3-10-19 Interview My second interview with Frank Galati, six years after the first, picks up where the first left off. In it Frank describes his theatrical adaptations of the works of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. Some of which were then translated back into the Japanese…
3-4-19 Interview Poet, Painter, Philosopher, Professor Terrance Hayes was born to a single 16 year old who jokes that she “couldn’t afford to anything but keep him.” He began to draw very young and was known for his visual art skill – listen to the…
3-4-19 Interview At 9 years old James Suggs made two casual choices which dictated the rest of his life; he chose band over chorus and the trumpet because his friend was playing the trumpet. At 10 he was ushered backstage to meet Wynton Marsalis who…
2-18-19 Interview 3-4-19 Multi genre singer Katt Heffner says that “music was coming out of the pores of her family.” Her father was in a band, her uncle Frank was a song writer, her mother played the piano at church, and they made every kind…
2-25-19 Interview Jazz trumpeter and guitarist. Randy Sandke was playing in local cover bands by the time he was 13. Never expecting to make a living as a jazz musician, he nevertheless continued to play, just because he loved it. And although he had to…
2-18-19 Interview 2-18-19 Syreeeta Banks was born with a to die for voice, but her natural shyness and commitment to “adulting´ caused her to major in Electrical Engineering in college and spend several years pursuing her determination to be an adult; working at straight jobs,…
2- 2-4-19 Jazz Musician, Abstract Artist, Poet, and Educator Bill Buchman began his career as an artist by drawing on the wall beside his crib and, in the 2nd grade when he was given a “tonette,” he discovered that he could “immediately understand and play…
1-28-19 Interview 1-28-19 Eva Slane has spent most of her 90 years dedicated to preserving the theater. Shortly after Kristallnacht, 10 year old Eva and her mother escaped Vienna and joined her father in New York City, the perfect place for a theater lover to…
1-24-19 Interview 1-28-19 Florida Studio Theater Associate Artist Catherine Randazzo bounded into life. She decided to play the piano at two, by four she was demanding that her family listen while she described and acted out her dreams, but that was just the beginning. A…
1-21-19 Interview 1-21-19 Because his father was a well-known singer and actor and his uncle was a popular guitarist, Grammy Award Winning Recording Engineer and Record Producer Val Garay was surrounded by music during his childhood. But he didn’t even think of making a life…
1-14-19 Interview 1-14-19, a scholar, rhetoric and Shakespeare specialist Glenn Schudel is a multi-faceted, multi-talented man. Although he didn’t take a straight path, over time Glenn discovered his interest in and passion for acting, writing, directing, and teaching. Disciplined and conscientious he studied and became…
1—17 Interview Synia Carroll knew she could sing. Although delighted when, in the 2nd grade, the Nuns picked her to sing Silent Night in the Christmas pageant– she didn’t think it was anything special – she thought everyone could sing. It wasn’t until her “first…
10-15-18 Interview Andrei Maleav-Babel is a Russian Immigrant. The son and grandson of writers and artists, Andrei wrote musicals and directed his parent’s friends in his plays, by the time he was 10 or 12. Luckily coming of age as Perestroika was occurring in Russia,…
12-31-18 Interview 1-7-19 John Lamb When John Lamb plays everyone stops to listen. His solos may be poignant or whimsical, achingly simple or blindingly complex, but you don’t want to miss a note. A highly respected musician who spent three years touring and recording with…
12-17-18 Interview 2/1718 Michael Donald Edwards is in his thirteenth season as producing artistic director of Asolo Repertory Theatre. As a boy he attended Catholic schools where he was steeped in theology and philosophy and thought of becoming a priest or a teacher. He didn’t…
10-15-18 Interview 12/10/18 Press agent Susan L. Schulman has done publicity for all kinds of artists; authors, performers, etc. But her first love was the theater was and that is where she spent most of her career. She worked on Dream, Dancin’, Sly Fox, State…
12-3-18 Interview 12/3/18 Georgia Court’s parents loved the spoken and written word, were concerned about politics and believed in the importance of honesty and integrity. Although Georgia made several different career choice: she was a systems engineer at IBM, Marketing Manager at WCET, owned her…
11-26-18 Interview 11-25-18 – By popular demand Sheldon Rhoden is reprising his role as the iconic performer Marvin Gaye in the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe’s next production, Marvin Gaye – Prince of Soul. Sheldon clearly remembers the very first time he sang in public. He…
11-19-18 Interview 11-19-18 By the time he was 9 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 join the Ernie Flat dancers on the Carol Burnet show.…
11-12-18 Interview 11/12/18 Director James Dean Palmer’s life is proof that miracles can still happen. James’ miracle was not metaphysical – it was human. Born into circumstances which almost certainly would have doomed him to an unpleasant and perhaps short life, James was lucky enough…