Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Suzy McKee Charnas (1939-2023), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded over Halloween Weekend, 1981 at the World Fantasy Convention in the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.

Suzy McKee Charnas, who died on January 2nd, 2023 at the age of 83, was a novelist and short story writer focusing on fantasy and science fiction. Over a career that began in 1974 with her first novel, Walk to the End of the World, she wrote eleven novels and several short stories, winning both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best short stories. She is best known for her tetralogy of novels, The Holdfast Chronicles, beginning with the aforementioned Walk to the End of the World and concluding with The Conquerer’s Child in 1999.

In 1981, she had just written three novels, focusing on feminist issues in a field that was still dominated by men. Her second novel, Motherlines, which featured no male characters at all, was decades ahead of its time.

A lot has changed since 1981, and the interview also serves as a time capsule in terms of both questions and answers, and in regard to feminist writing, publishing and genre writing.

She continued to work steadily after 1981, but she wrote no more novels after 1999, though short stories continued to be published. None of her works were adapted for television or film, though she did adapt The Vampire Tapestry for the stage in 2001.

The interview aired once shortly after the recording, and was digitized, remastered and edited on January 4, 2023. Complete 29-minute interview.

Frank Galati (1943-2023), who died on January 2, 2023 at the age of 79, was a giant in American theatre.

A long-time member of the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Frank Galati was winner of Tony Awards for the adaptation and direction of The Grapes of Wrath in 1990, was nominated for an Oscar for co-adapting The Accidental Tourist for the screen, and was the director of Ragtime and The Pirate Queen on Broadway. Frank Galati is also known for adapting several other works for stage and screen.

Frank Galati was in the San Francisco Bay Area to direct a production of “Rhinoceros” by Eugene Ionesco at ACT’s Geary Theatre, and it was in ACT’s offices that this interview took place on May 22, 2019.

“Rhinoceros” is considered to be one of the greatest works of political theatre of the absurd. Originally produced in the late 1950s, the play hearkens back to the origins of fascism and how propaganda infects the minds of citizens.

At the end of the interview, Frank Galati discusses his upcoming project, a musical version of James Agee’s “A Death in the Family,” with music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, A Man of No Importance). The show, titled “Knoxville” made its world premiere at the Asolo Repertory Company in Sarasota Florida in April 2022, and an original cast album was released digitally in October and on disc in November, 2022. First posted as a Bay Area Theater podcast on June 2, 2019.

Photos: Richard Wolinsky

Complete 42-minute interview.

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The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 12, 2023: Suzy McKee Charnas – Frank Galati appeared first on KPFA.