Midday on WNYC

Director Lila Neugebauer and actor Blair Brown discuss their play, Mary Page Marlowe, now at Second Stage Theater. Mary Page Marlowe presents as an ordinary accountant from Ohio who has experienced life’s ups and downs. This intimate play offers a haunting portrait of a seemingly typical life and demonstrates how a series of forgotten moments can add up to one memorable narrative.  This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.

Director Lileana Blain-Cruz and actor Harriett D. Foy discuss their new production, The House That Will Not Stand. The play takes place on the eve of Louisiana transferring from French to U.S. territory. For a steely widow and her three eligible daughters, all free women of color, freedom hangs in the balance. The House That Will Not Stand runs at New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street) through August 19.  This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.  

Lawrence O’Donnell discusses his book Deadly Force: A Police Shooting and My Family’s Search for the Truth as well as the current news cycle. O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, tells the story of a 1975 police shooting of an unarmed black man in Boston and the investigation and court case that followed. This segment is guest hosted by DW Gibson. 

Joseph O’Neill discusses his new book of stories, Good Trouble. From facial-hair trends to parental sleep deprivation, O’Neill offers a close look at his characters, whose vacillations and second thoughts expose the pettiness, latent violence, and surprising beauty of quotidian 21st-century existence. This segment is guest hosted by DW Gibson.

Ken Auletta discusses his book Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else), which looks at how the advertising industry is changing in the 21st century. By speaking with ad executives who are both competitors and "frenemies," he unpacks the ways that the industry is grappling with a changing landscape, increased competition, and corruption. This segment is guest hosted by DW Gibson.   

Boz Scaggs discusses his new album, Out of the Blues, which offers a fresh take on recordings by Bobby Blue Bland, Magic Sam, Jimmy Reed, and even Neil Young's "On The Beach." It marks the final piece of an unofficial trilogy - which began with 2013's Memphis and was followed by 2015's A Fool To Care. Boz made this record as a way to reconnect with the music he heard on the radio growing up in Texas and Oklahoma in the 1950s. This segment is guest hosted by DW Gibson.     

Raphael Lyon, founder, co-owner, and head mazer of Enlightenment Wines Meadery is celebrating Mead Day. On August 5, New York-based commercial mead-makers (a.k.a. mazers) will converge in Brooklyn in honor of the world's oldest alcoholic beverage--wine made from honey! Mead Day is a free educational event with tastings by five local NY meaderies and interactive workshops (Mead University) for people interested in learning how to make their own mead. The First annual Mead Day is happening on Sunday, August 5 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Enlightenment Wines Meadery (93 Scott Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11237).  This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

Are we alone in the universe? Is there anybody else out there? Humans have been asking these questions for centuries. Fortunately, Adam Frank,  professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and a co-founder of NPR’s 13.7 Cosmos and Culture blog, joins us for Please Explain to answer these questions and more. His latest book, Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth, explores the likely presence of life on other worlds and what this can teach us about the future of humanity on Earth.  This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino.

Michael Massing, a contributor to The Nation and the author of Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind, discusses his feature, “Journalism in the Age of Trump,” (online as "Journalism in the Age of Trump: What’s Missing and What Matters") which appears on the cover of the August 13-20 edition of The Nation. This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

John Edwards, Dionne D. Figgins, and Nicole Vanessa Ortiz discuss starring in Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller. The show broke records as Broadway’s longest running musical revue and is now reinvented for the 21st century in a new production at Stage 42 (422 West 42 Street) directed by Joshua Bergasse. This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

Jordana Spiro discusses her new film, Night Comes On. This fictional exploration of children in foster care and juvenile detention follows Angel LaMere, who is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Along with her 10-year-old sister, she plans to avenge their mother’s death. The film is co-written by Angelica Nwando, who knows firsthand about the foster care system. On August 3 & 4 there will be a Q&A with Jordana Spiro and Dominique Fishback at Cinema Village after the 9:15 pm screenings. This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

Throughout western North Dakota, Montana, and part of Canada there are multibillion-dollar oil extraction sites that attract droves of mostly transient male oil workers. These areas, which are often in close proximity to Native American communities, experience an increase in murders, aggravated assaults, rapes, human trafficking, and robberies. Dr. Rick  Ruddell, co-author of Drilling Down: An Examination of the Boom-Crime Relationship in Resource-Based Boom Counties and former victim's advocate and lawyer Cedar Wilkie Gillette discuss how oil booms increase crime and put Native women at a risk.  This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

Jonathan Albright is known for his ability to connect the dots between seemingly disparate stories about internet trolls and fake news. His work has led him to become America's pre-eminent expert on the dissemination of fake news and the Research Director at Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism. He discusses his research methods and will also be in conversation with Wired senior writer Issie Lapowsky, who recently wrote a profile of Albright. This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

Kevin Rafferty and Jayne Loader discuss the re-release of the 1982 documentary The Atomic Cafe at Film Forum on 8/1. The film instructs a naive public on how to live in the Atomic Age, how to survive a nuclear attack, and how to fight and win a nuclear war. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  Filmmakers Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, and Pierce Rafferty will join Film Forum for a screening and Q&A on August 2 at 7:10pm, August 3 at 7:10pm, and August 4 at 5:10pm.  This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino.

Richard Manning and Scott Sayare discuss their recent pieces for Harper’s Magazine, which look at the costs and causes of recent wildfires, at home and abroad. Manning’s “Combustion Engines” and Sayare’s “There Will Always Be Fires” are in the August issue of the magazine. This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino.