The Performers Podcast

Emm Gryner has found the sweet spot between being an independent artist and raising a family.

In her early 20s Gryner had a hit song on the radio, toured with David Bowie and then transitioned to a successful career as an independent artist.

Her songwriting has been praised by the likes of Bono and we discuss how a songwriting contest led to her radio hit. We discuss the difference between writing a hit for radio and writing to explore her own feelings.

Gryner was also the driving force behind the recording of Bowie's "Space Oddity," by Chris Hadfield, in outer space while he was the commander of the International Space Station.

As well as touring to support her own work Gryner is also the founder of the popular folk act "Trent Severn."

Watch for Gryner's upcoming project "Only of Earth," an 80's synth-pop and 70's classic rock-infused album.

Show Notes.

Emm Gryner's website

Video: Emm Gryner and Joe Sumner celebrate David Bowie at Terminal 5 in New York

Cyrus Lane has appeared in many productions with the Stratford Festival, Outside the March, and CBC TV's Murdoch Mysteries. He's currently rehearsing for his role as Ebenezer Scrooge in Ross Petty's "A Christmas Carol the Family Musical with a Scrooge Loose!" at the Elgin theatre in Toronto.

At this year's Stratford Festival he appeared in "Timon of Athens," "The Changeling" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot," all of which received consistently glowing reviews.

But it was his work in last year's "Macbeth" that bodes well for his role as Scrooge in Petty's perennially popular pantomime. Scroll down for your chance to win a family pack of 4 tickets to see "A Christmas Carol the Family Musical with a Scrooge Loose!"

Lane, is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

In our podcast Lane discusses his work as an understudy to Ian Lake's Macbeth. Lane was given very short notice before he took on the role at Stratford's legendary festival stage. He played the role for two weeks and describes the role of Macbeth as being "the loneliest part ever written."

Click to Win tickets to Ross Petty's A Christmas Carol

Randy Lennox is the President of Bell Media, Canada's leading content creation company with assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media.

Previously Lennox was the CEO of Universal Music Canada the country's largest music record label, where he signed and championed internationally renowned Canadian artists.

In our podcast we discuss how Lennox, along with David Sonenberg, Michael Cohl and Tony Smith, produced Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell for the stage.

Steinman's anthemic rock songs form the foundation of a magical stage experience that transports audiences to another world courtesy director, and multimedia-theater pioneer, Jay Scheib's use of musical theatre and opera traditions layered with alluring, multi-camera video projections.

Bat Out of Hell is unlike anything that has come before it and Lennox addresses the risks, and rewards, associated with producing such an extravaganza.

For more details on the show visit http://batoutofhellmusical.com/

For Toronto tickets visit: https://www.mirvish.com/shows/bat-out-of-hell

Follow Bat Out of Hell on Twitter: @BatTheMusical

Donna Feore has choreographed performances at the Opéra National de Lyon France and the Canadian Opera Company but she's best known for her work directing at the Stratford Festival, North America's largest classical repertory theatre company.

Her work at the festival includes critically acclaimed productions, all with new choreography of "Guys and Dolls," "The Sound of Music," and "Fiddler on the Roof," just to name a few.

In 2016 she gained notoriety for directing the first ever professional production of "A Chorus Line" with all new, original choreography which Feore created.

I spoke with Feore about her work directing and choreographing the world premiere of "The Hockey Sweater," a new musical is based on the beloved short story by Roch Carrier.

The animated short film adaptation of Carrier's story received the Best Animated Film award at the 1981 British Academy Film Awards.

We talk about the creative process behind adapting the story to a stage musical.

Feore, who is known for seeking out the best actors, also talks about her audition process and what she expects from actors.

Raoul Bhaneja is producing and starring in the upcoming production of "Disgraced."

The Pulitzer Prize winning play returns to the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto on November 11 after a critically acclaimed run in 2016.

The play deals with faith, politics and the notion of "tolerance."

The powerful subject matter draws in audiences that, as Bhaneja mentions in the podcast, stay in their seats after the show for heated exchanges during the post-performance "talk backs."

We also discuss how actors of colour face struggles in landing leading roles, despite the movement towards "colourblind casting."

Those struggles were, in part, the impetus behind Bhaneja's drive to produce and appear in a solo version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" that played in New York and London to critical acclaim.

Show Notes Follow Raoul on Facebook Follow Raoul on Twitter

Get a $92 ticket for $35 with the promo code Raoul35 Use the promo code at: https://www.mirvish.com/shows/disgraced

For almost 30 years Brian D. Johnson was the film critic and Arts writer for Macleans, Canada's top current affairs magazine.

His work as a critic explored art with the insight of not only a passionate observer but also an accomplished artist with a fascination of the human condition.

Brian's directorial debut, the documentary "Al Purdy Was Here," is a beautiful piece of work on many levels, I think you'll really enjoy our chat.

It spans everything from Brian's working relationship with Leonard Cohen to his working relationship with his son.

Incidentally we recorded last year prior to Leonard Cohen's passing. Our conversation begins with the fact that more films than ever are being made in Canada but there are less "Canadian" films.

Follow @briandjohnson on Twitter

Al Purdy Was Here on iTunes

Advertisers This Week: Stratford Tea Leaves SpringWorks Indie Arts Festival

Best-selling author Jeff Goins's most recent book is "Real Artists Don't Starve."

You'll learn how Goins dismantled the myths about starving artists by painstakingly researching successful artists.

We cover the basics like why working alone can be a barrier to success and how thriving artists aren't reluctant to borrow (steal, really) from their influencers.

It's a great chat that will help you figure out what might be holding back your career, or provide you with some actionable tactics to help artists around you.

Real Artists Don't Starve at Amazon.

For more about Jeff Goins visit https://goinswriter.com/

E.B. Smith grew up with a father who, as baseball player with Chicago Cubs, understood what it meant to dream. The Chicago Cubs hold Major League Baseball's longest championships drought going from 1908 to 2016 without winning a world series.

Smith's father understood the value of hard work and practice in pursuit of a dream.

So when Smith's dream of performing on the Festival stage at The Stratford Festival finally came true he took his father on a tour of the theatre to share his joy and excitement of performing in the legendary theatre.

Together they snuck onto the thrust stage and Smith's father had the opportunity to stand where legendary actors from Brian Bedford and Len Cariou to Maggie Smith and Jessica Tandy have performed.

Looking around the theatre from centre stage Smith's father said "This is the big leagues. This is your Wrigley Field," comparing the Festival stage to Chicago's legendary baseball park.

Smith's mother was an academic, in our conversation Smith describes his home life as an eclectic scene with athletes, deep thinkers and a grandfather with a great sense of humor.

Our podcast covers Smith's path to success, from his home in Chicago to university in Ohio and life as an American born actor working in Canada.

Mya Gosling is the creator of the popular webcomic Good Tickle Brain, the world's foremost and possibly only stick-figure Shakespeare webcomic.

I love Mya's work, she makes Shakespeare super fun. Based on our conversation it's clear to me that her primary goal is to share her love of Shakespeare with others, and that's a good thing.

So naturally I spent a bit of time in our podcast talking with My about how she makes money from her Good Tickle Brain webcomic. Of course we also talk about Shakespeare and her favourite shows on the playbill at the Stratford Festival.

No spoilers here, you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out.

Show Notes

Good Tickle Brain Lady Macbeth's relationship advice Utah Shakespeare Festival @bardfilm The University of Iowa's film studies page about "Omkara," composer/director Vishal Bhardwaj's transposition of the story of "Othello" to the landscape and culture of contemporary eastern Uttar Pradesh

Mya at the Stratford Festival Forum Wed., September 6, 10:45 am to 12 pm Info and tickets

Joanne has performed stand-up comedy across the country, she's also done storytelling at the Stratford Festival's "Late Night with Lucy Peacock cabarets," and improvisation for four seasons of "Sin City," Toronto's popular live, improvised soap opera.

She's been a writer on the hit TV shows "This Hour has Twenty Two Minutes" and the "Baroness Von Sketch Show."

Plus she's had a hit Fringe Festival show and is about to debut her new show "She Grew Funny" at the Toronto Fringe.

We talk about a course Joanne took to help her write her second Fringe Festival show and the impact of having a daughter on her career.