Dre and Em welcome singer-songwriter, actress, and circle keeper Ava Delaney for a conversation about art as medicine, belonging, and the wisdom that moves between generations.       Based in Brooklyn, Ava finds "magic seeping through the asphalt" of New York City. She shares how she returns to herself amid auditions, rejection, and creative uncertainty—and why following what lights you up doesn't mean you have to live every version of your life at once.       Together, they circle around trusting your own yes and no, making a little "good mess" in relationships, and the small invitations that turn strangers into community. Ava also performs the original song she wrote for Dre's 50th birthday circle—a moment that brings their shared history into the room.       This episode is an invitation to create before you second-guess, learn from someone younger, and give this season of your life your full attention.       Follow Ava: @avadelaney     --       Stay connected: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia For sponsorship inquiries: [email protected]

We're bringing The WECAN Podcast to Circle This to share a special conversation with our friend Stephanie Ferrario—this time, with Dre and Em  on the other side of the microphone.       Dre and Stephanie Ferrario met in Dre's online circles during the pandemic. Around that time, Stephanie launched SHECAN, which has since grown into WECAN, a platform sharing stories, mentorship and the wisdom of people leading by example. Their connection and their communities have continued to grow and deepen.       Now the microphones are turned around. Stephanie welcomes Dre and Em onto The WECAN Podcast to talk about how Circle This began, why honest stories help us feel less alone, and the friendship that makes the show possible.       They get personal about chosen family, working with someone you love, navigating conflict and learning to receive love when it's offered. They also dream about bringing the connection they experience through podcasting into shared spaces in real life.       We're grateful to Stephanie for opening this conversation and delighted to share it with our circle.       Follow @wecan.shecan and learn more at wecan.world.  Subscribe to their youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Wecan.Shecan     --       Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia  For sponsorship inquiries [email protected]  

What changes when we stop trying to be the most impressive person in the room and start taking care of the room itself?       Broadway director, educator, and producer Marc Tumminelli joins Dre and Em for a deeply moving conversation about creativity, collaboration, grief, leadership, and the courage to open ourselves to possibility.       Marc shares how theater helped save his life, why the most powerful creative spaces are built on connection, and what sitting in circle taught him about listening, restraint, and receiving love. He opens up about the sudden loss of his mother, the signs and rituals that have accompanied his grief, and the spiritual awakening that has changed how he moves through the world.       From rehearsal rooms and Broadway dreams to manifestation, self-consciousness, and the unforgettable lesson he learned from Cynthia Erivo, this conversation reminds us that great leadership begins with care—and that anything can happen when we allow ourselves to celebrate the dream while it is happening.       Marc Tumminelli is the founder of Broadway Workshop and Broadway Events and an award-winning theatrical director whose work spans Broadway, film, cabaret, and arts education.       Follow: @marctumminelli @broadwayworkshop @bwayevents Learn More At: www.marctumminelli.com     --       Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia  For sponsorship inquiries [email protected]

After taking August off, Dre and Em are back and ready for the newness of a new cycle of the school year to begin.        In this welcome-back episode, they catch up on wedding-planning chaos, experiments in intentional living, and the practices that helped them get out of autopilot and come back to connection.       They share about a 30-day meditation challenge, unexpected lessons in accountability, community, and the power of deciding how you want to feel before the day even begins. Em shares the Rockefeller Center moment that changed her relationship with her phone—and made her realize just how much of the actual world she was missing while looking at a screen.       Dre introduces a meditation she's been exploring in circles, "remembering the future" and considers what if we could look at a future vision the same way choose to look back on a memory, and use the feeling of that future self to guide the choices we're making right now?       Dre leads Em (and all of us!) through a meditation traveling between past, present, and future to uncover the through-line of our own stories—and perhaps find a little more peace in the present moment.        Welcome back to Circle This.      --       Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia        For sponsorship inquiries [email protected]       If you loved this conversation, listen next to our episode with Tal Rabinowitz, "Trust the Signs: Transition Your Career and Powerfully Manifest." It is beautifully aligned with everything explored here.