Theater Innovators
Ken Roht, Adriana Sevan, and Ron Weiner

Interviewed by Jennifer Berry

Sunday June 18, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Jennifer Berry introduces listeners to three young theater artists who are working to renew the medium. Ken Roht took song and dance to new limits under the tutelage of the late “shock theater” director, Reza Abdoh, before writing and directing his own works. He speaks of his critically acclaimed work, Echo’s Hammer, as well as his new role as an opera director.

Actress Adriana Sevan was personally affected by the 9/11 tragedy, and through a painful process developed a transcendent theater piece about the true meaning of friendship.

Television writer Ron Weiner took his experiences about Internet dating, set them to music, and eventually developed a shrewd but hopeful musical about digitally-mediated romance.

Pod Cast Available After the Sunday Broadcast

Christians and Civic Engagement

Malcolm Boyd and Anne Lamotte interviewed by Melissa Milios

Sunday June 11, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

In the 2nd of Zócalo’s two part series on faith, Los Angeles writer Melissa Milios interviews the Reverend Canon Malcolm Boyd, and “writer’s writer” Anne Lamotte. Boyd, author of the newly-republished Are You Running with Me, Jesus?, recounts his colorful experiences as a civil rights activist, media star, antiwar protestor, and pioneering gay spiritual leader. Anne Lamotte’s influential book of essays, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, has generated a great deal of interest and discussion. In this interview, the committed Christian speaks of her family, faith and the presidency, and how she grapples with the process of writing.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* – Coming Soon

A Meeting of Faiths: At the Intersection of
Religion and Media

A Discussion moderated by Rob Eshman,
Editor-in-Chief, The Jewish Journal

Sunday June 4, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Rob Eshman, Editor-in-chief of the The Jewish Journal, moderates a discussion on the co-existence of world faiths in modern society and the representation of religion in the media. The panel features Ani Zonneveld, Director, Progressive Muslim Union; Glen Harold Stassen, Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary; David Suissa, founder and publisher of Olam Magazine; and Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion, USC Annenberg School.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

"Is This the End of Crime as We Know it?"

Criminologists George Kelling and Mark Kleiman
In Discussion with the Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages

Sunday May 28, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Since the late 1970s, urban police departments have watched crime rates fall drastically. But not everyone agrees on why it happened or whether our gauging is accurate. The L.A. Times Editorial Board presents George Kelling, one of the country's foremost experts on crime policy and the co-author of the "broken windows" theory, and Mark A.R. Kleiman, professor of public policy at UCLA. Moderated by Andrés Martinez, LA Times Editorial Page Editor, the panel includes Times op-ed columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan and editorial writer Robert Greene.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Business in the Interest of Good

Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
Nicolas de Torrenté, Doctors Without Borders

Sunday May 21, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

New York Times business columnist James Flanigan interviews Professor
Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In a lively dialog, Professor Yunus explains how "microcredit" lending can reduce poverty.

Daniel Costello, L.A. Times Editorial Board member, speaks with Nicolas de Torrenté, Executive Director, Doctors Without Borders/Mèdecins Sans
Frontiëres (MSF). Torrenté details the delicate business of running an
organization that places doctors in the world's most conflicted regions.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Science and Humanity
 
Sunday May 14, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Public radio producer, Nate DiMeo, discusses the science career of Benjamin Franklin with Harvard historian and author, Joyce Elizabeth Chaplin. Her biography, "The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius," examines Franklin's love of science, an important-yet often overlooked--aspect of the founding father's career.

Zócalo producer Peter Stenshoel interviews cultural anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt, author of "The Bridge to Humanity: How Affect Hunger Trumps the Selfish Gene." Exploring the relationship between biology and culture, Goldschmidt explains how biological mechanisms that have evolved from our distant past influence the way we live today.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Photo by Zeke Ruelas

Oscar Garza: Dan Guerrero and Anthony Franco
 
Sunday May 7, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Oscar Garza, editor of Tu Ciudad magazine, interviews producer/actor Dan Guerrero and fashion designer Anthony Franco.

Guerrero has enjoyed a successful career as a musical and cabaret performer, a Broadway talent agent and TV producer. A self-described “born-again” Latino, Guerrero, now starring in a new one-man show, “Gaytino,” discusses his life as a gay Latino performer and his relationship with his father, the legendary Chicano musician Lalo Guerrero.

Los Angeles-based designer Anthony Franco is quickly making a name for himself in fashion circles. He has exhibited his clothing designs at major fashion shows, and works as a costume designer for television and film.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Antonio Damasio: "Understanding Emotions and
the Brain"
 
Sunday April 30, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM
 
World-renowned neuroscientist and best-selling author Antonio Damasio takes us on a journey through his latest research on the mysterious yet inextricable link between the human brain and the human heart. In this talk recorded live as part of the Zócalo "Public Square" lecture series, Damasio discusses new breakthroughs in emotion research and explains why it is relevant in medicine and in society. Knowing how the brain processes emotion can help us manage conditions such as depression and drug-addiction. It can also provide the key to understanding day-to-day decision-making, social behavior, and creativity.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Changing Lives through Theater

Luis Alfaro and Mariette Hartley
 
Sunday April 23, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM
 
Playwright Jennifer Berry spotlights two theater artists whose work explores emotional vulnerabilities.
 
