Interview with the Artist

Van Hansis is a three-time Emmy Award nominated actor, best known for playing Luke Snyder on As the World Turns and Thom in the dark comedy web series Eastsiders. Currently Van is crowd funding on Kickstarter for his latest project: Ms. Guidance, a dark irreverent comedy which he is producing, directing and starring in. Ms. Guidance tells the story of Jenny Bump, a talented but self-absorbed actress who, after having a mental breakdown on the New York stage, decides to give up her dream of stardom and return to her alma mater, Loch Hill School for the Arts where she becomes a guidance counselor. But listening to her students' dreams only makes her long to act even more, and soon she is scheming for fame and ruining lives, including her own. It's a show about theater kids and the life that waits for them in the real world. It's a show about unrealized dreams, the disconnect between what we hope we will become and the reality that we end up with. It's a show about trying to let go of a dream that won't let go of you. In this conversation Van and Walker reminisce about their days at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, the inspiration (and location) for Ms. Guidance. They talk about who they were then and who they are now. They talk about how unique a place Walnut Hill is, and how the school changed their lives. Also- Van remembers his time on As the World Turns and sheds light on how to stay sane as an actor: never compare yourself with others, define success for yourself and create your own work whenever you can. Plus, tune in to hear Van explain how the character of Walker Pate in Ms. Guidance is different from Walker Pate Vreeland. And there is a difference. :-)

Jeff Leblanc is a singer/songwriter who has twice broken into the Top 10 of the iTunes Top 200 Singer/Songwriter Chart. Born and raised in Center Moriches, New York, he began his career as a street busker in Westhampton Beach. Jeff tours regularly and has opened for headliners such as Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Lifehouse, Chris Isaak, Andy Grammer, Third Eye Blind and Goo Goo Dolls among many others. His music had been featured on Teen Mom, The Real World, The Challenge Rivals, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, FriendZone and Jersey Shore.

In 2011, Jeff was nominated by SiriusXM's Coffee House Channel as Singer/Songwriter Discovery of the Year. In this conversation Jeff talks about his new album Vision, why he worries and what he worries about, how facing his fears helped him grow and evolve as a songwriter, and why he finds it hard to write when everything is going great. Plus- several acoustic studio performances!

Sally Struthers is an Emmy Award winning actress, best known for playing Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, and Babette on Gilmore Girls. In 1970 she appeared on the big screen in Five Easy Pieces opposite Jack Nicholson. She is currently starring in Nice Work If You Can Get It at Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, NY, for which she has received rave reviews and countless standing ovations. In this conversation, Sally and her co-star Jamie Beaman talk about what they love about Gateway, live theater and performing with each other; why comedy is difficult and dangerous and mysterious and the best high there is; and finding the balance between vulnerability and self-protection as an artist. Plus- Sally reveals why she doesn't get residual checks for All in the Family, how her daughter Samantha changed her life for the better, and why it's important for her to keep working.

Lori Cuisinier is a painter and photographer whose work has been shown in the United States and Europe. The central theme in her recent paintings and drawings is self-portraiture. Specifically, this theme has led her through interpretation and reinterpretation of "self," as well as the inner world of her dreams. Her photographic images are featured in Academy Award-nominated director Mira Nair's 2006 film, The Namesake, in Adam Brooks’ 2008 film, Definitely, Maybe, staring Rachel Weisz and Mark Mann's 2013 film, generation Um..., starring Keanu Reeves. Lori maintains a studio in Southampton.

In this conversation, Lori talks about her many lives: as an athlete, a lawyer, a waitress, a jeweler, a coat check girl, and how one fall down a flight of stairs and a Leonard Cohen song prompted her to reinvent herself once again to become the artist she was always meant to be. Also- what inspired her new photography exhibition Desire, how she began to see her old journal entries as art, the vulnerability that runs through all of her work, and how everything she creates leads back to France.

Bob Balaban is an actor, director and producer. As an actor, he's was featured in 1969's Midnight Cowboy, and in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Perhaps best known for his work in Christopher Guest's films and for his cameos on Seinfeld, Bob Balaban has also been seen in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, Absence of Malice, Lady in the Water and in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, which he also produced and for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He is currently directly the play The New Sincerity which is making its world premiere at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor and runs through June 14th, 2015. In this conversation, Bob talks about The New Sincerity, living in Bridgehampton, falling in love with the magic of movie making, how being an actor informs his directing, what he's learned from all the great directors he's worked with, and the benefits of being a character actor as opposed to a star.

Paula Poundstone is one of the great humorists of our time. A beloved panelist on NPR’s popular weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, she alsotours regularly, performing standup comedy across the country. Known for her spontaneity and ability to engage with an audience, Poundstone has said: “No two shows I do are the same. It’s not that I don’t repeat material. I do. My shows, when they’re good, and I like to think they often are, are like a cocktail party." Paula's book, There is Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say was published in 2006, and her new CD, I HEART JOKES: Paula Tells Them in Boston follows her first CD, I HEART JOKES: Paula Tells Them in Maine. In this radio interview, Paula talks about why she hates doing radio interviews, preparing for Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, what Robin Williams did to help her when she started out in comedy, how she discovered her talent for interacting with audiences and why technology makes parenting harder.

Kate Pierson is one of the lead singers and founding members of the world's greatest party band: the B-52's. Formed in 1976 in Athens, Georgia, the B-52s (originally Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson & Ricky Wilson) have sold over 20 million albums and are known for such classic songs as: Rock Lobster, Private Idaho, 52 Girls and chart topping hits Love Shack, Roam and Deadbeat Club. Impossible to categorize, the B-52s emerged during the post-punk underground music scene in the late 70s, and went on to become worldwide superstars in the 80s, thanks to MTV and the success of their album Cosmic Thing which soared to the top of the Billboard Album Chart. In this conversation, Kate talks about the night the B-52's was formed, how Rock Lobster was written, losing Ricky Wilson, and where the real 'Love Shack' is.

Ballroom dancer Val Chmerkovskiy is a 2-time World Latin Dance Champion and a 14-time U.S. national Latin Dance champion. The younger brother of Maksim Chmerkovskiy, he's best known for his work on ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Val shares a DWTS record, originally set by his longtime rival Mark Ballas, of having the most celebrity partners to never individually score less than 8 from any judge. He is also the only professional dancer to go three consecutive seasons (16, 17, 18) without ever scoring less that an eight. In this conversation, Val talks about the biggest misconceptions about ballroom dance, the importance of chemistry and storytelling, the mentality required for competition dancing, whether he and Kelly Monaco were together during season 15 of Dancing with the Stars, and why being a male ballroom dancer is one of the most masculine things you can be.

This week, we're revisiting our very first episode of Interview with the Artist, with comedian and actor Mario Cantone. If the show sounds a little different than usual that's because it was our very first show and we didn't know what the hell we were doing. Enjoy.

Love Letters, A.R. Gurney's celebrated play, will be presented at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton on May 8th and 9th at 7pm. The production will star Emmy-Award winning journalist and critic Pia Lindström and Terrance Fiore, and will be directed by Oscar, Emmy and Tony award winner Tony Walton.

Love Letters, which premiered in New York in 1989 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, tells the story of childhood friends Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and their lifelong correspondence through letters. Melissa is rebellious and bold, Andrew is conservative and reserved. As they chronicle their hopes and disappointments, successes and setbacks, failures and realizations, they paint a portrait of their great love, while posing existential questions about relationship, timing and missed opportunities.

Presented by St. Ann's Church and the Corcoran Group, performances of Love Letters will take place Friday, May 8th and Saturday May 9th, 7pm, at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton, NY. $25.00 includes wine and cheese after the show. All proceeds go towards St. Ann's Outreach Program, benefitting the Dominican Sisters, East End Hospice and Maureen's Haven. Tickets can be purchased at the door.