Speaking of the Arts

As a new production of the global hit musical, Mamma Mia, opens at Stephens College in Columbia, show host Diana Moxon chats to the Dean of the Performing Art School, Dr. Gail Humphries Mardirosian and actors Natalie Irlmeier (Sophie) and Jeffrey Keller (Sky) about hitting the high notes, singing while keeping your balance on a revolving bed, and the joys of working with a director who performed in Mamma Mia on Broadway. And in the second act of the show, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's new Executive Director, Trent Rash, and Development Director, Monica Palmer, talk about their plans for the symphony, how to make classical music cool, and the legacy of Maestro Hugo Vianello. As usual Diana rounds out the show with a rundown of some of the arts events coming up in and around Columbia over the next 7 days.

Nearly 60% of all new clothing produced ends up being burned or buried within one year of being on high street retailers' shelves, one of the many shocking statistics from the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. At the University of Missouri's School of Textile and Apparel Management, a three-year exhibit is exploring the industry's intersection with the natural world and encouraging students to design garments which reflect a thoughtful statement about environmental conservation. On this week's show Diana Moxon chats to students Chance Zacheis and Jenny Wu along with Professor Jean Parsons and Collection Manager, Nicole Johnston about the new Flora and Fashion show at Mizzou and their hopes for the industry. And in the second segment of the show Diana chats with journalist Jessica Bruder, author of this year's Daniel Boone Regional Library's One Read book 'Nomadland Surviving America in the 21st Century' about her time researching and traveling with America's new subculture of nomadic Americans.

In the late 1950's abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, was commissioned to create a series of paintings for the swanky, new Four Seasons restaurant in New York's Seagram's building - an episode in the painter's life that screenwriter John Logan turned into a play called 'Red'. Actors Aaron Krawitz and Adam Brietzke join Diana to talk about the play which is running for two weeks at Talking Horse Theatre. And for the second act of the show, Diana talks to Daniel Boone Regional Library's Lauren Williams about this year's One Read book 'Nomadland Surviving America in the 21st Century' by journalist Jessica Bruder.

The world loves troubled literary characters and on this week's show, Diana Moxon, chats Hedda Gabler - Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's complex, tortured and oft malevolent character - to Greenhouse Theatre Project's founder and actor Elizabeth Braaten-Palmieri, director Matt Trucano and actor Julia Valen and what audiences can expect from their upcoming production. Diana's second guest this week is Rural Noir novelist, Laura McHugh, whose latest book, 'The Wolf Wants In' hit bookstores at the beginning of August. Laura talks about growing up deep in the Ozarks and how it provided a rich vein of dark stories and characters for her novels.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, host Diana Moxon, talks to the Dean of Stephens College Performing Arts, Dr. Gail Humphries Mardirosian about their upcoming season and the importance of encouraging women into theatre production and direction, and in the second half of the show, the man with the golden voice, bass-baritone singer Marques Jerrell Ruff, drops in to talk about his crown jewel influencers, vocal care, and which of the Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony awards he plans on winning first.

This week Diana Moxon chats to director Christopher Gould and actors Nora Dietzel and Stephen Easterling about the fast-paced Neil Simon farce, 'Rumors', opening next week at Maplewood Barn - plus, bonus: Nora and Stephen act out a scene! And later in the show Access Arts' Shawna Johnson and ceramic artist Marisa Collado talk about the difference between a potter and a ceramic artist, the advantages of being in an artist residency program, and their new art show at the Montminy Gallery.

On this week's show, Diana Moxon talks to singer Symonne Sparks about musical theatre, her incredible vocal range and what it feels like to sing the National Anthem in front of 50,000 football fans. And in the second half of the show, director Melissa Alpers-Springer and actor Laura Liebhart stop by to talk about their new production of the Mark St. Germain romantic comedy, "Dancing Lessons", now showing at Talking Horse theatre, which explores how a person with Asperger's syndrome navigates a dancing lesson with a dancer in a leg brace.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts Diana talks art, non-profit management, and dynamic grandmothers with the Columbia Art League's new Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, and then Dr. Joan Stack stops by to talk about the river-inspired new Center for Missouri Studies, which opens on Saturday 10th August, and what you put in a 5,400 square foot gallery when you have over 12,000 works to choose from.

This week Diana Moxon talks to composers inti figgis-vizueta and Nicole Murphy about their music, machete-wielding grandmothers, giving space to performers and audiences, and their time at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. The segment includes two short clips of music: the second movement of 'Stolen' composed by Nicole Murphy (https://soundcloud.com/elm-city-records/stolen-movement-2), and 'whose name do you make thunder the room?' by inti figgis-vizueta (https://soundcloud.com/inti-logan-figgis-vizueta/whose-name-do-you-make-thunder-the-room). In the second half of the show, actor Richard E Harris joins Diana in the studio to talk about his musical and acting career, touring with Johnnie Taylor in 1980's, producing for The Whispers and his legendary grandmother, Mrs Opal Lee.

This week show host Diana Moxon talks new music with University of Missouri's Dr. Jacob Gotlib, member of the university's composition department and Managing Director of the upcoming Mizzou International Composer's Festival. In the second half of the show, Diana chats with author Jocelyn Cullity about her book 'Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons', set in northern India in 1857 during the infamous Siege of Lucknow, a brutal and shameful event in the history of Anglo-Indian relations and an event to which both Diana and Jocelyn have strong family ties.