#105 Quarantine Happy Hour #9

This week we’ve got another band of awesome designers for Happy Hour #9 as we discuss the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. We are joined by Scenic Designer Rachel Hauck, Lighting Designer Amith Chandrashaker, Scenic & Costume Designer Jacob Climer, and Scenic Designer Amy Rubin. The gang talks about how they are feeling emotionally and physically and the toll the past 12 months has had on their lives as well as their take on streaming/filmed theatre, the newly energized union membership, whether audiences will want escapism or not after this time, and how designers may return to projects that were designed pre-Covid with their new post-Covid personalities and world views. Before that, Cory sits down with podcast host Ethan Steimel to talk about his podcast, Artistic Finance, and why artists talking about money is such an important topic. It may feel like a depressing week, but there’s a lot of laughs and fun in this episode so blow off some steam and know everyone is feeling the same way you are!

#104 Quarantine Happy Hour #8-UK Edition

The podcast is back with another Happy Hour and we are hopping over the Atlantic this time to chat with some amazing designers based in the UK. Before that, however, Howell Binkley’s long-time associates Ryan O’Gara and Amanda Zieve join us to talk about the newly created fellowship in Howel’s name and the upcoming March 1st deadline to apply. Then it’s on to the roundtable with Lighting Designer Tim Deiling, Scenic & Costume Designer David Farley, Lighting Designer Lucy Carter, Scenic Designer Chiara Stephenson, and Scenic Designer Andrew Edwards. They share with us how the Covid pandemic has affected the UK theatre community, the difference in governmental responses between the US and UK, how British designers are coming together to support each other, and what the long-term effects may be. Tim tells us about the Broadway shutdown which occurred mere hours before the opening night of Six and what happened when they attempted to reopen a socially distanced version of the show last year. The gang also discusses the NHS and how that has impacted the vaccine rollout, why theatre still isn’t considered essential in either country, how the lack of a designer’s union in the UK has forced more individuals to take action and what silver linings may come out of this time. Grab a pint, fry up some chips, and enjoy this bloody good new episode!

Changing the Landscape – Episode 6: Cyclone

2020 was a wack year for all of us. On top of a pandemic sweeping the globe, the United States was finally forced to reckon with the racism entrenched in its heritage, ignited on May 25, 2020 with the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. Rocked by a firestorm of protests, and with little entertainment or escape due to Covid-safety protocols, a group of theatre designers, directors, actors, managers and technicians, produced an open letter titled ‘We See You White American Theatre’, and laid it square in the public eye. The letter detailed the many transgressions accumulated toward theatre-makers identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, by the predominantly white American theatre in the United States, and has reverberated through management structures, teaching institutions and theatre producing organizations at all levels prompting a new, thorough, unavoidable level of public conversation and accountability. Joining Alan to discuss these topics is award-winning Scenic & Costume designer and activist Clint Ramos, Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor Adjunct in Theater Management for Yale School of Drama and General Manager of Yale Repertory Theatre Kelvin Dinkins, Jr, and Managing Director of the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University Al Heartley.

#101 Around the House with Lindsay Jones

Before we take 2020 out and bury it in the backyard, we can’t let the year go by without checking in on one of our favorite guests, Lindsay Jones! For a guy who spends most months away from home, this year has been a major adjustment for our resident travel expert. He is chatting with Cory (and Jen!) about what it’s been like being home for 9 months, how his relationship with his family has changed during this time, how he’s embraced LA as a walking city, what he misses most about travel, and what traveling may look like when we eventually go back to work. We are also talking about Lindsay’s recent Tony Noms for ‘Slave Play’, and his designs for the podcast ‘The Imagine Neighborhood’, and a radio play version of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ Also, Lindsay teaches Jen about uber eats, Cory talks about finally having lounge access in a year where no one is flying, and Jen regales us about getting takeout from New York’s famed restaurant Rao’s. AND we premiere new theme music written by Lindsay in honor of crossing 100 episodes!

Changing the Landscape – Episode 5: Barrier To Entry Part 2

Barriers to entry are everywhere, from grade school, to college, and beyond. How can we change that? What we’ve been told is that hard work and elbow grease are all you need, but the actual fact is that it takes much more than that to reach “success”. With this in mind, it was a privilege this past summer to have a candid conversation with 3-time Tony Nominated Costume Designer Toni-Leslie James. With credits ranging from Footloose to Come From Away, Jelly’s Last Jam to Bernhardt/Hamlet, and The Wild Party to The Scottsboro Boys, hear about her decades-long journey from young, bright-eyed student at Ohio State in the late seventies, to multi-award nominated costume designer. Get your notebooks ready… class is in session.

Changing the Landscape – Episode 4: Barrier To Entry

The podcast is back this week with Changing the Landscape-Episode 4: Barrier to Entry. There’s a lot of discussion about barriers to entry later in the journey toward success as a designer, but really, the most basic entry point, grade school, has some pretty high barricades of its own. In this episode, Alan Edwards speaks with three high school arts teachers in Rochester, New York: Christine Sargent, Trish Annese and Marcy Gamzon. These educators share what they’ve seen in their decades of experience, what they know now that they didn’t know then, and what we can do to make this career more available to people of color, and young people in general.

Bonus Episode – #WeMakeEvents w/Brad Nelms

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Sunday with this bite-sized bonus episode with Brad Nelms from We Make Events North America to discuss their current campaign and the upcoming day of action on Sept 1 entitled Red Alert Restart. The goal of the movement is to raise awareness for the RESTART Act currently sitting in Congress which would help out businesses facing economic hardship from the COVID crisis as well as push for badly needed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The Arts & Culture sector in this country accounts for 877 billion dollars in economic value and 4.5% of the US GDP. Millions of entertainment workers have no jobs to return to yet and Theatre, Concerts, Tours, Live Music Events, and Festivals are all in desperate need of help to survive. Brad is here to tell us all of the ways you can get involved to make our voices heard. And let’s see those buildings Red!

Changing the Landscape – Episode 3: Perception of the Unknown Part 2

Changing the Landscape returns this week with part two of our interview with Steve Jones, former Director of Production at the Apollo Theatre in New York City. Steve tells us how he went from a young lighting programmer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, to a well-seasoned Director of Production at the Apollo Theatre… with a whirlwind eighteen-year stint working with music legend and icon Harry Belafonte in between. He’s sharing stories from the filming of ‘We Are the World’, to how he reshaped the culture and expectations of a predominately Black crew when the Apollo became a Local 1 IATSE House and what happened when Rev. Al Sharpton called him with an extraordinary request. And Steve and Alan discuss why Black artists are continually forced to fight preconceived notions about their skill level and talent and how to fight those misconceptions.

Changing the Landscape – Episode 2: Perception of the Unknown

Changing the Landscape is back this week with Episode 2: Perception of the Unknown. In this episode, the first of two parts, Steve Jones, former Director of Production at the Apollo Theatre in New York City, sits down with Alan to tell us where he came from. Beginning with his origins in Flint, Michigan where he started taking part in theatre activities in grade school, Steve started taking theatre seriously after a sports injury sidelined him for the remainder of his college career. He walks us through his experiences in applying for grad schools, leaving Flint, MI, and his first big-time job in New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.