Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Eric Ting, Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded August 31, 2021 via zencastr.

This interview is part of a series of discussions with artistic directors and their staff about how various theatre companies dealt with the Covid shutdown and its continuing aftermath.

Cal Shakes is slightly different from other companies in that it has an outdoor venue, the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda, California, and only operates during the summer months. Here, Eric Ting discusses the time of the shutdown, in March 2020; the effect of the murder of George Floyd on Cal Shakes’ on-line programming, how the company survived during the many months after the shutdown, and its continuing coordination with the community it serves.

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, adapted by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly, plays at the Bruns in Orinda through October 2, 2021.

Cal Shakes website

Complete 44-minute podcast

Kitty Carlisle Hart (1910-2007), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded by phone. This interview has never been heard via radio or podcast.

Created for an unfinished radio documentary on the life of George Gershwin, this interview was the final of seven interviews recorded for the program before it was abandoned, recorded in 2001 or 2002.

Best known for a long stint as panelist on a popular television quiz show, To Tell the Truth, from 1956 to 1978, with cameos in a handful of films late in life, Kitty Carlisle was born in 1910 and died in 2007.  She came of age as an opera singer and Broadway performer, moving to Hollywood for a handful of  films, including the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera.

She dated George Gershwin from 1933 until he moved to Hollywood six months before his death. After that, she married playwright Moss Hart, a marriage that lasted until his early death in 1961. She was a leading advocate for the arts and arts funding, serving on the New York State Arts Council for twenty years. In the interview, she mentions going out with George, accompanied by a friend, a “piano player.” Most likely, that person was composer Burton Lane (Finian’s Rainbow, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever).

George Gershwin was born in 1898 and his brother Ira two years earlier. At the age of 15 he took a job as a song-plugger, playing other people’s songs on a piano for Remick Music Publisher for the sale of their sheet music. His first composed song was published when he was 17, and at 21 he scored his first big hit, Swanee. But it wasn’t until 1924 when he teamed up with his brother Ira as lyricist that George Gershwin became, what we might call a superstar, which he remained until his untimely death from a brain tumor in 1937. Ira Gershwin, who went on to work with other composers until he retired in the early 1960s, died in 1983.

Previous Gershwin Project interviews:

Image from “A Night At The Opera,” Alamy stock photo available for non-profit use.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Several theatre companies are postponing their September shows due to the Delta variant. Please be aware that these changes are being made day-to-day. Most in-person events require vaccination proof or recent negative Covid test, and masks. Check the venue before arrival.

Bay Area Book Festival   Festival events streaming on-demand.

Alter Theatre. Brer Peach, an audio play by Andrew Saito, on-line October 21-December 12.

National, Misc:

Playbill List of Streaming Theatre: Updated weekly, this is probably the best list you’ll find of national and international streaming plays and musicals. Each week has its own webpage, so scroll down.

If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 9, 2021: Eric Ting – Kitty Carlisle Hart appeared first on KPFA.