These principals of the architectural firm WORKac found it challenging to design their own home. The psychological complexity of domestic life? The culmination of years of thought? “The hardest thing about designing our house was that we just haven’t designed a lot of houses.” Produced with the Center for Architecture. Photo: Harry Willks.
The artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company summarizes his aesthetic: “The curtain goes up, twenty minutes happen, the curtain comes down, and it is transformative.” Easy to say, brilliant to achieve. And they do.
It rankles when non-Asian actors are cast as Asians, yet you needn’t be Scottish to play Macbeth. How to reconcile these two ideas? David Henry Hwang takes up the question with wit, warmth and insight. Perhaps best known for his play M Butterfly, he co-wrote the musical Aida and is a staff writer on … Continue reading »
If we decline to buy an iPhone or a pair of sneakers made under miserable working conditions, how should we respond when a band leader brutalizes his musicians? Artist Fred Tomaselli and writer Rick Moody took up that question, praised the bleak arid landscapes of the Southwest and had some hard words for gulls when … Continue reading »
A member of the Del Fuegos, he went on to teach at NYU, work on Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison documentary, and write a biography of Tom Petty. During our conversation at the Princeton Public Library, he asserted that creative work is often the product of a miserable childhood. A counter-example offered by the audience: Leonard Nemoy, … Continue reading »
A financial columnist for the New York Times and a host of CNBC’s Squawk Box, he wrote the best selling Too Big To Fail and is a co-creator of the Showtime series Billions. We talk business ethics – I assert that there’s no such thing – and more at JCC Manhattan. Plus music from … Continue reading »
An actor and director – his staging of Dominique Morriseau’s “Skeleton Crew” is about to open at the Atlantic Theater – he rejects petty domestic drama, asserting that no writer who’s endured oppression would create such a scenario: “That’s why you never see a brother writing a play about falling in love with a goat … Continue reading »
She won a Pulitzer for criticism for her work at the New York Times. Her memoir, Negroland, received the National Book Critics Circle Award, and she was a high school cheerleader. One of those three does not belong, but which one? We convened at the CUNY Graduate Center with musicians Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O’Leary – … Continue reading »
He is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, having been the paper’s Rome bureau chief, White House correspondent, restaurant critic, and more. During our conversation at JCC Manhattan, he describes meeting two long-time idols: one was a bit of a let down, one was entirely satisfying. Hear what happens when youthful dreams … Continue reading »
His plays, including Lend Me a Tenor, have been performed in 30 countries and 20 languages. When we spoke at Princeton’s McCarter Theater, he asserted that comedy is as important and serious as drama, which gave me a chance to quote Coleridge – “The true comic is the blossom of the nettle.” – something … Continue reading »
Born in Tehran and educated in Switzerland and the University of Oklahoma, thus setting some kind of record for cultural contrast, she taught English literature at Tehran University and is now a fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Like millions of admirers, I first heard of her with the publication of … Continue reading »
The cofounder and CEO of Kickstarter, he sees his enterprise as a kind of narrative: “It’s not a marketing plan, it’s not a branding layout…it’s a story of them, a story of the individual coming to this thing and why they’re trying to make this thing happen.” We spoke at the Brooklyn Historical Society, … Continue reading »
The commissioner of health for New York City under Mayor Bloomberg, he battled cigarettes, transfats, and the fifty gallon vats of cola traditionally sold at movie theaters. He is the author of Saving Gotham and recently became the health commissioner of Philadelphia. We convened at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health with musician Kevin … Continue reading »
The former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he also has a celebrated career in the commercial theater, having staged both Cats and Les Mis. We spoke in a dressing room at Theatre for a New Audience, right after he led a rehearsal of Pericles, where he asserted that Shakespeare is like Picasso in … Continue reading »