The Quiet Part Out Loud

Patrick Stafford is an actor who has been navigating a serious kidney disease for most of his life. This month, he underwent a second life-saving kidney transplant. He discusses how an early relationship to his mortality affected his life and his creativity, and what it is like to live in a world where most people are in denial about the fragility of life that he has become intimate with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Gwon is a composer and lyricist whose work explores the tension in the human condition between solitude and connection. It is his own introversion that fostered the space for him to discover his authentic voice, while it is also a tool for connection that shares the meaning of his most deeply held experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michele Pawk is a Broadway star who is disarmingly down-to-earth and as generous as she is talented. She opens up about a long a varied career on Broadway, and how her inner critic has evolved from paralyzing during particularly difficult transitions to a trusted ally in her quest to remain open and authentic in her work and life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Bobby Steggert takes another step back from interviewing to reflect on the phenomenon of polarization - from the current political climate, to the contradictory forces in every human experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenni Barber (Beetlejuice) comes from a family lineage of caretaking, and it is infused in every role she plays, from cast member, to teacher and mentor, to wife and mother. Jenni explores the profound connectivity, as well as the risk to a loss of self in the role of caretaker, and how she is learning to balance it with age and wisdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyler Joseph Ellis (Shucked) has honed a lifelong gift of observing the world around him into a talent that both honors and finds humor in the beautiful absurdity of the theater. Driven by a deep love for the art form, he has followed his enthusiasm down a variety of paths - from actor to writer to host and comedian. He shows that keen observation of humanity is at the core of his unique artistic resonance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Armstrong Johnson is a Broadway fixture whose success is the result of uncompromising dedication to his work - but his choice of becoming an artist wasn't always easy. Jay explores the complexities around selfishness, when choosing his own path sometimes meant that family felt abandoned by his wider pursuits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Levi Ross (Ragtime at LCT) and Bobby share the distinction of playing Mother's Younger Brother a generation apart. They share how different upbringings in different eras contributed to their interpretation of the character. Ben's history of nonconformity to norms and expectations contrasts with Bobby's history of conformity, while both experiences offer a fascinating entry point into the psychology of a young man radicalized by period of great social change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bobby saw Elisa in her first performance as the lead in Real Woman Have Curves and was so taken with her that he was determined to track her down and learn more about her. What follows is a fascinating conversation about the need to be right - something that she seemingly nailed in her many roles, on and off stage in her Broadway debut - but on a deeper level, the need to avoid being made small in environments where it's common to be underestimated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary-Mitchell Campbell is one of the busiest musical directors on Broadway. She is the resident MD at Encores! and is currently readying The Queen of Versailles with Kristin Chenoweth. But there is another side to her life that gives her invaluable perspective as an artist and human, and it is all about serving the most vulnerable among us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tiffany Mann is an extraordinary singer and actor who is often hailed as a powerhouse - and so it might seem surprising that she battles uncertainty just like the rest of us. She shares what it was like to develop her talent in the context of family who are highly successful artists in their own rights, as well as the ongoing uncertainty of navigating a business that both values and minimizes the extraordinary talents of marginalized artists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian Coulson is an actor and director - an all around thinker of great thoughts, and one of Bobby's favorite people to talk to. The two friends share the complexities of a self-conscious watchfulness that was borne out of difference and an early experience in the performing arts, as well as a mutual effort in cultivating creativity and experience that is freer from self-observation and richer in presence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicholas Barasch has been performing on Broadway since the age of 10. He is now 27 and making his adult debut in Pirates! While there is a generational divide, Bobby and Nicholas share how both of their inner children sought belonging and achievement on the Broadway stage, but agree that it is only through embracing the inner child in adulthood that freedom is ever truly possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenny Anderson has built an astounding career as the preeminent photographer of Broadway culture - she and Bobby started in the business at around the same time, when she was working at Broadway.com. Over the years, she has relied on her talent, and moreover, her easy way of connecting- the friendship and intimacy she has fostered with so many of the artists she captures - to help her become the most trusted photographer of the private and backstage lives of actors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Bobby Steggert takes a break from interviewing to share his story of learning to play the cello. It turns out that learning something hard in middle age is a lot more confronting - and ultimately satisfing - than he ever could have imagined. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tally Sessions is a Broadway actor of immense commitment and passion for his work, and even more, for his community. His willingness to live openly and without shame within the complexities of experience makes him the perfect person for Bobby to share an honest and nuanced conversation about grief. Old friends who have done five shows together over the years, Tally and Bobby discuss what it truly means to face devastating loss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Breckenridge (Come From Away, Book of Mormon, The Scottsboro Boys) is one of the most employed actors on Broadway. He has a particularly complex relationship to code-switching that likely makes him a wonderful actor. It is also a pattern in his life that emerged from a confluence of identities that consistently made him feel othered. He is black and gay, but grew up in largely white communities, where it was a constant and multi-dimensional challenge to find belonging - not only in the groups that he was different from, but in groups that he was connected to. It is through a continued search for personal identity that is not centered on making others comfortable that brings Josh closer to himself, and less dependent on the survival of code switching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patti Murin is an actress most notable as the star of Brodway’s Frozen. In addition to a practically glowing personality and upbeat optimism, she has also navigated depression that many people might think directly contradicts these qualities. Patti emphasizes how she has worked towards change through acceptance. It was the acknowledging, understanding, and embracing of the largeness of her experience into her identity - the idea of who she is- that set her on the path towards integration. Ultimately, it is the flexibility of identity as opposed to assurance in who we are that allows us to grow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eden Espinosa (Lempicka, Rent, Wicked) has been a powerhouse on Broadway for decades. She has also experienced the very human contradiction of struggling to own her power in certain areas, where shape shifting to avoid conflict and to maintain the status quo of an imbalanced power dynamic has kept her from stepping into the personal power that she is known for on stage. It is through the hard work of breaking old patterns and prioritizing independence where she is finding a new path forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices