Bay Area theatre reviews with KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky, plus interviews with local Artistic Directors, actors and directors. Older posts include interviews witth former associate KPFA theatre critic C.S. Soong. Dates when reviews airs can be found at http://bookwaves.homestead.com/Theatre_Reviews.html
Arthur Laurents (1917-2011), interviewed on April 7, 2000 by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, during the tour for his memoir, Original Story By … Arthur Laurents was one of the giants of American culture. A playwright, librettist and director, he was one of the collaborators on two of the greatest musicals in the history of Broadway, West Side Story and Gypsy. In Hollywood, he was best known for the screenplays to The Way We Were and The Turning Point.
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.
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 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.
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.
This week’s playwright podcast hosted by Richard Wolinsky is with Simon McBurney as he discusses The Encounter, which ran at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre in April and May 2017. The Encounter is streaming on-line for free through May 22, 2020, 2 pm Pacific on You Tube or through the sfcurran.com website. If you plan on watching, the best experience is through headphones.
Tony Kushner: Two Interviews. The first, from 2006, deals with a wide range of topics, from Angels in America and Munich, to the plays of Arthur Miller. The second, from 2014, focuses on The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures and the presidency of Barack Obama. He is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.
This is the second in a series of playwright interviews. Suzan Lori-Parks was the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for playwrighting, for Topdog/Underdog in 2001. She has also won three Obie Awards. This interview, recorded on May 20, 2003, was recorded while she was on tour for her only novel, Getting Mother’s Body. She is in conversation with KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky.
