Steven Hunt

After six and a half years, first as co-host and then as host of Stage Talk, Steve Hunt has decided to exit stage left. With his departure the show will take a short hiatus and then re-appear in August in a new format with a new name, but still focusing on the arts. To help commemorate the last episode of the show, Hunt has invited as his guest, Stage Talk creator and first host, Catherine Stadem. Join Steve and Catherine today on Stage Talk as they talk about its beginnings almost twenty years ago through its history of celebrating the performing arts up to today. Thanks for listening!

Linda Benson and Bruce Kelly of Stories at the Cemetery drop by Stage Talk this week to chat about all the fascinating characters that are brought to life in the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. This annual event, in which the general public walks from grave site to grave site to hear live actors reenact the lives of former Anchorage residents, will happen this July 8th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. And on August 12th, the event repeats with all the actors performing on a single stage. Thanks for listening!

Written, directed and performed by Glyka Stoiou, the Commedia dell'arte-influenced Don Quixotes (based on Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes) performs at Cyrano's Theatre Company for one weekend only. Visiting Stage Talk from her native Greece, Stoiou, along with cast mate and fellow Greek Angeliki Karakaxidou, talks about her play, her process and the absolute zaniness of the performance. Also joining Stoiou and Karakaxidou is Cyrano's Producing Artistic Director Teresa K. Pond. Don Quixotes performs June 21-24. Thanks for listening!

Professional actors and teachers Shelley Virginia and Ty Hewitt are starting a new theatre company in Anchorage called Cazart (ku-'zart) and will be presenting their premier production of Duncan MacMillan's Lungs in August. Today, both Ty and Shelley drop by Stage Talk to give us some background on the company and their plans for the future. Thanks for listening!

This June 9th through the 16th the twenty-sixth annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference will happen in Valdez, Alaska. Playwrights, actors, directors, and even a few fight choreographers will all spend a week exploring and celebrating new works as well as discovering new friends and reestablishing old ones. Conference Coordinator Dawson Moore joins Stage Talk this week via phone to talk about what will be happening this year. Thanks for listening!

Anchorage Community Theatre's Executive Director Matt Fernandez drops by Stage Talk this week to give us an overview of what they have planned for their 2018-2019 season. a farce, an historical musical, a drama, an adaption of a Newberry Medal winning novel and a work from an "honorary local" are in the works. Thanks for listening!

Nick Jones, writer for the popular show Orange is the New Black, has penned a play that features a character not quite like many you've met. His name is Trevor and he is a chimpanzee who had fame as a youth but now is going through growing pains. Trevor is an exploration of communication and humanity and is both hilarious and troublesome. Join R. Scott Cantrell who plays the title character, along with Director Charlie Cardwell and Louisa Martin who plays next door neighbor Ashley on this week's Stage Talk. Trevor performs at Cyrano's Theatre Company May 18-June 9. Thanks for listening!

This week on Stage Talk, we turn our attention to the world of Scene Design and Technology to give our listeners literally a "tour backstage". Tune in to meet two of Anchorage's busiest designers and technicians Dan Carlgren and Brian Saylor as they talk about how they first got involved in the art, what they've done, and their own personal and professional approaches to creating the physical world of a play. Carlgren is currently the Faculty Scenic Designer, Projection Designer and Technical Director for UAA Department of Theatre and Dance and Saylor designs and builds for several theatres in town including Anchorage Community Theatre and Cyrano's Theatre Company. Thanks for listening!

Before Muhammad Ali was "The Greatest" he was the younger "Cassius Clay" fighting to find out who he was and where he was going in life. Anchorage Community Theatre is presenting Idris Goodwin's award winning play And In This Corner: Cassius Clay through May 13th. Director Matt Fernandez and Xavier Love, who plays Cassius Clay at age 18, drop by Stage Talk this week to talk about Ali's early life and the forces that forged him to become one of the most recognized figures in the world. Thanks for listening!

Of more than a hundred scripts submitted to the 2018 Earth Matters on Stage (EMOS) New Play Competition, New York based playwright Crystal Skillman's Rain and Zoe Save the World was selected as the winning entry and is being produced by The University of Alaska Anchorage Department of Theatre. This week on Stage Talk, director Ty Hewitt drops by to talk about EMOS as well as the play which follows two Seattle teenagers on an across the country motorcycle trip that results in them learning more about themselves than they ever anticipated. Rain and Zoe Save the World performs April 27-29 at the UAA Mainstage located in the UAA Fine Arts Building. Thanks for listening!

Chad Carpenter, creator of the world famous Tundra comic strip, is foraying into his second adventure into the world of film as writer and producer of Sudsy Slim Rides Again. (His first film was Moose the Movie.) Carpenter, who says of Sudsy, "it's a film about Alaskans made in Alaska by Alaskans" drops by Stage Talk this week to talk about the film, Tundra, and how he has manged to balance both worlds. Sudsy Slim Rides Again opens in the Valley Cinema in Wasilla April 20 with four shows a day until the cows come home. KSKA: Friday, April 20 at 2:45pm Thanks for listening!

Loosely based on the Enron scandal in 2001, but focused on the individual people who were affected by corporate greed of the time, Spikes is the latest play by Anchorage playwright Schatzie Schaefers and is being produced by RKP Productions. Schaefers, along with director Dick Reichman drop by Stage Talk this week to talk about the play as well as how they collaborated to bring it to fruition. Spikes performs at Cyrano's Theatre Company April 13-29. Thanks for listening! KSKA: Friday, April 13 at 2:45pm

It's the 100th anniversary of famed composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and to help celebrate, Anchorage Opera is collaborating with Anchorage Symphony Orchestra to present Bernstein's operetta Candide with book by Hugh Wheeler. Join Stage Talk guests Teresa K. Pond (Stage Director) and Conductor Charles Prince (son of Broadway director Hal Prince) today as they talk about this work based on Voltaire's book of the same name. Candide performs in the Atwood Concert Hall April 7 and 8. Thanks for listening! KSKA: Friday, April 6 at 2:45pm

Most people remember the Disney film Mary Poppins but now there is a live-stage version spearheaded by a collaboration between Disney and Cameron Mackintosh and Valley Performing Arts is presenting it in the Glenn Massay Theatre on the campus of Mat-Su College March 30th through April 22. Executive Director for VPA Garry Forrester drops by Stage Talk this week to describe how ambitious and rewarding this project is. KSKA: Friday, March 30 at 2:45pm Thanks for listening!

Playwright, actor and director Austin Pendelton's play Orson's Shadow, a fictional exploration of a 1960 rehearsal with some of the most famous theatre luminaries of the time is the latest offering by Cyrano's Theatre Company. The "Orson" of the title refers to "Orson Wells", director and actor of such works as Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds. Other famous characters include Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Joan Plowright and Kenneth Tynan. David Haynes, who plays the title character along with Stefani Suydam (Vivien Leigh) and director Dave Dahl drop by Stage Talk this week to chat about how the play has been going. Orson's Shadow is currently performing at Cyrano's and continues its run until April 1st. LISTEN HERE KSKA: Friday, March 23 at 2:45pm

KSKA: Friday, March 2 at 2:45p.m. It's 1934 and the world's most famous stage director, Max Reinhardt, is directing the film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream when two of the characters from the play (Oberon and Puck) suddenly materialize and want to be in the show. If that sounds like a classic set up for a Ken Ludwig Farce, you're correct. Anchorage Community Theatre is presenting Ludwig's Shakespeare in Hollywood March 2-25 and Director Jocelyn Paine with actors Scott Rhode and ShaeLisa Anderson drop by Stage Talk this week to talk about it. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, February 23 at 2:45pm It's February in Anchorage and that means that Fur Rondy is taking over the town. And that means Melodrama Time! Alaska Sound Celebration is presenting the 28th Annual Melodrama at the 49th State Brewing Company February 23-March 10th. This year's title is Hope Springs Eternal (of The Dirty Deed) and is written by honorary Alaskan Rand Higbee. Co-producers Christy Hedrick and Melanie Cross stop by Stage Talk this week to let us in on all the fun. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, February 16 at 2:45pm UAA Department of Theatre's Brian Cook started working on a collaborative project with students over a year ago to research the earthquake that devastated south central Alaska in 1964 with the purpose of creating a presentation that would explore this defining moment in Alaskan history. The result is Earthquake '64, a multidisciplinary performance that weaves personal stories, movement and music together into an exciting evening of theatre. Joining Brian today on Stage Talk are three of those student-collaborators, Adi Davis, Kaeli Meno and Paitton Reid. Earthquake '64 performs at the Fine Arts Center on the campus of UAA February 16-18. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, February 9 at 2:45pm Anchorage Opera is presenting the powerful new opera, As One, by composer Laura Kaminsky in collaboration with librettist Mark Campbell and librettist/filmmaker Kimberly Reed (on whom the opera is loosely based). As One explores the life of "Hannah Before" and "Hannah After" as she discovers who she truly is. Conductor, stage director and production designer Andreas Mitisek drops by Stage Talk today to talk about how he is bringing this amazing story to the stage. Joining Mitisek is Anchorage Opera's General Director Reed Smith. As One performs in the Sydney Laurence Theatre in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts February 9, 10 and 11. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, February 2 at 2:45pm It's the 20th anniversary of "V-Day", a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls started by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler and Anchorage's STAR (Standing Together Against Rape) is presenting Ensler's play, The Vagina Monologues at the Bear Tooth Theatre to celebrate the event. Joining Stage Talk host Steve Hunt this week to talk about the show are the director Krista Schwarting, actor Amanda Cantrell and Jennifer Brown of STAR. The Vagina Monologues performs February 8 and 26. LISTEN HERE