Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine

Jeffrey Richman is the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of the Netflix series “Uncoupled.” Prior to that, he was an Executive Producer of “Modern Family” for ten seasons, earning five Emmy Awards (including one for Outstanding Script), three Writers Guild Awards, three Producers Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy. He has served as Executive or Co-Executive Producer on “Wings”, “Frasier” (another Emmy Award for Best Comedy), “Stark Raving Mad”, “Charlie Lawrence” (Creator), “Jake in Progress”, “Stacked”, “Rules of Engagement”, “Desperate Housewives” and “Back to You.” He also received an Emmy nomination for writing the 82nd Annual Academy Awards with hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marsha Mason has received four Academy Award nominations for her roles in the films The Goodbye Girl, Cinderella Liberty, Only When I Laugh and Chapter Two. She has been the recipient of two Golden Globe Awards for her film roles and an Emmy Award nomination for her role on “Frasier.” Her other TV credits include “The Middle,” “The Good Wife,” “Madam Secretary,” and “Grace & Frankie.” Broadway roles include Impressionism with Jeremy Irons, Steel Magnolias, The Night of the Iguana, The Good Doctor, King Richard III, and Cactus Flower. Off-Broadway she co-starred in the world premiere of Terrence McNally’s Fire and Air at Classic Stage and Little Gem at the Irish Repertory Theatre (Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Outstanding Actress in a Play). Regionally she has starred in All’s Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare in Washington, DC, A Doll’s House at ACT in San Francisco, Arms and the Man at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and Watch on the Rhine at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. As a director, Marsha, has helmed productions of Neil Simon’s Chapter Two and Steel Magnolias at the Bucks County Playhouse, Chapter Two and the first female An Act of God with Paige Davis at the Arizona Theatre Company, Juno Swans for Second Stage in New York City and the world premiere of Tennessee Williams’s Talisman Roses starring Amanda Plummer at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, Mass. Marsha was Associate Director with Jack O’Brien for the Roundabout Theater’s production of All My Sons on Broadway. She received a Daytime Emmy® Award for Direction of “Little Miss Perfect”. In 2020, she directed Walter Bobbie and Brooke Shields in The Man Who Came to Dinner for Bucks County Playhouse, starred with Brian Cox in Dear Liar for Bucks County, and opposite Richard Dreyfus in The Letters of Noel Coward for Bay Street Theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live in Bryant Par - a panel with the authors of truly inspiring people written by the following “truly inspiring“ authors - Zain Asher, Karen Hopkins, Katherine Gregorio and Tim McLoughlin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patrick Page received a Tony Award nomination and a Grammy Award for his work in Hadestown on Broadway after starring as Hades in the off-Broadway, Citadel Theatre and National Theatre productions. Other Broadway: The Inquisitor in Saint Joan, Valentina in Casa Valentina, Buckley in Time to Kill, Adult Men in Spring Awakening, DeGuiche in Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons, Decius Brutus in Julius Caesar, Scar in The Lion King, The Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, and Mackie in The Kentucky Cycle. Other New York: Cymbeline in Cymbeline (New York Shakespeare Festival/Delacort), Max in The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall). Regional: Page recently created the roles of Dom Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame at La Jolla Playhouse and Papermill Playhouse, and Captain Dragutin Dimitrijevic in Rajiiv Joseph’s Archduke at the Mark Taper Forum. He is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe in San Diego (Cyrano, Malvolio), and the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C. (Coriolanus, Prospero, Macbeth, Iago, Claudius). Film: Upcoming Spirited for Apple+, In The Heights, Estella Scrooge, The Sixth Reel. Television: Richard Clay on The Gilded Age for HBO; recurring on Elementary, Madam Secretary, Flesh and Bone and guest starring roles on Evil, NCIS: New Orleans, The Good Wife, The Blacklist, Chicago P.D., and Law and Order: S.V.U. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s  episode features authors  Jenny Mollen ( City Of Likes), Grant Ginder (Let’s Not Do That Again), Annabel Monaghan (Nora Goes Off Script) and  Meredith Schorr ( As Seen On TV.) The Reading Room in Bryant Park with a storied history in the park, the Reading Room provides the use of books, newspapers, and magazines in the park during warm weather months. You'll also find a robust schedule of literary events, including Books on Broadway, Authors, BookClub, Poetry, StoryTime, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tony-Nominated JARED GRIMES is a true quadruple threat having starred on Broadway and Film/TV as an actor, singer, dancer and choreographer. He has danced alongside Wynton Marsalis, Gregory Hines, Ben Vereen, Jerry Lewis, Fayard Nicholas and also performed for Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy at the Kennedy Center. Grimes has toured with Musical legend, Mariah Carey, under the choreography of Marty Kudelka, and danced for artists such as Common, Salt-n-Pepa, Envogue, Busta Rhymes and the Roots.   Jared made his choreography debut in Cirque Du Soleil's, Banana Shpeel off-Broadway, choreographed commercials for Chilis and also assisted choreography with Kristin Denehy for Macy's popular Kids Bop commercial.  In the world of acting, Jared is known for his recurring role of “Adrian” on NBC’s hit show Manifest. He performed the lead role of “Jackson” in the Annapurna feature film SWING KIDS and Sammy Davis Jr.’s “Birth of the Blues” on Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook for PBS. Other film credits include Paramount's, "The Marc Pease Experience", starring Ben Stiller, New Line Cinema's "Little Manhattan" and Elevation Filmwork's' "First Born," starring Elizabeth Shue.  In 2014, he won the prestigious Astaire Award for Outstanding Male Performer in the Broadway show After Midnight. Jared plays the role of “Eddie Ryan” in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Based on the novel by New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha Van Leer, Between the Lines is an empowering and enchanting new musical for anyone who has ever sought to find their place in the world. An outsider in a new town and a new school, Delilah seeks comfort in the pages of her favorite book, where she feels heard and understood. But as the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur in both extraordinary and astonishing ways, Delilah has to confront whether she alone has the power to rewrite her own story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex Edelman is a comedian and writer whose Orthodox Jewish upbringing has informed critically and commercially acclaimed work for the stage and screen. He is known both for his solo shows - three, all award-winning, sell-out hits in London’s West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - and for his TV writing. At the start of the pandemic, he served as the head writer and executive producer of Saturday Night Seder, a star studded 70-minute special, posted on YouTube, that has so far raised $3.5 million for the CDC Foundation (COVID-19) Emergency Response Fund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Moore directed the original Broadway production, eight national tours, and two London productions of Grease in the West End. He also directed Broadway’s Pulitzer Prize–winning ’night Mother, the subsequent film, and other Broadway productions, receiving two Tony nominations. Moore directed many years of film and television, earning three Emmy nominations along the way. His most recent project was the documentary on the Flying Trapeze, The Flight Fantastic. Ken Waissman discovered Grease at the Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago, where it was running on weekends in the summer of 1971. Ken and his then partner Maxine Fox produced the original Broadway production, plus eight national tours and two London productions in the West End. Ken is a Tony Award– winning producer whose iconic hits, in addition to Grease, include Agnes of God and Torch Song Trilogy. He is one of only two producers in the history of Broadway to have a musical run over three thousand performances and a play run over one thousand performances.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amir Arison stars as Aram Mojtabai on NBC’s hit series “The Blacklist. Notable recurring roles in television include work on HBO’s “Girls,” the Emmy Award-winning “Homeland,” NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Zero Hour,” “Dallas,” “True Justice,” and “State of Georgia,” as well as Julia Stiles’ hit web series “Blue.” Recent guest star appearances include “American Horror Story,” “NCIS,” “The Mentalist,” “Major Crimes,” “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” “Gossip Girl,” “Fringe” and “See Dad Run,” among others. Arison has also been a series regular on Bryan Singer’s acclaimed Digital Series “H+” for Warner Bros. Arison’s film credits include “A Merry Friggin’ Christmas” with Robin Williams, “Big Words,” “I Hate Valentine’s Day” with Nia Vardalos, Tom McCarthy’s “The Visitor,” “Today’s Special,” “Vamps” with Alicia Silverstone, and the upcoming “Jane Wants a