Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine

Sarah Ruhl is a playwright . Her plays include- How to Transcend a Happy Marriage; The Oldest Boy; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize). Other plays include For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday; Stage Kiss; Dear Elizabeth; Passion Play, a cycle (PEN American Award, The Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from The Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award); Melancholy Play; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced around the country and internationally, translated into fourteen languages. Her books include Smile, a memoir; 100 Essays I Don’t have Time to Write and Love Poems in Quarantine. Opera: Libretto for Eurydice (Metropolitan Opera, composer Matthew Aucoin). Awards: MacArthur “Genius” Grant, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, Whiting Writers’ Award, MacArthur Fellowship, Lily Award, PEN Center Award for a mid-career playwright. Education: M.F.A., Brown University (with Paula Vogel). Teaches at the Yale School of Drama.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julie Boardman is an entrepreneur and Tony Award-winning producer. She recently conceived and produced I'm Still Here, a 90th anniversary celebration for the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, featuring archival materials from the Theatre on Film and Tape archive, interviews with Broadway legends and emerging creatives and reimagined musical numbers with a cast of over 100 artists. In fall 2020 she produced In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation and Artists for Change. She is currently a co-producer on the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Other Broadway credits include: An American in Paris (Tony nomination), Carousel (Tony nomination), Company (Tony Award), Dames at Sea, Head Over Heels, Hughie, Indecent (Tony nomination), and The Inheritance (Tony Award). Tours: An American in Paris, Dreamgirls, Peter and the Starcatcher. West End: An American in Paris (Olivier nomination), Academy Award winner Florian Zeller's The Son. Julie is a Tony voter and member of The Broadway League. She is on the Theatre Committee at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Leadership Council for the Costume Industry Coalition, the Creative Advisory Board of Festival Internazionale del Musical Milano, the Musical Theatre Advisory Board for the University of Southern California, the Advisory Board for the Musical Theatre Conservatory at Orange Country School of the Arts, and an arts advocacy coalition of arts leaders in NYC. Through her company Boardman Productions she has has worked with some of the worlds leading brands including Nike, Maybelline, Evian, Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, Microsoft, Diet Coke, VitaminWater, Samsung, Game of Thrones, Disney’s The Lion King and many more on their activations and fan experiences. With over 14 years working in experiential and promotional marketing, she is thrilled to combine all of her talents to create The Museum of Broadway. @msjulieboardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Colin Donnell is an actor and musician who will next be seen as the lead in Peacock’s “Irreverent,” which premieres November 30, 2022. He is well known to television audiences for his roles on NBC’s hugely popular franchise “Chicago Med,” the CW series “Arrow,” and as Scotty Lockhart on the Showtime “The Affair.” He is also known for his Broadway performances in Violet, Anything Goes, and Jersey Boys, as well as the Regional and Off-Broadway productions of Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Merrily We Roll Along, Love's Labours Lost, among many others. In 2020, Donnell and his band The Nineteen Twenty released their debut album Chaos + Cocktails.  Patti Murin is an accomplished stage and television actress who will next be seen in the upcoming Hallmark film In Merry Measure which will be released on November 11, 2022. Murin is well known for her critically acclaimed Broadway performances, which include originating the role of ‘Princess Anna’ in Disney’s Frozen, the titular role in Lysistrata Jones, her Broadway debut in Xanadu, as well as Glinda in the national tour of Broadway’s renowned show Wicked. She previously appeared in Hallmark’s Holiday for Heroes, as well as alongside her real-life husband Colin Donnell in Love on Iceland. On television, Murin has starred as recurring character ‘Dr. Nina Shore’ in NBC’s “Chicago Med,” as well as ‘Ana’ in USA’s “Royal Pains.” Murin has narrated a variety of audiobooks written by the likes of authors Jodi Picoult, Christina Lauren, Katherine Center, and more.  In the fall of 2022 the married duo released an album together - “Something Stupid” The album was produced by Robbie Rozelle for Broadway Records. