Lynne Bernfield: psychotherapist / author / consultant / speaker / musician / performer and media artist

2-21-12 – Interview

Four year old Peter Amster decided that if Peter Pan could fly so could he and he had to be restrained from jumping out of the window. From then on he never stopped pushing his limits. Although he was to discover that his body was not designed to dance, he became a passionate dancer and choreographer. Although he says he wasn’t a very good actor – he nonetheless got work, and finally although already a working director – he questioned his technique and expanded his skill. Peter is not only a triple threat; he is a charming, delightful and funny man. Listen to his remarkable journey and go see his direction of Noel Coward’s Fallen Angel at the Asolo Repertory Theater.

Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical will open on Broadway December 1, 2011. In the weeks before the opening I will be re broadcasting interviews I did with the stars and the creative team when they worked on the show at the Asolo Theater in Sarasota FL., and adding new interviews. First up is my interview with the multi-talented, wonderfully engaging and generous director of Bonnie and Clyde The Musical, Jeff Calhoun.

Interview with Jeff Calhoun 10-18-11 - By the time he was 8 years old Jeff Calhoun knew what he wanted to do: he wanted to be Dick Van Dyke, he wanted to be Fred Astaire, he wanted to dance with the Ernie Flat dancers on the Carol Burnett show; he wanted to be a dancer! It was “in his DNA.” And, as if it was meant to be, a series of circumstances propelled him on the path to becoming a dancer, choreographer and director of musicals. Listen to unexpected way he became the protégé of the amazing Tommy Tune and the remarkable series of happenstance’s that led to his directing such musicals as Jekyll and Hyde, Grease, Big River and most recently Bonnie and Clyde – The Musical, which will open on Broadway this December. Then hear one of the songs from Don Black and Frank Wildhorn’s wonderful score.

July 20 Interview with Iain Webb

Director of the Sarasota Ballet Company, Iain Webb has danced all over the world with some the ballet world’s greatest choreographers and many of its most prestigious companies. But Iain’s story is compelling because he is a real live Billy Elliot, whose working class British father, while never truly accepting that his son was a ballet dancer, nevertheless did everything he could to support his son’s difficult choice. Listen to the amazingly serendipitous way that Iain discovered ballet and how he, fought for, protected and nurtured his dream.

November 03, 2009

Discussion – What are the stories that you tell about yourself? What are the stories you don’t tell about yourself. You can learn a great deal about your Cover Story – that which you present to the world, and your Undercover – that which you hide not only from the world, but from yourself as well, simply by becoming aware of those things you feel good about telling others and those things you prefer to keep secret.

Interview – Tome Cousin, tells the remarkable story of a series of coincidences which lead him, with no intention on his part, to a successful career as a dancer, singer, actor and now, as the Artistic Directing Supervisor of Susan Strohman’s musical “Contact,” which he has most recently brought to Sarasota Florida (listen next week to a review of “Contact.”) Exposed to music as a boy of 6 in order to address a problem of dyslexia, Tome discovered that he was a “natural mover.” But it took many more “coincidences,” before the “light bulb went on” and he thought “I can do that!” Then using the skills he learned at an all boys Catholic military High school (not exactly classical training for a performer), Tome developed his “natural” talents and there isn’t enough room here to begin to list his credits. Suffice it to say that once he found it – Tome became the he – he was meant to be.

October 27, 2009

Discussion – Learn more about Uncovering Try the Who Am I Really exercise.

Interview - The second half of my interview with Carole Schweid, which begins with the “era of children.” In it Carole talks about how the explosively creative mother of two manages to give both her family and her creatively what they require, and to do it with joy!

October 20, 2009

Discussion – Can you recognize your Cover Story? Do you know what qualities, characteristics, capabilities or skills you’ve hidden Undercover? In this show I talk about how this happens and describe the positive role of Denial.

Interview – The first half of my interview with Carole Schweid, a founder with Nancy Diamond, of Play with Your Food, a truly unique theater experience. Listen to Carole’s funny, charming, disarming story. Hear her tell how she went from someone who was “dancing from the minute she could walk,” to the singer, actor, writer, director, choreographer, and producer she became.

March 31, 2009

I explain how to use the Family Pie Exercise, to discover the role you were assigned and how that can stop you from changing. I air Sharon Lesley’s review of William Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and I interview choreographer and movement specialist Jimmy Hoskins, who created the dances for the show.