Speaking of the Arts

As the Daniel Boone Regional Library kicks off its month-long One Read program, host Diana Moxon chats to this year's One Read author Casey Cep about her book 'Furious Hours Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee', which brings together the story of a serial killer in 1970's Alabama, a savvy lawyer, and the writer Harper Lee, who tried to write a book about the accused - but never convicted - killer, the Reverend Willie Maxwell. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

Music takes center stage on this week's show with host, Diana Moxon, taking a peek at an upcoming rock musical, an open house studio tour, and the Roots n Blues festival. Columbia Entertainment Company's director of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Caleb Alexander, chats about taking on the production as both its director and band member; film-maker and president of VidWest, Matt Schacht, talks about creating a community media center and taking on the responsibility for the public media cable channel formerly known as CAT TV; and Roots n Blues directors, Tracy Lane and Shay Jasper, introduce four of the performers who will be at this year's festival: Mavis Staples, Lennon Stella, Tank and the Bangas, and Sifa. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Three incredibly different theatrical productions open in Columbia in the next 10 days: scenes from Shakespeare performed on a lake, a musical about invading aliens, and a monodrama about a Holocaust survivor. On this week's show Diana chats with Greenhouse Theatre Project founder, Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri, and actor Richard Harris Jr. about their production of 'Lake Shakes'; actor Aaron Krawitz talks about 'Golgotha' a one-man play at Talking Horse Productions that explores the life of Albert Salvado, a former Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, and his life of loss and guilt; and director Christopher Gould takes us behind the scenes of 'Plan 9 The Musical from Outer Space' which plays at Maplewood Barn. Plus Diana catches up with Corey Dunne, the Office of Cultural Affairs Program Specialist, about this year's Celebration of the Arts event and the city's bicentennial commemorative poster, designed by Ken Nichols. Opening and closing music thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com). More information about this week's events at www.greenhousetp.org; www.talkinghorseproductions.org; www.maplewoodbarn.com; www.comoarts.com.

Each month the Missouri Arts Council features four artists on its website from a variety of arts genres, and on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with the August four: Watercolor artist and professor at Truman State in Kirksville, Rusty Nelson; St Louis-based fantasy surrealism painter, Mollie Chounard, whose personal philosophy is to put joy out into the world through her art, and who spent lockdown using her art to save the US postal service; Glyneisha Johnson, a poly-disciplinary collage/graphite/installation artist working in Kansas City, whose work explores the refuge of black interior spaces in a world that privileges whiteness; and Columbia ceramic artist Eric Ordway, who describes working with his hands as a sacred experience. You can see the works of this week's artists on their websites: https://nelsonartkvmo.com/; https://www.molliechounard.com/; https://glyneishajohnson.com/; https://ericordway.com/. Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music, 'Restless Heart'.

The 14th annual Roots n Blues festival returns to Stephens Lake Park from September 24th-26th and features a line-up of almost exclusively women artists. On this week's show Diana Moxon chats with Roots n Blues co-owners, Tracy Lane and Shay Jasper, about the devastation of the past year, programming an all women festival, and navigating public health protocols. Plus director Hephzibah Niamh and actor Lena Ajans talk about this weekend's one-night only Guerl-rilla Theatre at Talking Horse Productions, and the Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammond and Jabberwocky Studio's Linda Schust give a peek inside the Art Bus. Opening and closing music thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Photographer Shane Epping and his work have been a constant in Columbia for the past 16 years, but next month Shane and his family leave mid-Missouri and head to Laramie, WY, where he will take up a newly created photojournalism endowed professorship at the University of Wyoming. So, on this week's show, host Diana Moxon, gives Shane the arts exit interview in a wide ranging chat that covers his work as a sports and news photojournalist, his art photography, his volunteer work with the organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (nowilaymedowntosleep.org), why his camera helps him find meaning in the world, his new job, and what he's going to miss about Columbia. Plus Diana plays more of a piece of music featured very briefly on last week's show, 'Quirkhead' by Nina Shekhar, performed by Third Angle String Quartet with soprano Tony Arnold. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

Each summer since 2010, the Mizzou New Music Initiative has held its Mizzou International Composer's Festival, selecting a handful of up-and-coming composers to study with the festival's guest composers (this year Chen Yi and David T. Little), give and take workshops, and produce an original composition to be played by the internationally acclaimed ensemble, Alarm Will Sound. On this week's show Diana Moxon chats with the festival's Managing Director, Jacob Gotlib, and to three of the selected resident composers - Nina Shekhar (https://ninashekhar.com/), Shuying Li (https://www.shuyingli.com/) and Celka Ojakangas (https://www.celka.net/). Opening and closing music credits thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Each month the Missouri Arts Council features four artists on its website from a variety of arts genres, and on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with the July four: St Louis-based jeweler, Allison Norfleet Bruenger, whose pendant designs are only ever made once; firework residue artist, Kyle Selley, who uses fireworks and smoke bombs to create celestially reminiscent art in Kansas City; Bluegrass Americana singer songwriter Ray Cardwell who started his career as a 6-year old on the stage in Branson and now lives in Jefferson City; And Columbia's mixed media artist Lisa Bartlett, whose works tell the stories of people of strength. You can see - and hear - the works of this week's artists on their websites: https://alnbcollections.com/; https://www.kyleselley.com/; https://raycardwell.com/; https://lisabartlettart.com/. Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music, 'Restless Heart'.

Things to do while sipping fruity cocktails. This week show host, Diana Moxon, chats summer reading tips with Skylark Bookshop owner, Alex George; visits Sager Braudis Gallery's Small Works Exhibit with its curator, Hannah Reeves; and gets the origin story behind the FLY Dance Company's blend of hip hop dance and classical music before their Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Hot Summer Nights finale performance this weekend. Opening and closing music credits thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

Although each of the arts in this week’s chats can trace their roots to European arts of bygone times, each of those roots has blooms that stretch into modern America. We have a medieval English king immortalized by Shakespeare transported to the Ozarks, a Dutch reformation art genre given a 2020 twist in Columbia, and an opera singer who is versed in 18th and 19th century European composers but who is in Columbia to pay homage to an overlooked 20th century American composer. Show host, Diana Moxon, chats with Dana Bocke and Mark Baumgartner from Maplewood Barn theatre, artist Bethanie Irons (artwork pictured), and soprano, Carline Waugh. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)