Theatre · The Creative Process: Acting, Directing, Writing & Behind the Scenes Conversations
Episodes
Trust, Education & Writing as Resistance w/ AL KENNEDY - Highlights
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"The thing that puzzled him was why people don't agree to be fully expressed while they're alive. Why does it only happen in their last moment? Why wo...
Theatre as a Pathway to Writing, Creative & Political Expression with AL KENNEDY
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the state infiltrates your most intimate relationships? How do we protect the innocence and imagination of children in an increasing...
Writers on Memory, Language & the Power of the Unconscious
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How can we use negative spaces in fiction to engage with readers’ imaginations? How are memory and trauma passed onto us through language? How do we...
The Beast in Me starring CLAIRE DANES - Behind the Scenes w/ HOWARD GORDON & DANIEL PEARLE
09 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“And I think there's also just something about an unfettered or uncensored id that is so captivating. We all have that fantasy of doing exactly what...
"Everything is Art. Everything is Politics." AI WEIWEI'S TURANDOT Dir. MAXIM DEREVIANKO - Highlights
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“So when we decided to do a documentary to follow Ai Weiwei, we knew, of course, it wouldn't be just a simple opera, and we knew he would bring his ...
AI WEIWEI'S TURANDOT
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Everything is Art. Everything is Politics.I think art competes with reality. And art will give you the last words.” –Ai WeiweiThe renowned arti...
Art, Empathy & Resilience with CADY McCLAIN, Actor, Director, Writer, Artist, Musician - Highlights
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I had to become the father of my family very young because my parents divorced when I was 12. My situation was a little bit unusual in that my fath...
A Life in Acting with Emmy Award-winning Actor, Director, Writer CADY McCLAIN
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I won my first Emmy when I was 21, which was the result of absolutely devoting myself day and night for two years to doing all the scene work. I at...
An Actor Prepares - SHARON LAWRENCE on Crafting Complex Characters - Highlights
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I would encourage you, as I do if you're an actor, to know your own equipment, know your own psychology, and use the great teachers that are synthe...
SHARON LAWRENCE on Acting, Activism & The Art of Transformation
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“That transformation was key to my next step as an artist, to knowing that's what acting is. It isn't just posing; it isn't just being a version of ...
Performance, Politics, Art & Society w/ Sociologist RICHARD SENNETT - Highlights
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green h...
The Performer: Art, Life, Politics with RICHARD SENNETT, Sociologist & Author
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can us...
ADAM MOSS - Fmr. Editor of New York Magazine, Author, Artist on Creativity as a Process - Highlights
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“When I was working at the Times and the Times Magazine, on one Tuesday morning, the towers fell. September 11, 2001. The magazine had a 10-day lead...
KATIE KITAMURA on Language, Identity & the Search for Agency - Highlights
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“This novel is the third in what I see as a little set of books that all feature unnamed female protagonists who have experienced varying degrees of...
Art, Performance & the Illusion of Agency - KATIE KITAMURA on her new novel AUDITION
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I'm really interested in the formal aspect of characters who are channeling language, who are speaking the words of other people, and in characters...
The Creative Process w/ JULIE ANDREWS, PAUL SCHRADER, JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY, ETGAR KERET, JOY GORMAN WETTELS, CHAYSE IRVIN, MANUEL BILLETER
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
JULIE ANDREWS (Oscar, Tony & Pulitzer Prize-winning Actress & Singer · The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins) Andrews shares her experie...
How Art Helps Us Understand the World - Filmmakers, Writers & Artists Share their Stories
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do our personal lives influence the art we make?JIM SHEPARD (Author of The Book of Aron, Project X, & The World to Come starring Casey Af...
THREE WOMEN starring Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise, Betty Gilpin: Conversation w/ LAURA EASON - Highlights
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I think the show conveys to the women watching that their lives matter. They don't have to be some gorgeous aspirational person, although Sloane ab...
Female Desire, Sex & Intimacy: Emmy-nominated Producer, Writer, Playwright LAURA EASON on THREE WOMEN
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is love? How do the narratives we internalize shape our understanding of relationships, intimacy, and family?Laura Eason is an Emmy-nominated pro...
