Speaking of the Arts

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, show host Diana Moxon goes behind the scene on two musical productions playing in Columbia. Actors Ed Hanson and Mark Baumgartner talk about Maplewood Barn's production of 'Floyd Collins - A Bluegrass Musical' in which they play Lee Collins and Floyd Collins respectively, and in the second part of the show Broadway actor/dancer/director/choreographer, Carol Schuberg, and Stephens College Professor, Trent Rash, talk about their new production of Pippin which opens at Stephens College Playhouse theatre on May 3rd. 

Director Marji Peters and actor Dane Johnson join Diana in the Speaking of the Arts studio to talk about their new production of the musical Daddy Long Legs. In the second half of the show Diana chats with Dr. Kevin Brown from the University of Missouri's theatre department about his new virtual reality adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, called A.L.I.C.E and also about his research into the ethnography of karaoke. 

Jane Martin's madcap comedy, 'Anton in Show Business' is being staged by the Stephens College Warehouse Theatre and Diana chats to Artistic Directors, Winona Wiley and Brooke Grno, along with the play's Director, Lauren Douglas, about their production, the plays meta-layers, and the satire that it uses to expose some ugly truths in the world of theatre. In the second segment of the show, Sager Braudis Gallery's Curator and Art Historian, Hannah Reeves, joins Diana in the studio to talk about Black Mountain College and how its expansive influence not only created some of the most renowned art makers and creative forces of the mid-20th century but also became the creative ancestry for many contemporary artists. 

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and especially it's opening number of O Fortuna, is probably one of the best known works of classical music of the 20th century and it's coming back to the Missouri Theatre on April 5th and 6th thanks to the Missouri Contemporary Ballet and the Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri. Diana finds out more about the production and how difficult it is for the singers to keep their eyes on the music and not on the ballet dancers! In the second half of the show Puerto Rican concert saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán talks about his fundraiser for Puerto Rico on April 15th and how his ensemble {trés} and hoping to make a difference to lives around his native island. 

On this week's show Diana talks to MU Theatre Department's Taylor Sklenar and Blake Willoughby about the annual Mizzou New Play Series coming up in early April, and in the second part of the show she finds out more about the biannual Plowman Chamber Music Competition and Festival with the Festival's Artistic Director, Ayako Tsuruta and Dr Wei-Yi Yang, Associate Professor of Piano at Yale and one of the festival's three judges. And as usual she ends the show with a round up of the arts events coming up over the next seven days. 

On this week's show, Quin Gresham and Diana discuss the traveling production, Artrageous, which lands at the Arrow Rock theatre for one night and about the Lyceum's upcoming season of shows. In the second segment, Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers Master Caller, Jim Thaxter, talks about their Spring Breakdown event coming up at the end of March as well as some history of contra and square dance calling. 

Jabberwocky Theatre and the Mizzou African Graduate and Professional Student Association get together once a year to create the CoMo Africa Fest and Diana finds out more about it, and in the second half of the show documentary film-maker Andrew Sherburne from FilmScene Iowa, and Patrick Kinney from FilmStreams in Omaha join Diana in the studio to talk about the True/False film festival and the role of independent cinemas.