Boyfriend.” Arison also has an extensive background in theater, which includes the New York premieres of Stephen Belber’s “The Muscles in Our Toes,” “Aftermath” (Drama League Nominee), Christopher Durang’s “Why Torture Is Wrong… ,” Charles Mee’s “Queens Boulevard,” “A Very Common Procedure,” “Modern Orthodox,” “Omnium Gatherum” (Pulitzer Finalist), “Candy & Dorothy” and “A First Class Man.” Internationally, Amir starred in Michael Kahn’s award-winning “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (RSC’s Complete Works Festival). Notable regional credits include appearances in productions at The Shakespeare Theatre D.C., The Huntington Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Long Wharf Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Lyric Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Olney Theatre Center and the Dorset Theatre Festival. Amir grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and attended Columbia University in New York City. He recently made his Broadway debut playing the leading role of Amir in The Kite Runner on Broadway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neil Pepe is an acclaimed director and has been the Artistic Director of Atlantic Theater Company since 1992. Neil has been a master teacher at the Atlantic Acting School at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and an associate adjunct professor of directing at Columbia University Graduate Film Division. He has been a guest at The O’Neill Playwrights Conference as well as the American Theatre Wing. Neil holds an Honorary Doctorate as well as a BA from Kenyon College in Ohio. He has served on the Board of ART/NY as well as the Selection Committee for Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award as well as the Pew Charitable Trust in Philadelphia.  As a director, Neil’s Broadway credits include David Mamet;s American Buffalo, Doug Wright, Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green’s musical Hands on a Hardbody, the acclaimed revival of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, as well as Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre. At the Atlantic, Neil has most recently directed John Guare’s 3 Kinds of Exile, Moira Buffini’s Dying For It, Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, Mojo and The Night Heron. Other Off-Broadway and Regional credits include: Ethan Coen’s Happy Hour, Offices and Almost an Evening; Harold Pinter’s Celebration and The Room; Adam Rapp’s Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling; David Mamet’s American Buffalo (Donmar Warehouse, Atlantic); Romance, Keep Your Pantheon/School (Center Theatre Group, Atlantic); Zinnie Harris’ Further than the Furthest Thing (Manhattan Theater Club); Jessica Goldberg’s Refuge (Playwrights Horizons); Frank Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses with Martin Sheen (CTG) and Eric Bogosian’s Red Angel (Williamstown Theater Festival). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael R. Jackson wrote the book, music and lyrics for the 2022 Tony Award winner for Best New Musical- A Strange Loop. He won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ Circle–winning A Strange Loop (which had its 2019 world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in association with Page 73 Productions) was called “a full-on laparoscopy of the heart, soul, and loins” and a “gutsy, jubilantly anguished musical with infectious melodies” by Ben Brantley for The New York Times. In The New Yorker, Vinson Cunningham wrote, “To watch this show is to enter, by some urgent, bawdy magic, an ecstatic and infinitely more colorful version of the famous surreal lithograph by M. C. Escher: the hand that lifts from the page, becoming almost real, then draws another hand, which returns the favor.” In addition to A Strange Loop, he wrote book, music, and lyrics for White Girl in Danger. Awards and associations include a New Professional Theatre Festival Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, a Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, an ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award, a Whiting Award, the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award, an Antonyo Award, a Fred Ebb Award, a Windham-Campbell Prize, and a Dramatists Guild Fellowship. He is an alum of Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An Australian native, Deniz Akdeniz has quickly made a name for himself through his performances of beloved characters.  