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Casey Likes made his Broadway debut in Almost Famous The Musical as ‘William Miller' starring alongside Solea Pfeiffer and Chris Wood. Created and written by Cameron Crowe and directed by Jeremy Herrin, this adaptation from the 2000 film chronicles an adolescent's experience touring with an up-and-coming band when given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone. He will next be seen as 'Gene Simmons' in the Neil Bogart biopic Spinning Goldthat will be released on March 31, 2023 and as 'Richie Shepard,' the leading role in MGM's feature Dark Harvest. Previous film credits include Everything Must Go, where he portrayed a young Will Ferrell. TV credits include the recent Crypt TV and Facebook Watch series The Birch, as well as National Geographic's American Blackout. As a filmmaker, he has won awards for the direction of his films Seriously and How to Romance, including the top prize in the Arizona Student Film Festival. His latest two self-produced films Thespians and I Got You can be seen on YouTube now, At the age of 17, Likes won the ASU Gammage High School Musical Theatre Award for "Best Lead Male" and was a finalist in the 2019 High School Musical Theatre Awards, AKA The Jimmy Awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Painter and art teacher Sara Woster founded The Painting School in Brooklyn, NY in an effort to share her passion for painting with her community. Woster shows her artwork internationally and has illustrated several children’s books. Painting Can Save Your Life: How and Why We Paint from Penguin Random House / TarcherPerigee is Woster's how to/memoir dedicated to encouraging more people to try this transformative art. She lives with her family in Brooklyn and the Catskills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An actress and filmmaker, Jennifer Westfeldt is perhaps best known for writing, producing and starring in the indie films Kissing Jessica Stein (Indie Spirit Nomination, Golden Satellite Award, GLAAD Media Award, multiple Audience Awards), Ira & Abby (Best Actress/HBO Comedy Festival, multiple Audience Awards), and Friends with Kids (Top Ten Films of 2012, New York Magazine, NPR), which also marked her directorial debut. Her television credits include Younger,This Is Us, Girls, 24, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Notes from the Underbelly, and Children’s Hospital, among others.  Jennifer made her Broadway debut opposite Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town, directed by Kathleen Marshall, for which she received a Tony nomination, a Theater World Award and a Drama League Award. Other notable stage work includes the world premieres of Scott Z. Burns’ The Library at the Public Theater, directed by Stephen Soderbergh; Nell Benjamin’s The Explorer’s Club at Manhattan Theater Club; Nicky Silver’s Too Much Sun opposite Linda Lavin at The Vineyard Theater; Joe Gilford’s Finks at NYSAF; Cusi Cram’s A Lifetime Burning at Primary Stages; and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’ Big Sky at The Geffen Playhouse.  On the writing side, Jennifer recently adapted Robinne Lee’s novel The Idea of You to the screen; the film, starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Michael Showalter, is shooting this fall for Amazon Studios. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Saidah Arrika Ekulona is an award-winning theatre, television and film actress. She's originated roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theatres and international theatres, and originated the role of Mama Nadi in the Pulitzer Prize winning play RUINED, for which she won an Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Jeff Award, Audelco Award and the Black Theatre Alliance Award.  She's currently shooting a Series Regular role as Ebunoluwa on BOB LOVES ABISHOLA, can also be seen as Toni Chapman in A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, and has been a recurring featured Guest Star on SNOWFALL, BETTER CALL SAUL, BULL, KEVIN CAN WAIT, IMPASTOR, and has also Guest Starred in SCANDAL, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, WHY WOMEN KILL, ROOM 104, THE 100, and SHAMELESS, among others. Saidah's film work includes DARK WAS THE NIGHT, HONEYGLUE, CHRISTIAN MINGLE, THE DEN, THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, RIGHTEOUS KILL, and others.  Theatre credits include BROADWAY: Well OFF-BROADWAY: An American Daughter (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Othello; Unconditional; Well; The Square; Romeo and Juliet (Public Theatre/NYSF); The Thugs (Soho Rep); Fabulation (Playwrights Horizons); A Streetcar Named Desire (NYTW), The Thugs (Soho Rep) and more. Saidah received her BA from Albright College and her MFA in Acting from University of Minnesota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TOVAH FELDSHUH who will be celebrating her 50th year onBroadway, is a six-time Emmy and TonyAward nominee and four-time winner ofthe Drama Desk and Outer Critics CircleAwards. Her multi-decade career onBroadway has given us indelible performancesin Cyrano, Rodgers Hart, Dreyfusin Rehearsal, Yentl, Sarava!, Lend Me aTenor, Golda’s Balcony, Irena’s Vow andPippin. Her extensive Off-Broadway andregional credits include her recent portrayalsof Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. TV audiencesknow her from “Holocaust,” “The WalkingDead,” “Law & Order,” “Salvation,”“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Scenes Froma Marriage.” Her film credits includeKissing Jessica Stein, A Walk on the Moon,Brewster’s Millions, Just My Luck, Daniel,The Idolmaker, Clifford, Golda’s Balconyand Armageddon Time opposite AnthonyHopkins. Tovah has filled venues all overthe world with her celebrated concerts. Heraward-winning memoir Lilyville was #1 inparent child relationships on Amazon. FollowTovah’s travels on Instagram: @Tovahfeld.tovahfeldshuh.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CHRISTINE EBERSOLE, is currently celebrating her new album After the Ball from Club44 Records, has captivated audiences throughout her performing career. Recognized with a string of honors that includes two Tony Awards, she has appeared in twenty Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, as well as gracing television series and specials, films, concerts, recordings and opera. It was for her “dual role of a lifetime” as Edith Beale and Little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens that Ebersole won her second Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, as well as virtually every available Off-Broadway honor. Other memorable New York roles include her Tony-winning turn as Dorothy Brock in the hit revival of 42nd Street, her Tony-nominated portrayal of Elizabeth Arden opposite Patti LuPone in War Paint, her Tony- and Outer Critics Circle-nominated appearance in Dinner at Eight, her Obie-winning and Drama Desk-nominated appearance in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, her performance as Guinevere alongside Richard Harris and Richard Burton in Camelot, and her leading roles in Oklahoma!,On the Twentieth Century, Steel Magnolias, The Best Man, and the revival of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit. In 2018 she made her operatic debut under James Conlon’s leadership as the Old Lady in Francesca Zambello’s production of Candide at LA Opera. Recently starring as Lucille Dolittle, a role based on Lucille Ball, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-nominated Licorice Pizza, Ebersole has appeared in numerous feature films. Previous film credits include The Wolf of Wall Street, Amadeus, Black Sheep, Dead Again, Folks!, Ghost Dad, My Girl 2, Richie Rich, Tootsie, True Crime, and The Big Wedding, which features her account of her original song “Gently Down the Stream.” Since launching her TV career alongside Eddie Murphy as a regular cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” Ebersole has also accrued a long list of television credits. Currently starring in Chuck Lorre’s hit CBS sitcom “Bob Hearts Abishola,” she recently portrayed Estelle Schneider in the award-winning Netflix series “The Kominsky Method,” and has appeared on “American Horror Story,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” “Murphy Brown,” “Pose,” “Search Party,” “The Colbert Report,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Will & Grace” and Gypsy, in which she played Tessie Tura to Bette Midler’s Mama Rose. Ebersole has performed at some of the nation’s foremost concert halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, L.A.’s Disney Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Her concert highlights include appearances in San Francisco Symphony’s tribute to Leonard Bernstein, concert versions of The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall and of A Little Night Music with the Boston Pops, and Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty, both of which were filmed for broadcast on PBS TV. A celebrated recording artist, her discography includes Christine Ebersole: Live at the Cinegrill, In Your Dreams, Sunday in New York, Christine Ebersole Sings Noël Coward, and Strings Attached. www.christineebersole.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ilana sits down with new release authors of suspenseful work: Hell Town - Casey Sherman A Fatal Overture - Kathleen Marple Kalb Birthday Girl - Niko Wolf The Darkness Of Others - Cate Holahan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Justin Bell Guarini’s robust performance career launched with the first season of American Idol in 2002. His stage and screen appearances since then include Broadway productions of American Idiot, InTransit, Paint Your Wagon, Romeo and Juliet, Wicked, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.   Justin has hosted nationally broadcasted shows like Idol Wrap and Idol Tonight along with live red carpet events for the TV Guide Network, the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Grammys. He continues to reprise his role as the lovable “Lil’ Sweet” in the award winning national commercial campaign for Diet Dr. Pepper.   In 2019, Justin founded The Warrior Artist Alliance (Warrior Artist Empire LLC) to help performers achieve the success they deserve in a challenging industry. He shares his tips, tricks, breadth of experience, and warrior mindset with a community of performers through podcasts, his best selling book “Audition Secrets”, blogs, and dynamic training programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Brenneman divides her time evenly between acting, producing, and political activism. She earned a degree in Comparative Religion at Harvard, with a specialty in Indo-Tibetan Religion, studying sacred dance and indigenous ritual in Kathmandu.  She was a founding member of the Cornerstone Theater Company, which specializes in site-specific community-based theater on themes of social justice.   Other theater:  CSC Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, LA Theater Works, LATC, Williamstown Theater Festival, En Garde Arts, Spark, The American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, Playwrights Horizons, and the Geffen Playhouse.        Amy co-created, wrote and starred in Mouth Wide Open (The Yard, American Repertory Theater) and Overcome (The Yard).  Overcome will have its premiere at South Coast Repertory as part of the 2021-2022 season.           Amy created, executive produced and starred in “Judging Amy” (two TV Guide Awards, three Golden Globe nominations, Producer’s Guild Nomination, three Emmy Award nominations, People’s Choice SAG nomination) based on the work of her mother, the Honorable Judge Frederica Brenneman.  Other television: “NYPD Blue” (2 Emmy nominations, SAG award), “Frasier,” “Heartbeat” (exec producer), “Goliath” and Shonda Rhimes’ “Private Practice.”  Amy starred in “The Leftovers” (Peabody Award, Critic’s Choice nomination). Amy’s most recent television roles include playing opposite Jeff Bridges in the critically acclaimed FX/hulu series “The Old Man;” opposite Elisabeth Moss in “Shining Girls” on Apple TV+; and “Tell Me Your Secrets” on Amazon Prime. Film credits include:  CASPER, FEAR, DAYLIGHT, HEAT, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, PEEL, THE LOOK OF LOVE and WORDS AND PICTURES opposite Clive Owen.  Amy has a long collaboration with Rodrigo Garcia, with whom she worked on NINE LIVES, THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER and MOTHER AND CHILD.      Amy produced and directed the documentary “The Way the World Should Be” about the trailblazing work of the CHIME Institute and its mission of inclusive education.  She created and hosts the podcast “The Challengers” now in its third season.         As a teacher, she has taught drama and creative process the CHIME Charter school, which specializes in educating children of all abilities.  She has also taught at Harvard and UCLA, among others.          For her activist work, Amy has been honored by Women in Film, The Brady Center, the League of Women Voters, the California State Assembly, the National Children’s Alliance, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Help Group, the Producer’s Guild of America, among others. In 2016, she was part of the amicus brief for the Supreme Court case Whole Women’s v. Hellerstedt, ensuring that abortion clinics remain open in Texas and elsewhere; she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from The Feminist Majority for her ongoing commitment to reproductive rights. In 2019 Amy received the Change Agent Award from En Garde Arts in New York.  She has served as keynote speaker for NARAL, Cal-Tash, The Council for Exceptional Children and on the steps Supreme Court.              Amy splits her time between Los Angeles and West Tisbury, MA.  She is married to writer/director Brad Silberling and has two children, Charlotte and Bodhi.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Darren Goldstein Broadway: Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, Bloody Bloody, Andrew Jackson.  Off-Broadway: The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater) Continuity, The Madrid (Manhattan Theatre Club); Rasheeda Speaking, The Good Mother, Abigail's Party (Lortel Nom. Featured Actor), Mouth to Mouth, Terrorism (all at The New Group); Oohrah! (Atlantic Theater); Mary Rose (The Vineyard). Regional: The Forgotten Woman (Bay Street), Beyond Therapy (Williamstown/Bay Street). Film: Sharper (upcoming), Paterno, Detroit, The Girl on the Train, Limitless. TV: Charles Wilkes on “Ozark,” Jackie Bennett on “American Crime Story: Impeachment,” Oscar Hodges on “The Affair,” “Under the Banner of Heaven,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Blindspot," "Damages,” “American Odyssey.” MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jennifer Griffin is an American journalist who works as the chief national security correspondent at the Pentagon for Fox News. Griffin graduated from Harvard University in 1992, receiving a B.A. in Government. Prior to working at the Pentagon, Griffin started her career reporting for The Sowetan newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, covering Nelson Mandela’s prison release and South Africa’s transition from apartheid. She then lived in Islamabad, reporting on the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan before moving to Moscow in 1996 where she reported for three years on the end of the Boris Yeltsin era and the rise of Vladimir Putin. In 1999, Griffin became a Jerusalem-based correspondent for 7 years, providing coverage of the Second Palestinian Intifada, suicide bombings, military incursions and failed peace deals. In 2000, she provided on-site coverage of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, its withdrawal from the Gaza strip and Yasser Arafat’s funeral. In 2005, Griffin conducted a rare interview with former Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon before he lapsed into a coma. Griffin later coauthored with her husband NPR correspondent Greg Myre This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Since 2007, Griffin has reported daily from the Pentagon where she questions senior military leaders, travels to war zones with the Joint Chiefs and Secretaries of Defense, and reports on all aspects of the military. Since 2010, Griffin has hosted the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine's Heroes of Military Medicine Awards. For the past decade, Griffin has also hosted the Wounded Warrior Experience, which features stories from wounded veterans and service members. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and an Advisory Board Member for Report for America, an effort by the Ground Truth Project to save local journalism. She was recently awarded the Transatlantic Leadership Network 2022 Freedom of the Media Gold Medal Award for Public Service and received the Medal of Honor Foundation’s “Tex” McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ilana hosted a live event at Bryant Park in New York City in the summer of 2022 with five authors who just published their debut novels. Liz Alterman, The Perfect Neighbor David Santos Donaldson, Greenland Francesca Giacco, Six Days In Rome Anne Heltzel, Just Like Mother Matt James, First Impressions: Off Screen Conversations With a Bachelor on Race, Family, and Forgiveness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices