Speaking of the Arts

Having mastered Guitar Hero as a young teen, Yasmin Williams picked up a guitar, sat it horizontally across her lap, and developed her style of lap-tapping guitar. This week her second album 'Urban Driftwood' is released on which she not only proves herself a master of the technique, but also her compositional maturity and her ability to seamlessly blend multiple musical heritages. On this week's show Diana Moxon spends the whole hour with Yasmin, talking about the influences in 'Urban Driftwood', her adventures with the kora, and the making of her first music video.

It is a time for reimagining, and the arts are in the reimagining vanguard. On this week's show, host Diana Moxon, talks to Unbound Book Festival Executive Director, Alex George, about turning their one-weekend festival into a 3-month digital literary extravaganza; The District's Executive Director, Nickie Davis, and sculptor, Emmett Russell, chat about Columbia's new Gateway Plaza; and Greenhouse Theatre Project founder, director and actor, Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri brings along director Tia James and playwright, Julia Valen, to talk about their upcoming production, 'Nothing Can Stop What is Coming'. Opening and closing music with thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, host Diana Moxon stays close to home with two conversations with the station's new General Manager, Miquel Calçada, and its former General Manager -and person who wrangled KOPN through a pandemic - musician, composer and sound designer, Tim Pilcher. Why is Miquel known as Miki Moto in his home country of Catalonia? And exactly why is a formerly Barcelona-based TV host and radio entrepreneur now living in Columbia, MO? And why is community radio such a precious jewel on our radio dial? All the answers on this week's show. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

In a week when the world descended to a new level of crazy, actor and ardent arts supporter, Monica Senecal Palmer, joins host Diana Moxon for an hour of arts escapism to talk about some of her art journeys in 2020 and share thoughts on the state of the arts in general, plus there's music from two Columbia-based singer songwriters, Audra Sergel and Meredith Musgrove Shaw, and Diana tests Monica's knowledge of Shakespeare, Dumbledore and Yoda quotes, and gives her a Hindsight is 2020 quiz looking back over the past year of arts events in Columbia. Opening and closing musical credits thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliams.music.com)

Despite lockdowns, ghost lights, reductions and limitations, Speaking of the Arts has gone out every week this year thanks to the extraordinary group of arts leaders we have in Columbia Missouri. And one of the silver linings of this recording-from-home year has been the opportunity to reach out to people that are doing amazing work in other parts of the country - or world. On this week's show, host Diana Moxon, delves into the archives from the past 12 months and revisits some of the chats with people from beyond the local community: guitarist Yasmin Williams; film-maker David France and his documentary subject, Maxim, who came to town for the True/False film fest with their doc 'Welcome to Chechnya'; Tupperware lady supreme, Dixie Longate; French horn player Amanda Collins; Nigerian-Ghanaian-American composer, FredO; conductor Marlon Daniel; and American-living-in-Berlin comedian, Corey Ott. Opening and closing music with thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

This year so many artists, directors, and arts leaders have performed amazing feats to keep on delivering the arts to us, but what has kept those artists going? On this week's Speaking of the Arts, Diana Moxon, talks to three local performing artists about their year and where they found comfort: Singer songwriter Audra Sergel; theatre director Joy Powell; and soprano-alto-tenor multi-genre singer Symonne Sparks. Opening and closing music thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

In a year when there were almost no arts as we knew them, there was instead a plethora of arts as we had never seen before. In Part I of a 2-week Arts Year in Review, host Diana Moxon chats with 4 local arts leaders about what their highlights and reflections on the year. Alex George from Skylark Bookshop talks books, virtual book tours and community support; the Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammond remembers some of her favorite art shows and reflects on the importance of us all deepening our mental stretch; Columbia Daily Tribune arts writer, Aarik Danielsen, looks back on some of his conversations and virtual events; and Talking Horse Production's Artistic Director, Adam Brietzke, talks about the theatre's monologue contest and how COVID shone a spotlight on the importance of the performing arts to so many people. Opening and closing music with thanks to Yasmin Williams www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com

On this week's show a pair of Christmas Carols and a couple of books. With stages still dark, two theatre companies are reinventing Dickens' A Christmas Carol to engage us from our home sofas. Greenhouse Theatre Project (GTP) and Arrow Rock's Lyceum Theatre, both adept adaptors of Dickens' work, have adapted it once more and this time with some extra technology sparkles. Show host, Diana Moxon, chats with Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri from GTP and Quin Gresham from The Lyceum Theatre. Meanwhile, in the stocking-stuffer department, authors Kira Harris ('Equillian's Key' - www.masterofmakebelieve.com) and Jill Orr ('The Full Scoop' - www.jillorrauthor.com) have new books out that are something of a departure from their usual genre. Harris' illustrated picture book for adults 'The World is Full of Assholes' and Jill Orr's 'How Not To Be Old (Even If You Are)' are out in time for gift giving. Kira Harris joins Diana from her home in Perth, Western Australia, and Jill Orr from Columbia, Missouri. Opening and closing music with thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

This week was Giving Tuesday and also the launch of the month-long COMO Gives campaign, so what better time to feature 6 local arts organizations who are making mid-Missouri a great place to live. This week host Diana Moxon chats with Orr Street Studios director Mallory Donohue about their new artist-in-residence programs and turning tagging into a statement to live by; Boone History and Culture Center's Executive Director Chris Campbell talks about the intimidating task of documenting this time for future generations; TRYPS children's theatre maker of dreams, Jill Womack, talks about the gifts of the stage and advent concerts; Ayako Tsuruta, Executive and Artistic Director of the Oydssey Chamber Music Series chats about the role of streaming in the slow return to concert gatherings; Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Columbia Civic Orchestra talks remote recording and bringing more diverse voices to the fore; and actor, musician and soon-to-be Interim Executive Director of the Columbia Entertainment Company, Enola White, chats about the highlights and opportunities of a dark year. Opening and closing music courtesy of Yasmin Williams www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com

Each year since 2017, The Missourian newspaper has asked the community to nominate individuals for awards in 10 categories, one of which is the Arts. The annual Progress in the Arts award was handed out this week in a virtual ceremony, so, on this week's Speaking of the Arts, host Diana Moxon checks in with 4 of the nominees - including the winner: Brandon Hall, Director of the Columbia Jazz Orchestra. Nominee Violet Vonder Haar talks about life as a female musician, the importance of the Jane Doe Revue and the annual Compass Music Camp for children which she co-directs; vocal coach and Columbia College Assistant Professor of Music, Nollie Moore, talks about teaching people to sing and the importance of expanding the teaching canon; and Ragtag Film Society's Director of Operations, Carly Love, talks about making the True False film fest accessible to all and trying to plan for a fest in a pandemic. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

For the past 6 years, Talking Horse Productions has hosted the Starting Gate New Play Festival with 6 brand new plays by 3 playwrights and, despite the pandemic, the show is still going on - but this year it's digital instead. Actor and director, Monica Palmer, and playwright Melle Richardson chat playwriting with host Diana Moxon on this week's show, along with Skylark Bookshop's Alex George talking about their Jólabókaflóð, and the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Julie Middleton and Trent Rash taking us behind the scenes of this year's Holiday Home Tour. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

This week's Speaking of the Arts is a theatre-film-theatre sandwich, with host Diana Moxon taking on the role of butter. Greenhouse Theatre Project's founder and director Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and playwright Rigel Oliveri talk about their new Living Room One Acts: Pandemic Edition production, 'Travel Plans'. In Act Two of the show, Diana chats with Ragtag Film Society's Co-Director Barbie Banks about how their plans are shaping up for the 2021 True False Film Fest; and in Act Three, it's back to the stage with Columbia Entertainment Company's Christopher Gould (director) and Audrey Abeyta (actor) who discuss their new production of the George Brant one-woman play, 'Grounded'. Opening and closing music credits to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com) for her song 'Restless Heart'.

