Hi friends,

Today I am so excited to be arts calling writer/creator/producer Madelyn Dorta! We had an incredibly inspiring conversation about audio narratives, and how Madelyn and her sibling collaborators are creating outstanding work on their own terms at Wrightwood Studios. Hope you join us!

A few words from the author:

At the age of six, I got superpowers. That’s what I thought at the time. I had the ability to pick up a #2 Ticonderoga pencil and create worlds. I could create great kingdoms, giant monsters, and badass heroines who saved the day. I had the power to create. This superpower has evolved many times through the course of my life and morphed into something different, the NEED to create. The annoying itch that can’t be scratched with anything other than storytelling, trust me...I’ve tried.

I created Meteor City in a desperate attempt to get a story out of my mind. A story that was consuming all of my waking thoughts and my dreams sometimes too. A story of afrolatina woman who tries desperately to understand and recognize the world and her community around her. Through this journey, I found my passion for audio storytelling and there is no turning back.

My creations:

Follow Madelyn on Instagram!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!

Make art. Much love,

j

Hi friends,

Today I'm arts calling my friend Daniel Damiano to discuss the many facets of his creativity! He is an actor/writer/inspiring human being and I'm thrilled to have him on the show. Let's learn from his insights today!

Daniel Damiano is an Award-winning Playwright, Screenwriter, Poet and Novelist based in Brooklyn, NY. His plays have been performed throughout many areas of the U.S., as well as London, England and Sydney & Melbourne, Australia. His acclaimed play DAY OF THE DOG premiered with St. Louis Actors' Studio in 2013 and subsequently transferred to 59E59 in NYC in 2014. It was a 2013 St. Louis Critics Choice Best Play Nominee, and was published by Broadway Play Publishing in 2018. Other more recent productions of his work include HARMONY PARK ("4 Stars" - Detroit Free Press, with Detroit Repertory Theatre), THE LEPERS (Ensemble Studio Theatre, NYC) and his acclaimed solo play AMERICAN TRANQUILITY (which has been lauded in both NYC and Washington DC). His new play THE WILD BOAR was a 2019 Finalist for both the Woodward/Newman Award and the Janet & Bruce Bunch Award. He was a 2013 Nominee for the Pushcart Poetry Prize and a Finalist for the 2012 Arts & Letters Prize for Drama. He recently completed his first novel, THE WOMAN IN THE SUN HAT, in addition to 104 DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC, a book of poetry. His poetry has been published in Crooked Teeth Literary Magazine, Newtown Literary Journal, New Voices Anthology, Cloudbank and HotMetal Press.

His poetry release, 104 Days of the Pandemic, now available on Amazon!

Also check out Daniel's novel, released this summer, The Woman in the Sun Hat!

Please visit www.danieldamiano.com for more information.

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!

Make art. Much love,

j

Hi there,

This is Jaime Alejandro and today I am arts calling playwright Alvaro Saar Rios to talk about his origin story, creative process, and so much more!!

Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been performed in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. He has received playwriting commissions from various organizations, including the Kennedy Center, Chicago Children’s Theatre, First Stage, Houston Grand Opera, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Purple Rose Theatre Company, Houston Community College, Zoological Society of Milwaukee and The Rose Theater. Rios' award-winning play Luchadora! is published by Dramatic Publishing. Other plays include On the Wings of a Mariposa, The History of Mexicans in 10 Minutes, The Day the Music Came Back and Carmela Full of Wishes. He holds an M.F.A. in writing for the stage and screen from Northwestern University. Rios is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and playwright-in-residence at Milwaukee’s First Stage. He is also a proud veteran of the U.S. Army and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Alvaro is currently adapting Matt de la Peña's bestseller Carmela Full of Wishes for the stage. It will premiere in Omaha, Nebraska in January 2022 and in Chicago in April 2022. Visit www.alvarosaarrios.com for more information. Follow him on Twitter @realCrazyMex!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show, review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!

Make art. Much love,

j

Hi there!

Today I am arts calling my friend Becca Diamond. We discuss what life is like for a working voice actor, a creative's work ethic, an origin story of Disney movies, and much more!

Becca Diamond is a voice actor living in Los Angeles. Becca has a BFA in theatre performance and can be heard on the Off-Broadway soundtrack Puffs: Or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. Since moving to LA she has been fortunate enough to work on all sorts of shows and projects some of which include: Animal Actors, a stage show working with live animals at Universal Studios Hollywood, two different podcasts on the Parcast Network and most recently she has done four shows on Club House. Other credits include VO for companies such as Netflix, WebMD, Plus Products, United Healthcare and most recently as Shirai in the anime TAMAYOMI: The Baseball Girls on Funimation!

Becca's sharing her voice work adventures on IG and TikTok!

Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. Check us out for more podcasts about creativity and other stuff too!

Make art. Much love,

j

Hey there!

Today I am Arts Calling an outstanding creative and one of my best friends: Ahren Buhmann. Ahren is a theatre maker, video designer, and musician based in Seattle. He is currently a Level 3 Deep Gnome Artificer.

Ahren and I discuss the challenges of becoming creatives in a small Wyoming town, Ahren's path into professional theatre, and why we every person and every community needs the arts in their life. Yes, we do talk about why rules in creativity are a lie. A few takeaways my friend gifted me:

Find him on IG @b.human.design

Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. Check us out for more podcasts about creativity and other stuff too!

Make art. Much love,

j

Welcome to the first episode of Arts Calling!

We begin by starting at the very beginning. I asked Brenda Zamora (my actress sister) to help me even slightly unpack some of the things we experienced growing up that made us into the creatives we are today.

About Brenda:

If you make art to better your community or have been healed by art, I'd love to talk to you! Contact me at https://cruzfolio.com/

I had a lot of laughs during this conversation with my friend Gabe Pitchon Getzels about screenwriting, influential movies, and his latest screenplay endeavor.

Due to user error, the audio cut out at the 35 minute mark but it was very brief. Much love and

https://cruzfolio.com/

Hi there,

I’m trying something new. This is a trial run (episode 00) of what will become a limited series in the coming weeks. Today I have the pleasure of chatting with my pal Trevor Lutz of Funusual Suspects about life, the cosmos, and how he approaches his craft as a writer. I may be wrapping up the Writing Record in favor of this project. We shall see in the coming days. Much love, -j