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

December 21, 2010

Interview – Jeremy Jordan is originating the role of charismatic bad boy Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, but like Kevin he didn’t expect to live his life as an actor. From the beginning Jeremy could sing and his Mom suggested he audition for shows at the community theater, but his first auditions were “horrible” and he “couldn’t even get cast in Peter Pan or Oliver Twist.” But he didn’t mind because he was a really good student and thought he was going to be an engineer. Just before his junior year in high school Jeremy attended a prestigious conference to jump-start his engineering career and realized that he had no interest in the field. As he says, “when you go for your career and return remembering only a couple of pretty faces, you know something is wrong.” Not knowing what he was going to do with his life Jeremy let life lead him. He sang in chorus in school and was heard by someone who offered him a role in a play. Jeremy was hooked and knew that this was the life he was meant for. And it must be true because at 26 he’s already had staring roles in Grease and West Side Story and now, as Clyde Barrow, he is almost certainly going to find himself on Broadway again – this time creating the role he’s playing.

December 14, 2010

Interview –Kevin Massey is originating the role of Ken – the good guy – in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical – which is playing at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota and expected to go to Broadway very soon, but Kevin never intended to be a performer. Like the rest of his family he was “very musical” but no one thought of “doing it for a living.” Really good in school, Kevin liked and did well in math and science, even attending college as a pre-med major. But even though he was told that “if you’re good in school why would you throw your life away a performer,” life kept letting Kevin know that performing was definitely his path. Arriving in New York (just for a year off) a month before 911, Kevin “instantly became a New Yorker” and a series of happenstances cemented his choice (at least for now) to pursue a career as an actor. In a very short while Kevin was a working actor, winning a role in Big River as his Broadway Debut and now almost certainly destined to return to Broadway in Bonnie and Clyde.

November 2, 2010

Interview with the extraordinary jazz singer Cathy Segal-Garcia. Hear about Cathy’s life long love affair with music, the interesting way she’s combined that love with her desire to “make communities,” and enjoy 2 songs from her CD’s, listening especially to her extraordinary voice and “artistic approach” to her music.

December 29, 2009

In this show I am playing what I believe to be the last interview given by my friend, the glorious jazz singer, Carol Ettman. Carol was not only the consummate professional; she was dedicated to discovering and bringing to light little known but terrifically interesting songs. Carol was always exploring, testing limits and in every aspect of her life, she was also the soul of generosity. In this show I am also playing several songs from Carol’s CD and one tune on which we just have Carol on piano and voice – in which you can hear not only her skill but her spontaneity and joy.

October 13, 2009

Interview – The second half of my interview with Nate Jacobs, in which he tells the story or his mission to create a theater company with and for “people who look like me.” I also interview another founding member of the troupe delightful, 28 year old Leon Pitts, who began to work with Nate when he was 9 years old, and who had no plans for his life until Nate convinced him to audition for a part and it was “lights, camera, action from then on.”

October 06, 2009

Interview –The first half of my Interview with Nate Jacobs, Founder and Creative Director of the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe. Nate’s story is of a man who took a long time to believe what everyone was telling him – that he was a talented singer, dancer, actor, and story teller. For many years he told himself that “they were just being nice.” In this half of his interview Nate tells the often hilarious tale of his discovery and acceptance of himself and what it forced him to do with his life I also play an interview with gregarious and talented 26 year old Tsadok Porter, a founding member of the Troupe who began working with Nate when she was 5 years old.

September 01, 2009

Discussion – Do you have qualities, capacities, abilities you didn’t know you had? Perhaps they are hiding Undercover while you just present your Cover Story – I will be taking about that in this show.

Interview - with singer, writer, painter Kitt Moran, who knew at 3 years old she was going to be a singer – even though she didn’t know if she could sing. Listen to her hilarious tale of making a childhood career out of Peter Pan, and to the remarkable talent that was waiting to be released. As a child Kitt knew that she was born to be a singer, and she was right.

June 23, 2009

Do you know if who you are pretending to be is actually all that you are? In this show I describe how pretending to be who we think we are defines who we chose for a partner and how this predisposition stops us from doing things we would want to do. I also present a memorial retrospective to singer-songwriter Kenny Rankin who died June 7th at 69 of Lung Cancer. I play several of his own songs and several others which over his 3 decade career he recorded – and which had a profound influence on the music industry.

June 03, 2009

How do you change a role assigned to you in childhood? In this show I explain that sometimes you can do it with the help of a sibling who is equally unsatisfied with his or her assigned role. Then I interview Katt Hefner a tall, beautiful and remarkably talented singer. Born into a family where music was an everyday essential and she and her brothers rapidly became a “band.” Katt’s story is inspiring and entertaining.

March 22, 2009

In this show I describe my trip to Vienna VA and Washington DC – showing my dyslexia how made it doubly hard to find my way around a strange city. I air the interview there with singer/actor Sandy Bainum, and play two songs from her CD.