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

5-15-12 – Interview

Playwright Leah Napolin is a multi talented, thoughtful and courageous woman who was singing, dancing, drawing and reciting the poetry and stories she’d written was by the time she was 4 or 5. In college she was bitten by the “acting bug” and discovered her interest in writing plays. Still she was to teach music in Venezuela (until the revolution closed the school), get married, have children and lead a “bourgeois life,” before getting her chance to become the writer she always was. Her friend Robert Kalfin who’d started The Chelsea Theatre Center in Brooklyn suggested that she read Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl the Yeshiva Boy.. And after being “thunderstruck,” Leah found away to dramatize the folk tale. The production was very successful but she didn’t reap much of the financial benefit because of the roadblocks put up by Barbara Streisand (listen to that interesting story). Finally she was able to hold on to the copy write for her work and the play has found many homes most recently having finished a successful run at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota Florida (in which Hilary Clemens -see above- played the role of Yentl). Listen to Leah talk about her journey towards finding her voice as a playwright and a person.

4-3-12 –Interview

Actor, Director, Singer, Writer, Producer Corey Brunish, says that he became all that he is in defiance of those who actively discouraged him. This is a remarkable story of a man who refused to listen when others told him who he could or could not be. A soft-spoken, gentle man Corey exudes a quiet strength that says I will decide who I am and what I can do and his life is the proof of that pudding. Listen to his remarkable journey, hear songs from one of his many CD’s and also a cut from the cast album of  Bonnie and Clyde The Musical which he produced.

2-7-12 – Interview

When twelve year old Larry Barrett sang in his school choir he made a discovery which has informed his entire life. He discovered that loved “collaboration.” He loved to be part of something larger than himself, working with others to create something new. Luckily Larry has many skills which allow him to do this in many areas of his life. An actor, writer, director and producer of theater as well as a dedicated and talented chef, Larry loves to combine his various talents and passions. Currently he is once again combining theater and food by presenting an evening of The Firesign Theaters’ Nick Danger, Third Eye, and a classic dinner from the famous Delmonico restaurant, every Wed and Thursday in February. Listen to him describe this delightful event, his unique take on afternoon teas and the ingenious dinner parties he has invented for his catering company Simply Gourmet. Also hear a piece from The Outrageous Firesign Theater.

12-20-2011 Interview

Ivan Menchel wrote the script for Bonnie and Clyde The Musical. He was born into a show-biz family; his mother is a singer and his father was a stand-up comic. With an early life filled with writers, performers, comics, etc, perhaps Ivan would have been a writer no matter what, but it was the tragic events of his early life which dictated the kind of writer he would become and the kind of material he would have to write. The deaths of his three month old brother when he (Ivan) was only five, and his beloved father when he was 18, were the impetus for his very first writing and continue to inform his work to this day. Listen to this charming man talk about the courageous struggle he waged to integrate these dreadful events and the fallout of despair and depression that he was somehow able to turn into comedy.

7-5-11 We Hold These Truths

On December 15 th 1941, (following the bombing of Pearl Harbor) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt requested that Norman Corwin’s radio play “We Hold These Truths,” written to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, become the first radio program to be carried by all the network stations in the country.

Starring Edward Arnold, Walter Brennen, Bob Burns, Walter Huston, Marjorie Mane, Edward G Robinson, Corporal James Stewart, Rudy Valley and Orson Wells, “We Hold These Truths” is a stirring tribute to creation of the Bill of Rights and culminates in a speech by FDR, in which he explained why the United States was going to war. 50 years later “We Hold These Truths” was rebroadcast on NPR to celebrate of the 200th anniversary – Today in honor of Independence Day I am airing this remarkable piece of history.

You can also hear a pod cast of my interviews with 100 year old Norman Corwin by clicking here: Part 1, Part 2.

5-24-11 –Interview

The second half of my interview with 100 year old Norman Corwin begins with his description of Orson Wells’ narrating “We Hold These Truths,” which Norman wrote to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights and which was rebroadcast 50 years later on NPR to celebrate its 200th anniversary. Hear him tell the story of the program he created for Election Eve, the year that FDR ran against Thomas Dewey, and his unwillingness to be paid for it because of his concern that he would “not be safe” at CBS if he declared himself a Democrat. Norman’s story continues with the description of his relationship with actor Charles Laughton and how this relationship lead to a career in Hollywood and the writing of screenplays for films such as “Lust For Life,” the Vincent Van Gogh story which he wrote for director Vincent Minnelli and starred Kirk Douglas. Finally hear a portion of his radio play “Between American’s – also narrated by Orson Wells. Also tune in Tuesday July 5th for the full airing of ” We Hold These Truths.”

5-10-2011 Interview

At age 3 or 4 Steve Drukman discovered that fiction – something unreal – could change a person’s attitude and feelings. Of course, as he says, he didn’t have either the words or the sophistication to think of it in those terms, but the experience that showed him this irrefutable truth is still clear in his mind. Recognizing early the importance that words, ideas and writing had to him, Steve pursued several jobs/careers: acting, teaching, journalism. But while trying to decide if he was a “journalist or a scholar” a play “emerged out of his unconscious,” and he understood finally that he is a playwright. The Innocents, his clever and interesting play about the many possibilities of love, marriage and family is currently having its debut performance at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota FL Listen to this thoughtful, philosophical, interesting man tell the story of his journey to discover himself.

4-19-11 Norman Corwin Part 1

The following is actually history in the making. In February I was honored to interview Norman Corwin who will celebrate his 101st birthday on May 3rd 2011.

4-19-11 – Norman Corwin has been called “the poet laureate of radio,” the Bard of Broadcasting, a “citizen of the world” “and “to radio what Shakespeare was to theater.” He is truly a national treasure. Listen to the hilarious “accidents” which propelled his career. Hear the story of his interview with world’s greatest ashcan roller, (who could roll an ashcan faster and further than anyone without spilling an ash,” and was the very first interview ever broadcast on radio, to the production, on December 15th 1941, of his radio play “We Hold These Truths” – which celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and at FDR’s suggestion was the first show carried by all the network stations in the country. And was rebroadcast 50 years later on NPR in celebration of the 200th anniversary – and for which Norman says he was “still around.”

Go to my web site to hear this and other of Norman’s still stirring radio plays, with many of the most famous stars of the time: Orson Wells, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore to name a very few.

The Plot to Overthrow Christmas

Orson Welles performs “Between Americans” by Norman Corwin 1 of 3

Orson Welles performs “Between Americans” by Norman Corwin 2 of 3

Orson Welles performs “Between Americans” by Norman Corwin 1 of 3

November 24, 2009

I am dedicating this entire show to what I believe is the last interview given by Stuart Kaminsky. Film scholar, professor, screenwriter, author of many non-fiction books about film and film luminaries such as Clint Eastwood and John Huston, Stuart is best known as a writer of mystery. He was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America; where he was awarded its highest honor, that of Grand Master. Many of us struggle to discover who we really are, not so with Stuart. He began writing as soon as he could hold a pencil, and wrote constantly until the day he died. His first mystery was not published until he was 40 years old and still he managed to write 60 of them. Listening to Stuart is indeed listening to someone who always knew and always was exactly who he really was. A unique voice is silenced, and we are diminished by it.

November 17, 2009

Discussion – You can discover so much about yourself by listening to the way you talk to and about yourself. We all have an ongoing internal dialogue – much of which is commentary on or about ourselves. In this show I give examples of the way that your inner commentary can highlight a Cover Story or uncover and Undercover…

Interview- Eva Slane, is the quintessential Patron of the Arts. She was honored this week by Sarasota Magazine as one this cities 28 most important people to the Arts. This is no small achievement in a city where almost everyone thinks of themselves as a supporter of the Arts. Eva has spent most of her 80 years dedicated to preserving the theater. Escaping at 10 years old from Vienna shortly after Kristallnacht, she and her parents finally arrived in New York City, the perfect place for a theater lover to land. Listen to how, in her late 70’s Eva has begun to explore her own artistic abilities, by participating in a writing project sponsored by the the Holocaust Museum in St Petersburg Fl, writing several short plays and even auditioning for a role as an actor. A role model for becoming who you really are, Eva is not only delightful but inspirational.