NPR interview with Paula Poundstone

Very witty - check it out here! Then catch her when she plays Tampa on March 28!

Tara interviews Kate Monster!

The Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q is running here at TBPAC through Sunday, and I would definitely encourage everyone to check it out. It’s so much fun, you can’t help but laugh the whole time. Leave the kids at home though; it’s definitely not for them.

I recently had the chance to catch up with one of Avenue Q’s furriest residents, Kate Monster, for a little Q&A:

What is a typical day like for you?

I like to wake up really early and read the newspaper; it's important to keep up with current events. I walk to my school for monsters and greet the students at the door. After our lessons, and nap-time, I release the monster-kids to their parents and have an afternoon of conferences and paper-grading. Then I go home and see my friends on "Avenue Q"--we usually have dinner or meet at the local bar for a drink before winding down for the evening. I have a great life.

I don’t want to get too personal, but do you have a significant other?

Well, I don't want to give too much away about the show, but let's just say I'm spending a lot of time with a certain someone right now and we're taking it one day at a time.

Do you ever feel like you’re treated differently because you’re a monster?

I certainly experience discrimination due to my race. I find that people make assumptions and judgments about my personality and my work-ethic. They expect me to be lazy with a quick-temper--how absurd!!! Well, the quick-tempered part is true on occasion, but I am anything but lazy...and I'll have words with anyone who says otherwise!

Do you have any advice for young monsters out there who may be reading this?

Stay strong and work hard! We are the next generation of monsters who can change the stereotypes that hold us back in the global community! Do not let anyone tell you that fur makes you a lesser being in the evolutionary chain! Fight for fur!!

What do you see yourself doing in five years?

I see myself married with a couple of monster kids. I will definitely still be teaching monsters, but I hope to see my class-sizes triple by then. It's a lofty goal, but I'm up for it...after all, I'm not a lazy monster.

- Tara Mc

Conversations with Cash: Rosanne talks about life, death and ‘what remains’

Rosanne Cash, who will play the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on March 2, recently made headlines because of her impending brain surgery to address a rare but benign condition. As she told us in a recent NYC interview, she canceled her remaining 2007 concert dates, but will resume her live performance schedule in the spring – starting with her TBPAC concert.

According to manager Danny Kahn, Cash was diagnosed with chiari I malformation, a congenital deformation of the skull affecting the brain and spinal cord.

"She does want everyone to know it's a benign condition and it's not life-threatening," Kahn told UPI. "It's nothing like a tumor or hemorrhage or anything. It's elective surgery."

Earlier this month, and just before the official announcement, Cash talked about life, death, her favorite songs, her famous father and her daughter who’s following in the family business.

Despite recent personal tragedies, including the death of Johnny and June Carter Cash, as well as Rosanne’s mom and Johnny’s first wife Vivian, Rosanne has produced some of the best work of her career – including the Grammy-nominated “Black Cadillac.”

Check out our conversation. (By the way, the heater in our interview room was working overtime to combat the NYC chill that day, so the sound mix is a little more muddy than we’d like. However, Rosanne’s words of quiet wisdom cut through the ambient noise just fine.)

- Michael K.

An interview with Wilson Loria

Wilson Loria will play the Shimberg Playhouse this weekend with his one-person show To the Winners. I hope you enjoy this interview with him.

If you had to describe your show in one or two sentences, what would you say?

It is a solo where an actor makes use of mime, music and dance to tell a story about a young man's search for the answer of a question which was whispered to him on the day he was born.

Above and beyond your description of the show, why do you think people should see it?

There's too much paraphernalia on stage in theater today and the actor is being considered one more element of the whole process. Over there, in back of the stage... With To the Winners -- and also according to my belief of what theater should be -- I try bringing the actor to the apron of the stage, so to speak. I want the actor to be the main element of the performance and that should be a very big reason for people to come and see my work.

It seems your show incorporates a lot of forms - theater, music, dance - tell us about how you developed the piece.

In 2002, I was doing my Master's in Performance Studies at NYU's Tisch School the Arts where and when I met my dear friend and director Fernando Calzadilla, a director from Venezuela. I had written To the Winners as a short novella many many years before that. One day, I decided to transform that story into a monologue. After having completed the text as a play, I asked Fernando to read it, with the perspective of mounting it for the stage. Voilá! He liked it a lot and soon we started rehearsing both at his house and in the same room which served us as a classroom at NYU during the weekdays. Of course, we used it on the weekends. Why a lot of forms? I do believe that the actor should develop his art continuously. If the actor only acts or sings, he or she, in my humble opinion, is just a theater worker and not an artist.

Where have you been with the show, and how was the show received?

To the Winners has been presented in Miami (for its open to the public rehearsal), São Paulo and Curitiba (Brazil), New York, Gulfport (St. Petersburg), Tampa, Orlando, Montreal (Canada), Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic), and Minneapolis. I believe the show has been received very satisfactorily by the public and the critics, in general. In Canada, for example, To the Winners was awarded Best Text of the 2005 Montreal Fringe Festival.

What's been the most fulfilling moment up to this point for you as an artist?

Being able to develop my work as a solo artist. Everybody knows how hard it is to be accepted as a newcomer. But I believe that people are slowly acknowledging me as an artist. And that's definitely wonderful.

Ok, now to lighten things up - what's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on stage?

I would not say embarrassing but definitely funny ... This happened when I was about 16 in Brazil. I was in a play where I played the role of a blind person. People in the cast were supposed to place me in front of a microphone stand. Well, the play went on and on and on, my cue was about to happen any minute, and nobody came to take me to the microphone. It stood in front of the stage. Miraculously, I walked straight to it without any hesitation or help from anyone. That was pretty funny. But the story follows ... At a certain moment, a child, from the audience, ran right in front of me and tripped over the microphone stand. Guess what? The blind man, me, once again miraculously grabbed the phone so that it wouldn't fall down on the stage floor.

Who are some of your role models/heroes in regards to your life in art?

I enjoy and respect Robert Wilson's work very much as well as Brazilian actress Denise Stoklos with whom I had the pleasure of working at the legendary theater La MaMa, in New York, a few years ago. Working with Mr. Wilson is still a dream of mine...

Anything else you'd like to add?

I will be presenting To the Winners in Orlando at the Studio Theater on January 26, 27 and 28, 2007. I would also like to add that Broadway is unquestionably important to the world's theater scene. No question about that. But the new artists are the ones who need the most support they can get from the public. How many times does a person need to see Oklahoma, for example? Just kidding ... Please, support the new faces, the new voices, the new theater!