On this week's show, host Diana Moxon checks in with four local organizations as they pirouette through the year. In the world of classical music, Odyssey Chamber Music Series artistic director, Ayako Tsuruta, guts her planned Season 17 program in response to the events of the year; at the University of Missouri's George Caleb Bingham gallery, Catherine Armbrust, John Fifeld-Perez and Nicole Johnston create an exhibit that explores the persistent narratives of marginalized voices within 3 of the university's collections; at Ragtag Cinema, programmer Ted Rogers hunts through back catalogues to create a women-kick-ass film series; and at Arrow Rock's Lyceum Theater, Artistic Director Quin Gresham chats about holding it all together and how to cruise....from a box. Opening and closing show music is 'Restless Heart' written by Yasmin Williams (yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

This week, Diana Moxon chats to actor/producer Enola White about what happens when Disney Princesses stay at home drinking tea and catching up via Zoom in Columbia Entertainment Company's production of 'Disenchanted Stay at Home version'; Jabberwocky Studios Executive Director, Linda Schust, catches Diana up on how Jabberwocky got started and how they are dealing with these pandemic times; and Executive Artistic Director, Jill Womack, talks about teaching theatre to young people via Zoom, their involvement in the national #artsheroes campaign, and how they are funding their move to a new home in 2021.

This week's Speaking of the Arts runs the gamut from a play about the first known asymptomatic typhoid carrier, to an art exhibit about society's view of women, and the deafening silence of life on Broadway. Along the way show host, Diana Moxon, chats to director Alana Barragan-Scott and actor Paula Vanlandingham, artist Farëna Saburi, and choreographer Carol Schuberg.

We have grown accustomed to the endlessness of arts cancelations but on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with two artists who have shows on real life walls: Jenny McGee whose new show 'Special Midwest Places' opens at William Woods Mildred Cox Gallery this week, and Anastasia Pottinger whose 'Awful//Cute' photography show is on display at the Columbia Art League's South Gallery. For documentary film-makers though, a world in pandemic is pretty hostile to their art form, and Diana's third guest this week is film-maker - and Assistant Professor at the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism - Robert Greene, who talks about the critical state of documentary film-making and what a world dominated by giants like Netflix are doing to the industry.

On this week's show host Diana Moxon explores the world of art therapy with registered art therapist Michelle Itzcak from the University of Indianapolis, catches up with Talking Horse Productions Adam Brietzke to find out how their Original Monologue Contest went, and talks to Berlin-based comedian Corey Ott about what live comedy looks like in the age of COVID. Opening and closing music thanks to Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

On this week's Speaking of the Arts host Diana Moxon chats to Greenhouse Theatre Project's founder, Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and her brother, playwright Matt Braaten talk about Matt's new play COVID Buddies, which debuts next week as part of GTP's Living Room One Act series; the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Trent Rash talks about the new MOSY @ Home education series; and Talking Horse Productions founder Ed Hanson talks about finding his voice as a children's author chronicling the adventures of his dog, Dodger, plus his imminent move to a new home in Kansas. Opening and closing music is by Yasmin Williams - more of her music at www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com.

As we officially head into Fall next week, Diana Moxon checks out the autumn schedules at Skylark Bookshop (Alex George), Columbia Art League (Kelsey Hammond), Ragtag Cinema (Barbie Banks), and the University of Missouri Theatre Department (Joy Powell) and chats with 4 of Columbia's art leaders and creators who are planning on keeping the community engaged as the nights draw in. The music at the beginning and end of the show is a song called 'Restless Heart' by Yasmin Williams, whose music can be found on Spotify and on her website at www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com.

Keeping people safe and staying in business is almost impossible right now if your operation relies on an audience. When is the right time to re-open? This week host Diana Moxon chats with the head of the Missouri Arts Council, Michael Donovan about its new Missouri Art Safe program designed to help venues prepare for re-opening. Plus singer songwriter Audra Sergel talks about her new EP, 'Sanctuary' and about life as a live musical performer when the live component has gone away. You can find out more about Audra's music at http://audrasergel.com/index.html and about the Missouri Art Safe program at https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/missouri-artsafe/. The intro and outro music is thanks to Yasmin Williams, whose music you can find at http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/

Keeping us all engaged with the arts during COVID19 is no mean feat but this month two arts happenings are aiming both to amuse us on our sofas and also get us out of the house. Talking Horse Productions Original Monologue Contest runs from September 1-30 and the theatre company's Artistic Director, Adam Brietzke, tells Diana all about it. Meanwhile the University of Missouri's Artist in Residence (AIR) Program will be illuminating buildings around campus with works from 5 poets and 1 graphic designer. AIR coordinators Marie Hunter and Katie Harris drop in to the virtual studio to talk about In Focus: Poetry, and poet Marc McKee and graphic designer Cynthia Perez also stop by to talk about their contributions to the project, which runs from September 8-13. Find out more about the project here: https://air.missouri.edu/air/focus-poetry. Thanks also to guitarist Yasmin Williams whose song Restless Heart plays at the beginning and end of the show. You can find out more about her music at www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com or on Spotify.

This week's show is a MUST for all arts administrators - and non-profit leaders, staff or volunteers - as arts consultant Sara Leonard returns to the show to continue her chat with Diana Moxon about the conversations that we should all be having within our organizations about being better guardians of inclusion, diversity and equity within the arts. Even for those who don't work in the arts, Sara has fascinating insights about the challenges facing the arts during this time and what some of the research is telling us about what people need from their arts organizations. You can find out more about Sara's work at http://www.saraleonardconsulting.com/. The theme music for the show is 'Restless Heart' by Yasmin Williams, and the work played in the show is 'Juvenescence' from Yasmin's forthcoming album, 'Urban Driftwood'. Find out more about Yasmin's music at www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com.

This week's Speaking of the Arts is a back-to-school edition in honor of all the teachers, staff, janitors and everyone else who is facing the unknown unknowns. Actors Jennifer and John Hemphill talk about teaching singing and acting at Stephens College this Fall; Dr. Julia Gaines discusses preparations the University of Missouri's School of Music are making; Director of Bands at Hickman High School, Denis Swope, talks about what Marching Band looks like in a pandemic; and the person in charge of all things art from K through 12 at Columbia Public Schools, James Melton, talks about he hopes to never hope the word pivot again. Thanks, as always to guitarist Yasmin Williams, for allowing her song 'Restless Heart' to be played for the show's intro and outro. You can hear more of her music on Spotify and via her website www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com.

Imagine being a teenage dancer, you've been thrust into the spotlight, you're on tour for the first time, and your mentor tells you: 'You do not have friends, and you will be going through your career alone.' For Darren Gibson, this was the start of his journey as a principal ballet dancer. Today he is the ballet master at Stephens College, and on this week's show he talks about the lonely journey of being a black, male dancer and how critical it is for today's young black and brown ballet dancers to have teachers who look like them. And in the Second Act of the show Diana talks with the Columbia Art League's Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, about a different kind of color loneliness in CAL's new show, Monochrome, and its ROYGBIV variations.

An exhortation to 'Live This Life' was spray-painted on a sidewalk, and it perfectly sums up how so many people and organizations in the arts are choosing to manage this time. Life is not neat and orderly right now, but This Life is what we have. On this week's show we chat to author and bookshop owner, Alex George, about Skylark Bookshop's new weekly 'MUST READ TV' (https://www.skylarkbookshop.com/new-events); to actor, comedian, composer and play adapter, Meg Phillips Crespy about the upcoming Guerl-Rilla theatre season and how that company is working with these times (https://guerl-rillatheatre.webnode.com/); and we revisit a chat with actor-musician-producer, Richard Harris, about the CoMo Griot Society (https://www.facebook.com/groups/269408244031474/). And thanks as always go to guitarist and songwriter, Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for allowing us to play her song 'Restless Heart' as part of the show's intro and outro.

