In honor of Pride: Legendary playwright, cabaret performer, actor, and drag superstar Charles Busch in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in New York’s Greenwich Village in late July, 2018.
Bonnie Tsui discusses her book, “Why We Swim,” which examines the human need for moving in water, from the history of swim strokes, to how physiology plays a role in swimming, to the history of swimming from ancient times in the Sahara to Rome and to the present, and how swimming became a sport. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
In honor of Pride: Mart Crowley, author of “The Boys in the Band” and its sequel, “The Men from the Boys,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky on October 31, 2002 about both plays and about his life in Hollywood. Along with being a fine playwright, Mart Crowley was a terrific story teller. “The Men from the Boys” streams at playbill.com through June 29, 2020.
This week’s podcast is a June, 2011 interview with Anna Deavere Smith, while she was in the Bay Area discussing her then latest project, Let Me Down Easy, which was running at Berkeley Rep into early September of that year. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
An interview with Judy Juanita, recorded in 2013, as she discusses her novel “Virgin Soul,” a thinly disguised fictionalization of her life with the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
Tayari Jones’ novel “An American Marriage” deals with an African American couple torn apart by a white woman’s false accusation toward the husband, and how both husband and wife cope with their lives in this country’s unjust society. In the interview, Tayari Jones talks about the book and about her career as a writer. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
An interview with the Oscar winning screenwriter and acclaimed African American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, recorded in 2014, discussing two of his plays, along with his career. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
Laurel Ollstein, whose latest play, “Pandora,”will be streaming on the theatreworks.org website, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. This latest project is a theatrical retelling of the myth of Pandora, the first human woman in Greek Mythology, who was said to have opened a box which allowed all the ills of the world to escape. The production, recorded in Zoom toward the end of May, 2020, is a workshop reading featuring actors from the Bay Area and beyond, and is directed by Giovanna Sardelli.
John Updike was considered one of the great chroniclers of middle class American life. Novelist, short story writer, literary critic, poet and essayist, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — for the novels Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest – Updike was considered one of America’s greatest literary masters. He was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky on June 9, 2006.
Eve Ensler is one of America’s best known playwrights. She is the author of several plays, including Vagina Monologues, The Good Body, Here. Necessary Targets, a memoir, Insecure at Last, and co-editor of an anthology A Memory, A Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer. Richard Wolinsky interviewed Eve Ensler in early June 2012 in the offices of Berkeley Rep, where she was preparing “Emotional Creature,” a theatrical adaptation of her book, I Am an Emotional Creature.