Midday

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland, DC and Virginia regional stage.

Today, she tells us about the new Arena Stage production of playwright Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, a mesmerizing, music-infused drama about how war and political oppression in the 1960s and 70s ravaged the southeast Asian nation's vibrant rock music culture, and the how the war's violent legacy still haunts a Cambodian family.

Directed at Arena Stage by Chay Yew, Cambodian Rock Band 's cast includes Brooke Ishibashi, Francis Jue, Abraham Kim, Kelsey Angel Baehrens, Tim Liu, Jane Lui, Alex Lydon, Joe Ngo and Vi Tran. The show incorporates a live stage band - The Cyclos - covering 1960s- and 70s-era Cambodian psychedelic rock music and Cambodian-influenced songs by the contemporary American band, Dengue Fever.

CRB is a Signature Theatre production, in association with Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and ACT Theatre/5th Avenue.

Cambodian Rock Band continues at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC through August 27.

(Photo by Margot Schulman)

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's next guests today are two members of the Writers Guild of America, the consolidated union that represents the people who develop the stories and write the scripts for television shows and movies. The union's 11,000 members have been on strike for 100 days. The strike was joined last month by the 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild (which is affiliated with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

John Horn, who covers the film industry for NPR, reports that the WGA met briefly with leadership of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Friday, which was the first time the two sides have met since talks broke down on May 1st.

Joining Tom from Los Angeles are John August and Danny Tolli.

John August is a member of the negotiating committee for the WGA.

Danny Tolli is a strike captain and organizer…

Both men join us on Zoom...

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's first guest today is Shamiah T. Kerney, the Chief Recovery Officer in the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs, an office set up by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to oversee the distribution of the $641 million dollars of funds allocated for the city from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

President Biden signed the ARPA measure into law in March of 2021, with the aim of helping communities across the nation speed their recovery from the dislocations caused by the COVID pandemic. The city's Office of Recovery Programs was established in July of that year.

The first announcements about which agencies and organizations would be receiving the funds were made last fall. The city has until the end of 2024 to finish designating who gets the ARPA money, and until the end of 2026 to spend it.

Mayor Scott has allocated funds to 28 different project categories, such as digital and phyiscal infrastructure, housing, violence intervention, COVID-19 response, homeless services and projects that are listed as "pending."

Shemiah Kerney, who was Tom's guest back in April of this year, returns to Midday's Studio A to discuss the Office of Recovery Programs' continuing work, and to give us an update on how the ARPA funds are being allocated.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It’s another edition of theMidday Healthwatch, our monthly conversations about public health with Dr. Leana Wen.

We'll be talking Dr. Wen today about the public health challenges caused by this summer's intense heat; the continued under-use of Paxlovid as a medication that can reduce the severity of COVID infections; and her assessment of the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC — Dr. Mandy Cohen — who was appointed by President Biden and sworn into office last month.

Plus, Dr. Wen has been writing about other public health issues. These include the importance, especially for older adults, of getting the new RSV vaccine when it's available, the FDA's approval of the first-ever pill to treat post-partum depression; and what roles Artificial Intelligence might soon play in medicine.

Dr. Wen is one of America’s most trusted and knowledgeable public health experts, and she has been a regular guest on our show since her time as the Baltimore City Health Commissioner, from 2015-2018. Today, the emergency physician serves as a research professor of healthy policy and management at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. She’s also a columnist for the Washington Post, a medical analyst for CNN, and a non-resident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. And she's the author of Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health.

Dr. Leana Wen joins Tom on Zoom...

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom Hall's guest today is Tom Hanks.

You know who he is, of course, because he’s a movie star. You know his work over a performing career that has spanned 46 years. You know that he has made dozens of iconic films, and that he has won a gazillion awards.

And today, we’re not going to talk about any of that.

We’re going to talk instead about his first novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece.  It was published in May. It follows a collection of Tom Hanks' short stories called Uncommon Type: Some Stories, which came out in 2017.

Hanks' new novel is about a fictional writer-director who transforms a 1970 comic book into a modern-day super-hero movie. It's a fascinating look behind the camera at the legions of people who are involved in the process of creating a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. And it’s a bright explication of the simple observation offered up by Hanks’ protagonist when he says, “Making movies is more fun than fun.”

Tom Hanks is a gifted writer, and this novel is funny, poignant, insightful, and, most of all, loving. It’s an homage to movie-making and movie makers.

Two things to keep in mind about the next hour. Tom is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, which along with members of the Writers Guild of America, is on strike. We are not going to talk about his movies while he and his union are striking. The other thing is that our conversation was pre-recorded in late July, so we can’t take any calls or online comments.

Tom Hanks joins us on Zoom from Greece...

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage.

Today, she tells us about the new production of The Prom, a rollicking musical homage to musical comedies, now on stage at the Cockpit in Court Summer Theater at the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County.

A 2018 Broadway hit with book and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, book by Bob Martin and music by Matthew Sklar, The Prom is directed at Cockpit in Court by Roger Schulman.

The Prom follows four eccentric Broadway stars who are in desperate need of a new stage. When they hear that trouble is brewing around a small-town prom, they know that it’s time to put a spotlight on the issue…and themselves.

The musical won the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, and was adapted for a 2020 film starring Meryl Streep, James Corden and Nicole Kidman.

The Prom continues at the Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre through Sunday, August 6.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking.

One of Tom's guests today is Jed Dietz, the founder and retired director of the Maryland Film Festival.

The MFF's current directors late last year announced they were putting the popular annual film event on hiatus until 2024, while the board conducts what it calls "a planning process to re-envision its role as an arts and culture hub in Baltimore and for the entire region."

In response to that announcement, Baltimore film advocates decided to mount an alternative festival. With sponsorship from Your Public Radio (this station's parent company), they began planning for the New/Next Film Festival, a weekend-long celebration of film culture that will take place August 18-20 at The Charles theater in Baltimore. According to festival organizers, the NNFF will present "emerging film work of international scope alongside a special emphasis on new and repertory work from the Baltimore film scene."

Joining Tom and Jed in the studio today to discuss the New Next Film Fest is former Maryland Film Festival Director of Programming Eric Allen Hatch. Hatch is curating the films for the festival that will be screening at The Charles.

Also with us in studio is Emma Hannaway, a Baltimore born-and-raised filmmaker who produced the award-winning local film, Strawberry Mansion, and who's working as an assistant producer of the New/Next Film Festival.

For information on film schedules and to purchase tickets to the New/Next Film Festival, follow this link

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It’s Midday on Personal Finance.

The economy continues to surge and confound. Unemployment and inflation are down, the stock market and wages are up. But spending power is a different story for a lot of Americans, and saving for the future remains a challenge. Nearly 60% of Americans have less than $5,000 in their piggy banks.

Tom's guests today are two financial advisors who are ready to take your questions about managing your money.

Nicolas Abrams is a certified financial planner and the founder of Opulentia, a financial services company in Hunt Valley,

Deborah Owens is the founder of WealthyU, a financial wellness company, and the author of Wealth Secrets: A Woman’s Guide to Own and Secure Your Financial Future.

What’s on your mind when it comes to money?

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

On Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith unsealed a four-count indictment against Donald Trump — the former US president and current front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — for crimes he is alleged to have committed during his failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election — an election which he lost.

Mr. Smith described the criminal charges briefly during yesterday's Washington, DC news conference.

Joining Tom to discuss this historic and long-awaited development is Kim Wehle. She is a professor at University of Baltimore School of Law and host of the Youtube channel, Simple Politics. She is also the author of three excellent books, one on the constitution, one on voting, and her latest offering: How to Think Like a Lawyer--And Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas. 

Kim is our go-to source for analysis and perspective on a host of legal matters, including the proliferating legal entanglements of Donald Trump.

Kim Wehle joins us on Zoom.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's Newsmaker guest for the first half of the hour today is Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski, Jr..

Topics for today's conversation include:

• Community responses to Tuesday's National Night Out.
• Deploying Shot Spotter technology.
• Crime Data Transparency.
• Security Square Mall.
• Housing issues.
• Political plans...

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. joins Tom on Zoom to discuss these and other issues affecting the county's 870,00 residents.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.