The award-winning international conductor, Marlon Daniel, is the world expert on the music of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, has conducted for prestigious orchestras across Europe and the United States, has spent his career promoting diversity within the classical music world and focusing on music by composers of African descent, and is the Director of The Saint-Georges International Music Festival in Guadeloupe and Founder of the Ensemble du Monde orchestra. And this week he joins Diana Moxon for a full hour chat about his career, influences and his connection to Cookie Monster. You can find more information about The Saint-Georges International Music Festival here: https://www.guadeloupe-islands.com/saint-georges-international-music-festival/ and about Marlon on his website at https://www.marlondaniel.com/. Thanks also to guitarist Yasmin Williams, whose song 'Restless Heart' plays the show in and out. Find out more about Yasmin's music at www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com as well as on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4j8CsPzssbM8TCjSvgnmSs

How do arts organizations keep us all engaged when so few of us can gather? Do we want the same things as before? On this week's Speaking of the Arts, arts management consultant, Sara Leonard tells us what the research is saying and what kind of things arts organizations can be doing right now to meet our needs. And the University of Missouri theatre department's Joy Powell (director) and Brett Kristofferson (composer) talk about their new production, 'So Near, So Far' - filmed IRL and viewable virtually at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJmj4OqBwI. Also thanks to musician Yasmin Williams for giving permission to include her song 'Restless Heart' from her 'Unwind' album for the intro and outro of the show. Find her at http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/

This week Diana Moxon revisits two recent episodes where she talked with black arts creators about their experiences: Fred Onovwerosuoke - aka FredO - the most prolific living African composer of classical music and denizen of St Louis; and actors Enola White and Barret Brooks who have appeared on, and behind the scenes of, many of Columbia's community theatre stages.

Do we go ahead or do we cancel? The question facing all arts organizations as they try to navigate these liminal times. On this week's show Columbia Art League Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, looks back on her first year running one of Columbia's oldest arts organizations; Talking Horse Productions' Artistic Director, Adam Brietzke, chats about trying to plan in a turmoil and about a new theatrical event that is coming up in a safe space; and a new operatic and musical theatre voice, Anthony Blatter, talks about his career and his hopes for racial equality in the world of the performing arts.

What is it like being a black actor in the Columbia theatre scene? On this week's show actors, Enola White and Barret Brooks, generously chat with me about their experiences. Plus we delve into some summer reading with Skylark Bookshop's Alex George, and I chat to Dr. Joy Powell and writer/composer/actor Murphy Ward about a new musical, 'All the Spaces', penned by Murphy Ward, Kylee Compton and Shawn Campanini, which is being workshopped online before opening at the University of Missouri this September. And here are some links to things discussed on today's show: Dear White American Theatre letter here: https://www.weseeyouwat.com/ ; #PublishingPaidMe https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xsx6rKJtafa8f_prlYYD3zRxaXYVDaPXbasvt_iA2vA/edit#gid=1798364047 ; 'All the Spaces' presented by the MU Theatre department here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLxt-06nj2o

It's not every day an award-winning international composer agrees to come and chat on Speaking of the Arts, but that all changes on this week's show when Fred Onovwerosuoke - otherwise known as FredO - chats to me about being an immigrant composer and why a George Orwell passage became a chant in his Triptych of American Voices: A Cantata of the People. Also actor Richard Harris joins me to talk about the COMO Griot Society, the legacy of August Wilson's 1996 manifesto 'The Ground on Which I Stand', and about his famous Granny - Opal Lee. Plus a new man in the neighborhood, Mr Mosy aka the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Executive Director, Trent Rash, drops in to talk comfy sweaters, bowties and musical feelings. Links to FredO's music can be found here: http://fredomusic.com/wrksmpls Find out more about the COMO Griot Society here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/269408244031474/ And you can find Mr Mosy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UOZpHzVIA

We hover, somewhat precariously, between being back in the real world, and staying safe at home. And the arts are in that same in between space. On this week's Speaking of the Arts we check out some actual IRL arts events and some that we can enjoy from home. Greenhouse Theatre Project's Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and Claire Syler talk about their virtual production of the Lauren Gunderson play 'Natural Shocks', Maplewood Barn theatre's Morgan Dennehy and Christopher Gould chat about their IRL production of Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost, Skylark Bookshop's Alex George recommends three books for Father's Day gifts, Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about how it feels to be back in the real world, and artist Elise Rugolo talks about a real life exhibit that opens at the Boone History and Culture Center's Montminy Gallery this weekend.

There is arts chat and subliminal music on this week's Speaking of the Arts, starting with a new song by Yasmin Williams - as yet untitled, she's looking for suggestions - from her next as-yet unrecorded album. Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about reopening Ragtag; French horn player Amanda Collins talks about a new recording of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' recorded by a group of black orchestral musicians and about the dearth of black musicians in orchestras; Skylark Bookshop's Alex George reviews some required reading books; and Hannah Reeves gives us a whistle stop tour of the Sager Braudis June exhibit. Visit the Speaking of the Arts Facebook page to find links to the music and venues https://www.facebook.com/speakingofthearts/

This week Diana talks to Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks about the importance of lifting up black voices in film; Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammond turns the tables and asks Diana about her 11 years of running Art in the Park; Monica Palmer chats about the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Hot Summer Nights Greatest Hits Season; AND author Jill Orr talks about the latest - and possibly last - novel in her Riley Ellison mystery series, The Full Scoop.

On this week's trip around the arts, host Diana Moxon finds out from director Barbie Banks what Ragtag Cinema is doing to get ready for its reopening next week; Tryps' director Jill Womack talks about the silver lining of reinventing their summer camp program into the virtual realm; the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer introduces Diana to contemporary female composer Nkeiru Okoye; Skylark's Alex George chats about the world of independent bookstores, and a new biography of George Washington; and Stephens College's Jennifer Hemphill and husband John Hemphill, both former Broadway actors, talk about the shuttering of the world's most famous theatre district.

This week as we tour the Columbia arts scene Diana drops into Skylark bookshop to talk food porn aka cookbooks with Alex George, chats with singer songwriter Audra Sergel about 'Sing!' -a cabaret night to benefit Talking Horse Productions, finds out more about the 19th female composer Clara Schumann from the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer, discusses Oscars postponement and a new film about Swedish abstract artist Hilma af Klint with Ragtag's Barbie Banks, before finally calling in to Talking Horse theatre to play the New Choice! improv game with Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson. And, amazingly, it all happens in just 58 minutes.

On this week's episode of Speaking of the Arts Diana gets to improvise her Jakarta nightclub days with Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson from Talking Horse Production and The Stable Boys, and she falls in love with the music of 17th century Venetian composer, Barbara Strozzi thanks to Monica Palmer of the Missouri Symphony Orchestra. Plus, Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks introduces a new French film that looks at being a female escort through a different lens ,'Alice'; Catherine Armbrust talks about 'Chimera' a virtual art show by the next generation of young artists (https://armbrustc.wixsite.com/chimera2020), and Alex George talks about two new books that offer a literary escape - 'Circe' by Madeline Miller and 'In Five Years' by Rebecca Searle.

As we all navigate our way to the new normal, the arts quietly carries on feeding our souls. Nobody ever felt worse after reading a good book, or listening to Mozart, or standing before an artwork that spoke to them. On this week's Speaking of the Arts Diana Moxon checks in with Ragtag Cinema, the Columbia Art League, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, Skylark Bookshop and Talking Horse Productions and finds out along the way about how difficult it is to tell Mick Jagger apart from Mozart, what Talking Horse Productions' Adam Brietzke thinks about murder hornets, upcoming drive-in movies, a new memoir for dog lovers, and the range of famous artists whose influences are on display in the Columbia Art League's Visual Mixtape online exhibit.

It's an exciting week in the Columbia literary world, with the latest novel by Skylark Bookshop owner, Alex George, getting its official launch, and so this week Alex chats to Diana about 'The Paris Hours', about weaving real people into fictional tales, and explains how the ending got its clever twist. Plus Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks talks about the work of directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, and looks at the new documentary 'Capital in the 21st Century'. At Sager Braudis Gallery Hannah Reeves discusses the new May exhibit, and for the last stop on the arts tour Talking Horse Producion's Adam Brietzke and The Stable Boys' Kathleen Johnson teach Diana a short form game called 'Questions Only' and it's clear Diana needs some practice.

