5-3-2011 Interview

Steve Alpert is a Renaissance man; musician, jock, writer, performer, documentary film producer, and perhaps above all a painter. A high lottery number kept him from fighting in Vietnam but many years later an unplanned trip to the Vietnam Memorial Wall showed him something he had not previously known about himself; a deeply felt connection to those who serve in the military This experience triggered a series of paintings on military themes; a Blackhawk helicopter; soldiers escorting a transition case (coffin); and most especially the painting he calls Legacy. Steve donated many of his paintings and the posters created from these paintings to raise funds for organizations which help soldiers and their families; for example Fisher House, which builds housing for military families so they can be close to their convalescing children. Always evolving Steve is about to publish a book based on his own transformation and has commissioned director Wes Grantom and playwright Matt Smart to create a play based on his Legacy painting. This moving piece called The Steadfast is currently in development. See a tiny representation of that painting here.

Legacy by Steve Alpert

4-26-11 Interview

Interview – Wes Grantom‘s grandfather would gather Wes and his 7 cousins around the campfire on weekends and tell stories – stories the kids believed were real. Including the night grandfather and uncles woke them up in the middle of the night pretending to be rustlers who’d come to steal the horses. These events are still clear in Wes’ mind and perhaps are the genesis of his desire first to be an actor and then to realize his calling as a director; a spinner of tales, a teller of stories – other people’s stories. Listen to Wes describe his trepidation at having to tell his grandfather and father that he’d given up his place on the football team to be in a show. And how he came to be directing Tartuffe for the Asolo Conservatory and about his involvement in the emerging piece The Steadfast, based on painter Steve Alpert’s extraordinary painting “Legacy.”