SDCF Podcast Series

We are delighted to be launching the very first SDCF Podcast Series focused entirely on choreography: In Motion, with Wendy Seyb. Our very first guest on In Motion is the Broadway-bound choreographer, Chase Brock, Artistic Director of The Chase Brock Experience. In this week’s episode Chase shares his thoughts on the ‘Millennial Remix Moment’ in which multi-hyphenates are thriving; the mentors that didn’t pull any punches; creating and sustaining a dance company; and the push and pull of choreographing across media and how it makes him a better theatre maker.

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the second series of SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. This week on SDCF Podcast Series, M. Graham Smith sits down with director and playwright, Chay Yew, Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater. They discuss how Chay learned to write between the lines, what directors shouldn't say to playwrights, how to understand how a region receives stories, and how a particular story will talk to your community. A room that is supportive of the play is most crucial - Chay Yew, 2018

Theatre often struggles to include and embrace diverse voices and artists, and this is certainly true of artists with disabilities. However, directors and casting directors are uniquely positioned to change producing practices and the perceptions of audiences well before the lights go up, and indeed, even before the first rehearsal – and it starts with the casting breakdown. Join SDCF Foundation Director David Roberts as he sits down with director Sam Gold and casting director David Caparelliotis to discuss opportunities in collaborating with artists with disabilities. They will explore authentic representation of disabled characters by actors with disabilities, as well as the casting of those same actors in non-disabled roles, and how they as director and casting director navigate producers' expectations, critical reception, and audience response to their work with this underrepresented community of artists.

This week on SDCF Podcast Series we are revisiting a conversation with James Lapine and Lonny Price, moderated by Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Executive Director, Laura Penn. Technology has made the ability to capture and distribute live performances via high-quality video a reality the theatre field is embracing with increasing regularity. New players are entering the field every day, including BroadwayHD, Amazon.com, and Netflix, among others. When it comes to the crafts of stage directing and choreography, what is your relationship with the video director? What is the role of the editor in this new iteration of your work? How can you ensure the integrity of the live experience? What should you be concerned about when work created for the stage, now opens the possibility for audiences to access live performances on the large screen, small screen, and portable devices?  

Large nonprofit theatres across the U.S. are experiencing a sea change of transition in their artistic leadership posts. Today, only about 25% of those posts are held by women, and fewer still by people of color. What are the root causes from a practicing artist standpoint? How will the theatre industry move beyond just planning for diversity, equity, and inclusion, towards implementation of these values? And when will it be reflected in the field's highest and most prominent positions? Join SDCF Executive Director David Roberts as he sits down with director Liesl Tommy and artistic producer Stephanie Ybarra as they explore the intersections of women, people of color, and leadership in American theatre and discuss how they are actively changing the game. This One-on-One is presented in association with Dramatists Guild of America.

Over 60 years ago, theatre directors joined forces with community leaders around the country and created what is today a vibrant ecosystem of literally thousands of nonprofit theatres. These theatres have become inextricably bound to the character of a region, a city, a town. Large and small, these companies produce theatre at the highest level while serving as anchors for economic development and the fostering of an informed citizenry.  Now a generation or two removed from their founders, the missions of theatre companies are held in trust by Boards of Directors, but it’s the individual artist’s vision that brings the mission to life.  How do exceptional artists make that happen?  What is the interplay amongst and between theatres in a community?  What opportunities and challenges does artistic leadership bring to an individual director?  In conversation with Chris Coleman and Dámaso Rodríguez, artistic directors in Portland, Oregon, SDC explores how practicing directors braid their own personal artistry and ambition with organizational and community leadership.

“Risk is here, so you’ve gotta move through it.” – Nataki Garrett, 2018. Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the twelfth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today M Graham Smith is with Nataki Garrett, Artistic Associate Director with Theatre Company at Denver Center for Performing Arts (DCPA) and -Artistic Director at Blank the Dog Productions. Moving to New York City with just ‘$500 and a hole in her shoe’, Nataki has since established herself as a #director in many different regional communities and now in Denver. Nataki’s work looks to provide opportunities and platforms for silenced voices to be heard. Her whisper through the megaphone is that  “there is going to be a convergence of 'Black Lives Matter' the #MeToo movement, and Time’s Up" and that "the boards [of our regional theatres] have to be ready to listen to the next generation.” #SDCFaccess #SDCFconnectivity

“People are going to say no to you more than they say yes, and that’s hard. It takes strength.” - Torange Yeghiazarian. Today on our SDCF Podcast Series - Regional Originals podcast, M Graham Smith is with Torange Yeghiazarian, Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions. They discuss empowering playwrights to tell the stories that they want to tell, how working at Golden Thread can be a unique and often life-changing experience, and the biggest challenges of her ‘not-so-hidden-agenda'. Golden Thread, founded in 1996, produces passionate and provocative plays from or about the Middle East that celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities. The company was awarded the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Grant in 2013 and 2016.  You can have a listen to this episode on iTunes at SDCF Podcast Series. #SDCFaccess #SDCFconnectivity

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the tenth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today Graham is with Tony Taccone, the man who commissioned Angels in America and whose work at The Eureka Theater was so powerful and provocative that it was burned down as a political act. Now, as the Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theater, Tony works to put on theater for an audience that is "eager to think in metaphor: strange, esoteric, explosive, epic investigations of what it means to be alive right now". The secret to life is to stay curious! - Tony Taccone, 2018

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the ninth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today Graham is with Robert O'Hara. They talk about Robert's rehearsal room being a brain trust, but when it comes to an audience everyone is welcome but no one is safe. You can't do better unless you've done something! - Robert O'Hara, 2018

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the seventh episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today Graham is with Raymond Bobgan, the Executive Artistic Director of the Cleveland Public Theatre. They talk about activating a community, the Road to Hope, Pandemonium, and hosting giant pink elephants.  'Theatre in my mind, at least for Western civilization, was born as the twin sibling of democracy'

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the seventh episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today Graham is with Wendy C. Goldberg, the Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. They talk about mentoring young artists and Wendy's work with National New Play Network,  surrounding yourself with 'kindred spirits', and what to do if you find yourself thinking I'm not part of the club, I'm not from New York, I didn't go to Yale, and I'm not all the things I should be.

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the sixth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. Today Graham is with Seth Rozin from InterAct Theatre. They talk about new play development and Seth's work with National New Play Network and the importance of directors getting in a room together, connecting, and working on how to make our theatres more inclusive and representative of the world we live in.

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the fifth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith – a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. This week Graham is with Kwame Kwei-Armah, who is about to make his move from Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage in the U.S. to Artistic Director of the Young Vic in the U.K. 'This is a moment to be bold. This is a moment to say that I believe in tomorrow and that tomorrow will look like this'. Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Hosted by M. Graham Smith, we are delighted to bring you the fourth episode of our podcast series – SDCF Podcast Series: Regional Originals with M. Graham Smith - a series of interviews with some of the most exciting Directors and Choreographers working in America’s regional theatres today. This week Graham is with Mina Morita, Artistic Director of Crowded Fire Theatre Company. Mina is an artist that others say 'leads with love', what does this mean? What characterizes each region in this country in terms of the narratives that are important and the particular sets of resources and expectations that come with San Francisco? And what brought the conversation to this moment: 'If theater doesn't figure out a way to be more essential to its community, it's going to die'.