This week, with the help of sound effects, Diana cycles around Columbia visiting arts organizations to find out what we can all enjoy from the comfort of our sofas. In the world of Ragtag film, this week they open an Irish paranormal comedy, 'Extra Ordinary' and a documentary 'Pahokee' plus there's another chance to see this year's CoMo shorts and the 1991 movie 'Hook'. Skylark's Alex George talks about this week's Housebound Unbound book events; the Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammonds talks about their new show, which opens on April 27th, called 'Visual Mixtape' and discusses the artistic influences on her own body of work; at Talking Horse theatre, Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson, demonstrate another improv game; and the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer meets Diana at the Missouri Theatre for a chat about the composer Rachmaninov.

The opportunities to enjoy the arts from the comforts of home continues. First up on this week's show, Skylark Bookshop's Alex George reviews two new novels, 'Golden State' by Ben Winters about a dystopian future where telling a lie puts you in jail, and a new comically toe-curling essay collection by Samantha Irby called 'Wow, No Thank You' plus Alex gives a little insight into how artwork is chosen for a book cover; Columbia Art League's Kelsey Hammond looks at their new online photography show by Dan Farnum called 'Young Blood' (https://columbiaartleague.org/virtual-gallery-shows); Talking Horse Productions' Adam Brietzke and The Stable Boys' Kathleen Johnson give Diana another improv lesson that involves a poop joke; Ragtag's Barbie Banks tells us how we can binge watch a Columbia-made soap opera, 'Nettle Pointe' by Sasha Goodnow; and finally the Missouri Symphony's Trent Rash takes us a tour of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'.

Listen to this week's Speaking of the Arts to hear from Ragtag's Barbie Banks about a new documentary looking at gerrymandering called Slay the Dragon and a Romanian heist thriller, The Whistlers, the inspiration for which comes from a real life whistling language used on La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands; Skylark Bookshop's Alex George chats about two books that look at different aspects of the second world war - Erik Larson's new book about the London Blitz. The Splendid and the Vile, and Jennifer Rosner's novel about enforced isolation 'The Yellow Bird Sings'; Bingham gallery director Catherine Armbrust and artist Dianna Temple talk about Dianna's digital art show 'Wheelchair tornadoes and Other Things Our Eyes Cannot See'; Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson give Diana Moxon another improv lesson; and the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer gives us the down and dirty on Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. And it's all neatly packed into 1 hour.

We are all in the same boat right now. Separated by oceans, borders, and now sequestration, we are all in this new normal together. We can't travel physically but we can travel in our imagination. So come fly with me, Diana Moxon, for one hour as we digitally fly around the world and listen to audio postcards from London (Audrey Gillan), Stockholm (Katarina Zetterberg), Sydney (Corey Zerna), Auckland (Glenn White), Shanghai (Richard Choke), Bangkok (Chris Stafford), and Geneva (Ine Bjolseth). Plus we have music from each destination. Thanks to Spankin Rufus for providing the theme music, and the fabulous Loose Loose (www.looseloose.org), who allowed me to shamelessly sample music from their albums Candor and Sanguine. You can hear all their tracks in full on Spotify and via their website.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts Diana finds out about this week's Extra Credit movie available at RagtagCinema.org from Barbie Banks; Trent Rash from the Missouri Symphony Orchestra reveals which naughty 18th century composer cut the pigtail off a chorister; Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson from Talking Horse Productions teach Diana the first building blocks of impro; Hannah Reeves takes us behind the scenes of the new Contemporary Cuban Art exhibit at the Sager Braudis Gallery; AND Alex George tells us what new book is flying off the shelves this week at Skylark Bookshop. And we manage to fit it all into just one hour.

