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Arts Interview with Nancy Kranzberg

Nancy Kranzberg talks with artists, performers and movers and shakers in the arts community. Interviews cover music, visual arts, dance, literature and performance. Produced by Nancy Kranzberg and Jon Valley. Edited by Jon Valley, with engineering assistance by Mid-Coast.
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Now displaying: July, 2022

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Nancy Kranzberg talks with artists, performers and movers and shakers in the arts community. Interviews cover music, visual arts, dance, literature and performance.

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Jul 28, 2022

Matthew Kerns, President & Artistic Director of St Lou Fringe, stopped by to talk about this year's festival, which runs August 15 through 21 at venues throughout the Grand Center Arts District. ------ 

Matthew is a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts award-winning educator, critically acclaim theatre performance artist featured in American Theatre Magazine, and a 2020 St. Louis Business Journal Diverse Business Leaders Award recipient. ———
 
Matthew has been an Executive Producer, Director, and Artistic Director for Off-Loop Theatre [Chicago], Off-Broadway Theatre [New York], Reparatory Theatre [California], Regional Theatre [Iowa, Missouri, Colorado] and Educational Theatre [Chicago, California, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri]. ——
 
Matthew’s artistic portfolio includes original performances [Xmas Carol, Chicken, Life in the Fastlane], Immersive events [Gay Fantasia, Home], and standard plays and musicals [Noises Off, For Colored Girls…, Frost/ Nixon] ———
 
Students that have trained with Matthew have gone on to work in television, film, major motion pictures, and on Broadway. From Saturday Night Live to Gotham, and from Six: The Musical to Jake, the State Farm Guy and beyond. ———
 
Matthew is an expert in the performance practices of Stanislavsky, Meisner, Grotowski, Somatic Movement, Improvisation, Roy Hart Vocal Technique, Moment Work, and Viewpoints. ———
 
He has presented at the NAIS Conference, National Writing Conference for Youth, Missouri Conference on the Younger Years, TCG National Conference, and at TEDx. ———
 
Matthew holds an Associate degree in Communications and Theatre from St. Louis Community College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Eastern New Mexico University, and Master of Fine Arts degree from Naropa University. ———
 
He married the love of his life, Mr. Sean Gottlieb, in a simple service under the St. Louis Arch in April of 2020. They reside in the Lafayette Square neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri with their dogs Lewis, Harvey Milk, and Tuxedo the Cat. ———

Jul 16, 2022

Hana Sharif, the Augustin Family Artistic Director for The Rep, stopped by to speak with Nancy about her career and the upcoming season.

HANA SHARIF (Augustin Family Artistic Director) has enjoyed a multi-faceted theatre career, including roles as an artistic leader, director, playwright and producer with a specialty in strategic and cross-functional leadership. She served for five years as Associate Artistic Director at Baltimore Center Stage, where she oversaw the day-to-day execution of all of the mainstage and studio productions, and was the architect of the innovative CS Digital program: a platform that pushes the boundaries of traditional theatre and looks at the nexus point between art and technology. Her other achievements at Baltimore Center Stage include prototyping the Mobile Unit, strengthening community engagement, producing multiple world and regional premieres and helping to guide the theatre through a multi-million dollar building renovation and rebranding effort. In 2012, Hana served as the inaugural Program Manager of the ArtsEmerson Ambassador Program and launched ArtsEmerson Artist-In-Residency program featuring playwright Daniel Beaty. In addition to her work at ArtsEmerson, Hana leveraged her regional theatre experience to freelance produce for smaller theatre companies, looking to expand and restructure their administrative teams. Hana served as developmental producer and program manager for Progress Theatre in Houston, where she consulted with the Artistic Director on redefining the artistic vision and subsequent recasting of the ensemble company and lead strategic organizational planning focused on LORT market entry. During her decade-long tenure at Hartford Stage, Hana served as the Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Development, and Artistic Producer. Hana launched the new play development program, expanded the community engagement and civic discourse initiatives, and developed and produced Tony, Grammy, Pulitzer and Obie Award-winning shows. From 1997–2003, Hana served as the co-founder and Artistic Director of Nasir Productions, a theatre dedicated to underrepresented voices to challenge traditional structures. Her guest lecturer credits include Spelman College, Sewanee University, UT Austin, UCSD, Prairie View A&M, Emerson College, Maggie Flanigan Studio, Towson University, UMD, UConn, UMass and University of Hartford, among others. Additionally, Hana has directed acclaimed productions of Porgy & Bess, The Who & The What, Fun Home, Sense and Sensibility, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pride and Prejudice (DCArts: Best Director/Best New Play), The Whipping Man, Gem of the Ocean (six CCC nominations), Gee’s Bend (CCC Award Best Ensemble, two nominations), Next Stop Africa, Cassie, The Drum and IFdentity. Her plays include All the Women I Used to Be, The Rise and Fall of Day and The Sprott Cycle Trilogy. Hana holds a BA from Spelman College and an MFA from the University of Houston. She is the recipient of the 2009–10 Aetna New Voices Fellowship, EMC Arts Working Open Fellowship, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) New Generations Fellowship, and is a founding member of The Black Theatre Commons (BTC). She serves on the board of directors for the TCG, BTC, and the Sprott Foundation.

Jul 8, 2022

Sheila Suderwalla, Executive Director of Artists First, stopped by to discuss the good works of the organization, including the In View Mural Project. ---- 

Artists First's In View Mural Project provides the community (businesses, residences, and public spaces) with high quality, hand-painted, custom murals. The project provides artists with disabilities, veterans, and at risk youth with confidence-building opportunities, work experience, inclusion, and visibility. ----- 

Artists First is an inclusive, non-profit art studio empowering artists of all abilitiesWe believe in bringing art to the community as a means of integration, healing, support, and finding common ground. ---- 

As Executive Director of Artists First since 2013, Sheila has 20 years experience working with children, youth, and families in need. Her successes as a social worker have been featured in local and national publications such as the New York Times, the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Time Magazine. In 2017 Sheila was recognized as one of the "100 St. Louisans You Should Know" by the Small Business Monthly Journal. ​She is a national trainer and has been a social activist for 20 years. As a juried winning artist, Sheila has incorporated art into her work with individuals who have experience trauma. Sheila obtained her Masters in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis and a Certificate in Expressive and Integrative Therapies from Fontbonne University. ------ 

Jul 7, 2022

Meredith Malone, Curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, stopped by to talk with Nancy about the happenings at the museum. ----- 

As Curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Meredith Malone conducts research on the Museum’s permanent collection, propose new acquisitions, and conceptualize scholarly exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that enrich learning and research for the Washington University community and beyond. She is particularly interested in diversifying the Museum’s collections to include greater parity (race, ethnicity, gender, geographic location) and examining critical histories and theories of race, class, and gender in relation to the production, reception, and interpretation of art. Currently, she is working on exhibitions of artwork by two US-based contemporary artists who critically address issues of race and representation in their work: Nicole Miller, who explores the transformative capabilities of the moving image to recalibrate interpretations of self and culture; and Adam Pendleton, whose conceptual works draw on historical and aesthetic visual content to explore the ways context influences meaning. Meredith is also coordinating an exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery that includes work by artists from across the country offering perspectives on cultural identity, race, immigration, and mass incarceration, among other pressing topics. ----- 

 

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