At The Vanguard

Broadway veterans Beverly Ward and Kirby Ward join Christopher for a wide-ranging conversation about a lifetime in the theatre, creating new work, and their original musical Sunday After Next. Bev and Kirby reflect on the experiences that shaped them as artists—from Kirby originating Bobby Child in the West End production of Crazy For You to Bev’s evolution from performer to composer and writer—an...

What does a professional matchmaker actually do—and can matchmaking itself be an art? Christopher sits down with professional matchmaker Simone Grossman for a thoughtful conversation about love, attraction, compatibility, dating culture, and the craft of bringing two people together. Simone shares how she unexpectedly found her way into matchmaking, why she left larger companies to create a more p...

The phrase "The Revenge of the Humanities" comes from Sam Harris, whose work inspired this episode. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable, much of the conversation has centered on jobs, automation, and the future of work. Those are important questions. But I believe there's another question that's even more fundamental: What kind of lives will humans choose to live? In this episo...

Can we separate the art from the artist? More importantly: should we? In this episode of At The Vanguard, Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala explores one of the most emotionally charged and philosophically difficult questions in modern culture. Through the lenses of art, morality, psychology, history, and human flourishing, this episode examines whether collapsing artists and their work into a sing...

Why aren’t you getting cast? In this episode, I share what I’ve learned from sitting on both sides of the audition table—as a performer, pianist, and evaluator watching hundreds of auditions. Most performers focus on the wrong things. They treat auditions as isolated events, obsess over details that may or may not matter, and overlook what casting teams are actually evaluating. This episode breaks...

In this episode of At The Vanguard, I sit down with married artists and educators Christine Negherbon and Joe Abraham — Broadway performers, directors, choreographers, college professors, and co-founders of The Thriving Artists. From national tours of Hairspray, Shrek, and The Little Mermaid to directing Spring Awakening, choreographing new works, and shaping the next generation of performers thro...

In this episode of At the Vanguard, I’m joined by my friend Christopher Sepulveda, a Los Angeles–based film and theatre producer whose career spans independent film, commercial theatre, new-work development, Deaf West Theatre, and emerging technologies like VR and AI. Christopher demystifies the role of the producer—one of the most misunderstood jobs in the entertainment industry—and walks us thro...

In this episode of At The Vanguard, host Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala sits down with Jason Paige—best known as the voice behind the iconic Pokémon theme song—for a wide-ranging, deeply human conversation about art, autonomy, community, and what it really means to build a creative life. While Pokémon fans will appreciate Jason’s firsthand account of recording the theme song, its unexpected cul...

Honor. Cherish. Invest. | A Better Way to Start the New Year The start of a new year often comes with pressure—resolutions, reinvention, and the feeling that you’re already behind before you’ve even begun. This episode offers a different approach. Rather than goals or hype, I share a simple, grounded framework for orienting yourself in the year ahead—one that respects how growth actually works and...

The holidays can be beautiful. They can also be lonely, tender, complicated—and quietly revealing. In this solo episode, I reflect on what the holiday season tends to bring to the surface: longing, grief, connection, memory, and meaning. I talk about spending my first Christmas without both of my parents, about chosen family and evolving traditions, and about what it means to move through this sea...

In this episode of At the Vanguard, host Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala sits down with Caden Douglas — writer, director, producer, and instructor at Bad Pitch Writers Lab — for an honest, wide-ranging conversation about the craft of writing and the realities of making work in today’s film industry. Caden shares his journey from a childhood acting career in Canada to becoming a writer-director i...

Art is born from freedom—but artists don’t create in isolation. We collaborate, perform, teach, and share vulnerable spaces with others. Without trust, accountability, and ethical grounding, the work—and the people making it—can suffer. In this solo episode, I examine a challenging but essential question: Do artists need a code of conduct? I introduce The Consummate Artist’s Code of Professional C...

In this episode, I sit down with the remarkable Ed Freeman — a musician, arranger, producer, photographer, ceramicist, and now AI artist whose creative journey spans more than five decades and some of the most iconic moments in American music and art. Ed shares how he went from studying violin as a child to arranging for Carly Simon and Gregg Allman, producing Don McLean’s legendary American Pie a...

In this powerful and unflinchingly honest conversation, musician and storyteller James Byous shares the full arc of his journey—through addiction, sobriety, bipolar disorder, creativity, and the relentless pursuit of meaning. James opens up about the terrifying manic episode that led to transient psychosis, the therapist who helped ground him during the crisis, and the profound onstage experience...

Artificial intelligence has become one of the most defining—and divisive—topics of our time. For artists, it sits at the crossroads of excitement and anxiety: a powerful new tool full of possibility, but also a force that raises profound questions about authorship, originality, and the future of human creativity. In this episode of At The Vanguard, we do something different. Instead of hearing mor...

In this episode of At The Vanguard, host Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala sits down with Michelle Loucadoux and Kristin Deiss, founders of Danscend — a groundbreaking organization bringing mental wellness education to the dance world. Together, they unpack the myths and realities of mental health in the arts, exploring why toughness and compassion are not opposites, how the dance industry can evo...

Tomasina Abate is a powerhouse vocalist, songwriter, and creative visionary whose career has spanned Disney’s Tomorrowland stages, arena crowds, and independent artistry. In this conversation, she opens up about the courage it takes to stand alone, the cost of excellence, and why real artistry begins the moment you stop asking for permission. We talk about: • Building a cult-favorite band at Disne...

Welcome to At The Vanguard, a podcast about elevating the arts and empowering the artist in each of us. In this inaugural episode, host Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala shares the story and philosophy behind The Vanguard Institute for the Arts — a bold movement dedicated to creativity, mindfulness, and artistic excellence. Through reflection and hard-won insight, Christopher invites listeners to...

Deaf actor, motivational speaker, and athlete Sarah Tubert joins host Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala on At The Vanguard for a deeply inspiring conversation about art, identity, and resilience. From voicing Lucita in Disney’s Primos to captaining Team USA at the Deaf Olympics, Sarah shares how creativity has been her bridge between worlds — and how breaking barriers in entertainment can start wi...

Welcome to At The Vanguard — a show about elevating the arts and empowering the artist in each of us. Hosted by musician and educator Christopher Lloyd Bratten-Zappala, this podcast explores the creative spirit through conversations with artists, thinkers, and innovators who are redefining what it means to lead with vision and create with purpose. In this trailer, Christopher introduces the missio...