As we're all practicing social distancing and going to an arts event is off the menu, this week we track what's available to us at a distance and check in with some of Columbia's arts makers and distributors. Ragtag Cinema's Barbie Banks tells us what movies are streaming through their website; Skylark Bookshop's Alex George talks about the new Emily St John Mandel book 'The Glass Hotel' and Hillary Mantel's 'The Mirror and the Light'; the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Monica Palmer gives us new insights into Ravel's Bolero; we get an improv lesson from Talking Horse theatre's Adam Brietzke and Kathleen Johnson; and Hannah Reeves gives us a sneak peek at two of the artworks in their new Contemporary Cuban exhibit.

These are strange and unprecedented times for all of us. With all arts and culture events canceled, all venues shuttered and no end in sight, this week Diana chats to Michael Donovan, the Executive Director of the Missouri Arts Council (MAC) about what resources are available for artists and arts organizations, and what conversations MAC is having with funders and organizations around the state. In Act Two, Monica Palmer, the Development Director for the Missouri Symphony Orchestra talks about why the arts are so important to the public good and some of the ideas that she is working on to keep us all engaged during our quarantine time. And in Act Three, the Columbia Art League's (CAL) Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, discusses what online events CAL is planning and how she's trying to navigate organizing Art in the Park whilst uncertainty abounds.

France in the late 1700's was a bad time and place to be an ex-Queen, a political activist, a civil rights fighter, or even a playwright, but America's most produced playwright, Lauren Gunderson, takes us back to that era with her play 'The Revolutionists'. The comedy about the meeting of Marie Antoinette, assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright Olympe de Gouge and the fictional freedom fighter, Marianne Angelle, was to have been performed at Stephens College this weekend, but an abundance of COVID19 caution has put the show on hold. But the play's director, Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri, and two of the actors, Fiona Bleu and Julia Vuolo dropped in to chat about their production anyway. In Act Two of this week's show, America's best-selling and favorite tupperware lady, Dixie Longate, graced the studio with her southern Alabama charm and chatted about her 20-years in the tupperware show business, her admiration for party-plan genius Brownie Wise, and her Dixie's Tupperware Party that plays March 12-14 at Capital City Productions in Jefferson City.

Every year for 4 days the True/False film fest transforms Columbia, Missouri into the epicenter of documentary film excellence. This week's Speaking of the Arts show is dedicated to the fest. In Act One, Diana talks to director David France ('How to Survive a Plague') about his new documentary, 'Welcome to Chechnya' (https://www.welcometochechnya.com/) - a searing exploration of the purges being committed by the Chechen government against its LGBTQ community and the work being done by the LGBTQ network in Moscow to rescue people whose lives are at risk. As well as chatting to David, one of the subjects of the documentary, Max Lapunov and cinematographer/translator, Igor Myakotin, talk about Max's experience as a victim of torture by the Chechen police. In Act Two, musician Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/), talks about her music, and how her custom-made Skytop guitar is a result of molluscs and fungi. Plus she plays her music live in the studio.

2020 is the 100th anniversary of something that American women take for granted - the right to vote. But the history of women's fight for equal voting rights was long, and a new play by University of Missouri Professor, Cheryl Black, delves into the history in a series of vignettes that highlight the theatricality, the pageantry, the personalities and the nay-sayers who are scattered along this path to enfranchisement. In the Second Act Diana chats to author Phong Nguyen, author of a new lipogramatic novel called 'Roundabout', which the book cover describes as a ‘slapstick meta-romp through art, literature, metaphysics and modern America – all written without a single letter e’. Why would anyone want to write a whole novel without the letter e? Find out on this week's show.

Morality plays and Robin Hood first appeared in the middle ages - and Diana explores both on this week's Speaking of the Arts. In Act One Director Brooke Grno and actor, Paige Hudson, talk about their production of the morality play 'Everyman', one of the oldest works in the English dramatic canon, in which Everyman is summoned to God for his final reckoning but must first cast off his earthly attachments to his many allegorical friends. In Act Two, we stay in England to hang out with Robin Hood, Friar Tuck and Sir Guy aka actors Jon-Michael Rutter, Dave Bond and Mike Azar, whose production of Ken Ludwig's 'Robin Hood' is at The Little Theatre of Jefferson City, and Diana tests them on their English accents.