How Does Art Shape Our Lives? Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers & Actors Share Their Stories
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do the arts help us find purpose and meaning? What role do stories play in helping us preserve memories, connect us to each other, and answer life...
Theater, Creativity & Intuition - Filmmakers, Musicians & Artists discuss their Creative Process
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Where does our intuition come from? How are lifelong creative partnerships formed and what role do friendship and personal connection play? How do our...
Do good deeds offset bad deeds? How do our families shape who we become?- Highlights - DAN FUTTERMAN & ADAM RAPP
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"S. E. Hinton, Susie Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was 15 and 16. It was published when she was 17. She was told by one editor in particular tha...
The Outsiders Musical & American Rust w/ ADAM RAPP & DAN FUTTERMAN - Award-winning Writers
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What role do the families we’re born into or the traumas we experience shape the people we become? Do good deeds offset bad deeds? How can the arts ...
Intimacy Coordinator & Movement Director ITA O’BRIEN on Intimate Storytelling - Highlights
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"For years, people spoke about how awkward or embarrassing it was to perform the intimate content. And what they're speaking about is feeling horrible...
Intimacy Coordinator ITA O’BRIEN on Crafting Safe Spaces in Theatre, Film & Television
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can intimate scenes be brought to the screen in ways that respect the emotional well-being and privacy of the artists themselves? How do we make s...
The Art of Bringing Stories to Life - Highlights - LISA EDELSTEIN
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"When I did my show Positive Me, we were in the middle of a horrible crisis. The AIDS crisis was very real to me and my friends and not real...
LISA EDELSTEIN - From Acting to Directing, Writing & Visual Art
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can the arts help us examine and engage with social issues? How do our families shape our views, memories, and experience of the world?From her ro...
What is the lure of immersive theatre experiences & intense communities? - TARA ISABELLA BURTON
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"I think that we always try to find ways of defining ourselves against culture, archetypes, and narratives. And one of the things that interests me mo...
Spirituality & Selfhood: TARA ISABELLA BURTON - Author of Here in Avalon, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are we willing to give up to find meaning, connection, and a sense of belonging? What happens if we don't self-promote, self-create, and self-bra...
How does knowing a second language increase your creativity & humanity? - Highlights - ALAN POUL
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"I was always a film and theater kid. I just was completely starstruck and only wanted to have some kind of contact with showbiz. I didn't really unde...
ALAN POUL - Emmy & Golden Globe-winning Producer/Director - Tokyo Vice - Six Feet Under - Tales of the City - My So-Called Life
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does learning another language and living in another culture do for your humanity and creative process?Alan Poul is an Emmy, Golden Globe, DGA, a...
Highlights - DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact - Nicholas Bruckman, John Tracey, Ian Moubayed
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Q: Who is David Byrne?David Byrne: ...I have no idea.Most people know me through music, but when I was in high school I saw science and the arts as be...
DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact produced by Simons Foundation & People’s TV
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is consciousness? The mind produces thoughts, sensations, perception, emotions. How can these inner felt experiences be produced within...
Highlights - Actress CATHERINE CURTIN (Orange is the New Black) & Artistic Director KATE MUETH (Director, Educator, Choreographer)
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"I grew up in New York City. And when I was like 13, I'd sneak downtown on the subway and I'd go see shows at like La MaMa and Wooster Group and all o...
Actress CATHERINE CURTIN (Stranger Things) & Artistic Director KATE MUETH (Neo-Political Cowgirls)
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we make art? What can the performing arts teach us about how to engage in dialogues to overcome conflict and division?Our guests today are actr...
Highlights - JANE ALEXANDER - Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Alexander is an actress, writer, and conservationist. She chaired the National Endowment for the Art from 1993-1997. A Tony Award winner and memb...
JANE ALEXANDER- Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Alexander is an actress, writer, and conservationist. She chaired the National Endowment for the Art from 1993-1997. A Tony Award winner and memb...
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY - Writer/Director - Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams - Moonstruck - Highlights
29 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"I knew Philip Seymour Hoffman for several years. We went on vacation together. He produced a play of mine. Before we did Doubt, we worked in the...
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY - Tony & Academy Award-winning Writer/Director - Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams - Moonstruck
29 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
John Patrick Shanley is from The Bronx. His plays include Prodigal Son, Outside Mullingar (Tony nomination), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Li...
