Episodes

Are you a leader? Yes or No? Do you have stuff, your creative Superpowers -- the thing that made you successful in your creative life, whatever that does, whatever that is that we need in our public life? And I say, "Hell, Yes!" ~Tom Tresser Tom Tresser is a Chicago based civic educator, creativity champion, and public defender with over 50 years grassroots democracy experience.

"Many people have the misunderstanding that the boat lift was initiated by the U.S. Coast Guard—that boats only started the evacuation after the Coast Guard called for all available boats. Instead, that call went out nearly two hours after mariners had independently made the choice to help. Rather than coming in to take charge of the evacuation that was already operating successfully, the highest-ranking USCG officer, then-Lt. Michael Day, made the tremendous decision to FACILITATE and support t...

What I hope to do with this show is to talk about my life...about always trying to belong, but then the ultimate challenge of belonging which is becoming a wheelchair user because you're going to stand out in any kind of way. I hope with audiences what comes out is a partnership which is the theme. Let me tell you what I'm talking about, what you won't know unless you're a wheelchair user. I want people not to feel like I'm preaching at them. I'm coming to tell you what it's like and that's my g...

What I hope to do with this show is to talk about my life...about always trying to belong, but then the ultimate challenge of belonging which is becoming a wheelchair user because you're going to stand out in any kind of way. I hope with audiences what comes out is a partnership which is the theme. Let me tell you what I'm talking about, what you won't know unless you're a wheelchair user. I want people not to feel like I'm preaching at them. I'm coming to tell you what it's like and that's my g...

What I hope to do with this show was to talk about my life, about always trying to belong, but then the ultimate challenge of belonging which is becoming a wheelchair user because you're going to stand out in any kind of way - not fit in being a wheelchair user. I hope with audiences what comes out with me is a partnership which is the theme. Let me tell you what I'm talking about, what I'm realizing you won't know unless you're a wheelchair user. I wanted people not to feel like I'm preaching a...

The choices we have here in America are different from the choices people have in Russia. We can vote. That is the most important right that has not been taken away. In Putin’s Russia, elections have not been free for decades. Opposition candidates are barred from running, and even then the results are manipulated to deliver Putin a staggering victory. So this is what I can tell my American listeners: vote. – Svetlana Satchkova Svetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and novelist who i...

When you're running for office be your authentic self and tell the truth. You have to tell everybody what you have done for them and what you want to do. You have to listen to them. You shouldn't be scripted. Shoot from the hip; talk from the heart. And you can tell them how you can't get things done without having the House and Senate, but this is what I would like to do. What makes sense for all Americans. But you have to point out the opponent -- things are hurting them. Ask them not to be a ...

There's always hope. You can't say the word hope without smiling. Hope is that ability to get up and go again. The Finnish have word for it--SISU. What it means is white-knuckle courage in the face of overwhelming odds. When everything is lost, the spirit of SISU manifests itself. And for me SISU means relentless resilience. I'm incredibly stubborn and the idea of ever giving up never crossed my mind. I had to prove that they were wrong. That they could never break me. Dr. John A. King is an Au...

As I've traveled around the world to teach, speak, and lecture about audience development, in particular, Africa, is that what I've learned is that at the end of the day, people want to feel welcome, they want to have a good time, even if it's something that made them want to laugh, but to feel like, 'Wow, this was thought-provoking, this was interesting, and to feel that I made a good choice coming. And maybe I met someone that I didn't know.' I learned how class, particularly in America, is su...

I want to educate the public about what’s happening in the immigration crisis itself and inside the courts, about the refugees and how they are treated here, but also to make the performances beautiful in a way that will impart something profound to the audience. How do I put these stories into the most beautiful artistic form to go to the core of the human being? What I need from these performances is a call to action—for people to actually DO something. We need to educate them and impact them ...

Why is freedom to read so important? I think we take for granted the idea that a multiplicity of voices are accessible to us, and our libraries are places that represent the voices of everyone in the community. There's a court case called Little v Llano just came out of the 5th district of the 5th circuit court of appeals, the district covers Texas and Louisiana. This court case is threatening one of the most essential freedoms that we have which is a couple of First Amendment precedents that we...

"One of the major ideas behind Fall of Freedom was not only to get some bold-faced names involved to this project to attract involvement, but to get regular folks to participate...We are all creative beings; we are all producing culture all the time...it's not just seeing the art on the wall, but the conversations we might have. These are important cultural acts that are unfolding on a daily basis and everybody is participating in them. You don't have to fall into this special category of "artis...

Holding women back doesn't just harm women, it holds everyone back - our economies, our nations, our future. If inequality is limiting us all, why aren't we doing anything to fix it? To build the unity needed to move forward, we have to connect to people's values. What kind of world do they want? For me, the answer is clear: we need women's full participation - everywhere. Holding women back holds humanity back. And building a better world for women is better for everyone. ~Lina AbiRafeh Lina A...

I came up with this idea that we would have workshops, and we would have formerly incarcerated people come to the workshops, and we would teach them about organizing and teach about women's suffrage, civil rights, and marriage equality. How impactful a group of people can be if they all have the same interest. They're voters. They can talk to the state legislators and tell them, 'I'm a voter and what they're doing is making my life really hard.' And, to my great surprise, it totally worked! Ama...

I was pleasantly surprised and [found it] incredibly fulfilling when we brought kids who I interviewed down to Florida and thank you to the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra -- they gave us the opportunity to bring these young activists into schools and introduce these young activists -- this is three days after the last election so other kids in these schools were feeling very defeated; in the beginning they were afraid to ask questions...and our kids were in their 20s now and said, "OK, so you're...

Anything that brings us back into the center of ourselves, into the space that literally is your heart, the center of you and recalls the truth of who you are, you should feel better. So, you are responding to who YOU are, not as who you're protecting yourself from. Kiana Webb is the founder and CEO of Glorious Arisings —a movement at the intersection of conscious leadership and spiritual transformation. Her work fuses leadership development, personal transformation, and spiritual wisdom to gui...

We are making sure that the arts remain independent, well-funded, and accessible for all. Anytime anything rears its ugly head to challenge that, we will be there fighting for you. ~Erica Lauren Ortiz Erica Lauren Ortiz (she/her) is a seasoned non-profit leader, arts advocate, and creative producer with deep roots in theatre, media, and cultural strategy. She currently serves as the Lead of Advocacy & Governance Programs at Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization at the fo...

I don’t really produce plays. There are many other organizations that are wonderful at producing plays, and I’m not interested in someone coming in that’s completely done and all they’re really looking for is financial support. I don’t work like that. What most excites me is when I meet with an artist who would love to do a site-specific piece, and in whatever form it might take whether it be outdoors or indoors, in a car, in an elevator, on a roof or wherever it could be. They see a necessity f...

Our nuclear security has been compromised and that really is a dangerous situation because all of our nuclear sites are nuclear power plants, or they are a theoretically defunct site like where nuclear Hanford doesn't occur anymore, but it represents three super-fund sites that need to be cleaned up because of the amount of nuclear waste. What has been a really good outcome of [writing this book] is this being in the news again, people are starting to understand what a threat the amount of nucle...

This new book I've written SWEET DREAMS AHEAD FOR BED is a story that literally outlines the steps for getting ready for sleep for babies to four-year-olds. Also, in the book are tips for parents on how to get your child to go to sleep. And what I've discovered in the new books I've been doing is the front of the book is the story, and the back four pages are parenting information...So, now what's happening is parents are reading the book out loud, then they're reading the tips. It's a wonderful...

Whether it's about immigrants, Iranians, Lebanese people or Jews in Warsaw or transgender characters or whatever those characters may be, I feel that, especially theatre, is like a mirror that you hold up to society either to its past, its possible future, its darknesses, its lightness -- things that we don't want to engage with every day in life because it actually has real-day consequences, but as actors we get to share that with people to have that experience with us, and I think it changes p...

Age tells us one thing: the day you were born and the day you will die, and there's a dash in between. And you know what? That dash is ME! That dash represents who you are. And it is up to YOU: to describe, to define, to manage your 'dash'. Don't ever let anyone manage your dash for you. ~Dr. Solanges Vivens Dr. Solanges Vivens is a nursing professional, entrepreneur, educator and product of Georgetown University School of Nursing. She and two minority partners formed VMTLTC Inc., in 1988. It w...

I love writing about women because this is how women are, and we're so diverse, right? We show our power in so many different ways, and sometimes it's not a lot of lines in the play; sometimes, it's just the way they show up. Cynthia Grace Robinson playwright/screenwriter/lyricist was born and raised in The Bronx, New York. "I use my platform as a Writer to amplify the voices of characters and narratives rarely portrayed on stage and screen. I believe as storytellers we have a unique opportunit...

What I really wanted to do was to show a strong, flawed woman - a hundred years ago! - dealing with the same issues that strong, flawed women are dealing with today. KAREN E. OSBORNE, an award-winning and Amazon Kindle best-selling author of four suspense novels–Reckonings (award-winning family saga/suspense), Tangled Lies (award-winning murder mystery), Getting It Right (recognized by Essence Magazine as a Best Read), True Grace, (award-winning historical fiction inspired by her grandmother, s...