ArtScene with Erika Funke

Sasha Waters, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator who serves as a Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography + Film at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, speaking about her recent documentary, "Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World." The film will be screened on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 7:00 pm, at the Campus Theatre, 413 Market Streeti...

Paige Balitski, co-founder of Diva Theater & actor in "POTUS"; Marcie Herman Riebe, director of the production, and Emma Ross who has the role of Stephanie, speakingabout the farce by Selina Fillinger titled, "POTUS." The show runs weekends from November 6th through November 15, 2026, at the Olde Brick Theater, 126 West Market Street in Scranton. Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 2:00 pm....

Playwrights Roderick Markham and Bill Jeffrey of the Legion Theatre Group of White Haven, speaking about a compendium of six short quirky holiday plays written and performed by regional artists under the umbrella "And Now for Christmas Completely Different." There will be two shows at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, 537 N. Main Street, Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, November 8, 20...

Chason Goldschmitz, Executive Director of the NortheasternPennsylvania Philharmonic, and Dr. Rick Hoffenberg, AssociateProfessor of Music & Director of Choral Activities at MarywoodUniversity, speaking about the (Candle)LIT Brahms Requiemto be performed by the NEPA Philharmonic & conducted bythe orchestra's music director Melisse Brunet, with theMarywood University Concert Choir prepared by Dr. Ho...

Playwrights Roderick Markham and Bill Jeffreys of theLegion Theatre Group of White Haven, speaking abouta compendium of six short quirky holiday plays writtenand performed by regional artists under the umbrella"And Now for Christmas Completely Different."There will be two shows at the Little Theatre ofWilkes-Barre, 537 N. Main Street, Saturday,November 7 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, November 8,2026, at...

Mark Stavish of NEPA, prominent author and lecturer, founder of the Institute forHermetic Studies and frequent guest on media outlets including the History Channel, the BBC, in the NY Times and other sites. Stavish speaking here about Halloween and other seasonal traditions, then and now. www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Mark-Stavish

Mark Stavish of NEPA, prominent American author and lecturer, founder of the Institute for Hermetic Studies and frequent guest on media outlets including the History Channel, the BBC, in the NY Times and others. Stavish speaking here about Halloween and other seasonal traditions, then and now. www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Mark-Stavish

Marko Marcinko, musician, educator, band leader and founder of the PA Jazz Alliance, andPA State Representative Eddie Day Pashinski, speaking about PA250 "Our Jazz Story" to be presented on Friday, November 6, 2026 at 7 pm in Lemmond Theater at Misericordia University in Dallas, PA. The concert will feature the Keystone Jazz Orchestra under Marcinko's direction, with State Representatives Eddie Da...

Ken Paulhamus and Ed Bordy, longtime members of theWest Branch Chorus, speaking about the group in anticipationof "An Afternoon of Barbershop" on Sunday, November 1stat 2:00 at the Community Theatre League, 100 W. 3rd Streetin Williamsport. This is a joint concert with the Heart of PAChorus for Fall 2026.For more information: www.thewestbranchchorus.com/

Janelle Decker, Executive Director of Performance Music, and Cheryl Boga, Performance Music Artistic Director at the University of Scranton, speaking about a recital titled, "Saints & Spirituals," featuring trumpeter Marcus Printup and harpist Riza Printup on Friday,October 30, 2026 at 7:30 pm in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street & JeffersonAvenue in Scranton. Admission is free. That aft...

Chason Goldschmitz, Executive Director of the NEPA Philharmonic, and Dr. RickHoffenberg, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Marywood University, speaking about a program titled, (Candle)LIT Brass 360 Degrees, featuring the NEPA Philharmonic Brass and the Marywood University Chamber Singers conducted byMusic Director Melisse Brunet. There will be performances on Wedne...

Rudy Caporaso and Rosey Hay, Co-founders and Co-artistic directors of the REV TheatreCompany, speaking about "Never Can Say Goodbye," REV Theatre's Graveyard Cabaret, to be presented Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Greenhouse Project, 200 Arthur Avenue,Nay Aug Park in Scranton. Doors open at 7:00pm and the show starts at 8:00. There will be a "ghoulish" after-party and attendees are encouraged...

Dr. Gary Boerckel, Professor Emeritus at Lycoming College,pianist with the Williamsport Symphony; longtime host of"Music to My Ears" on WVIA Radio, and director of the choirat St. Boniface Church, 326 Washington Blvd in Williamsport,speaking about the performance of Mozart's Requiem to bepresented at the Church on Monday, November 2, 2026, at 7 pmto mark All Souls Day. There is no admission fee. F...

