The Locher Room

Three-time Emmy Award-winning actress Cady McClain returns to The Locher Room for a one-on-one interview.

Cady will be here to tell us about her work as the Artistic Director of the Axial Theatre. Axial is a twenty-three-year-old not-for-profit institution dedicated to supporting the professional development of the independent voice through audience involvement and a commitment to presenting challenging, intelligent, and culturally relevant theatrical experiences.

Cady is currently directing Axial’s latest production, Never the Sinner by John Logan. The star-studded cast features Broadway actor Trent Dawson, Tuesdays With Morrie star Albi Gorn, Michael Howard Conservatory Members Tom Ryan and Michael M. Alva, and Axial Theatre Members Bruce Apar, Youlim Nam and special guest Najah Imani Muhammad. McClain will be directing and producing alongside Axial Board Members Steven Williford (Emmy© Winning Director), Amanda Quinn Olivar (Editor-in-Chief, Curator.Guide), and Axial Ensemble member Dan Walworth.

Never the Sinner is based on the true story of two young men, Nathan Leopold (Tom Ryan) and Richard Loeb (Michael M. Alva), who murder a local boy to prove their superiority and claim the right to having committed “the crime of the century.” The case is argued by two esteemed lawyers, Clarence Darrow (Albi Gorn) and Robert Crowe (Trent Dawson). While Crowe wants to fulfill the outraged nation’s cry for a hanging, Darrow argues for the rights of all human beings to be shown mercy, no matter how shocking the crime.

The play will be produced at Bethany Arts Community in Ossining (N.Y.), Nov. 10 - 13 and Nov. 17 - 20, 2022. Thursday through Saturday shows are 8 p.m. Sunday performances are 3 p.m. A post-show discussion of the topics of the play will follow each performance, led by Cady along with members of the ensemble and special guests.

An industry trailblazer for more than three decades, Cady was recognized by Deadline.com for being the first woman to win three Emmys© for her acting work on three different daytime shows (All My Children, As the World Turns and Days of Our Lives) in three different categories on three different networks in three different decades. She continues to recur on Days of Our Lives.

Original Airdate: 10/25/2022

Meet up and coming actress Dylan Ratzlaff in The Locher Room. Dylan is stopping by to tell us about her lead role of Rachel in Lifetime Television’s “An Amish Sin” airing on Saturday, October 29th.

Inspired by true stories, the movie follows Rachel, an Amish teen who refuses to obey her parent’s command that she marry the man who abused her. She tries to escape the harshness of the 18th century lifestyle she has grown up in to find her voice and independence.

Because of her spirited nature, her parents started her in dance classes at the age of three. Dylan is trained in jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, ballet, hip hop, tap, circus, tumbling and acro. She began her professional dance career working on projects such as Disney Channel’s “Descendants 3” alongside Kenny Ortega and “A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish.” She made her acting debut in CBC’s “The Next Step” where she starred as ‘Jacquie.’ Her other television credits include ABC’s “A Million Little Things,” Lifetime’s “Doomsday Mom,” and Netflix’s “Honey Girls.” Most recently, she has joined the award-winning Freeform series “Cruel Summer” for its second season.

Come meet Dylan Ratzlaff live in The Locher Room.

Original Airdate: 10/21/2022

Emmy nominated actor Michael O’Leary will join me in The Locher Room to talk about his latest role in Halloween Ends, the final installment of director David Gordon Green's reboot trilogy of the John Carpenter horror franchise.

As daytime fans know, Michael played Dr. Rick Bauer on Guiding Light on and off from 1983 through the end of the series in 2009. Michael will share his memories of playing everyone’s favorite doc and getting to work with Jerry verDorn on Season 6 of Venice.

He currently has a recurring role on Law & Order: Organized Crime as Father Brendan Hogan and has also appeared in primetime on FBI and New Amsterdam. Michael is hard at work bringing his play Breathing Under Dirt back to the stage and will update us with the latest news.

Don't miss the chance to catch up with Michael in The Locher Room.