Luis Alfaro, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and co-founder of three non-profit arts organizations, discusses his approach to theater, poetry, and performance as an opportunity to reach troubled young people.
 
An Emmy Award-winning screen actress, Mariette Hartley is the author of the bestselling book, Breaking the Silence.  A survivor of bi-polar disorder and a co-founder of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Hartley discusses the history of suicide in her family and how her one-woman show addresses the shame surrounding an issue that affects thousands of American families.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

“The Return of Social Criticism”

Meghan Daum: Novelist Stephen Elliott and writer Caitlin Flanagan

Kevin Roderick: French journalist Emmanuelle Richard

Sunday April 16, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Is social criticism making a comeback? L.A. Times Editorial Page Columnist Meghan Daum talks with two writers with divergent viewpoints. Novelist Stephen Elliott, editor of Stumbling and Raging, and author of several books (Happy Baby, A Life Without Consequences), relates how his life as a ward of the state resulted in his heightened political consciousness.

Caitlin Flanagan, contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly and author of To Hell with All That, employs her liberal background to develop conservative critiques of modern society.

Kevin Roderick, editor of L.A. Observed.com, the self-described blog of “LA media, news and sense of place,” interviews LA-based French journalist and blogger, Emmanuelle Richard.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Zócalo and the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board
Present

Dan Glickman: The Film Industry at a Pivotal Moment

Sunday April 9, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is interviewed by Jon Healey of the LA Times Editorial Board. Former Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton Administration, Glickman succeeded Jack Valenti as Hollywood's chief lobbyist. In this wide-ranging discussion - recorded live as part of the Zócalo "Public Square" lecture series - Glickman and Healey discuss the film industry's role in politics, the future of movie theaters in the age of home theater systems, the rise of DVDs and the threat posed by piracy.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Jennifer Berry: New Theater, New Art

Sunday April 2, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Playwright Jennifer Berry gets up close and personal with three LA artists. Actor Richard Brooks takes up the challenge of reviving the gospel play, a form made famous by playwright Langston Hughes, in his new work, Hope Runs Eternal.

Lee Wochner, co-founder of Moving Arts Theatre, offers up humorous personal anecdotes that mix his love of absurdism with the difficult business of art.

Sculptor Alisa Gabrielle continues to paint and sculpt despite being legally blind. She discusses the transformational nature of her work.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Patty Stonesifer, "All Kids College Ready: What Will it Take to Ensure that Our Public Education System Prepares All Children?"

Sunday March 19, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Patty Stonesifer is the co-chair and president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this broadcast she zeros in on the tough, essential job of reforming not just schools -- and school systems -- but the entire structure of education. Brilliant, witty, and down-to-earth, Stonesifer has also been named one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes Magazine. Stonesifer’s aim is to engender a community-wide conversation on the future of education.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Journalist Sonia Nazario and Playwright/Screenwriter Jose Rivera

Sunday March 12, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Interviews by Oscar Garza, Editor-in-Chief, Ciudad Magazine

Sonia Nazario discusses her recent book, Enrique’s Journey. She follows the harrowing attempts made by children in search of their immigrant mothers, women who had to give up their families in order to support them. Nazario speaks of her own risks in writing this book, and draws attention to a little-known tragedy of our times.

Garza’s second guest is the celebrated playwright and screenwriter Jose Rivera, nominated a year ago for an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of The Motorcycle Diaries. Rivera speaks of his upbringing, the role that hooked him on theater, and balancing his current success between Hollywood and the Stage.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Steve Wasserman, "Do Books Have a Future in the Digital Age?"

Sunday March 5, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Is there a crisis of literacy in America?  Is the Age of Gutenberg dead? Steve Wasserman, literary agent and former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, suggests that books can survive, but readers to comprehend them could be in short supply.  A lively speech performance is followed by questions and insightful answers.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

An Evening with Greg Critser & Leonard Chang

Sunday February 26, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

LA-based author Greg Critser discusses his new book, Generation RX: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds and Bodies. Critser applies his incisive reporter's eye to the politics of the pharmaceutical industry, revealing the hidden agenda fueling the need for today's most popular drugs.

Also, we reprise a recent lecture by Leonard Chang. Chang is the author of five novels, including a mystery trilogy which features a Korean-American detective. Here, he discusses the universal struggle to reconcile one's creative life with outside expectations and pressures.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* – mpeg - 59min, 27mb

"Can Hollywood Survive the Internet?"
A Discussion with the Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages

Sunday February 19, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

Yair Landau, president of Sony Pictures Digital, and Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, join Los Angeles Times editorial writers Jon Healey and Michael Newman to discuss the challenge the Internet poses to the entertainment industry. The Net is becoming an increasingly important source of music, movies and games.  The panel discusses entertainment industry reaction to the changes, the risks faced (including online piracy), and some promising new ways to distribute music and movies online.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

An Evening with Culture Clash:
Confused and Still Full of Rage
Moderated by Oscar Garza, Editor-in-Chief, Ciudad Magazine

Sunday February 12, 2006, at 9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM

The infamous Chicano performance trio discuss two upcoming world premiers, Hollywood's relationship with Latinos, and the wide gap between art and politics. As irreverent, satirical, and edgy as ever, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza share their deepest, darkest secrets.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* – mpeg - 30min, 14mb