Highlights - JOY GORMAN WETTELS - Exec. Producer “UnPrisoned”, “13 Reasons Why”, "Home Before Dark”, “Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground”
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I watched things with my grandparents, and I read books with my grandmother. And my mother was obsessed with Sondheim and Neil Simon, and she took ...
JOY GORMAN WETTELS - Exec. Producer “UnPrisoned” starring Kerry Washington, “13 Reasons Why”, Founder of Joy Coalition
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Joy Gorman Wettels is the founder of Joy Coalition, an impact producing venture with a focus on creating purpose-driven film and television conte...
Highlights - ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“In the case of improv, where it's physical, it might be a slightly different experience as well compared to someone sitting in front of a page and ...
ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Abraham, Ph.D. is the E. Paul Torrance Professor and Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of G...
Highlights - Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"I enjoy dancing, but I would not call myself a dancer by any means compared to the people I'm working with here who are so wonderful at it. I worked ...
Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max Stossel is an Award-winning poet, filmmaker, and speaker, named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year. His Stand-Up Poet...
Highlights - Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Einstein on the Beach, it's a masterpiece. America, in 1976, was to be celebrating its 200th year of existence, and Michel Guy, the French Minis...
Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For nearly half a century, Richard “Dickie” Landry was at the center of the New York avant-garde. Born in the small Louisiana town of Cecilia in 1...
Highlights - Gloria Pacis - Artist
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"I've always been fascinated by the interaction of people and why they say and do the things they do. And I could see how theater impacted my work bec...
Gloria Pacis - Artist
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gloria Pacis is a painter dividing her time between New York City and Hoboken, where she has her studio. She received her BFA from the University of W...
Highlights - Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir., Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Classical Theatre of Harlem provides theatrical productions, educational and literary programs for free or at little cost to Harlem residents, org...
Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir. of Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore, Actor
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Classical Theatre of Harlem provides theatrical productions, educational and literary programs for free or at little cost to Harlem residents, org...
(Highlights) SEAN CURRAN
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“I do feel that we are infinite choice makers. You make millions of choices all the time. Make the right choice and if you make the wrong choice, un...
SEAN CURRAN
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Seán Curran began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston, Massachusetts. He went on to make his mark on the ...
In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 2)
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Creativity is perhaps the ultimate mystery. I veer wildly between opposing views on it and have different feelings depending on whether the creator...
In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 1)
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Walton was an award-winning director and production designer. His work was vast and stretches from Broadway productions and operas to film...
(Highlights) JOSH GLADSTONE
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Laurie Anderson, Leslie Odom Jr. from Hamilton was here a couple of years ago. It was fantastic. Judd Hirsch. I got a chance to drive in my car with ...
JOSH GLADSTONE
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Josh Gladstone has served as Artistic Director of the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall since 2000 where most recently he directed Alec Baldwin, Blair U...
(Highlights) JOE MANTEGNA
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"When I was growing up and studying to be an actor as a young man, I'd read plays that were most often based in New York City. A lot of the writers ca...
JOE MANTEGNA
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Actor, producer, writer and director, Joe Mantegna began his career on the stage with the 1969 musical Hair. He later earned a Tony Award for portrayi...
(Highlights) DELIA EPHRON
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"My mother had very powerful attitudes that she really gifted to Nora in a very extreme way. We were all talented, we all had ambition, but they were ...
DELIA EPHRON
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bestselling author and screenwriter Delia Ephron's most recent novel is Siracusa now being adapted into a feature film. Her other novels include The L...
(Highlights) EIMEAR McBRIDE
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eimear McBride trained at The Drama Centre in London. Her debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing received a number of awards, including the Bailey ...
(Highlights) HARRIS YULIN
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“The difference between stage and screen acting is vast, but it's the same root. It's just some of the techniques are very different. I really know ...
HARRIS YULIN
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Harris Yulin has appeared on Broadway in Hedda Gabler, The Price, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Visit, A Lesson From Aloes, and Watch On The Rhine. His...
EIMEAR McBRIDE
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eimear McBride trained at The Drama Centre in London. Her debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing received a number of awards, including the Bailey ...
(Highlights) GREGORY JBARA
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gregory Jbara is a Tony award winning stage actor with a impressive career spanning over four decades . On Broadway, Gregory has stared in renditions ...
GREGORY JBARA
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gregory Jbara is a Tony award winning stage actor with a impressive career spanning over four decades . On Broadway, Gregory has stared in renditions ...
(Highlights) JOHN D'AGATA
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“For a writer of non-fiction or essayist that’s very difficult to work with because we aren’t, or at least some of us don’t consider ourselves...
JOHN D'AGATA
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John D’Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New ...
(Highlights) JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"If you are thinking about too much, you're probably not doing it right. Some nights you do it and you're just like, that just felt like it was ten mi...
JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John Benjamin Hickey is a veteran of the stage and screen, with a Tony Award-winning performance as Felix Turner in The Normal Heart and his Emmy-nomi...
ANA CASTILLO
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Latest ARTS interview from The Creative Process’ MAIN CHANNEL. To listen to more of our interviews across the arts, visit tinyurl.com/thecreativepod...
(Highlights) EMMA WALTON HAMILTON
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a best-selling children’s book author, editor, producer, and arts educator. She has co-authored over thirty c...
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a best-selling children’s book author, editor, producer, and arts educator. She has co-authored over thirty c...
(Highlights) PAULO SZOT
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“All the themes are very contemporary. I think what moves this story is the search for instantaneous celebrity. That’s what the girls are all abou...
PAULO SZOT
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paulo Szot won the Tony as Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his Broadway debut at Emile de Becque in the 2008 Tony-winning revival of South Pacific...
(Highlights) NEIL PATRICK HARRIS
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Patrick Harris is a Tony and Emmy award-winning stage and screen performer, famous for his roles as Barney Stinson in the popular CBS sitcom ...
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Patrick Harris is a Tony and Emmy award-winning stage and screen performer, famous for his roles as Barney Stinson in the popular CBS sitcom ...
(Highlights) ALICE BROOKS
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“There’s this children’s book called Miss Rumphius, and I’ve carried it around with me my entire life. It’s about a woman who grandfather te...
ALICE BROOKS
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Brooks is a cinematographer who has worked on award-winning features, television and commercials. She is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinemat...
(Highlights) BRIGHT SHENG
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I try to preserve the Chinese music flavor. So, you imagine in Chinese band, the country music that people usually reserve for weddings or for big ...
BRIGHT SHENG
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bright Sheng is a composer, conductor, and pianist. His work has been commissioned and performed by many prestigious institutions throughout the world...
(Highlights) GAVIN JAMES CREEL
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“To not honor that we are all creative, beautiful, interesting deep, rich individuals. We’re not zeros and ones on a spreadsheet. We’re not scie...
GAVIN JAMES CREEL
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most highly noted for his stunning work in musical theater, Gavin James Creel is a Tony & Olivier Award-winning actor, singer and songwriter. On...
DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. François Clemmons is perhaps best known as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’s Officer Clemmons. He made history as the first African American acto...
(Highlights) DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I always find it an ironic thing to think about the fact that Fred Rogers was colour-blind. He could barely tell a blue from a grey. I was young an...
(Highlights) TAL HEVER-CHYBOWSKI
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“A lot of people in my family and among my friends when they heard that I study Yiddish and that later made it my livelihood, they are very surprise...
TAL HEVER-CHYBOWSKI
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tal Hever-Chybowski is the Director of the Paris Yiddish Center (Maison de la Culture Yiddish) & Medem Library. He is the Founder and Editor of th...
(Highlights) AVRA SIDIROPOULOU
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Avra Sidiropoulou is the author of two monographs Directions for Directing: Theatre and Method, published by Routledge, and Authoring Performance: The...
AVRA SIDIROPOULOU
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Avra Sidiropoulou is the author of two monographs Directions for Directing: Theatre and Method, published by Routledge, and Authoring Performance: The...
DOUG WRIGHT
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Writer & President of the Dramatists Guild of America Doug Wright is an award winning playwright whose plays include I am My Own Wife, for which he wo...
(Highlights) KATE MUETH
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Mueth is the Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning dance theater company The Neo-Political Cowgirls. In their 13th year of devised t...
KATE MUETH
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Mueth is the Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning dance theater company The Neo-Political Cowgirls. In their 13th year of devised t...