KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Josh Costello, just named new Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre Company starting in July, 2019, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

For the past five years, Josh Costello has served as the Associate Director of the company, directing one play a season. Prior to that, he worked at Marin Theatre Company and was the founder of Impact Theatre. His goal, he says, at Aurora, is to enlarge the company's footprint and bring new audiences to its thrust stage by producing works relevant to the Berkeley and Bay Area community.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Bay Area Theater [1] podcast.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/interview-josh-costello-aurora-theatre-company/

Francine du Plessix Gray, who died on January 13, 2019 at the age of 88, was a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and frequent contributor to the New Yorker Magazine. Born in Poland, the daughter of a French diplomat and Russian émigré from the revolution, she was raised in Paris and came, with her mother, to the United States after the Germans took France. Her most notable book, "Them," is the story of her parents’ lives, and Richard had a chance to speak with Francine du Plessix Gray about that book and about her career, recorded at KPFA on May 22, 2005.

Francine du Plessix Gray wrote one more book after the interview, a biography, of Madame Germain de Stall, a novelist and travel writer who lived during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era. Them won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir in 2005.

An extended version can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/francine-du-plessix-gray-1930-2019/

Michael David Lukas, author of "The Oracle of Stamboul," whose most recent novel is "The Last Watchman of Old Cairo," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

"The Last Watchman of Old Cairo" tells the story of a family hired a thousand years ago to guard a synagogue in Cairo, and of a secret scroll that may or may not exist. Michael David Lukas grew up in Berkeley and is a former Fulbright Scholar.

Michael David Lukas website [1]

Extended Radio Wolinsky podcast [2]

[1] http://michaeldavidlukas.com/

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/michael-david-lukas-the-last-watchman-of-old-cairo/

[caption id="attachment_283001" align="alignleft" width="307"] "The job of a cartoonist is not just to capture a likeness," Tim Kreider says. "A caricature brings out aspects of someone's character that they're trying to conceal."[/caption]

Tim Kreider, cartoonist and author of the essay collection “I Wrote This Book Because I Love You” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Tim Kreider gained a reputation as a cartoonist in the style of B. Kliban before turning political following the stolen election of 2000 and 9/11. His series, “The Pain — When Will It End?” ran for twelve years in the Baltimore City Paper and other alternative weeklies. Currently he writes for The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines.

His latest collection of essays deals with the personal and the political, and examines such topics as the war on terror, atheism, the circus and other themes.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/tim-kreider/

Pam MacKinnon, the new Artistic Director of A.C.T., American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

The Tony Award winning director of 2013's Broadway revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and Obie winning director of "Clybourne Park" was hired by A.C.T. as Artistic Director on January 18, 2018, and is now in the midst of the first season she has curated since her arrival.

In this interview, she discusses the challenges of working at A.C.T., her perspective as a leading interpreter of the plays of Edward Albee, the rest of this season, and other topics.

A.C.T's latest production is Edward Albee's "Seascape," which Pam MacKinnon is directing. It runs through February 17, 2019.

ACT website [1]

[1] http://www.act-sf.org/

Trina Robbins, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

A legend in comic book circles, an artist at a time when hardly any women drew comics, Trina Robbins discusses her latest book, a memoir, “Last Girl Standing,” which deals with her life as an artist, author, and clothing designer. She was the first woman to edit a comic book created by women, “It Ain’t Me Babe,” the first woman to draw “Wonder Woman,” and the single most influential historian chronicling the women who created comics and cartoons.

In this interview, she also talks about her other recent books including a history of women drawing comics during World War II, a graphic novel version of a short story collection originally written by her father in Yiddish, and a graphic novel based on a work by British author Sax Rohmer. Trina Robbins was clothing designer for Los Angeles rock and roll bands in the 1960s and for the Warhol factory in New York. She also was a regular contributor to “Wimmens Comix,” a series of comic books created by women from the 1970s through 1990s.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

Also: A review of "Paradise Square" at Berkeley Rep through February 24, 2019.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/trina-robbins-last-girl-standing/

Larry Kirwan, creator of the new musical “Paradise Square” at Berkeley Rep, the author of five books, and the lead vocalist and guitarist for the legendary New York Irish American band Black 47, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Larry Kirwin’s five books are Green Suede Shoes, a memoir subtitled An irish American Odyssey; A History of Irish Music; Rockin’ the Bronx; Mad Angels, a colleciton of plays; and a novel based on his play,  Liverpool Fantasy. He’s written several plays, many of which were produced in New York, off and off-off Broadway. His band, Black 47 produced albums and went on tour over a 25-year period from 1989 to 2014, along the way making a name for itself through its music and politics.

“Paradise Square,” which runs at Berkeley Rep through February 17, 2019, is set in the Five Points section of New York in 1863 at the onset of the Civil War draft riots, and deals with the relationship of the Irish and African-American residents of the neighborhood. The show uses the music of Stephen Foster, augmented by lyrics by Nathan Tysen, with a book by Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan. The creative team also includes the choreographer Bill T. Jones, director Moises Kaufman, and composer/arranger Jason Howland

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

 

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/larry-kirwan-paradise-square/

Larry Kirwan, creator of the new musical “Paradise Square” at Berkeley Rep, the author of five books, and the lead vocalist and guitarist for the legendary New York Irish American band Black 47, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Larry Kirwin’s five books are Green Suede Shoes, a memoir subtitled An irish American Odyssey; A History of Irish Music; Rockin’ the Bronx; Mad Angels, a colleciton of plays; and a novel based on his play,  Liverpool Fantasy. He’s written several plays, many of which were produced in New York, off and off-off Broadway. His band, Black 47 produced albums and went on tour over a 25-year period from 1989 to 2014, along the way making a name for itself through its music and politics.

“Paradise Square,” which runs at Berkeley Rep through February 17, 2019, is set in the Five Points section of New York in 1863 at the onset of the Civil War draft riots, and deals with the relationship of the Irish and African-American residents of the neighborhood. The show uses the music of Stephen Foster, augmented by lyrics by Nathan Tysen, with a book by Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan. The creative team also includes the choreographer Bill T. Jones, director Moises Kaufman, and composer/arranger Jason Howland

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

 

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/larry-kirwan-paradise-square/

Jacqueline Woodson, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

One of the leading writers of children’s and young adult fiction, Jacqueline Woodson’s latest adult novel, “Another Brooklyn,” tells the story of four African American girls growing up in Brooklyn during the 1970s, focusing on August, a transplant from the South with a single father, growing up during a turbulent era and struggling to find herself. “Another Brooklyn” is a finalist for this year’s National Book Award for fiction.

Extended 37-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

Also: Review of "Mary Poppins" at SF Playhouse through January 12, 2019.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/jacqueline-woodson/

[caption id="attachment_252253" align="alignleft" width="370"] Richard Adams in the mid 1970s upon publication of Watership Down.[/caption]

Richard Adams (1920-2016) interviewed in 1978 by Richard Wolinsky.

On the second anniversary of his death, and with a new version of "Watership Down" airing on Netflix, a look back at the life and career of Richard Adams.

Richard Adams, the author of “Watership Down,” “Plague Dogs” “Shardik” and other novels, died on Christmas Eve, 2016 at the age of 96. Born in 1920, he served as a liaison officer during World War II, and later joined the civil service, rising to the rank of Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Housing.

Past the age of fifty and a life-long civil servant, Richard Adams began telling stories to his daughters about talking rabbits while on a car trip. The daughters prompted him to turn the stories into a novel. After four failed attempts, a fifth try in 1972 found a publisher and “Watership Down” became an international best-seller and later a beloved classic fantasy.

He followed that with “Shardik,” a novel about a giant bear. Along the way, Adams became an advocate against the use of animal testing, which is the subject of his third novel, “The Plague Dogs.”

It was on tour for that third novel upon its American publication in the spring of 1978 that Richard Wolinsky interviewed Richard Adams. Though he’d conducted a handful of interviews with a co-host, this was Richard Wolinsky's first solo shot in what would be a long career as literary interviewer.

Though Adams continued to write well into the 21st Century and would publish fourteen more books , he never again achieved the success of his first few novels, especially of course Watership Down. Watership Down and The Plague Dogs both became animated films; a live action film of another novel. The Giril in a Swing, was released in 1988. Watership Down also became a 39 episode TV series in from 1999 to 2001. A new mini-series of Watership Down from BBC One began airing this week on Netflix, featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Ben Kingsley, Nicholas Hoult and John Boyega.

 

Also: A review of Dear Evan Hansen, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco through December 30, 2018.