Deniz will next be seen reprising his breakout and widely beloved role of ‘Max’ in the upcoming second season of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning HBO Max series THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT alongside Kaley Cuoco and Zosia Mamet, which will be premiering in Spring 2022. He was most recently seen in the new hit Warner Bros for FOX series ,THE CLEANING LADY, produced by Shay Mitchell. His other recent TV credits include: Freeform’s SIRENS and ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME where he played the role of ‘Aladdin. On the film side, Deniz is widely known for his role in I, FRANKENSTEIN, directed by Stuart Beattie. He was also seen in THE WATER DIVINE directed by Russell Crowe, Focus Feature’s THE HIGH NOTE, Netflix’s SIGHTLESS opposite Madelaine Petsch and the Australian box office feature hit, TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, where he was nominated for an Inside Film Award in the category of “Best Actor.” Prior to acting, Deniz trained and competed professionally in MMA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

HARVEY FIERSTEIN wrote the books ( or adapted the books ) for the Broadway musicals Funny Girl, Kinky Boots. Newsies as well as Torch Song Trilogy (Tony®, Drama Desk, and OBIE Awards), La Cage aux Folles (Tony® and Drama Desk Awards), The Sissy Duckling (Humanitas Award), A Catered Affair (12 Drama Desk nominations), Safe Sex (Ace Award), Legs Diamond, Spookhouse, Flatbush Tosca, Common Ground, and more. His political editorials have been published in The New York Times, TV Guide, The Huffington Post, and broadcast on PBS’s “In the Life”. His children’s book, The Sissy Duckling, is now in its fifth printing. As an actor, Mr. Fierstein is known worldwide for his performances in films like Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day, and on stage in Hairspray (Tony Award®), Fiddler on the Roof, La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy (Tony Award®), and TV shows such as “Smash,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Good Wife,” “Cheers” (Emmy nomination), “The Simpsons,” and “Nurse Jackie.” Acclaimed originally for his groundbreaking writing and performance in his 1981 Torch Song Trilogy, Harvey Fierstein has refined and redefined the persona of the drag queen in the theater. Two years later, Fierstein brought that insight and humor into his book for the musical adaptation of La Cage aux Folles. As Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times, this “is the first Broadway musical ever to give center stage to a homosexual love affair – but don’t go expecting an earthquake. The show at the Palace is the schmaltziest, most old-fashioned major musical Broadway has seen since ‘Annie,’ and it’s likely to be just as popular with children of all ages.”  Fierstein subsequently wrote the book for Legs Diamond (1988) with music and lyrics by Peter Allen, who also starred in the show. He did not return to Broadway until 2002, when he took on the role of Edna Turnblad in the musical adaptation of Hairspray (book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan; music by Marc Shaiman; lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman). According to Ben Brantley, Fierstein’s performance as Edna “is not just a cross-dressing sight gag. She’s every forgotten housewife, recreated in monumental proportions and waiting for something to tap her hidden magnificence.”  After playing Tevye in the 2004 revival of Fiddler on the Roof, Harvey Fierstein wrote the book and starred in the 2008 musical, A Catered Affair. As a writer and actor, Fierstein has won three Drama Desk Awards and four Tonys®, most recently for his portrayal of Edna in Hairspray. His most recent memoir is called I Was Better Last Night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DAVID MORSE received Emmy® nominations for his roles on “House” and HBO’s “John Adams,” and has appeared in numerous television series, including Emmy-nominated “Escape at Dannemora," “The Chair,” “The Morning Show," “The Deuce," "The Good Lord Bird,” “Hack,” “Treme,” “True Detective,” “Outsiders,” and “St. Elsewhere." Morse’s film credits include The Green Mile (1999), 16 Blocks (2006), The Hurt Locker (2009), World War Z (2013) and Concussion (2015). A stage veteran, Morse is currently on Broadway in Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize winning show How I Learned to Drive, reprising the role he originated opposite Mary-Louise Parker Off-Broadway in 1997. He previously starred on Broadway in the 2018 revival of The Iceman Cometh, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. His other notable stage performances include the 1984 Los Angeles production of Of Mice and Men; Lanford Wilson’s Redwood Curtain, in which he originated the role of Lyman; Heather MacDonald’s An Almost Holy Picture; the Broadway production of The Seafarer; the Off-Broadway production of The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin; and the original Off-Broadway production of How I Learned to Drive, for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Obie Award®. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices