KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

A conversation with director, screenwriter and author Whit Stillman, whose latest work, Love & Friendship, is both a film and book. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Early in his career, after directing such films as Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman was called “the WASP Woody Allen.”  Then he hit what he calls “director’s prison,” and it took him well over a decade before he returned to directing with Damsels in Distress. His latest film, Love & Friendship, is based on an early Jane Austen novella, and not only has been getting the best reviews of his career, but has become an arthouse hit. At the same time as the film was released, his novelization was also published. The book contains not only his work, but the original Jane Austen story.

Love and Friendship is based on the Jane Austen story, Lady Susan, and features a heroine who seems far more contemporary than most characters of the same era. It’s why Whit Stillman was drawn to the story. That it was in the public domain obviously helped, as Stillman points out. The result is a witty film that forces the audience to think. The book takes the screenplay and reimagines it as a defense of Lady Susan written by her nephew several years after the events take place.

In this wide-ranging interview recorded on June 9, 2016, Whit Stillman discusses the book, the film, Jane Austen, and his career as a director. A shorter version of this interview airs on the Bookwaves radio program.

The post Whit Stillman appeared first on KPFA.

A Conversation with Tom Ross, artistic director of Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Tom Ross is the artistic director of Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, celebrating its 25th year in the upcoming 2016-2017 season. Originally founded by actor/director Barbara Oliver in 1992, its first production was Dorothy Bryant’s Dear Master, and in honor of the anniversary, Aurora presents a revival of that play to open the new season in September, 2016. After nearly a decade at the Berkeley City Club, Aurora moved to his current location, a 150-seat “thrust” stage located on Addison Street just up from Berkeley Rep.

Tom Ross succeeded Barbara Oliver as Artistic Director following a stint at the Public Theatre in New York where he worked under Joseph Papp, developing plays by such artists as Larry Kramer and Jonathan Larson.

In this discussion, Tom Ross talks about the history of the theater, working on the thrust stage, and the upcoming 2016-2017 season at Aurora. A shorter version of this interview aired on the Arts-Waves program on KPFA.

Aurora Theatre Company website

The post Aurora Theatre Company: Tom Ross appeared first on KPFA.

A Conversation with Eric Ting, Artistic Director of Cal Shakes, California Shakespeare Theatre. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Cal Shakes is considered on of the Bay Area’s premiere theatrical institutions. Located in the hills of Orinda, California, its outdoor venue is one of the finest in the United States. Eric Ting, recently named Artistic Director of Cal Shakes, talks about his views on theater, and on the upcoming season.

A shorter version of this interview airs on KPFA’s Arts-Waves program.

Cal Shakes website

The post Cal Shakes: Eric Ting appeared first on KPFA.

An conversation with Adam Hochschild, author of Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Noted historian Adam Hochschild’s latest book is a history of the Spanish Civil War, the precursor to World War II, from the perspective of Americans fighting that war. Narrowing it down to the stories of a handful of men and women who were combatants, journalists and witnesses, Hochschild brings this violent and vicious war down to a human level and in so doing, brings history alive.

The 45-minute discussion focuses on the research, and on some of the discoveries Hochschild made along the way, plus how the story of the Spanish Civil War might resonate today.

A shorter version of this interview airs on KPFA’s Bookwaves program.

The post Adam Hochschild appeared first on KPFA.

An interview with legendary author J. G. Ballard (1930-2009), conducted for KPFA’s Probabilities radio program in 1988, digitized and re-edited in 2016 by Richard Wolinsky.

J. G. Ballard, who died in 2009 at the age of 78, was one of the greatest of all British speculative fiction writers, and one of the major writers of the period known as the British New Wave. In novels such as The Crystal World and The Drowned World, and in short story collections like Vermillion Sands, he dissected our present world through looking at disaster scenarios. Two of his novels became well-known films. Crash was directed in 1996 by David Cronenberg, and his fictionalized memoir Empire of the Sun, was turned into a film by Steven Spielberg, introducing a young actor named Christian Bale. A filmed version of High Rise, starring Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons, was just released.

On May 8th, 1988, the Probabilities crew (Lawrence Davidson, Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky) had a chance to sit down with J. G. Ballard while he was on tour for his novel, The Day of Creation. It turned into a fascinating career retrospective.

A shorter version of this interview aired on KPFA’s Arts-Waves program and on the syndicated Bookwaves program.

The post J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) appeared first on KPFA.

An interview with Evren Odcikin and Humaira Ghilzai, hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Evren Odcikin and Humaira Ghilzai discuss the play The Most Dangerous Highway in the World, a Golden Thread production, at Thick House in San Francisco through May 29th. Evren is the director of the production, and Humaira is its cultural consultant. In this extended version of an interview airing on KPFA’s Arts-Waves program, they discuss how the play came to be, and then Humaira discusses her trips to Afghanistan, and Evren, born in Turkey, talks about that country and compares the Istanbul area to San Francisco. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Golden Thread website

Humaira Gilza

Evren Odcikin 

The post Golden Thread appeared first on KPFA.

An interview with Harlan Coben, author of Fool Me Once. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Harlan Coben is the best-selling author of 28 fast-paced novels of suspense and has won virtually every major award in the field. His latest book, Fool Me Once, features a protagonist suffering from PTSD. Eight of his novels feature an amateur detective in the sports field named Myron Bolitor. He also has a young adult series featuring that character’s nephew, and a children’s book titled The Magical Fantastical Fridge. His novel Tell No One became an acclaimed French film. This interview was recorded at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California, and a shorter version can be heard on the Bookwaves radio program.

The post Harlan Coben appeared first on KPFA.

A conversation with Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and columnist, and author of several novels, including Miller’s Valley. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Anna Quindlen was a reporter and columnist for the New York Times from 1977 to 1994, winning a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her column Public and Private. From 1994 to 1999 she wrote a column for Newsweek, and since that time has become a full time best-selling novelist. Richard Wolinsky had a chance to speak with Anna Quindlen on April 8th, 2016 while she was on tour for her latest novel, Miller’s Valley. In the interview for KPFA’s Bookwaves and Arts-Waves programs, she talks not only about her work as a writer, but about the current political scene and opens up about her friend Hillary Clinton.

The post Anna Quindlen appeared first on KPFA.

A conversation with A.O. Scott, co-chief film critic of the New York Times and author of Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty and Truth, Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

A.O. Scott is one of America’s foremost film critics. Since 2002, he’s shared the chief movie review slot at the New York Times with Mahnola Dargis. His book, Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty and Truth, takes a look at reviewing and criticism, at some of the challenges critics face, and at some of the issues that roll across his mind every time he writes a review.

In this interview, he talks about many of those issues, including the rise of algorithms, the relationship between taste and popularity, the relationship between taste and quality, and his own beliefs about aesthetics. Scott also looks at the recent controversy involving diversity at the Academy Awards, and how he and Mahnola Dargis divvy up reviews.

A shorter version of this interview aired on Bookwaves on KPFA.

The post A.O. Scott, NY Times film critic appeared first on KPFA.

Jim Harrison, who died on March 26th, 2016 at the age of 78, was one of those figures people call “larger than life.” A novelist, essayist, poet, screenplay writer and master of the novella, Harrison dealt in his work with issues such as mortality, illness, living the solitary life, redemption and absolution, work that, as the NY Times obituary said, captured the resonant, almost mythic soul of 20th-century rural America. Among his best known novels were Legends of the Fall and Wolf, both of which became major Hollywood films.

This interview was recorded while he was on tour in 2007 for his novel, Returning to Earth, which revisits characters from his 2005 novel, True North. The conversation was wide-ranging, touching on not only his work but also life in New York after 9/11, the columnist David Brooks, the education system, and life in Hollywood in the ’90s.

The post Jim Harrison 1937-2016 appeared first on KPFA.