Original Airdate: 10/20/2022

Please join award-winning filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau in The Locher Room. Laurent will be here to tell us about his new HBO documentary Mama's Boy. Mama’s Boy premieres on Tuesday, October 18th at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m PST on HBO.

The documentary centers around the upbringing of the Academy Award®-winning screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black. Traveling back to the places where he grew up, Black explores his childhood roots, gay identity, and close relationship with his mother, who overcame childhood polio, abusive marriages and Mormon dogma, while becoming Black’s emotional rock and, ultimately, the inspiration for his activism. With a wealth of personal photographs and candid memories from Black’s family, colleagues, and friends, Mama's Boy embraces the personal to tell a universally hopeful tale of resilience and reconciliation through the power of love and shared stories.

Adapted from Black’s 2019 memoir “Mama’s Boy: A Story from our Americas,” the documentary is a provocative and powerful journey through America as well as a moving tribute to a mother’s courage and a reckoning with the strength she instilled in her son to fight for his beliefs. The film features interviews with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black; members of Black’s extended family; Black’s husband, Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley; filmmaker Paris Barclay; former president of the Human Rights Campaign, Chad Griffin; and executive director of Equality Utah, Troy Williams.

Laurent’s credits include the HBO/Amblin Television documentary film Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, and the Netflix/Amblin Television acclaimed series Five Came Back (with an Emmy winning narration by Meryl Streep), based on the book by Mark Harris. Nedland Media, his production company, with his partner, Markus Keith, also produces behind the scenes documentaries and marketing shorts, most recently on Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and the upcoming The Fabelmans.

Come meet this talented director and my friend Laurent Bouzereau.

Original Airdate: 10/14/2022

Please join chart-topping jazz and R&B sax player Boney James in The Locher Room. Boney will be here to tell us about his 18th studio album, Detour via Concord Records. Detour was just released on September 23rd.

Featuring the breezy current hit single “Coastin” with five-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathway on vocals, the new 10-song collection is a subtle stylistic turn that builds on the commercial success of 2020’s Solid, James’ highest charting release ever on the pop charts. Other standouts on Detour include the track “Bring It Back”, which features critically acclaimed composer, conductor, orchestrator, arranger, and trumpeter, Dontae Winslow; and the album’s title track “Detour,” a winding, playful duet between sax and piano that features some of Boney’s most adventurous playing to date.

During his 30-year career, Boney James has released a staggering 18 studio albums – including a pair of Christmas records -with 1995’s Seduction, 1997’s Sweet Thing and 1999’s Body Language all RIAA certified gold. In 2015, Boney’s futuresoul spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart and was the best-selling Contemporary Jazz Record of 2015. Boney has earned four Grammy nominations, two NAACP Image Award nominations and a Soul Train Award, while a dozen of his albums have landed at #1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Album chart.

James will continue on the road for select dates across the U.S. which will take him well into 2023. Promising to bring James’ iconic 30-year career to the live stage, including selections from Detour, the multi-city trek will hit a number of major markets including New York, NY, Detroit, MI, Jacksonville, FL, Alexandria, VA, and Annapolis, MD. For further information on the tour, dates, and on-sale info please visit https://boneyjames.com/.

Don’t miss the chance to hear from this Jazz great in The Locher Room.

Original Airdate: 10/7/2022

Please join me for the 15th episode in the Conversations with Alan series in The Locher Room when Jane Clementi joins me live. Jane will be here to share memories of her son Tyler Clementi, to discuss National Bullying Prevention month and tell us about the upcoming Upstander Legacy Gala.

Jane co-founded the Tyler Clementi Foundation to make sure that society learns the consequences of discrimination and bullying, as she learned all too personally through the loss of her son Tyler. At the young age of 18, he became the target of cyberbullying and ended his much too short life.

The mission of the Tyler Clementi Foundation is to end all online and offline bullying in schools, workplaces, and faith communities, through educational research, legislative advocacy and awareness programming. Jane’s desire is to change hearts and minds because everyone should be allowed to live and thrive in an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, and humiliation. Her hope is to ignite a culture shift where all people will experience kindness, respect, and consideration.

She has spoken before the US Congressional HELP committee, at the National Cathedral, the Federal Reserve Bank, the NYC prosecutor’s office, as well as at numerous other conferences.

Don't miss this important conversation with Jane Clementi.

Original Airdate: 10/5/2022

Donato J. Tramuto, a well-recognized CEO, business leader, philanthropist, author, and a man I am lucky to now call my friend will join me in The Locher Room.

Donato is the former CEO of Tivity Health and is widely recognized for his commitment to social change and transformational leadership in healthcare innovation that led the New York Times to deem him “a global health activist.”

He is also the founder and chair of The Tramuto Porter Foundation which advances young people’s rights to education and healthcare access and combats human right violations. He launched the foundation in memory his two friends and their 3-year-old son who lost their lives on 9/11 when United Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. Donato was scheduled to be on that flight, but due to an unforeseen issue he never boarded the plane. As small worlds would have it, those same friends Donato lost were also the same three friends I knew and lost on that fateful day. By random coincidence, Donato & I were introduced this year and I am grateful to have met him especially since we have such a powerful connection.

Since the launch of the foundation, over 100 young adults have received a Tramuto Porter Foundation Scholarship to pursue their dream of a College Education and many organizations have received financial and partnership support helping them deliver on their promise to make the world a more equitable place.

On April 5th, Donato released his second book –THE DOUBLE BOTTOM LINE: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results, He makes the case that if companies begin to focus on their people as much as on their bottom line, their bottom line will strengthen as a result. There are so many lessons to learn from this incredible book.

Don’t miss the chance to meet this incredibly smart, insightful, and compassionate human being in The Locher Room.

Original Airdate: 10/5/2022

Actor Tuc Watkins will join me to discuss his current role as Henry Wilcox in the West Coast premiere of Matthew López's Tony Award-winning The Inheritance which just opened at The Geffen Playhouse. Tuc will be appearing in The Inheritance through November 27th.

Tuc also starred in the Tony Award-winning, The Boys in the Band on Broadway, and reprised his role in the Netflix film adaptation. He can currently be seen on HBO Max’s The Other Two and the Netflix hit comedy Uncoupled, opposite Neil Patrick Harris.

Daytime fans remember Tuc for his role as David Vickers on One Life to Live. In primetime, he was a series regular on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Showtimes’ Beggars and Choosers. He has had recurring roles on Black Monday, Major Crimes, Awkward, Parks and Recreation.

He recently guest starred on The Sex Lives of College Girls, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Ballers, Bob’s Burgers, and the Great North. On film Tuc has appeared in, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd, and Retake.

Most importantly, Tuc won all the money on the celebrity edition of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and donated it to his sister’s non-profit organization, Courtney’s Creative Adventures.

Don’t miss the chance to catch up with Tuc.

Original Airdate: 9/26/2022

Calling all #crockfitters! Come join Alex Crockford, an actor and founder of the fitness brand #crockfit, in The Locher Room. Alex will be here to tell us how his background in health and fitness has helped people around the world transform their bodies with his personal training programs and nutrition guides. Alex will also share tips, recent updates including the new coach mode in the #crockfit app, tell us how the September challenge is progressing and provide an update on his acting pursuits.

Original Airdate: 9/24/2022

Emmy Award-winning Casting Director Judy Blye Wilson will join me in The Locher Room.

Judy is a renowned casting director who has worked in daytime television for over 25 years. Judy began her career casting on ABC’s Ryan’s Hope in 1981. She remained there until 1987 before moving over to One Life to Live.

Felicia Mini Behr hired Judy to join All My Children in 1991 where she remained until the soap’s end in 2011. She finished cleaning out her office on All My Children in the morning and by that same afternoon she started work as the casting director for CBS’s The Young and the Restless.

Judy won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting for a Drama Series for her work on All My Children and a fourth win for her work on The Young and the Restless. She has been responsible for casting some of the most popular names in that show’s history including Sarah Michelle Gellar in 1993. In addition to her three Emmys, she has won 12 Arios Awards from the Casting Society of America. 11 for her work on AMC and one for Y&R.

Don’t miss the chance to hear from this casting legend.

Original Airdate: 9/23/2022