The Roundtable

Each weekday morning, The Roundtable's Joe Donahue is joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing news items from the previous week.

Samsun Knight is a writer, graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a Truman Capote Fellow. His new novel “Likeness” is intimate, riveting, and raw.On a summer evening in the 1990s Ann learns that one of her husband’s lovers is expecting his child, only a few weeks after finding out she too is pregnant. Meanwhile Sandy, the lover, works to find her own path forward through her surprise pregnancy searching through diaries, grocery lists, and séances with the dead she tries to remember just enough of her original sense of direction to make her own way home. Based on his own up brining in a polyamorous family the book speaks to Samsun’s complicated family with his parents in an open marriage. Also, to those of us who grew up with multiple parents and half or step siblings.

“Joan: A New Play About Joan Rivers” is having its regional premiere at the Barrington Stage Company’s Boyd-Quinson Stage in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts.The audience will discover the pioneer who conquered a man’s world, the mother of all-time punchlines, and the woman who had it all, lost it all, and did it all. It is a no-holds-barred look at the life of a true legend. The play is directed at Barrington by David Ivers.Tessa Auberjonois plays Joan Rivers.

This year is a very special year as it marks Keith Lockhart’s 30th Anniversary as conductor of the Boston Pops. A tenure that includes over 2250 performances, 45 national tours to more than 150 cities, and 5 international tours. One is tomorrow night; he will be conducting the annual John Williams Film Night curated by Williams himself and then on Friday August 22nd there will be the Keith Lockhart 30th Anniversary Celebration.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are former EPA Regional Administrator, Professor at Bennington College, and President of Beyond Plastics Judith Enck, Siena College Professor of Economics, Aaron Pacitti, and Executive Director of The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York Nic Rangel.

On the 50th Anniversary of the American Track and Field icon Steve Prefontaine’s tragic death comes the new book “The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine.” A reappraisal of his life and legacy of powerful work of narrative history exploring the forces and the psychology that made him great and separating the man from the myths. On the anniversary of his untimely death author Brendan O’ Meara, host of "The Creative Nonfiction Podcast," offers a definitive retelling of Prefontaine’s life revisiting one of the most enigmatic figures in American sports with a 21st century lens.

For ps21 in Chatham - August is a month of programming that includes the return of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for their 4th consecutive year of performances, the US Premier of Samantha Shay's Chekhov-inspired dance-theatre piece, “Life in this House is Over,” which reflects on the social awkwardness of grief, followed by Adam Tendler's “Inheritances,” which weaves together a number of composers into one intimate program to tell a universal story of lineage, loss and place.Their summer concludes with the inaugural COMMONGROUND Festival, which brings together two renowned international performance companies - Basinga (France) and Kaleider (UK) over a weekend of experiments in physics and materiality.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are public policy and communications expert Theresa Bourgeois, Former Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick, and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Robert Pondiscio.

As Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill takes her final bow as Producing Artistic Director at Capital Repertory Theatre, we’re marking the end of an extraordinary era in Albany’s arts scene, and we are thrilled to have her on the Roundtable this morning.Maggie’s final production as Producing Artistic Director closes with “Once” on Sunday, Aug. 10. She’s joins us to discuss her journey, her impact, what’s next, and what she hopes theREP and the Capital Region’s arts scene will continue to grow into.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany Robert Griffin, Diplomat in residence at Bard College Ambassador Frederic Hof, and Albany Law School Professor and Director of the Justice Center Sarah Rogerson.