Greg Triggs, a show director and writer with a national career, speakingabout the 50th anniversary of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance in Narrowsburg,NY, and the production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" that he is directing. The final weekend of the run will take place Friday, October 23 andSaturday, October 24, 2026, at the Tusten Theatre, 210 Bridge Street. Shows are Friday at 7:00 pm and Sat...

Fiona Siobhan Powell, WVIA's Susquehanna Valley producer & host, now retired,with a special feature to mark the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan mining disasterin Wales on October 21, 1966, claiming 144 lives, most of them children. Fiona chose to feature highlights of the Cantata Memoria by Sir Karl Jenkins forthe commemoration. Fiona is a professional storyteller, folklorist, an expert spinner an...

Dr. Caleb Hopkins, Assistant Professor of Music & Director of Choral Activities at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, and newly appointed Artistic Director & Conductor of theSusquehanna Valley Chorale, speaking about the 2026-2027 season and the openingconcert, "Spooky Spectacular," Sunday, October 25th at 3:00 at Zion Lutheran Church in Sunbury. The program will feature music by Mendelssohn, Bach,...

Gerardo Edelstein, Music Director and Conductor of theWilliamsport Symphony Orchestra, now entering his 17thseason with the ensemble, speaking about the 2026-2027season during which the WSO will celebrate its60th anniversary. The opening concert is titled,"Voices of America: A 250th Celebration," takingplace on Tuesday, October 20th at 7:30 pmat the Community Arts Center, 220 W. 4th Streetin downt...

Moses Andrade, basso, and Brian Farrell, piano, speaking abouttheir lives in music before a performance on Sunday, October 18, 2026,at 3:00 at the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, 97 S. FranklinStreet. There will be music from opera, as well as art songs and spirituals. For more information: www.fpc-wb.org/This is a rebroadcast of a conversation from 2025.

Dr. Joshua Harper, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania, speaking about the ensemble's fall concert titled “Sound From Silence: Songs of Resilience.” Centered around Jake Runestad’s “A Silence Haunts Me,” a dramatic setting of the Heiligenstadt Testament letter by Beethoven about the impending loss of his hearing. Also on the program: Beethoven’s “Elegisc...

Jason Smeltzer, musician, storyteller & founder of The OldeStories; and Timothy Holmes, CEO of the Everhart Museumin Scranton, speaking about the exhibition, "The Hubble SpaceTelescope: New Views of the Universe," developed by NASAand the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit Service. The show will run through October 18, 2026, and aspart of the closing events in connection with theexhibition, t...

Stephan Koplowitz, award-winning artist, and HeatherSincavage, Associate Professor, Director of the Sordoni Art Gallery& Curator of the exhibition titled, "Actions & Images of Place &Passage by Stephan Koplowitz," running through October18, 2026, at the Sordoni Gallery on the campus of Wilkes Universityin Wilkes-Barre. There will be a screening of the documentary,"Pina," by Wim Wenders on October...

Chason Goldschmitz, Executive Director of the NEPA Philharmonic,and Rob Wright, UK-based composer, musician and sound artist,speaking about Wright's new score for F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent film"Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror," written for a live string quartetperforming alongside the film. The NEPA Philharmonic will present the US premiere of theoriginal score performed by a string quartet with t...

Alicia Lynn Grega, writer, educator, journalist and founderof the Common Play Factory, speaking about the premiereof her new audio podcast series, "The Ferment," as partof the 2026 Scranton Fringe Festival at the TrolleyMuseum, 300 Cliff Street in Scranton--October 8that 6:00 pm; October 9th at 9:00 pm; October 10th at2:30 & 7:00 pm. There may be some language or violent soundsthat might be distur...

Actor Vivian Nesbitt & Musician John Dillon (native of Bloomsburg, PA), speaking about, "Mother Jones In Heaven", a musical by Si Kahn that they will present on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 7:30 pm, at The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's Alvina Krause Theatre, 226 Center Street in Bloomsburg. For more information: www.bte.org/www.motherjonesinheaven.comThe interview first aired in September 2021.

Mandy Pennington, Senior Director of Digital & StrategicInitiatives at Wilkes University, and director of a stagedreading of "Finding Matt Damon," an original screenplayby Duane Granston, his capstone project for the WilkesMaslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. The reading is part of the 2026 Scranton Fringe Festivaland will be presented on Saturday, October 11, at 3:00at the Black Sc...